The men’s soccer team has not had as successful a week as they would have hoped. On Sunday they lost to Clark University 2-1 in overtime while also dropping their home opener against Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Wednesday 3-2.

The game against the Clark Cougars started off slow, with very little shooting and no scoring in the first half. Clark struck first, getting a goal in the 53rd minute of play. The Judges responded quickly, when forward Matt Peabody ’13 scored in the 71st minute to notch his first collegiate goal with an assist from Sam Ocel ’13.

Those two goals would be the only ones in regulation thanks to some great goalkeeping on both sides, including a save by the Judges’ Matt Lynch ’11 in the final minute of play. Despite the hard fought battle during regulation, the Judges were unable to hold on in overtime. The Cougars scored just six minutes in courtesy of Kyle Klapp ’11.

While the game against Clark was rather quiet with the exception of the three goals, there was significantly more action in the home opener against the WPI Engineers on Wednesday. The Judges dominated the first half, outshooting the Engineers 14-4. Despite all the shooting attempts, Brandeis was only able to get one in the net in the 40th minute. Alexander Farr ’12 knocked in the only goal of the half thanks to an assist from Luke Teece ’12.

WPI came out fighting in the second half an their determination paid off. Engineer Tommy Zajac ’10 took a penalty kick in the 58th minute and put the ball past Lynch to tie the game 1-1. From that point on the Engineers tore the game open. Twenty minutes later Zajac registered his second goal of the game off another penalty kick to give WPI the lead, one which they would not relinquish for the rest of the match. The eventual winning goal came just over two minute later by WPI’s Mike Ford ’11.

The second goal for the Judges came in the 86th minute. Lee Russo ’13 made a header off a pass by Kyle Gross ’11 to bring the game within one. Despite a push in the last minutes, Brandeis could not get another ball past WPI’s goalkeeper. The Judges had twice the number of shots as the Engineers in the game, outshooting the visitors 22-11, but they weren’t able to translate their shots into goals. With the loss Brandeis falls to 0-3-1 while WPI improves to 5-1-0.

The Judges will have a week to work on their strategies and make improvements before hosting MIT Wednesday night at 7 p.m.