A late rally fell short for the Wabash soccer team Tuesday night in a 4-3 loss at Centre College.
 
The defeat ended a nine-game unbeaten streak by the Little Giants to open the season.
 
Wabash took a 2-1 lead into halftime. Nikola Kajmakoski opened the scoring for the Little Giants, tallying his team-leading sixth goal of the season in the 26^th minute. Centre (5-4-1) evened the score less than two minutes later off an attempt by Noah Wesley-Chevalier. The Little Giants regained the lead in the final minute of the first period. Max Rowley scored his first goal since returning to the lineup from an injury by placing a penalty kick in the back of the net for 2-1 lead.
 
The second half belonged to the Colonels. Wesley-Chevalier notched his second goal of the night and the season on a free kick to even the score at 2-2 five minutes into the final period. He completed the hat trick seven minutes later, finishing a breakaway attempt from teammates Christian Gateskill and Jacob Winkler for a 3-2 lead. The Colonels increased their advantage to two goals in the 68^th minute when Christian Gateskill converted a penalty kick.
 
Kajmakoski drew Wabash to within one on his seventh goal of the season with less than seven minutes left in the match, but the Little Giants could not tie the match.
 
"Tonight was a tale of two halves," Wabash head coach Chris Keller said. "We probably played our best half of soccer in the first 45 minutes. Our ball movement was solid. We created opportunities. Unfortunately we gave up two set-piece goals --- one in each half. We tend not to give up set-piece goals so that was frustrating.
 
"Overall we played good soccer today. Centre found a way to punish us on opportunities they created off our mistakes. I give them a lot of credit. We were able to get close at the end but didn't do enough and had too many lapses to come out with a victory."
 
Wabash finished with 14 total shots and eight attempts on goal, one shy of Centre in both categories.
 
Dayton Jennings recorded five saves in addition to picking up his first assists on Kajmakoski's final goal.
 
The Little Giants (8-1-1) take on Ohio Wesleyan University Saturday at noon at Mud Hollow Stadium as part of the annual Wabash Homecoming celebration.