Brandeis was already down 1-0 in the fifth minute of its University Athletic Association opener at the No. 22 University of Rochester last Saturday when the Judges' defense committed a blunder that doubled their deficit.After a scramble for possession near the Brandeis net, a Judges defender tried to fire the ball across the field in an attempt to clear the defensive zone but instead kicked the ball off the side of his foot and into the Judges' net.

"We lost the ball in the middle, and [the defender] was just put in a tough spot," captain and defender Kevin Murphy '08 said. "That stuff just happens sometimes in soccer games. There's nothing you can really do about it."

The Yellow Jackets would add their third goal of the half when junior forward J.J. Dennstedt connected in the 22nd minute and maintained their 3-0 lead through the end of the match. Brandeis dropped to 6-4 on the season and 0-1 in the UAA with their third consecutive loss. The Judges also fell to Bridgewater State College last Wednesday, 2-1.

The Judges' losing streak has included defeats from two of the top25 teams in the nation, including a 2-1 loss at then-No. 22 Wheaton College Sept. 29. Coach Mike Coven said last Saturday's loss to Rochester was the most one-sided of the Judges' losses this season.

"This is the first game we got beat bad," he said. "Rochester is the fastest team I've seen all year. We were pressured high all the time and part of our game plan was to have our backs clear the ball on the defensive third of the field and try not to hold on to it, and we didn't do that. It's disappointing, because we worked on that all week and our backs held on to the ball too much."

Rochester outshot Brandeis 8-2 in the first half, and goalie Sean O'Hare '12 made three saves and allowed three goals. The teams played evenly in the second half due to Brandeis' halftime adjustments.

The Judges have been experimenting with their defensive personnel in the last few games and decided again to make a change in their strategic approach.

Brandeis started the game with four midfielders and two forwards but played five midfielders and one forward in the second half in order to maintain possession of the ball in the middle of the field.

Brandeis' strategy worked defensively, as they did not allow Rochester to get off a shot in the second half, but the Judges were also held without a shot and could not come back from three goals down.

"If you take something positive from the whole thing, is we never gave anything up in the second half and played perfectly even," Coven said. "It shows a lot of character in our kids. We played great for 45 minutes against one of the top teams in the country, and that's a tribute to our guys."

Murphy said the team is still getting used to the midseason defensive adjustments, pointing out the move of former midfielder Luke Teece '12 to the defense, but is also confident looking ahead.

"We also moved Teece back there too so the defense has definitely been shaken up a little bit, but we've all played together in practice, so it's not like we haven't played together before," Murphy said. "It'll take us a while to really get used to playing together, but we'll get there."

On Wednesday, Brandeis fell behind 2-0 against Bridgewater State before midfielder Patrick Metelus '10 sent the ball on a free kick to forward Ben Premo '09, who scored his eighth goal of the season and 36th of his career. The goal tied him for fifth on Brandeis' all-time list and cut the Bears' lead to 2-1. Despite tallying nine shots in the final 26 minutes, Brandeis failed to score again en route to the 2-1 loss.

The Judges will square off against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the road tomorrow at 3 p.m. and then resume conference play Saturday at 1:30 p.m at home against Case Western Reserve University.