The Philadelphia Wings let a strong first half lead slip away as the San Diego Seals came back to win 9-7 in Philadelphia on Friday night.
Philadelphia was looking strong going into the half. They scored 2 in the first, while adding another 2 in the second. San Diego looked a little stunned as they only managed 1 goal in the half.
Adjustments were made at halftime. And, true to the last few weeks, Philadelphia struggled to score goals in the second half. San Diego, apparently, was just testing the goal scoring waters. They dove deep in quarters 3 and 4 where they scored 4 in each to come up with the win.
Head Coach Ian Rubel was calm in Philadelphia’s press conference. His main message was that the offense needs to score goals. And while the United States’ perennial star Joe Resetarits had a strong showing that was added onto by Brennan O’Neill and Michael Sowers, it was not enough.
“We need to score more goals,” Rubel reiterated. “You can’t play a half of lacrosse and only score 2 goals. It’s unacceptable. The game plan was the same in the second half. We weren’t executing.” And while the wings put up 3 goals in the second half, it was not enough to counter the herd of San Diego players eagerly looking to scoop up the pearly white balls and put them in the net.
Making this even harder for fans to digest was the solid play of Ben McIntosh and Trevor Baptiste—two former Philadelphia Standouts who had solid games against their former team. Ben tallied 5 points. Trevor did the Trevor thing, winning 12-20 at X.
Philadelphia takes on San Diego in California on January 30th for a rematch. Hopefully the Wings can soar out west.
