The Case Western Reserve University men's soccer team defeated Brandeis University 2-1 at Gordon Field in Waltham, Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon in the team's penultimate match of the regular season.

The Spartans improved to 8-3-3 overall and 2-2-2 in University Athletic Association contests, moving into fourth place in the conference standings. The Judges fell to 3-8-5 on the season and 1-3-2 in the UAA.

Following a scoreless first half, junior forward Brandon Kim broke the tie in the 52nd minute with his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Senior midfielder Matt Vatne had the ball on the goal line about 10 yards from the box, drawing the attention of the Brandeis goalkeeper. Vatne found Kim running toward the middle of the goal, and the junior fired a shot into the back of the net to put the Spartans ahead 1-0. Vatne earned his team-leading sixth assist of the season on the play.

Vatne contributed to the scoring of the team's second goal in the 74th minute. He took a shot from about 25 yards out that required a diving save by the Judges goalkeeper. Senior defender Josh Cook was able to collect the rebound and sent a shot into the lower right corner of the goal to give CWRU a 2-0 lead. It was Cook's second goal of the season.

Brandeis responded, quickly scoring in the 76th minute to make the score 2-1 on a goal by Roee Maor.

However, CWRU shut down the Judge attack for the remainder of the contest to secure the road win. Sophomore goalkeeper Bradley Winter made four saves to pick up his eighth win of the season.

Case Western Reserve outshot Brandeis 19-12 in the contest. The shot total is the second-most this season for the Spartans. Junior midfielder Lukas Dalakis led the squad with four shots with Vatne and Kim each adding three.

The Spartans, ranked fifth in Region VII by the NCAA on Wednesday, will look to bolster their resume for a possible postseason selection in their final contest of the season next Saturday. CWRU travels to Pittsburgh to face archrival Carnegie Mellon at 2:30 p.m.