Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/21/13
From Press Release
The Philadelphia Wings fell to the Washington Stealth 17-13 in the NLL regular season finale on the road in Everett late Saturday.
The Wings loss in Washington paired with Rochester’s win over Buffalo eliminated Philadelphia’s chances to host a first round home playoff game at Wells Fargo Center. The team will travel to Rochester to play the second seeded Knighthawks at Blue Cross Arena next weekend. The Wings and Knighthawks have met three times this season, with Rochester owning a 2-1 lead.
The Wings came out strong in the first quarter behind two shorthanded goals from captain Brodie Merrill. Leading 5-4 after the first quarter, the Wings entered the second quarter with a lead for only the second time this season but failed to hold on. Washington scored two quick goals to open the second on the way to six unanswered in the quarter and never relinquished the lead.
Despite a 4-0 run from Philadelphia that spanned the last seven minutes of the third quarter and into the fourth, the Wings were unable to close the gap, getting no closer than three before the Stealth put the game out of reach, going up 17-12 with six minutes to play.
In defeat, Philadelphia’s offense remained balanced, with seven different players scoring, and five players scoring at least twice, led by Drew Westervelt with three goals. Merrill’s two short handed scores and two goals each from Kevin Crowley, Jordan Hall and Brendan Mundorf rounded out the Wings scoring.
Washington’s Rhys Duch had a game high nine points on four goals and five assists and secured the top spot as the league leader with 45 goals in his fifth season in the NLL.
