Saturday afternoon saw Wesleyan men’s soccer sputter on offense, as they lost 1-0 to the Trinity College Bantams. The defeat at the hands of their conference rival brings the Cardinals’ record to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in NESCAC, while dropping them to last place in the conference’s standings.

Unfortunately, the Cards were unable to carry over the momentum from Wednesday’s 2-1 upset over Wheaton College, who had been ranked seventh in New England and 23rd nationally. Instead, the Cardinals reverted back to a familiar pattern of play as they outshot Trinity by a convincing margin of 16-9, yet failed to convert. Only five of the Cards’ shots were on goal, and Trinity goalie Grant Schonberg ’12 made four saves.

While Wesleyan controlled the pace of the game in the first half, the tides quickly turned. Trinity regained their footing after the break, garnering a quick succession of convincing offensive drives. In the 52nd minute, Trinity forward Dan Mayernick ’12 received a pass from the left side that he headed toward the Wesleyan net. Cardinal goalie Adam Purdy ’13 blocked the attempt, but the rebound went back to Mayernick who buried it in the right side for what proved to be the game-winner.

In spite of the disappointing result, several Cardinals exhibited stellar play on the afternoon. Rory O’Neill ’13 had an exceptional game at center midfield, and forward Walter Rodriguez ’13 took two shots on goal, one of which was blocked at the goal line by a diving Mayerneck.

While Wesleyan has dug themselves into a bit of a hole in the standings at the halfway point of the regular season, all is far from lost. The Cards have seven games remaining, five of which are against NESCAC competitors. Stay tuned as they attempt to right things this Tuesday, as they travel to New London to take on the Coast Guard Academy Bears at 7 p.m.