It didn't take long for the Judges newly-formed dynamic duo to show it's flair. Now all the have to do is keep that fire burning.
Just two minutes and five seconds into their first game together, Shelton Stewart '06 and Yuval Ezer '07 teamed up for assists. Ezer passed ahead to Stewart, who threaded a perfect feed to Charles Goodhue '06 who headed it into the goal from the left side. Unfortunately, it was the only goal the Judges could muster all game, falling 2-1 to host Endicott College in the season opener.
"We didn't have the players who wanted to win today," co-captain Joe Jorge '05 said. "We didn't deserve to win."
Endicott College sports a beautiful athletic field classily built on the side of a large rock base, but the Judges saw little beauty in defeat. After holding the Gulls scoreless throughout the first half, the Judges collapsed in the second half. Beaten to lose balls and broken down defensively, the Judges gave up both goals in the second half.
With just over 25 minutes remaining, Endicott freshman Doug Linblad threaded the ball into the corner of the net, just past Judges goalie Pat Madridakis '06. Fifteen minutes later, with the Judges still unable to get any quality shots, Endicott sophomore Brian Thompsey broke lose near the goal and found himself in a one-on-one situation with Madridakis. Madridakis tried to charge Thompsey, but the forward lofted a ball over the goalies head to put Gulls ahead for good.
"We just didn't have enough wind in our sails the second half," Coach Mike Coven said. "I don't know whether it's fitness or lack of intensity. But we got beat to every fifty-fifty ball and they outran us from the moment the second half started. We stopped defending and if you don't defend you lose."
As the Judges were leaving the field, Madridakis was screaming at the top of his lungs.
"We learn from this," he shouted. "Never again."
"I was just trying to tell the guys this can't happen," Madridakis said. "We can't lose games to teams we should be beating. We did that last season and I'm sick of it.
It was a physical game which saw several yellow cards and injuries. It was a scary moment with nine minutes gone by in the second half when Ezer was taken down near midfield. Ezer grasped his shin and took a moment to get up, but continued to play. Later in the half Goodhue collided with an Endicott player near midfield and left the game for several minutes. Mike Pio '05 showed his frustration with a minute and a half left, pushing over a Gull player near the Endicott goal. Pio was only given a yellow card for what should likely have been a red card penalty.
The Judges will look to rebound from the loss with two home games this week. The Judges host Wentworth Tech, Thursday at 4 p.m., and Clark University, Saturday at 1 p.m. The Wentworth Leopards are 0-2 after falling to Babson College and Massachusetts Maritime College. The Clark Cougars are 2-0 after defeated both Anna Maria College and Rhode Island College.