Box Score Ivaylo Mantchev drilled a penalty kick into the net to give Wabash a 1-0 victory against Bluffton University Thursday evening.
The Little Giants pounded 22 total shots in the contest with six on goal, but remained tied at halftime 0-0. A red card called against Bluffton's John Harbeck in the box in the 56th minutes created the one-on-one chance between Mantchev and the goalkeeper. Mantchev hit the PK attempt for the first goal of the season for the Little Giants and third of his career.
"We really dominated play today and had some really good moments offensively," Wabash head coach
Chris Keller said. "We attacked quite a bit, but we needed a little more composure inside the box when we had some opportunities. We should have hit the target a bunch of times.
"The defense played well. We let them stick around and to Bluffton's credit they were very organized and were a scrappy team. We definitely wanted to get the 'W' on the board. Now we have to look forward to another tough test Saturday."
Dayton Jennings made four saves and faced a total of six shots by Bluffton (0-2) in the match, earning his first career victory and shutout as a Wabash goalkeeper.
Mantchev finished with three total shots, with two on net.
Ethan Dove and
Riley Pelton added four shots each with one attempt on goal for both players.
The victory put Wabash even on the season at 1-1. The Little Giants face Rose-Hulman Saturday afternoon at home at 2 p.m. in the first match of the Robbie Dreher Classic. Wabash will play Earlham in the Classic finale Sunday at 2 p.m. at Mud Hollow Stadium.
