Ever hear the saying, “cute from afar, but far from cute?” Looks can be deceiving and glancing at the men’s soccer team’s 2-3 record, NU fans might get the wrong impression. After the John Byrden Classic in Denver, which included a heartbreaking, double-overtime loss to Air Force on Sunday, along with a 3-0 shutout defeat at the hands of Denver on Friday, the NU men’s soccer team find themselves in an unfamiliar place. It’s been a while since the Huskies, who just two weeks ago were ranked 16th in the nation, have had a losing record. In fact, October 12, 2002, when the Dogs were 5-6-2, was the last time they weren’t .500 or above. This is certainly no time to panic, though. Although the Huskies’ opponents have 16 more shots than they do in the young 2003 season, mere numbers cannot tell the tale. In Sunday’s game against Air Force the Huskies looked to be in control. Sophomore Jay Betley scored 34 seconds into the match on a pass from junior Michael Cipriano to give the Huskies an early edge. It was Cipriano’s team-leading fifth point. However, the Falcons tied the game in the 36th minute on freshman Austin Hoxie’s first career goal. The score would remain knotted at 1-1 for the rest of regulation. Air Force sophomore Daniel Wasson buried the winning tally – and the Huskies’ hearts – at 8:15 of the second overtime period. “It’s a tough loss to swallow, especially coming off a long road trip,” said junior captain Joe Parrish. “But I definitely think Air Force is the best team we’ve played in a while.” That’s not to say NU didn’t have their chances. With just five minutes left in regulation NU had what would have been the winning goal overturned on a questionable call by the referee. “We made some adjustments after Friday’s loss and played very well against Air Force,” said coach Ed Matz. “It wasn’t the best officiated game, however.” In his 11 years of coaching leading up to Sunday, Matz had never received a red card. But, there’s a first for everything. In the second half, after junior Michael Cipriano was taken down from behind while on a breakaway and no penalty kick was awarded, Matz lost his cool and was ejected from the game. “If I got a red card, something must have been wrong,” the coach said. The Huskies were outshot 17-8 by the Falcons, but the box score doesn’t mention that Air Force is one of the most physically fit teams in the country. “I think Air Force out-shoots a lot of teams because they’re so fit,” Matz said. “But I think we had more quality shots.” Air Force goalkeeper Mike Maynard only had to make two saves to earn his first career victory, while NU keeper Sergio Saccoccio posted six saves for the Huskies in the losing effort. ” Serg has been making some terrific saves for us,” Matz said of his sophomore keeper. “The ones that are going in are shots that he really doesn’t have a chance on.” With the win, Air Force improves to 3-3. In Friday’s 3-0 defeat to Denver (2-3-1) at Pioneer Field, NU was out-shot 12-9. Saccoccio made two saves in the match while Denver’s Lami Harmon stopped five shots for the shutout. “I don’t know if it was the flight or the altitude, but we seemed a little sluggish in the first half of Friday’s game,” Matz said. The Huskies entered the second half down by just one goal, but after giving up a quick goal just three minutes into the period, Matz’s boys were deflated. “It’s tough because [Denver] isn’t that good of a team,” said Parrish. “We just played bad and they put it to us.” After a grueling cross-country road trip that ended with such a painful loss against Air Force, can the Dogs keep their heads straight? “Its tough for the players to come off of a four game road trip with a loss like Sunday’s, but the coaching staff and I keep telling them that we’re on the right track,” Matz said. “If we can play as well as we did against Air Force every game, I think we’ll be OK.” On Thursday, the Huskies look to even their record against visiting Quinnipiac. The game starts at 3 p.m. at Parsons Field.