The Wabash lacrosse team completed its spring break trip to Alabama Thursday evening with a game at Birmingham Southern University. The Little Giants stayed with BSU through the opening 30 minutes, but an eight-goal third period lead to a 17-8 loss by Wabash on the road.
 
The Little Giants (2-3) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of goals in the first four minutes of play. Collin Brennan scored his first of two goals in the game to put Wabash up 2-0. Steven Stark followed less than a minute later with a goal assisted by Chase Cochran to provide a 2-0 lead for the Little Giants.
 
Birmingham Southern responded with four goals over the course of the remaining ten minutes of the period to move in front 4-2. Joseph Plencner ended the scoring run with a goal in the first minute of the second period off a pass from Tucker Dixon to cut lead to 4-3. Brennan added his second goal to the contest at 4-4 with 12 minutes remaining in the opening half.
 
Birmingham Southern (4-2) took a 6-4 lead with back-to-back goals before Stark scored for the second time in the game off a second assist by Dixon. The host Panthers added another goal in the final minute before halftime, but Jake Taylor scored with one second on the game clock to cut the lead to one goal at 7-6 at the break.
 
Dixon evened the score at the start of the second half with his team-leading 12^th goal of the season for a 7-7 score. The Birmingham Southern offense ignited at that point of the game, scoring nine goals over the next 12 minutes to take a commanding 16-7 lead. Plencner added a final goal for Wabash with ten minutes remaining in the contest but the Little Giants could not get any closer before losing by nine goals in the end.
 
Dixon led the Little Giants with seven total shots and five shots on goal. Birmingham Southern outshot Wabash 59-22 and managed 42 shots on goal compared to 17 for the Little Giants. Max Atkins finished with 25 saves in the contest. He and Aaron Elsing shared the team lead in ground balls with five apiece. Atkins and Evan Schiefelbein were credited with the only two caused turnovers in the game by the Wabash defense. John Rodgers picked up nine faceoff wins for the Little Giants.
 
Wabash heads north for its next game on Saturday, March 16 at Hope College. The game starts at 1 p.m.