PHILADELPHIA, PA - After last week’s 22-12 drubbing at the hands of the Rochester Knighthawks, the Philadelphia Wings lacrosse team bounced back in a big way with a 10-9 overtime victory over the Washington Stealth on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.
After being named Rookie of the Week with a hat-trick against Rochester, first overall draft choice Kevin Crowley quickly got back to work, opening the scoring just 1:18 into the contest.
And he was just getting started.
Just under six minutes later, Crowley beat Washington net-minder Tyler Richards two more times within an eight-second span to complete the hat-trick, match last week’s goal total, and give the Wings an early 3-0 lead.
Looking to stop the bleeding, Washington got tallies from Jeff Zywicki, Brett Hickey and Matt Beers to send the teams into their respective locker rooms all tied up at halftime.
The momentum stuck with the Stealth at the start of the second half, as they grabbed two more quick goals in the first four minutes of the third quarter.
The Wings showed some resilience with two scores by Drew Westervelt, but a Paul Rabil goal at 12:13 secured a one-goal lead for the Stealth through three quarters. Then the fun would being.
Wings veteran Brendan Mundorf put the offense on his back to tie the game up at six. Then he added another before Westervelt got his hat-trick to make it 8-6. They wouldn’t trail again for the rest of the game.
Both team would exchange goals, including Crowley’s fourth of the night, before the final horn sounded on regulation with the scored even at nine apiece.
Washington seemed to be regaining their momentum from the second and third quarters, but an open lane in the Stealth end opened the door for Crowley to fire one past Richards for the fifth time.
Not only did the goal give the Wings a huge home win in front of 8,000-plus fans, but it takes his season goal total to eight goals in just two games, and certainly makes a strong case for another Rookie of the Week award. Heck, that performance might just have been good enough for Player of the Week.
“[My teammates] left me a lane and I buried,” Crowley said when explaining the game-winning play to members of the media in the post game press conference. “I think it was a great character win for our team.”
As a true teammate would, Crowley insisted the win was the result of a full team effort, but that didn’t keep Mouradian from singing his praises after the game.
“He’s a big game player,” the Wings Head Coach and GM said. “He’s may be a rookie in the NLL, but he’s not a rookie at being a game breaker.”
If you’re not going to give the credit to the rookie, then perhaps trying looking at the other end of the floor where goalie Brandon Miller stood on his head, stopping 49 of the 58 shots he faced. A much different man between the pipes than the guy we saw get pulled midway through the third quarter in last weekend’s opener against Rochester.
“This week he was settled in,” Mouradian said about Miller’s game. “This week he was prepared.”
The Wings will leave Philadelphia for the first time this season for a weekend trip up to Buffalo, NY for a date with the divisional rival Bandits. With the offense clicking, and a prepared Miller in net, we should see a 2-1 team when they return home on Saturday, Feb. 4 against the defending NLL Champions, the Toronto Rock.
-BG
