The New England Black Wolves ventured to the City of Brotherly Love on

Saturday and came away with a 9-7 victory over the Wings.

PHILADELPHIA—The New England Black Wolves defeated the Philadelphia Wings, 9-7, on





New England jumped out to a 2-0 lead over Philadelphia after scoring two power play goals. Rookie Andrew Kew netted in the first on a Callum Crawford assist and Jordan Durston found the back of the net for the second on assists from Reilly O’Connor and Kew.





Philadelphia also added a power play goal of its own to separate another pair of Black Wolves goals. Joe Resetarits and O’Connor scored two more goals to give New England a 4-2 advantage at the end of the first quarter. The Wings received first quarter goals from Cory Vitarelli and Liam Byrnes.





Kiel Matisz opened up scoring in the second to come within one of the Black Wolves but then Durston and Kew each grabbed their second goal of the contest to go up, 6-3 headed into the break. In between New England’s fifth and sixth goal, Matt Rambo slide one past Doug Jamieson in the net.





The first half proved to be aggressive as seven penalties were called on New England and four on Philadelphia. The Black Wolves converted on two of their four power play possessions and the Wings converted on two of their six opportunities. Across the stat line the Black Wolves were up 24-21 in shots, down 42-24 in loose ball recoveries, up 6-2 in caused turnovers and had committed less turnovers. Jamieson had tallied 17 saves on 21 shots on goal, while Zach Higgins of Philadelphia had recorded 18 saves on 24 shots on goal.





During the third quarter, Philadelphia was the only one to get on the board. Rambo and Vitarelli each put one past Jamieson, tallying their second of the game and tying the score at six apiece.





New England finally found rhythm again early in the fourth. Crawford contributed two goals for the game and Adam Bomberry added one of his own to put the Pack back up 9-6. Brett Hickey closed out the scoring on the day to make the final score 9-7 in favor of the Black Wolves.





The rivals finished the afternoon having committed 24 total penalties. New England spent 46 minutes in the box, 26 of which were spent by Colton Watkinson. Philadelphia spent 36 minutes in the box, 19 due to Ryan Wagner. The Pack executed two of its seven power play opportunities and the Wings converted three of its eight. The Black Wolves tallied 48 shots on goal, 59 loose balls, caused 10 turnovers and Joe Nardella went 9-of-20 on the X. The Wings fired off 51 shots on goal, collected 79 loose balls, caused three turnovers and Trevor Baptiste went 11-of-20 at the faceoff.





Crawford and Kew led the Pack for the second straight game with five and four points, respectively. Tony Malcom continued to lead the team in loose balls and now has 95 total for the season after grabbing a team-high eight on the afternoon. John LaFontaine caused a game-high three turnovers and tied his career-high for the third time in his career. Kevin Crowley led the Wings with three assists and Vitarelli and Rambo led their team with two goals apiece.





Tickets for the 2019-20 season are on sale now and start at $15 per game. For more information, call 844-LAX-WOLF or visit blackwolves.com .​ The Black Wolves will return to action for a double-header on the weekend of Mar. 14 and 15. The Pack travels to Buffalo to face the Bandits at 7pm on Saturday, Mar. 14 and then will return home to host the Calgary Roughnecks at 3pm on Sunday, Mar. 15.





Game Leaders :

NE: C. Crawford 2G, 3A, 5P, A. Kew 2G, 2A, 4 P, J. Durston 2G, 2 P

PHL: K. Crowley 3A, 3P, C. Vitarelli 2G, 2P, M. Rambo 2G, 2P

—Staff Reports

@neblackwolves / #neblackwolves / #BlackWolves / #NLL / @NLL

Saturday afternoon and clinched the three-game season series between the teams. The Black Wolves improved to 8-3 overall and 4-0 on the road while the Wings fell to 7-6.