ABILENE, Texas - Southwestern allowed three first half goals and could not recover all the ground they lost as they fell to the University of Texas-Dallas 3-1 on Friday afternoon.

It took just 40 seconds for the Comets to take control of the game as Michael Darrow scored his second goal of the year, unassisted, to force the Pirates to play from behind. The goal sparked life into Southwestern as SU rattled off shots, but the UTD defense held strong and blocked or saved all the attempts the Pirates took.

After an offside call on Southwestern and mass substitutions by both teams, UT Dallas struck again to put SU down two, 2-0. Another Comet goal in the 41^st minute sent the Pirates into halftime down three, 3-0.

Southwestern opened the second half strong as Timothy Eamma set the tone with a corner kick and shot just wide of the goal less than 10 minutes into the frame. Action bounced back and forth across the field as both teams attacked aggressively, but it wasn't until just seconds before the final buzzer sounded that Southwestern got on the board. Michael Olivares scored his first goal as a Pirate, unassisted, to make the final 3-1.

UT Dallas took the shot count 15-9 but the Pirates had six corner kick opportunities while allowing just one. Daniel Poole posted four saves on the afternoon.

The loss drops Southwestern to 1-2 on the year. They remain in Abilene to face Hardin-Simmons University on Saturday at 5 p.m.