Wings Dominate in 13-8 Win against Swarm; Figure It Out; 8-1
Photo Credit: Georgia Swarm
Saturday’s lone meeting between the Philadelphia Wings (5-7) and Georgia Swarm (8-7) in the 2023-24 National Lacrosse League season was atypical from a usual Wings vs. Swarm brawl. The Wings held steady control over the contest, keeping the home team to just three goals scored in the second half for the 13-8 win at Gas South Arena.
Mitch Jones began his big night by using a three-person screen to hide his shot and get the ball past Brett Dobson, cracking open the game’s scoring. After a pair of additional Wings’ goals, the Swarm finally broke on the scoresheet thanks to Bryan Cole’s power play marker, followed by a five-hole goal from Shayne Jackson. Scott Dominey answered in transition, putting the Wings up 4-2 after the first quarter.
The second frame was more balanced, with both teams netting three goals; in that time frame, the Wings chased Dobson from the pipes, and his relief, Angus Goodleaf, would give up just one goal in the quarter.
Up 7-5 at halftime, the Wings came out of the locker room and dictated how the rest of the night would go. The Swarm failed to beat Zach Higgins and the pressuring Wings defense in the third quarter. Meanwhile, penalty trouble kept the Swarm in the sin bin regularly, and the Wings capitalized; two of their three goals scored were on the power play.
Transition became the name of the game for the Swarm, who scored the first two goals of the first quarter on fast breaks. But Jones’ fourth goal of the game stopped that comeback attempt. After a pair of Wings’ goals bookended Jackson’s fourth of the game, the final buzzer sounded, and the Wings had won, 13-8.
“As a whole, that team played very desperate,” Swarm head coach Ed Comeau said about the Wings. “They couldn’t afford a loss. We didn’t match that intensity. That’s the result you get when you have an inequity in intensity and effort and desperation.”
Jackson’s six points (4G, 2A) led the Swarm in their 15th contest of the season. After him in points was Brendan Bomberry with four points (2G, 2A). Dobson made eight saves in 22:27 min. of play, finishing with a .533 Sv% and an 18.71 GAA. Goodleaf was saddled with the loss despite his 20 saves and six goals against in 37:33 minutes, a .769 Sv% and 9.59 GAA.
On the other end of the floor, Higgins continued his stellar play, making incredible saves look routine. He posted an .846 Sv%. Jones (4G, 5A) and Joe Resetarits (2G, 6A) combined for 17 points.
The Swarm stay at home for their next contest, welcoming the Saskatchewan Rush (5-6) on Sunday, March 24 to Gas South Arena. Face-off is set for 5:30 p.m. ET. The Wings return home to take on the Vancouver Warriors (4-9) on Saturday, March 23 at Wells Fargo Center. Face-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
Photo Credit: Georgia Swarm
Figure It Out
The Wings are their record, but that overshadows how relatively close their previous six contests were. Outside of a 14-spot they put up against the Halifax Thunderbirds on Feb. 2, the Wings offense wasn’t producing at the expected level; in the other five contests of that six-game streak, the offense averaged 10.2 GF/GAME. It led to a different directive from the coaching staff.
“The big challenge this week was we actually left our offense on their own and said, ‘You’ve got to fix this. We’re not doing any more video or analytics; you’ve got to play,’” Wings general manager and head coach Paul Day said.
The apparent solution the veteran-laden offense decided on involved plenty of latitude skip feeds and crisp ball movement. The Swarm defense snagged plenty of those dangerous passes out of the air, notably shifting to a bit of a zone defense in the second and fourth quarter to take advantage of their short bench in transition, but the Wings forwards were getting plenty of quality looks when they connected.
The improved offensive production was also a result of a shorter practice the night before and crisper shootaround, events in which pace was the main focus and talking wasn’t as prolific. Combined with the challenge from the coaching staff, they led to consistent big performances from the Wings top five forwards. Jones and Resetarits led the way, with Holden Cattoni (1G, 5A), Blaze Riorden (2G, 3A), and Ben McIntosh (2G, 3A) all seeing success, particularly 5-on-5.
