The men's soccer team lost their fifth straight game on Tuesday, falling at home against Notre Dame 3-1, dropping their Big East record to 1-5 and their overall record to 3-10-1.
The Pirates have not lost five straight games since the 2007 season, in which they dropped their final five regular season games and eventually lost to St. John's in overtime of their first round Big East tournament matchup.
"It wears on their confidence and after a while it's hard to believe," head coach Manny Schellscheidt said. "We're not going to pack it in until we're mathematically eliminated. We will go down fighting, that's for sure."
Notre Dame senior Steven Perry beat sophomore goalkeeper Michael Kuzan in the 21st minute for his ninth of the season to give the Fighting Irish the 1-0 lead.
The Hall had a 9-5 shot lead entering the second half, but Notre Dame advanced their lead to 2-0 in the 56th minute when junior Michael Rose found the back of the net from 10 yards out.
The Fighting Irish went up 3-0 just minutes later with junior Brendan King's point-blank goal off a long Perry cross.
"There was a little luck of the Irish involved in the way [Notre Dame] got their goals; on the other hand we need to give them credit, when they had chances they finished them," Schellscheidt said.
The Pirates cut the deficit to two on senior Brayan Martinez's goal off of senior Steven Rose's corner kick in the 75th minute. It was Martinez's fifth goal of the season, tying him for first on the team with Rose.
Despite losing, Schellscheidt was impressed by how his players performed.
"I thought that they played their hearts out," Schellscheidt said. "They deserve better than what we got at the end."
The Pirates also dropped their home game against Cincinnati 2-1 on Saturday.
The Hall scored first in the 22nd minute when senior Dritan Sela fired a low shot to the back of the net, snapping a 214-minute scoreless streak for the Pirates.
In the second half, Cincinnati's sophomore Shamar Shelton scored in the 64th minute, beating freshman keeper Kevin Bonder, tying the game 1-1.
The Bearcats went ahead in the 82nd minute, 2-1, on junior Matt Bahner's dribbler that found the back of the net.
Bahner's game winner was an indirect result of Cincinnati's 21-10 shot advantage and the Bearcats' 12 corner kicks, compared to the Pirates' one.
The Hall head to Morgantown, W.Va., to take on the Mountaineers on Saturday.
The Pirates are currently in seventh place of the Blue division in the Big East, trailing sixth-ranked Pittsburgh by 2 points. The top six teams from each division make the Big East Championship tournament.
Matt Bryant can be reached at matthew.bryant@student.shu.edu.
