BABSON PARK, Mass. — Prior to its second-round game Sunday in the NCAA Division III men’s soccer tournament, St. Joseph’s College had played 1,360 minutes since it last trailed.

Brandeis brought that streak to a halt and broke the Monks’ 20-game unbeaten streak, posting a 3-0 victory.

Because the Monks (15-2-6) invariably play with a lead, having to rally put them in an unusual position.

“We were never scored on, so we were never put in that situation,” Monks Coach Adrian Dubois said. “We trained the last two months on how we would compete being behind. Today, we implemented it a little bit, and we were trying to crawl back.

“The guys gave extra effort. Strategically, we were spot on. But soccer’s a chess match. If some things go wrong, it’s tough to come back.”

Things started to go wrong in the 25th minute when Brandeis’ Evan Jastremski lined a shot from inside the box that was blocked by keeper Blake Mullen (two saves). But Mike Lynch banged home the rebound to give the Judges (12-5-3) a 1-0 lead.

Just six minutes later, Josh Ocela’s corner kick deflected off a Monks defender, which forced Mullen to punch the ball away. But Thales Brito got to the loose ball and put it into lower-left corner for a 2-0 lead at halftime.

“We gave up a couple of silly mistakes, and a good team of their caliber is going to punish you,” Dubois said. “My guys worked hard. But when you give up a silly mistake in a bad area or you lose a marker for a second, especially against a team with so much experience, those guys will punish you.

“At the top level, anytime you make a mistake the top players are going to punish you. You’ve got to limit mistakes. But our work rate was great and we gave them a run for their money early on. I’m most proud of how hard they worked the entire game. Not a single player gave up.”

Whatever chance the Monks had of rallying evaporated in the 52nd minute when Patrick Flahine lofted a direct kick into the box and Zach Vieira one-timed it past Mullen.

St. Joseph’s reached the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time, and their 15 wins were a school record.

“I’ve been in the program since Coach Dubois got here,” said senior captain Sean Bell. “I’ve been here through the thick and thin. We’ve had our rough seasons and we’ve been building to this point. Everybody just bought into the mentality that we’re going to work hard, work for each other and do the best that we can do.

“That’s the mentality we had. I always say work as a team, play for each other, and everybody bought into that. Nobody’s heads were down even though we were down 2-0 at halftime. It stinks to lose, but getting to the second round of the NCAAs, you couldn’t have asked for a better season.”