ELSAH, IL – In a hard-fought contest on their home turf, the Principia College men's soccer team suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of Wabash College on Monday evening. Despite a valiant effort to stage a comeback, a late goal by Wabash sealed the Panthers' fate in an intense early-season battle.
The game got off to a blistering start with the Little Giants taking the lead on a beautiful passing sequence less than two minutes in. Wabash's Bruno Zamora delivered a cross into the box to Bryce Kinnaman who headed the ball back across the box to find Jose Escalante whose diving header found the back of the net.
The Panthers quickly regrouped and began to assert themselves, gradually building momentum as the game progressed. Principia's persistent effort finally paid off in the 75th minute when
Effenberg Joya delivered a moment of magic. From a few yards outside the box, Joya gathered a pass from
Oscar Carpio and fired a precise shot into the top right corner to level the score at 1-1 and send huge cheers throughout the home crowd.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, as both teams battled in search of a decisive goal, Wabash's Alfredo Campos broke the deadlock with just three minutes to go. Campos pounced on a deflection from the Panther defense slotted home the ball into the far post to give the Little Giants a 2-1 victory.
Principia demonstrated improvement from their loss last Saturday and showed a lot of heart to fight back into the game and equalize before the eventual winner. The Panthers will take the lessons from the defeat and look to build off the positives to come back stronger in their next home game this coming Saturday at 3:00 PM against Rose-Hulman.
