The New York Riptide fought the current and pulled out a win on a chilly Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia. This victory was the first for the New York Riptide as they pulled out a 13-12 victory at the end of the afternoon. The Wings were coming off an exciting win over Rochester just a few hours earlier.
Connor Kearnan capitalized on the double teams and triple teams given to Jeff Teat. He stealthily dropped four before the afternoon was over. And Teat, who missed awhile due to Covid protocol, made his presence felt right away. He had six assists and kept the Philadelphia defense wondering where he and his stick were going. Kieran McArdle was also an offensive threat with his five assists.
It seemed like the Wings slowed down during the second half. And while Philadelphia has started slowly during these last few games, they rely on the second half to get the win. This did not happen.
Paul Day gave the Riptide their due credit.
“They were a real hungry team. Coming in, they hadn’t won yet. We know that feeling from the past. We need to be a lot more consistent.”
The Wings struggled to nab rebounds and put them in the back of the net. There were a lot of powerful shots that either went out of bounds or would have resulted in an over and back. This seemed to increase in the third and fourth quarters as some of the guys seemed to wear down.
The Wings tried to focus on some positives of the game. One of the positives was that this weekend of milestones continued in Philadelphia. Kevin Crowley had his 400th assist this afternoon. He also had a goal. It was also a good night to be named Corey or Cory. Corey Small had three goals and three assists, and scored his 700th point. Cory Vitarelli had three timely quick-stick goals and two assists.
Zach Higgins reflected on a weekend of highs and lows. He had a strong game last night and then had a series of bad bounces and perfectly placed shots that were able to get past him tonight.
“It was definitely a tough one, you know. We were trying to string two together. It’s unfortunate, but we’ve got to regroup going into this next weekend against Georgia.”
The Wings need to regroup if they’re going to hang with a Georgia team that seems able to score at will. The Riptide next take on the Thunderbirds and hope this momentum will carry them forward.
