The men's lacrosse club (0-2) lost to Team Gant 13-8 on Monday in a game that was marked by teamwork and rough housing.
The Judges took a 5-4 lead early in the first half on goals from captains Alex Hughes '06 and Patrick Raymond '05.
But Brandeis got into some trouble late in the first half when Captain Ben Mathes '05, angered by what he thought were several missed slashing calls, retaliated against Gant and received a one minute penalty for unsportsan-like conduct.
Down a man, Judges' goalie Marc Kiredjian '05 held Gant scoreless for the final seven minutes of the first half.
"Marc played very, very well," Hughes said.
Although the Judges were unable to pull it out in the end, several players shone. In addition to their goals, Hughes and Raymond had two assists each, and Mathes also had a goal and two assists. Seth Young '05 played very well on both offense and defense.
The difference in this game was a few near-miss shots by the Judges on offense and strong defense on the part of Gant.
"We had a couple of shots just miss and it really could have gone either way," Hughes said.
But overall, Brandeis saw a great deal of improvement in this game.
"I thought we played very well," Hughes said. "I'm really optimistic about our next game. Especially on attack, we're really starting to click and this next week I think we can win."
The Judges' next game is Monday at 9 p.m. at Acton Indoor Sports.