"I was dissappointed in the start of the match," said Perry. "Hanover has improved from last year, but we still needed to play better and keep them out of the front of the goal early."
The Little Giants were unable to keep the mouth of the goal clear as Hanover's Jake Jacobs turned and fired a shot just inside the left post to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead midway through the first half.
The Hanover goal seemed to bring the Little Giants to life. Five minutes after the Panthers broke the scoreless tie, Wabash got a goal from freshman forward Chase Lamm (Brownsburg, IN/Brownsburg). Lamm took a pass from sophomore Morgan Patchell (Kalamazoo, MI/Loy Norrix) and dribbled past the goalie to tie the match at 1-1.
The Little Giants made it 2-1 just four minutes later when Lamm and Patchell worked the ball upfield. Lamm fired a shot that was blocked to the front of the goal where sophomore Tom Reifenberg (Ft. Wayne, IN/Bishop Luers) snagged the rebound. Reifenberg blasted a shot into the back of the net, giving the Little Giants the lead they would never relinquish.
Reifenberg was on the front end of the next Wabash goal as he found senior forward Carlos Aguirre (Indianapolis, IN/Ben Davis) on the left side of the net. Aguirre slammed a shot past the goalie to put the Little Giants up 3-1.
Hanover responded with a goal late in the first half to cut the Wabash advantage to one goal at halftime.
"We passed the ball well late in the first half," said Perry, who saw his team equal its victory total from last season with the win. "Now we need to learn how to put a match away when we have a lead."
Wabash did manage to add a late goal in the final three minutes when freshman Aaron Kunkle (Ft. Wayne, IN/Concordia Lutheran) took a pass from Aguirre that beat the Panthers' defense. Kunkle juked past the the goalie and fired, scoring the last goal of the match.
Sophomore John Taggart (Carmel, IN/Hampton Roads Academy) earned the victory as the goalkeeper for Wabash. He made four saves while facing 14 shots.
The Little Giants jump over the .500-mark, moving to 5-4 with the win. Wabash will return to play in the North Coast Athletic Conference on Saturday with a match at the College of Wooster.