The day started with a celebration of the careers of five senior soccer players, but by the end of Wednesday match between Wabash and Wittenberg, the Little Giants could only cheer for two late goals in a 5-2 loss to the Tigers.
John Miller, Matt Potasnik, Gary Simkus, Dan Storey, and Blaken Wamsley were all recognized prior to the start of their final home soccer match in a Wabash uniform. Wabash seemed to feed off that energy, putting the first shot on goal with an attempt from Diego Aliaga in the 11th minute. The Little Giants continued match the intensity of the Tigers, not allowing a shot on goal until Joe Zeller forced Miller to make a save in the 21st minute.
Ryan Ruef ended the scoreless tie at 40:02 when he collected a loose ball in front of the Wabash net for a goal and a 1-0 Wittenberg lead.
The second half turned into an offensive explosion for the Tigers. Wittenberg tallied four goals in ten minutes --- including three over a four-minute span of the match --- to move in front 5-0.
"We played pretty good soccer for most of the first half," head coach Roberto Giannini said. "For the last three minutes of the first half and the first 12 minutes of the second half, however, it was like we had a blackout. We didn't move to the ball, we didn't defend, we didn't attack, we just sat and watched. Then we resumed playing and we scored two goals."
The first of the two goals came from freshman Andre Hall, who took a pass from Aliaga and drilled a shot from outside the box that curled into the net. The second came directly in front of the net by Andrew Kapsalis. The sophomore forward pounded a shot into the back of the goal in the 82nd minute after collecting a pass from Christian Krenk.
"I'm proud of the guys and the way they played, but at this level we cannot have the type of blackout we had and expect to win," Giannini said.
Wabash (3-14, 0-8 NCAC) got two shots on goal by Kapsalis, who just missed a second goal near the same spot he scored his first. Wittenberg (12-3-2, 6-1-1 NCAC) finished with 11 shots on goal. Miller recorded four saves for Wabash in his final home match, while junior Devin Moss added two saves coming off the bench for the Little Giants.
The 2007 season concludes this Saturday for Wabash when the team heads to Oberlin College to play the Yeomen in a noon match.
Photo - (l-r) Jon Miller, Gary Simkus, Head Coach Roberto Giannini, Matt Potasnik, Dan Storey, and Blaken Wamsley celebrate Senior Day prior to the start of Wednesday's soccer match versus Wittenberg.