“We didn’t change our principles this week,” Day said, “we just challenged them — they’re our veterans on this team is the O, Benny Mc and Rezy and Mitch Jones and Blazer and Holden, and they all contributed. It was huge.”
On the other end of the floor, much has been said — although arguably not enough — about how good Zach Higgins has been between the pipes for the Wings, their clear team MVP. But the defense in front of him is also rounding into form of late.
“We were just trusting the system that our coaches implement,” defenseman Alex Pace attributed to the his squad’s improvements. “That’s two games in a row we held a team to eight in regulation. We’re starting to build that chemistry and trust each other on the back end, build some confidence. And obviously Higgy’s been unbelievable this whole season. He’s our backbone, so can’t do it without him. Just a collective effort back there.”
Day also noted how much better the defense has been playing in March. He praised rookie defender Mitch Armstrong, who just turned 20 this month, for being a big contributor to that since returning from surgery in December. Day and Comeau both played with Armstrong’s father, Dan, and after the St. Catharines native declared early for the 2023 NLL Entry Draft, Day picked him up in the second round with the No. 22 overall pick.
In March, the Wings defense has allowed just 26 goals against, an average of 8.7 GA/GAME. Higgins hasn’t posted a save percentage under 80% in any of those contests; he has an 8.45 GAA and .839 Sv% in March.
“Our D’s really come on, and Higgy’s been solid all year,” Day said. “So when our D plays well, our O needs to really guide the ship, and I think they did tonight.”
Photo Credit: Georgia Swarm
8-1
Even strength is where most of an NLL game is played and won and lost. When one team outscores their opponent 8-1 in that category, it’s cause for celebration for the winning club; for the losing club, it’s a sign of alarm.
The Swarm only netted one 5-on-5 goal in the game. Brendan Bomberry fed Shayne Jackson the ball in the first quarter, which he rifled five-hole. Higgins thought he had it trapped between his legs, but the ball popped out behind him and slowly trickled across the goal line.
“I thought we had some good chances,” Comeau said about his offense’s performance. “Higgins made some good saves. I don’t think we shot great. We missed the net a lot on some wide open opportunities we had. Four of our six O guys didn’t score a goal tonight, and that’s never going to end well for you on a night like that.”
Bomberry was also the only right-handed Swarm forward to find the back of the net Saturday night, meaning Lyle Thompson and Seth Oakes were held scoreless. Plenty of their shots were low-to-high and went wide, a result the Wings pressuring defense were more than happy to see.
“They have some dangerous shooters,” Pace said, “and we want to push them to spots where we want them to shoot from and dictate on the D end. I thought we did a good job on that tonight.”
While the Swarm’s 5-on-5 offense wasn’t productive, they did see success in an area that’s been a weakness for the Swarm all season long — extra attacker. Heading into Saturday’s game, the Swarm only had two extra attacker goals on 39 EASets this season; against the Wings, they potted a pair, one Bomberry’s second goal of the game to make the score 7-5 heading into halftime and the other Jackson’s fourth goal of the game off crisp ball movement.
“Fixing the stuff that we talked about in our plan about how to attack and the looks we could get, we actually executed on those 6-on-5,” Comeau noted. “It was good to get a couple, we needed those, but we needed a few of those 5-on-5, those same type of looks.”
The Swarm take on the Rush next Sunday. It’ll be the back end of a doubleheader for the black and green, who take on the New York Riptide Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum.
“Sask is in a similar situation (as the Wings),” Comeau said. “They’re currently below us in the standings, but they’re fighting to keep alive. It’s going to be the same message next week. They’re going to come in here, regardless of what happens tonight or next week, they’re going to play desperate, and we have to play the same. We haven’t clinched anything yet. There’s nothing guaranteeing us anything, and we have to string some wins together, and it has to start next Sunday.”