Stealth Fall to Wings 16-13
March 15, 2008 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
San Jose Stealth News Release
The San Jose Stealth refused to be intimidated by the East-leading Philadelphia Wings at Wachovia Center, but they lost nevertheless. In a game of scoring bursts, the Wings finished with five straight goals to halt the Stealth's three-game winning streak.
The 16-13 Wings' win boosted their league-best record to 7-1, while the Stealth fell to 5-4.
League-leading scorer Athan Iannucci, was bottled up for most of the night by the Stealth's defense, but he had a pair of scoring bursts at the end of the first half and the end of the game to lift his team to victory.
Philadelphia is notoriously tough and the Stealth weren't going to be cowed by the Philly crowd or the Wings. That's what might have been in the mind of veteran goal tender Anthony Cosmo after he went after Iannucci in the second quarter following Iannucci's second goal in seven seconds.
Cosmo jumped on Iannucci and then when both players popped off the ground, Cosmo threw a punch at him before they collapsed against the boards behind the net in a flurry of fists. A full-fledged brawl between the teams was narrowly averted, however, Cosmo got slapped for a five-minute fighting penalty and All-Star defenseman Eric Martin was caged with a 10-minute game misconduct penalty.
Slightly bruised and possibly embarrassed, the Stealth fell behind 8-4 in the second quarter after their implosion. But, the intrepid Stealth crawled back, getting a score from defensemen Curtis Hodgson and another with five seconds left in the half from former Wing Luke Wiles to narrow the score to 8-6.
Wiles added to his reputation for opportune scoring with his long-range goal, which re-inflated the Stealth's momentum going into halftime. Wiles beat Calgary this year with a goal in overtime and had a hat trick in Saturday's 12-8 upset of the Mammoth in Colorado.
The Stealth could have matched the Wings' scoring but their scorers were largely silenced in the first half. Of the team's six first-half goals, four came from defensemen Martin, Hodgson, Steve Holmes and Shaydon Santos.
The Stealth then closed the gap and took a one goal lead at 10-9 by scoring three unanswered goals in the third quarter, aided by a pair of quick breakaway shots by Luke Hinton and Jeff Zywicky.
It looked as if the Stealth would shed their "sleeper team" label and topple Philly when Tom Johnson scored with 6:26 left in the fourth quarter for a 12-10 lead, but then the Wings flexed, and ripped off their five straight goals to seal the win.
The loss shouldn't diminish the contribution from San Jose defensemen Holmes. He played brilliantly scoring two goals and decking Wing Rob Van Beek to deprive him of a breakaway scoring opportunity.
The Stealth, still in the thick of the West division race, come home after nearly six weeks to host the Calgary Roughnecks Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. and tickets are available.
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National Lacrosse League Stories from March 15, 2008
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- This Week In The Jax Community - Portland Lumberjax
- Stealth Fall to Wings 16-13 - San Jose Stealth
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