Coaches usually like having a more difficult schedule. It comes with accolades and recognition regardless of wins and losses. Coach Mike Coven says he's happy his team plays one of the hardest schedules in the country, but it's hard to understand his logic at the moment.The Judges endured their hardest week of the season, losing three straight games on the road, all to nationally-ranked opponents. The Judges lost to host Washington University of St. Louis (no. 26) on Sunday after dropping games to the University of Chicago (no. 12) on Friday, and Wheaton College (no. 7) Wednesday.

The Judges have lost four games in a row, dropping to 6-9 for the season, 1-3 in the UAA. Needing to win all four games left in the season to finish above .500, the Judges hopes for the NCAA tournament are as good as lost. The Judges will likely need to win out to have a chance at an ECAC tournatment bid.

It was a forgettable close to a disastrous week for the Judges on Sunday as they finished out their road trip with a 1-0 loss to Washington University. It was the fifth shutout loss suffered by the Judges this season as the Judges managed only three shots the entire game. The Bears scored the only goalof the game five minutes in when Rob Weeks scored on a header off a cross pass from John Horky. Judges goalkeeper Matt Kaplan '05 made three saves in the loss. Mike Pio '05 had the only shot on goal for the Judges who have endured scoring woes for weeks.

"We're playing the best soccer I've had a Brandeis team play in four or five years," Coven said. We just can't seem to score."

Before taking on the Bears the Judges were looking for their second conference win against the University of Chicago on Friday. The Maroons are ranked 14th in the country and the Judges found out why. Pio scored the only goal the Maroons had allowed in six games, but it was not enough as the Judges fell again, 2-1. Yuval Ezer '06 and Scott Zacharoff '07 each had two shots, but Maroon goalkeeper Keith Crum had six saves to send the Judges away with the loss. Chicago outshot the Judges 18-12 for the game.

It was more of the same in the Judges first game of their road trip. The Judge took 11 shots but never found the back of the net as they dropped another shutout, this time at the hands of Wheaton College, 1-0 last Wednesday. Ranked no. 7 nationally and riding a 10 game unbeaten streak into Wednesday's game, the Lyons posted the lone goal in the 33rd minute. The Judges struggled throughout the game offensively and faced a 12-3 shot deficit at halftime.

The Judges turned it up a notch in the second half, as the offense was able to sustain the attack in Wheaton territory for most of the half. The Judges had eight shots and five corner kicks in the second half, but never converted. The team had a couple good scoring opportunities early in the second half but was unable to convert. Brandeis had one more chance to send the game to overtime with a corner kick with five seconds remaining, but a header by Ezer sailed over the crossbar.

"We dominated most of the game," Coven said. "We missed goals by fractions of an inch."

The Judges begin the closing stretch of their season when they host Springfield College tomorrow at 3 p.m. The Judges then have the rest of the week off before finishing up their conference schedule with games against Emory, Carnegie Mellon and NYU. Despite the challenges the Judges have faced, Coven is forever confident in his players.

"I have a tremendous amount of confidence in these guys," Coven said. "They work hard, they never give up. They stand by each other and off the field. These guys deserve to win. It's unfortunate we have this horrendous record because it's deceiving. We're a great soccer team."

"We lose focus for only a few minutes each game and that's where we lose," Zacharoff said. "Physically we're there, mentally we're not. We're easily capable of winning the rest of our UAA games if we play 90 minutes of soccer.