Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/20/12
From Press Release
The Philadelphia Wings will look to notch their first win of the season at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday at 7 p.m. when the team squares off against the Washington Stealth, a squad that Wings Head Coach and General Manager Johnny Mouradian knows very well.
From 2003 to 2010, Mouradian served various in roles in the Stealth front office including General Manager, Head Coach and finally Advisor to the 2010 NLL Champion Stealth. Washington also competed for the Champion’s Cup last season, losing to the Toronto Rock 8-7.
“The Stealth have been a Championship team the last two years. Obviously I know that squad very well,” said Mouradian. “They have a lot of weapons. They have a defense that runs the floor and is very active. Obviously with Rhys Duch on the right side, Lewis Ratcliff on the left side and Tyler Richards in goal they’re a very good lacrosse club.”
In their first meeting since the 2008 season, both the Stealth and Wings will be looking to improve their records to 1-1, as the Stealth also lost their season opener to the Calgary Roughnecks, 13-10.
Last Saturday the Wings opened the season with a disappointing 22-12 loss to the Rochester Knighthawks in the season’s season opener. The team showed flashes of its potential during the second quarter when they scored five consecutive goals to tie the game at 6-6, but ultimately they couldn’t match the scoring power of Rochester.
“Obviously, I don’t think there is anybody in our organization that is happy with our overall performance,” said Mouradian. “Not withstanding, we had some shining lights. We started down 6 to 1 and battled back to tie it at 6-6.”
Performing well in their Wings debuts were rookie forward Kevin Crowley (3 goals, 5 assists, named League Rookie of the Week) and Dan Dawson (1 goal, 6 assists).
Saturday night’s game will also be American Heroes Night. Throughout the game, the Wings will honor those who serve our country and will also be collecting supplies and household goods for the team’s adopted “Magnificent Bastards” Marine Company as fans enter the game.
Following the game, the Wings players’ custom-made camouflage jerseys will be auctioned off in the Cure Insurance Club after Saturday’s games with all proceeds going to benefit The Wounded Warrior Project.
The Wounded Warrior project’s mission is “to honor and empower wounded warriors” and exists to raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured service members aid and assist each other and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.
Call 215-389-WING (9464) or visit WingsLAX.com to purchase tickets for the Wings American Heroes Night game at Wells Fargo Center Saturday, January 21 at 7 p.m.
