Wabash opens its sixth varsity lacrosse season this Saturday at Calvin College. The Little Giants and Knights face off at 1 p.m. in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
 
The Little Giants posted five victories last year in head coach Tim O'Shea's first season at the helm. That total matched the most wins in a single season in the history of the program. The 2020 team will need to replace three career goal-scoring leaders in program history who all graduated in 2019.
 
"We lost three 100-goal scorers in Steven Stark (185 career goals), Collin Brennan (178 career goals), and Tucker Dixon (108 career goals) to graduation," O'Shea said. "We also lost some key players on defense. Overall we lost six really good players who contributed a lot to the program. We brought in a pretty strong freshmen class. I can see a lot of those players stepping up this season. As a team we've been focused on trying to get better every day. We've worked on our fundamental skills and our offensive and defensive systems. We've seen some good individual improvement as well as from the team as a whole."
 
Despite the scoring losses, the Little Giants do return some offensive weapons from last season. Junior midfielder AJ Shaheen scored 11 goals with a team-best three game-winning goals in 2019. Sophomore midfielder Joseph Plencner is the team's top returning scorer. He tallied 23 goals and handed out 14 assists for a total of 37 points in his rookie season. Senior Chase Cochran added nine goals and three assists in 2019. Sophomore Drayden Hansen chipped in six goals and five assists in his first collegiate season of lacrosse.
 
"Chase Cochran will probably be one of our main dodgers as an offensive threat from midfield," O'Shea said. "AJ Shaheen is another threat on offense. We're looking for him to contribute more offensively this season. Jake Taylor has battled a knee injury that limited him to five games and three starts last season. He's a great player and a really good inside finisher at attack. Drayden Hansen and Joe Plencner both saw a lot of time on the field for us last year. We're looking for those guys to take that next step and contribute even more offensively. Freshman Ethan Stonis has been a real bright spot for us in practice early in the season. I can see him having a great first season here as the start of a great career at Wabash. He'll play both attack and midfield for us."
 
Defense should be a strength for the Little Giants in 2020. Senior goalkeeper Max Atkins returns for his final season.  Atkins earned a 2018 All-North Coast Athletic Conference Honorable Mention selection as one of the top netminders in the league. Last season Atkins led the NCAC and ranked 43^rd among 248 Division III men's lacrosse programs in saves per game with an average of 13.18. He already owns the Wabash career records for saves (609) and victories (12) through three seasons as the Wabash starter in goal.
 
"Max has been a great goalie for us," O'Shea said. "We're looking forward to him having a great senior season. He's a very vocal leader in the back for us. He brings great experience have played for three previous seasons against the top teams not only in our conference but in all Division III. It's definitely nice to have someone solid between the pipes. We also have a freshman goalie in Luke Paul available as well. He'll probably see some time throughout the course of the season. I think Max will probably be happy about that. It will give Max a bit of a break when games are not in doubt in the closing period."
 
Sophomore Evan Schiefelbein led Wabash in caused turnovers last season with 32. He ranked fourth in the NCAC and 73 in Division III as a freshman defender. Cochran scooped up a team-best 63 ground balls and caused 19 turnovers in 2019 in his role at midfield.  
 
"Our defense was a strength last year as a unit," said O'Shea. "We see the same thing through the early going this year. We lost some key seniors in players like Aaron Elsing, John Rodgers, and Zach Larue.We'll have some freshmen stepping in to fill some of those roles. I'm looking for another pretty solid defensive year in 2020."
 
Wabash was picked to finish ninth in the conference in the NCAC preseason poll. The Little Giants start with three road contests before opening the home portion of the season against Albion College March 5 at 4 p.m. Wabash will face the first-year program from Allegheny College at home on March 21 at 12 p.m. to begin conference play.