The 24th season of Philadelphia Wings lacrosse will begin with them playing their first ever game in the Sunshine State but against a team that has quickly become a fierce rival. The former New York Titans now make the home of Disney World their new stomping grounds and will open their first season in Florida against the Wings on Friday night. Gametime at Amway Arena is at 7:35 PM and the game can be seen on the NLL network.
History
The Wings and Titans have split their eight previous meetings. On the road the Wings are 2-2 against the Titans. This will be the fourth different road arena the Wings will have faced the Titans in, after playing in 2007 at Nassau Coliseum (Wings win 16-11), 2008 at Trenton's Sovereign Bank Arena (Titans win 20-13) and two games in 2009 at Newark, NJ's Prudential Center.
Last season
The Wings lost two of the three meetings in 2009 against the Titans. The Titans claimed victory in the first meeting 15-12 in Newark on February 8 behind hat tricks from Casey Powell, Brendan Mundorf and Mike McLellan. On April 4, the Wings opened a home and home weekend with an 11-7 win in Newark fueled by a 45 save performance from Brandon Miller. The next day the Wings jumped out to an 8-3 lead at home before the Titans rallied for a 16-13 win, Casey Powell scoring five goals. Merrick Thomson led the Wings in the series with 16 points (11 goals). Kyle Wailes and Geoff Snider each had nine assists.
For starters
The Wings are 12-11 all time in season openers. This season will be the 16th the Wings have opened on the road with an 7-8 record in the previous games. The Wings last win in a season opening road game was the 2006 opener at Colorado. The Wings did win their road opener at Colorado in 2008 after opening with three wins at home.
Some new and returning looks
The Wings 2010 roster has several new looks. Among the newcomers are top draft pick Bob Snider (brother of Geoff), trade acquisitions Bill McGlone (17 points with Toronto in 2009) and Kevin Huntley (son of coach/GM Dave), Mike Ward (six games with Colorado in 2009), Dan Teat (69 points with Edmonton in 2009) and free agents Josh Sims (Colorado) and Jeff Reynolds (University of Maryland). The roster also sees the return of three players from the 2008 team, John Christmas, Brett Moyer and Jason Crosbie (50 points in 2009 with Toronto).
2009 Stats
Goals: Merrick Thomson (40)
Assists: Mat Giles (47)
Points: Giles (70)
Goals Against: Rob Blasdell (11.84)
Next Game
The Wings will play their 2010 home opener on January 16 against the Boston Blazers.
