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Wings Sting Arizona

February 14, 2004 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Philadelphia Wings News Release


PHILADELPHIA – The Wings (4-3) notched their first home victory with a 16-12 win over the Arizona Sting (3-4) Saturday at the Wachovia Center in front of 12,557 fans. Philadelphia built off of an important win against the defending champion Toronto Rock last week. Dallas Eliuk earned the win in goal with 24 saves and Jeff Ratcliffe led the offense with four goals and four assists. Cory Bomberry led the Sting with three goals and an assist.

"We're finally getting our defense on the floor ," said Wings' coach Adam Mueller. "The key to the big losses at home were the transition game. We're slowly getting there, but this was a great win."

The Wings struck first with goals by Jeff Ratcliffe and Paul Cantabene in the opening minutes of the first quarter. Arizona battled back with a power-play goal by Kasey Beirnes and a goal by Cory Bomberry. Keith Cromwell gave the Wings the 3-2 lead, but Scott Self and Bomberry answered to give the Sting its first lead of the game. Tony Henderson scored with three minutes left in the quarter to knot the score at four.

The goalies were in the spotlight in the second quarter as Dallas Eliuk and Phil Wetherup allowed just three goals combined. The Sting took a 5-4 lead with Dan Dawson's first goal of the game. Henderson answered with his second of the game and Peter Lough put Arizona ahead, 6-5, at halftime with a late breakaway goal.

Wings' rookie Ryan Ward put his team back in front with a goal and assist in the first minute of the second half. His goal came 19 seconds into the third quarter and he assisted on a goal by Ratcliffe 15 seconds later. Arizona's Ryan Cousins tied the game at seven, but Philadelphia added another goal by Ward and a goal by Mark Frye. Bomberry completed the hat trick, however, the Wings took their biggest lead of the game with three more goals in less than a minute (Cromwell (pp), Spencer Martin,Ratcliffe). Philadelphia surrendered one late goal to Self, but carried a 12-9 lead into the final quarter.

Philadelphia put the game out of reach in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter. Dan Marohl netted his first goal of the game to add to his seven assists. Ratcliffe added his fourth goal and Spencer Martin tallied his second to put the Wings up by six goals. Arizona ended its scoring draught with three unanswered goals. Gewas Schindler started the comeback attempt on the power play and Pat Maddalena and Beirnes added goals before Philadelphia called timeout with just over eight minutes left in regulation. The Wings were able to stop the Sting's momentum as Tom Marechek scored a goal to add to his five assists. Eliuk took care of the Sting for the rest of the quarter, with a total of 11 saves and 24 in the game for the win.

Jeff Ratcliffe led the Wings in scoring with eight points (4G,4A). Eight other players scored goals for Philadelphia, including Paul Cantabene (1G,1A), Tony Henderson (2G,1A), Keith Cromwell (2G,3A), Mark Frye (1G,1A), Spencer Martin (2G,2A), Ryan Ward (2G,2A), Dan Marohl (1G,7A) and Tom Marechek (1G,5A).

Cory Bomberry led the Sting in scoring with four points (3G, 1A). Seven other players scored for Arizona including Dan Dawson (1G,3A ), Scott Self (2G,1A),Kasey Beirnes (2G), Peter Lough (1G), Ryan Cousins (1G,1A), Gewas Schindler (1G,3A) and Pat Maddalena (1G,1A).

NOTES: Wings' captain Jake Bergey did not play based on the recommendation of the team doctors. Bergey is suffering from a foot injury and the doctors did not want to risk further injury...The National Lacrosse League announced earlier in the week that Wings forwards Jake Bergey, Tom Marechek, and Jeff Ratcliffe along with defenseman Paul Cantabene were named to the East Division All-Star Team for the 2004 All-Star Game at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO on Sunday, February 22...Philadelphia Wings goaltender Dallas Eliuk was named the National Lacrosse League Player of the Week for his 33 save game against the Toronto Rock on Saturday, February 7. Eliuk, a fourteen-year veteran, held the Rock to only eight goals during the game and only one goal during the second half. His performance led the Wings to a 10-8 win and allowed them to break a three-game losing streak. Season tickets are still available for the Wings' 2004 home season by calling 215-389-WINGS. Individual tickets are $27, $23, and $18 in advance ($29, $25, and $20 on game day) and are available at Ticketmaster locations throughout the Delaware Valley by calling (215) 336-2000 or (856) 338-9000 or on the web at www.ticketmaster.com

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