Wabash held a 3-2 lead at halftime before a five-goal third period led to a 9-8 loss to Wilmington College Wednesday night in the Little Giants' home-opening lacrosse game for 2016.
 
Wabash lit the scoreboard first when Steven Stark scored off a pass from Colin Corcoran less than three minutes into the contest. The Quakers (1-1) answered with 5:23 left to play in the opening period, but Billy Bernhardt notched his second goal of the season at the five-minute mark for a 2-1 lead.
 
Spencer Sikes added his third goal of the year in the second period to provide the Little Giants a two-goal advantage. Wilmington followed with two goals, with the second coming with 21 seconds left to play in the first half to tie the game at 3-3. Wabash came right back with a goal from Corcoran in the last eight seconds off a helper from Scott Purucker to take a 4-3 lead at the break.
 
The scoring picked up in the third period with both teams combining for seven goals. Unfortunately for Wabash, the Quakers accounted for five tallies with the only responses coming from Bernhardt and Sterling Sikes.
 
Trailing 8-6 to begin the fourth period, Stark scored his second of the match and team-leading fifth of the season to draw Wabash within a goal with 8:28 left to play. Matt Dugan followed with what would prove to be the game-winner with 4:52 remaining. Purucker took a pass from Bernhardt on the ensuing possession after the faceoff and blasted a shot for his first goal of the year with 4:36 left. Wabash had one point-blank attempt in the closing minutes, only to see the shot snagged by the Quakers' goalkeeper to end the threat.
 
Wabash (0-2) finished with 12 shots on goal, led by three each for Bernhardt and Stark. Samuel Stewart produced 11 saves of the 20 shots on goal he faced. The Little Giants committed just two penalties compared to six for Wilmington, but finished with 25 turnovers against 17 for the Quakers.
 
Wabash travel to Texas this weekend for a pair of games during the team's spring break trip. The Little Giants open the excursion with a game at the University of Dallas Sunday at 1 p.m. (CST).