Wabash closed to within a goal of DePauw two times in the second half of Wednesday's North Coast Athletic Conference men's lacrosse game. The Little Giants could not find the equalizing goal in an 11-9 loss to the visiting Tigers at Fischer Field.
 
Wabash (8-5, 1-4 NCAC) trailed 3-1 at the end of the first period after Jake Pippen scored for the Little Giants with 12 seconds left in the opening period. Wabash surrendered a goal to DePauw (8-6, 2-4 NCAC) to open the second period before rallying for consecutive goals from Sam Santiago and Christian Dybedock. The Tigers closed out the half with a goal to take a 5-3 advantage at the break.
 
DePauw scored the first goal of the third period to move in front 6-3 before Artie Rogers and Dybedock responded with goals to trim the lead to 6-5. The Tigers added another goal in the period, but Santiago came back with his second goal of the contest to cut the lead to 7-6 heading into the final 15 minutes of action.
 
The Tigers took a 9-6 lead with a pair of goals in the first four minutes of the fourth period. Will Sorg tallied his lone goal of the match to cut the advantage to 9-7 with 11:07 left to play. Dybedock answered another DePauw score with his third goal of the contest on a man-advantage opportunity to draw Wabash back to within two goals at 10-8 with 3:57 left on the clock. DePauw scored 46 seconds later for an 11-8 lead. Quinn Fitzgerald added the match's final goal with 1:58 remaining, but Wabash could not get any closer in the 11-9 loss.
 
Fitzgerald finished with a goal and two assists for Wabash. Dybedock added an assist to go with his three goals. Rogers also tallied two assists in the loss.
 
Wabash put up 36 total shots, while DePauw finished with 39. Little Giant goalkeeper Colin Krekeler made seven saves. Luka DiFilippo won 11 of 19 faceoff attempts and collected a team-best ten ground balls. Wabash recorded seven caused turnovers, with Quinn Shefferly, Luca Flaim, and Evan Stonis each finishing with two apiece.
 
The nine Wabash goals match the most scored by a Little Giant team in ten meetings between the two teams, while the 11 DePauw goals are the fewest scored by the Tigers in a game in the history of the rivalry.
 
Wabash travels to Oberlin, Ohio, on Saturday to play the Oberlin College Yeomen in a 1 p.m. contest.