If the Bandits keep winning in this sort of fashion fans of the team may start developing heart problems. For the second game in a row the team needed a goal in the last minute to come away with the victory. Tonight Luke Wiles was the hero as he put one past Brandon Miller with only 24 seconds left on the clock.
The goal came only twenty seconds after Philadelphia scored shorthanded to tie the game at 13. The Bandits had one last offensive possession in regulation, and they made the most of it. John Tavares made the cross floor feed to Wiles right in front of the net for him to bury.
“I can’t even believe they put me out there the way I was shooting the ball,” said Wiles after the game. The play was planned, and the Bandit who had only scored one assist all night was put in a position to become the hero. “Johnny Tavares dragged it, and Dhane Smith cut up the middle. Their guy creeped up a bit to leave me open. I just shot as hard as I could.”
“It was a play that we tried a few times,” said Bandits forward Shawn Williams. “It finally worked.”
Bandits head coach Darris Kilgour has taken up a new technique, so he didn’t even see the play.
“I’ve gotten into the habit of not watching the last seconds of a game,” said Kilgour. “The last couple of years it seemed like every time we had to stop someone, we didn’t. It wasn’t working. I switched it up this year. I walk away and [Dan Teat] tells me what happened.
The play was set up largely due to a late penalty on Philadelphia transition man Paul Rabil, who lit up a Bandits defenseman on the boards. He was given two minutes in the box for an illegal cross check and put the Bandits in a position to go for the jugular.
“I thought it was a nice hit,” said Wings head coach John Mouradian. “Our player got hammered in front of our bench and their was no call. I thought it was the same kid of hit. I’m glad Paul is playing rugged like that.”
“Its part of lacrosse, you’ve got to keep your head up,” said Kilgour. “You know the guys defenseless. They needed the ball, probably would have been a better play for Rabil to go after the ball instead of the big hit.”
For Wiles scoring a goal of this magnitude was huge. Last year he was second on the team in almost every scoring category to John Tavares, but he’s had a down year so far. He has only three goals and six assists through the first four games.
“Its really nice to get that goal and hopefully get a bit of a monkey off my back,” said Wiles.
The rest of the game was quite the back and forth affair. It seemed that neither team was going to let the other run away with it, even if they were down two or three goals.
“We were up three goals a number of times in that game but they just seemed to never go away.,” said Bandits forward Mike Hominuck.
A large part of the Bandits offense was Shawn Williams, who was playing in his 200th straight NLL game. The team’s assists and points leader notched six assists in the game, serving as a feeder on many of the goals.
“He’s just a smart player,” said Kilgour. “He spreads the floor. He knows where the man’s going to open before the guy even knows he’s open. Its all about smarts with him and its rubbing off on the rest of the guys.”
“As you get older, or smarter, its just playing lacrosse,” said Williams, who is playing in his 16th NLL season. “Sometimes you try to over think things, and good things happen when you just play simple lacrosse.”
It was a good game for former Wings players, as Mike Hominuck had three goals and David Brock had two. Hominuck has been somewhat of a pleasant surprise since making his way to the lineup last week. He’s now scored three goals in two straight games and seemed to be fitting right into the offense.
“The good thing about the offense is that there are a lot of unselfish players,” Hominuck began. “We all know how each other play because we play against each other in the summer. [Dan Teat] does a good job on getting everyone on the same page and I just have to go in and fill up the holes.”
Hominuck couldn’t deny that beating the team that traded him away this off-season had a nice effect, and also talked about how he felt like this game was one where he needed to prove something to both sides.
“I’ve been traded a number of times now, this is my tenth year and I think I’ve played for six or seven teams,” said Hominuck. “It always sucks to get traded, but I do respect them. It was awesome to get in the lineup and show them what there missing and prove to Darris and the coaching staff that I should be in the lineup and have a lot to offer the team.”
The win comes against a Philadelphia Wings team that was impressing many to start the season with their season opening win against the Bandits and their win in Toronto last week. The young squad that features 17 Americans looks to be one of the Bandits top competitors in the East.
Just over 13,000 fans saw the Bandits extend their win streak to three games. The loss was Philadelphia’s first of the year, ending any minimal hope for a winless season. The Bandits play next Saturday at home as they host the Toronto Rock, while Philly has a quick turn around playing today against the Calgary Roughnecks.
