The men’s lacrosse team took home the 18-9 win in an NCAC conference game against rival Wabash College Little Giants. The win moves the Tigers to a 4-6 overall record and a 1-2 conference record.
First-year defender Donny Bleifuss said his first experience playing against the rival opponent was unlike any other game he's played.
“I was surprised in the amount of energy it brings to you. I had never seen our team so amped up and excited to take the field versus an opponent," Bleiffus said. "The energy was nothing but positive. ...You could feel the excitement that the team had and when others are pumped, it gets you even more fired up.”
The game was neck and neck for a good portion of the first period with the score locked at 2-2.
Luckily, the Tigers were able to convert two more goal before the period came to a close.
The second period got off to a racing start with back to back goals from first-year attack Steen Jorgensen and another from sophomore midfielder Andrew Wright.
The Tigers took the 8-3 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Little Giants found some momentum coming out of the break, narrowing their margin to just four.
But the Tigers were able claim four of the last five goals to end the third period with a score of 13-6.
The final period saw a very similar story line, with the Little Giants again closing the gap to four until junior midfielder Grant Skipper, first-year attack Austin MacDonald, sophomore midfielder Ben Sherman and Wright each scored DePauw’s final five goals to secure their victory.
“Scoring in the rivalry game was a great feeling. The team was playing well and the game was really high energy,” MacDonald said.
Wright had a huge performance for the Tigers, scoring five goals while Skipper had 14 ground balls and won 21 out of 29 faceoffs.
Skipper noted that, although the Tigers were able to dominate play, the Little Giants brought a much stronger team than the last match up.
“It was a good win. Wabash recruited pretty strongly, they were much better than last year,” Skipper said. “Both teams fought hard. You could really tell how focused our guys were throughout the entire game.”
The team hopes to continue its success in conference play this weekend.
The Tigers will be traveling to Wooster College this Saturday to take on the Scotts in another heated NCAC battle.