They've shown that they can play with the best teams in New England, but the men's soccer team still hasn't proven that it can finish off an elite opponent.And they still couldn't Wednesday, when the Judges came from behind to force overtime against host Wheaton College, but saw a golden opportunity to win in the extra period slip away. After the 2-2 double overtime draw, the Judges' third tie against ranked competition this season, the team stands at 2-2-3.

"You can't really be disappointed because they're a very good team and it was away, but we definitely dominated the play and we should have won," rookie forward Billy Murphy'10 said.

The team saw its best chance to

win get away in the extra period, when forward Ben Premo '09 sent a perfect ball through the Wheaton defense to Murphy, who came tantalizingly close to putting the Lyons away, but could not convert.

"It was a race between me and the goalie, and all I could try to do was poke it past him," Murphy said.

Like in previous games this season, a slow start plagued Brandeis. The Lyons began the scoring in the 18th minute off a restart kick goal, taking advantage of the Judges' sluggish play early.

"The first half we played very

poorly," coach Mike Coven said.

"We didn't build out of the back

well. [Wheaton] was building out of their back and they were picking us apart."

The Judges retaliated three minutes later when defender Brett Fitzgerald '08 blasted in an unassisted goal from near the top of the box. The Lyons took a 2-1 lead 10 minutes before halftime on a short cross pass that was knocked in by sophomore forward Justin Hart.

The team's first-half struggles prompted Coven to make a drastic formation change to jumpstart the

Judges in the second half. Instead of using four defenders, four midfielders and two forwards-a 4-4-2 formation- he removed one defender and added another forward, creating a 3-4-3 setup. Playing up front were forwards

Alex Mithoefer '09, Murphy and Premo, who have combined for seven goals this season.

"[The formation is] more offensive-minded because you have an extra front runner and it opens up the middle of the field," Coven said,

The change yielded instant results, as the Judges came out firing after the break.

The defenders had more room to get involved in counter-attacks, the midfielders were less congested and more able to create plays, and the three forwards presented a greater offensive threat and pressure on Wheaton's defense.

In the 59th minute, rookie defender Tyler Morrill '10 tied the game off a corner kick for his first collegiate goal.

"When we spread [the team] out and opened up some space, the combination play between the midfielders and frontrunners worked very well," Coven said.

As the corner kick sailed past everyone else, Morrill received the ball at the left edge of the goalie box and served the ball to the center. When the ball bounced right back to Morrill, he softly lifted it over the Wheaton senior goalkeeper Matt Pachniuk's head into the right side of the net.

"[My first collegiate goal] is one of the best experiences of my life so far," Morrill said.

The Judges continued pounding the Wheaton defense throughout the half and in overtime, but could never put the game away.

"We've had some really big ties," Coven said. "But now we need some really big wins.