Southern Indiana Today

Fast Start Gives Wabash Lacrosse Best Start Ever

The Wabash College lacrosse team won its fourth consecutive game on Wednesday with an 18-2 victory over Earlham College for the longest winning streak to start a season in program history.

 

Wabash (4-0) won its first three games in 2021 before losing against Hanover. The Little Giants began a varsity lacrosse program in 2015.

 

Wabash also tied an NCAA record for the second consecutive game. Sophomore Luka DiFilippo became the 26th player in NCAA Division III history to win all of his faceoff attempts. DiFilippo finished 21-of-21 at the dot to become the third North Coast Athletic Conference player to achieve that mark. Denison's Henry DeCamp went 21-for-21 against DePauw in 2018. Thomas Nelson from Kenyon finished 24-of-24 last week versus Baldwin Wallace.

 

The Little Giants started the scoring early. Fresh off his NCAA record-tying 13-goal effort, Quinn Fitzgerald found the back of the cage in the first 50 seconds off a pass from Ethan Stonis to put Wabash up 1-0. Artie Rogers added his first goal of the game a minute later, taking a pass from Evan Stonis for the score. The Little Giants tallied six goals in the opening period. Rogers scored two more times, with Ethan Stonis and Jake Pippen each scoring, as well.

 

Sam Santiago, Pippen, and Ethan Stonis added three more goals to start the second period, pushing the Little Giants' lead to 9-1. Josh Taylor netted a goal before Santiago closed the half with his second goal for an 11-1 Wabash lead at the break.

 

Ethan Stonis added two more goals in the third period for a four-goal afternoon. Pippen scored again in the third and added a fourth goal in the final period. Josh Taylor completed the scoring with his second goal of the game to provide the 18-2 final.

 

Wabash outshot Earlham (2-2) 57 to 28 and put 30 shots on goal compared to 14 by the visiting Quakers. The Little Giants converted their only man-up opportunity with Taylor's first goal. The Quakers went 0-3 on extra-man chances.

 

Braeden Cooper recorded 12 saves and limited Earlham to two goals on 14 shots on goal.

 

Lucas Cunningham and Rogers paced the defense, with both players causing two turnovers. Evan Stonis scooped up a team-high 12 ground balls.

 

Wabash begins a three-game series in Virginia during the College's spring break with a Sunday afternoon contest at Virginia Wesleyan University at 1 p.m.

Original source can be found here.