A corner kick by Wabash found the foot of freshman David Wood (Indianapolis, IN/Lawrence Central), leading to the game-winning goal by the Little Giants in their 3-2 victory over Anderson University in men’s soccer on Wednesday afternoon.
Freshman Chris Serak (Avon, IN/Avon) lifted the corner kick toward the Anderson goal where Ben Esbaum (SO/Cicero, IN/Hamilton Heights) tapped it toward the net. The shot cleared the goalkeeper and worked its way to Wood, who fired the ball into the goal for the eventual game winner.
Serak put the Little Giants on the scoreboard in the 32nd minute, heading a shot over the Anderson goalkeeper after taking a perfect pass from senior Morgan Patchell (Kalamazoo, MI/Loy Norrix) (photo left). Eleven minutes later it was Patchell’s turn to score. The senior forward collected a corner kick taken by senior co-captain Tom Reifenberg (Ft. Wayne, IN/Bishop Dwenger) and blasted a shot through the Ravens’ defense to give Wabash a 2-0 lead.
Anderson responded with two goals in the first 16 minutes of the second half to tie the match at 2-2 before Wood’s heroics gave Wabash its third victory of the season.
The Little Giants outshot Anderson 19-16 and had 11 shots on goal to only six for the Ravens. Junior Will McAdams (Carmel, IN/Carmel) made four saves in net for Wabash.
The Little Giants (3-5-1, 1-1 NCAC) are back at Mud Hollow Field on Saturday for a North Coast Athletic Conference match against Oberlin College at 1 p.m.