Wabash battled back from a 2-1 deficit before losing 3-2 in overtime to the Hope College Saturday afternoon at Mud Hollow Field in the final match of the Wabash/DePauw Soccer Classic.
A goal by Greg Ridenour (Ft. Wayne, IN/Canterbury) tied the match at 2-2 in the 83rd minute. Neither team scored in the final seven minutes of regulation, sending the match to a ten-minute, sudden death overtime period.
Hope’s Dan Tresslar ended the match with the game-winner with 2:11 remaining in the extra period, taking a pass from Daniel Chesney to end the contest. Tresslar also added two assists on the earlier Hope goals for a four-point day.
We have to keep working hard and we have to make good decisions as a team.--- Head Coach Vernon Mummert
The Flying Dutchmen went up 1-0 12 minutes into the match when Tresslar passed to Geoff Meyer. Meyer found Karter Klingenberg open in front with a pass, and Klingenberg blasted home the shot for the opening goal. Wabash tied the match at the 37-minute mark when freshman George Padgitt battled for a loose ball and raced from the midfield stripe to the front of the Hope goal, pounding a shot past goalkeeper Kevin Butterfield make it 1-1.
Klingenberg broke the tie at 52:17 off a pass from Tresslar to make it 2-1 in favor of the Dutchmen. But Wabash would even the score again when Gary Simkus (Highland, IN/Highland) (right) deflected a pass to Ridenour in front of the net. Ridenour lifted a shot over the goalkeeper for his first goal of the season while giving the Little Giants a 2-2 tie.
Wabash had one shot in the extra period, but it was blocked by the Hope defense. The Little Giants finished with eight shots in the contest, while Hope had 21. Senior goaltender Will McAdams (Carmel, IN/Carmel) made three saves while facing six shots on goal. Butterfield made two saves in four attempts.
"We continue to make strides," said Wabash head coach Vernon Mummert. "I can see improvement even from yesterday’s loss against Kalamazoo to today’s match against Hope. We have to keep working hard and we have to make good decisions as a team. I felt like I had to do a little too much coaching today. Some of things I was reminding our players of we’ve worked on in practice. We have to make the transition from practice to the game. We’re a young team. We’ll make that transition."
Wabash (0-2) will return to action Tuesday afternoon with a 4 p.m. contest at home against Rose-Hulman.