Southern Indiana Today

Wabash Lacrosse Opens East Coast Tour Against Virginia Wesleyan

The Wabash College lacrosse team began its spring break trip to Virginia Sunday with a game against Virginia Wesleyan University Sunday afternoon. The Little Giants used a seven-goal second period to claim a halftime lead, but the host Marlins scored seven in the third and another seven in the fourth, giving Wabash its first loss of the season in a 22-17 final.

 

Wabash (4-1) jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Artie Rogers, Josh Taylor, and Ethan Stonis. Taylor added a second goal in the opening period, but Virginia Wesleyan (3-1) scored five goals in the first 15 minutes of play to take a 5-4 lead.

 

Wabash opened the second period with another three-goal barrage. Sam Santiago tied the game at 5-5 with his first of three goals on the afternoon. Lucas Cunningham put the Little Giants in front 6-5 with his first goal of the season. Stonis scored his second goal of the game to provide a 7-5 advantage. Rogers and Santiago added two more goals after the Marlins found the back of the net to provide a 9-6 edge in favor of Wabash. Quinn Fitzgerald added a second-period goal before Jake Pippen tallied the final goal of the period to put the Little Giants in front 11-8 at halftime.

 

The Marlins rallied in the second half by scoring the first three goals of the third period to tie the score at 11-11. Pippen answered with his second goal of the match to give Wabash the lead again. Virginia Wesleyan responded with four more goals in the period for a 15-13 lead heading into the final 15 minutes of the game.

 

Santiago scored in the first three minutes of the fourth period to answer a goal by the Marlins. Stonis added two more goals to tie the score at 16-16 with 9:46 left to play in regulation. Mark Spagrue scored the next three goals for VWU before Pippen scored the Little Giants' final goal with 5:44 left to play, but the Marlins closed with three goals for the 22-17 victory.

 

Stonis led the Little Giants with four goals. Pippen scored three goals and handed out three assists. Santiago also scored three goals. Fitzgerald gave out four assists, along with scoring two goals.

 

Wabash put 28 shots on goal compared to 43 by VWU. The Little Giants converted one of its five extra-man opportunities, while the Marlins scored on one of their three extra-man chances.

 

Luka DiFilippo won 21-of-43 faceoffs for Wabash and led the Little Giants with 12 ground balls. Jack Bohrer forced two turnovers for the Little Giants. Braeden Cooper recorded 21 saves.

 

Wabash continues its week-long East Coast trip with a game Wednesday afternoon against Randolph College at Cape Henry Collegiate in Virginia Beach.

 

Original source can be found here.