The Panther City Lacrosse Club was on the prowl in the second half of the Philadelphia Wings’ home opener this past weekend. At the end, Philadelphia fans were stunned into silence by a 12-10 victory by the Panther City Lacrosse Club.
It was a game of two very different halves. Head coach Tracey Kelusky must have given quite the halftime motivational speech that motivated PCLC to win.
The first half was controlled by Philadelphia. With one of its largest crowds in a long time at 10,234, the arena was electric. The players seemed to feed off that energy as the Wings went into the locker room with a solid 6-2 lead.
The second half, however, was a different story for Philadelphia. PCLC found its offensive prowess and forced the loyal, loud and proud fan base into silence that later turned into boos as they scored 10 goals to Philly’s four, and grounded the Wings and the fans. They scored the game winning goal with 48 seconds left in the game.
“Sometimes when you’re up by four, your guys get a little too comfortable,” said Philadelphia head coach Paul Day. “[In the second half,] I think, offensively, we were attacking on the outside instead of attacking and cutting the middle off.”
Will Malcom had Philadelphia tied up like one of the city’s famous pretzels. He had a commanding seven-point night including four goals and the game winner. Also dominating the game was Patrick Doods who tallied four assists, becoming one of the fastest players to reach 100 career points.
For Philadelphia, Joe Resetarits did not disappoint. His hat trick showed how valuable he’s been to the offense this season. He spoke about being on the other side of the bench and what it is like to play FOR Philadelphia after the game, saying that the crowd was amazing.
He spoke about the locker room and stated that the guys in the locker room know that they have. He says they know what they need to fix in order to get better.
Captain Kiel Matisz also spoke about the disappointing Philadelphia play including turnovers and the defensive struggles.
Day, Matisz and Resetarits all remained positive about the length of the season, knowing what they have to fix, and how to get in done in time for Philadelphia’s next home game against Toronto this coming Saturday, which will be a 1 p.m. start to accommodate the Philadelphia Eagles game later that night.
The Wings also announced two roster moves on Monday. They traded a third-round pick to Albany for Taite Cattoni, who was immediately placed on the active roster. To accommodate Cattoni, they released NLL veteran Cory Vitarelli.
