Wings earn gritty OT win over Stealth

by Tom Hoffman

After an awful opener last week, the Philadelphia Wings tightened up on defense, played solid transitional lacrosse and got another big production night from top draft pick Kevin Crowley as they defeated the Washington Stealth 10-9 in overtime Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Crowley tallied five goals including the OT winner 3:27 into the extra session.

"It was a great character win for our team," Crowley said. "We could've just deflated and gave up but the team brought it together. It was a good all around team win."

Crowley got the evening off to a good start with a first quarter hat trick that gave the Wings a 3-0 lead after the opening 15. The second quarter went the opposite way as the Stealth would score three goals to take the game to halftime even. Goals by the Stealth's Cam Sedgwick and Curtis Hodgson gave Washington a 5-3 lead in the third before the Wings ended an almost 35 minute scoreless drought on Drew Westervelt's first goal of the night. Paul Rabil would give the Stealth their two goal lead back but Westervelt's second of the night would take the Wings into the fourth trailing by only one goal.

The scoring would continue for the Wings as Brendan Mundorf's first two scores of the season were followed by Westervelt's third goal of the night to give the Wings an 8-6 lead. Sedgwick's second of the night brought the Stealth to within one but the Wings looked to have the game in hand when Crowley tallied his fourth of the night to give the Wings a 9-7 advantage with 7:35 to play. The Stealth did not quit though and would force the game into overtime on goals by Lewis Ratcliff and Matt Beers, Beers tying the game with 3:05 left in regulation. The end of regulation and the overtime then became the Brandon Miller show as Miller made a number of his 49 saves during that period to keep the Wings alive and set up the final heroics from the National Lacrosse League's top draft pick in the 2011 entry draft.

"When B. Miller plays like that, he gives us an opportunity to win," Wings Coach/GM Johnny Mouradian said.

Mouradian also had high praise for Crowley.

"He's a big game player," Mouradian said. "He's a rookie in the NLL but he's not a rookie as far as being a game breaker and a game changer."

And if Crowley can somehow maintain his two game pace (8 goals, 6 assists)over the full 16 game schedule, he could be well on his way to some post season hardware from the league. As far as overall play, Mouradian definitely was happy with the effort from his club.

"Our man down was superb. I thought we ran the floor really well. I thought we made some good decisions on transition," Mouradian said.

It was a huge lift for the Wings after the crushing loss last week to Rochester and the Wings will look to feed off of this win as they travel to Buffalo on Friday to face the Bandits.