A great first half turned into a Homecoming disaster for the Wabash soccer team. The Little Giants watched a 2-0 halftime lead become a 6-2 loss to Denison at Mud Hollow Field Saturday afternoon.
Wabash scored its first goal in the 10th minute when Austin Jennings dropped a pass from Dylan Andrew into the net for Jennings' fourth goal of the season. Ian Kelly added a second goal when he beat the Denison goalkeeper to the ball with time winding down in the first period and scored his first goal of the year.
The second half was all Denison. The Big Red put five shots into the net in the span of 10 minutes to take a 5-2 lead. A sixth goal with five minutes left in the contest gave Denison its highest number of goals scored in a half in 13 seasons.
"It really was the tale of two games," head coach Roberto Giannini said. "We scored two good goals, we moved the ball around well. Then in the second half we collapsed. We just gave up physically and mentally. We looked tired and unfocused. Maybe our focus was on other activities of Homecoming and not on the game we had to play Saturday. We just weren't there.
"This is really disappointing. It's the most disappointing game of the season, not because of the result but because of our play. Now we have to put this behind us, learn from this game and focus on each game from this point forward."
The loss moves Wabash to 4-4-1 for the season and 1-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The Little Giants play a non-conference match at home against Hanover College on Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m.