For the seventh straight game and eighth time this season, the men's soccer team failed to score more than one goal in a game when it suffered a 2-1 loss at No. 21 Washington University in St. Louis last Sunday.The Judges fell to 6-6-2 overall with the loss and 0-2-2 in conference play, including a 1-1 tie at the University of Chicago last Friday.

During the second half of the game against WashU, Luke Teece '12 suffered a concussion when Teece and a Bears player banged heads while going for a loose ball, coach Mike Coven said.

According to Coven, Teece stayed behind in a St. Louis hospital Sunday night with assistant coach Gabe Margolis, while the team traveled back to Waltham following the game. Coven said that all test results on Teece were negative, revealing no structural damage to his face.

WashU got on the board in the 11th minute when senior Cliff Goldkind nailed a one-timer into the net off a crossing pass from sophomore Nick Wibar from 20 yards out.

In the 33rd minute, junior forward John Hengel, the Bears' leading scorer, nailed a breakaway goal for his seventh of the season, giving WashU a 2-0 halftime advantage.

Brandeis had a defensive approach coming into the game and started with four defenders, five midfielders and just one forward, but after going down 2-0, coach Mike Coven decided to add two more forwards to his lineup, going with three defenders, four midfielders and three forwards.

The Judges struck back early in the second half when midfielder Jamie Batista '10 struck his first goal of the season in the 55th minute off a give-and-go pattern with midfielder Billy Murphy '10.

The Judges stayed with the Bears throughout the second half, evening the shot total at eight for the final 45 minutes, but could not get over the one-goal hump that has plagued them in the middle stretch of their season.

"It's not what we wanted as far as results go," defender Kevin Murphy '09 said. "But as for the way the team played, it's the best we've played since the beginning of the season, so hopefully we can take that out of it and get some [University Athletic Association] wins."

At Chicago, the game remained scoreless until the 66th minute, when a Chicago defender headed the ball into his own net, giving Brandeis a 1-0 lead.

Yet just minutes away from their first UAA win, Murphy committed a foul in his own 18-foot goal box resulting in a red card and penalty kick for Chicago. Alex Clifford converted the kick with his third goal of the season to tie the score for good in the 88th minute.

"I didn't have too much of a choice to bring him down because he would've been on a breakaway," Murphy said. "It was definitely a foul, but I wouldn't say it was enough to give me a red card."

The Judges had one more chance to win the game in regulation. Chicago was assessed a yellow card with six seconds remaining, giving Brandeis a free kick just outside the 18-foot goal box, but midfielder Corey Bradley's '10 shot bounced off the inside of the post.

"He missed it by about 2/10 of an inch," Coven said. "I mean, it was that close."

Coven believes that the Judges, who have not won a game since Sept. 22, have what it takes to turn the season around but recognizes the team's struggles and inexperience.

"We haven't put together 90 minutes of good soccer. We'll play a good half and a bad half, or 60 minutes of good soccer and 30 of not-so-good soccer," he said. "To beat UAA teams you have to play a full game. It's a sign of a young team-we start five or six freshmen-and these guys are playing schools that are top 25 teams in the country. It takes time to get used to the level of play, and we're doing pretty well considering the circumstances."

Brandeis will host Springfield College tomorrow at 7 p.m.