The Wabash soccer team earned a much-needed win against North Coast Athletic Conference rival Wittenberg University Tuesday afternoon, winning the contest 2-0.
 
The Little Giants dominated the opening stretches of play, maintaining possession for most of the first 20 minutes. Stojan Krsteski opened the scoring for Wabash in the 16th minute off of a Francisco Trejo cross. The score line remained stagnant for the remainder of the first half, but, while the scoreboard didn't change, the player count did. In the 32nd minute, Wittenberg's Kyle Helt received his second yellow card, reducing Wittenberg to ten men for the rest of the match.
 
In the early stages of the second half, Wittenberg, despite the man disadvantage, had more chances going forward than they had in the previous 45 minutes. None of the attacks mustered much in the way of a threat to the Little Giant net, but at times Wittenberg put pressure the Little Giants' back four.
 
The final 20 minutes, however, resembled the first, with Wabash pushing forward for long stretches. Mike Gore closed the match just as Krsteski had opened it. He scored unassisted on a beautiful run through the Wittenberg back four with 51 seconds remaining in the match.
 
"We switched some things; we switched the formation," Wabash head coach Chris Keller said. "It gave us more attack. We had been pretty stagnant and I think a lot of teams had a pretty good scouting report on us. So, we definitely changed things up and played pretty well. I think we had opportunities to put three or four away."
 
Wabash outshot Wittenberg 22-4 on the afternoon. Nikola Kajmakoski paced Wabash with five shots on the day. Jacques Boulais, Max Rowley, and Krsteski each had three shots. The performance Tuesday, as evidenced by the stat sheet, was another example of the quality of play by this year's crop of freshmen and sophomores.
 
"It's tough because the entire back four is juniors and the front half of the team is all freshman and sophomores," Keller said. But Mike Gore has done a really good job of leading that group by example with his leadership qualities and some other guys have stepped up there. And I know with the interchange of the five or six freshmen we have going up there we definitely have some energy and they give us something off the bench."
 
Dayton Jennings got the win Tuesday evening. He had one save in the match.
 
Riley Pelton and Rodrigo Porras had the only bookings for Wabash, receiving yellow cards in the 87th and 21st minutes, respectively.
 
As of early Tuesday evening, Wabash sat in fifth place in the NCAC men's soccer standings, with all eight of the remaining NCAC teams in action. Only four teams make the NCAC post-season tournament, so results in the team's final three matches are critical if the Little Giants hope to return to the NCAC tournament this fall.
 
"We need to win every game," Keller said. "Starting with Wooster. We needed three points today. We need three points against Wooster. Without those points, it's going to be score watching and, with a little help, we control our own destiny."
 
Wabash returns to Mud Hollow Stadium for the final time in the regular season this Saturday to face the College of Wooster. The match kicks off 1 p.m. Wabash will honor senior Adam Antalis prior to the start of the contest.