Wings Slide By Stealth, 9-8

January 20, 2007 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Philadelphia Wings News Release


PHILADELPHIA - The Wings took the lead late in the first quarter and never looked back as they earned their first win, 9-8, against the San Jose Stealth Saturday at the Wachovia Center in front of 9,837 fans. Goalie Matt Roik led Philadelphia with 31 saves. Rookie Geoff Snider and Jeff Ratcliffe each netted three goals in the victory.

"We wanted to get this monkey off our backs," said Wings' General Manager and Head Coach Lindsay Sanderson. "It's nice to get the first win and be able to start building off of this. We had some timely goals and didn't fall apart in the last five minutes. We did what we had to do." The Wings started the action early in the game with a goal by Snider. The Stealth then took over, with goals from Callum Crawford and Luke Wiles. San Jose had a chance to increase its lead with a five-minute power play, but the man-advantage was cut short when the team took two penalties of its own. It took nearly ten minutes before the scoring continued. Philadelphia ended the quarter taking a 3-2 lead with two goals in a five-second span by John Christmas and Snider. The goal marked Snider's first two-goal game in his young career.

Jeff Ratcliffe gave Philadelphia a 4-2 lead at the start of the second quarter. The Stealth answered with a power-play goal by Wiles, but the Wings finished out the scoring in the half. Ratcliffe netted his second of the game and Sean Greenhalgh added a power-play goal in the final minute of play. Philadelphia took a 6-3 lead into the locker rooms.

Defense dominated at the start of the second half. The Wings were unable to capitalize on an early power play, but came through on their second man-advantage midway through the third quarter. Greenhalgh's second goal of the game gave Philadelphia its biggest lead, 7-4. The Stealth got the goal back less than 30 seconds later on a Jeff Zywicki tally, but Ratcliffe completed the hat trick to round out the scoring in the quarter. The Wings led, 8-4, going into the final quarter.

The Stealth began their comeback attempt with a Gary Rosyski goal, but Geoff Snider completed the hat trick just ten seconds later to maintain the Wing's four-goal lead. San Jose tried again, starting with Zywicki's second goal of the game. It looked as if the Wings would have an easy time at the end of the game as San Jose took a couple of late penalties, but the Stealth netted short-handed goals by Colin Doyle and Zywicki within 14 seconds. San Jose attempted to tie the score on a late power-play, but was unsuccessful.

Jeff Ratcliffe led the Wings in scoring with four points (3G,1A). Three other players scored goals for Philadelphia, including John Christmas (1G), Geoff Snider (3G), and Sean Greenhalgh (2G,2A). Goaltender Matt Roik made 31 saves.

Jeff Zywicki led the Stealth in scoring with four points (3G,1A). Four other players scored for San Jose, including Callum Crawford (1G), Colin Doyle (1G,3A), Luke Wiles (2G,2A), and Gary Rosyski (1G,2A). Goaltender Anthony Cosmo had 44 saves on the night.

For a complete scoring of tonight's game, log on to www.pointstreak.com.

The Wings travel to New York to face the Titans on Friday, January 26, before returning home to host the Toronto Rock on January 27 at the Wachovia Center. Guarantee great seats for all remaining Wings home games by reserving your season tickets now! Season tickets start as low as $80 and are available by calling the Wings ticket office at (215) 389-WING (9464) or log on to www.wingslax.com for ticket information.

The Philadelphia Wings are owned and operated by Philadelphia Wings L.P. whose principal owners are Russ Cline, Chris Fritz, and Michael French. Comcast-Spectacor serves as the marketing, promotional, advertising, sponsorship, and publicity arm of the Wings.



National Lacrosse League Stories from January 20, 2007


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