Wabash struggled to overcome an early first-quarter deficit Saturday afternoon, dropping a 14-5 North Coast Athletic Conference home contest to DePauw University at Fischer Field at Mud Hollow Stadium.
The Little Giants (2-8, 0-2 NCAC) fell behind 8-1 after the opening 15 minutes before regrouping over the final three quarters. Sam Santiago sparked the late offense with a hat trick, while Zach McMichael and Jake Pippen each added goals.
DePauw (5-5, 1-2 NCAC) seized control early. Oscar Kokke opened the scoring at 12:55 of the first quarter with an unassisted goal, then added another at 11:07 to make it 2-0. Hudson Murray scored off a Brody Carlson assist at 9:55, and Alex Sharma converted a feed from Jack Neff at 8:48 to push the Tigers in front 4-0.
Neff followed with back-to-back goals, first unassisted at 7:36 and then off a Noah Sulpizio assist at 6:19, extending the margin to 6-0. Wabash answered at 4:42 when McMichael finished a pass from Will Sorg to get the Little Giants on the board. Neff struck again unassisted at 3:17, and Cooper Kinney added another unassisted score at 2:45 to close the quarter with DePauw leading 8-1.
The Tigers stretched the lead to 10-1 in the second quarter on goals by Sulpizio at 10:15 and 3:56, the latter assisted by Kokke. Wabash’s defense settled in after the fast start, holding DePauw to two goals in the second, third, and fourth quarters.
Neff opened the third-quarter scoring at 13:15, and Carter Cassidy scored short-handed off a Jack Brand assist at 10:37 to make it 12-1. Wabash began to chip away when Santiago scored unassisted at 4:01.
The Little Giants carried that momentum into the fourth quarter as Santiago scored twice in the opening 84 seconds, first at 14:21 and again at 13:37, cutting the deficit to 12-4. DePauw answered quickly when Neff scored off an assist from Nolan Childs at 13:17. Pippen later converted a feed from Evan Bair at 6:49, but Kokke closed the scoring with his fourth goal of the game at 1:03.
Santiago led Wabash with three goals on eight shots, while McMichael produced a goal and an assist. Pippen added a goal, and Bair and Sorg each finished with assists. Logan Miltner was dominant at the faceoff X, winning 17 of 20 draws as the Little Giants claimed 19 of the game’s 22 faceoffs.
Wabash finished with a 37-36 edge in ground balls and nearly matched DePauw in shots, 38-34. The Tigers capitalized on Wabash’s 30 turnovers, however, compared to 17 for DePauw. Colin Krekeler recorded seven saves in goal for the Little Giants.
Wabash returns to action at 4 p.m. Wednesday at home against Denison University.
