Wolves fall to Wings at Philly in first of a home-and-home

Teams meet again today at Mohegan Sun Arena

Philadelphia — The New England Black Wolves lost the first half of their home-and-home series with the Philadelphia Wings, falling 14-10 in Saturday night's National Lacrosse League game.

The teams play again to at Mohegan Sun Arena, begining at 3 p.m.

Stephan Leblanc had seven points on three goals and four assists and Callum Crawford had one goal and five assists for the Black Wolves (44). Dereck Downs had his first career hat trick in the loss while Tyler Digby had a goal and four assists.

The Wings (2-7) got off to a hot start, scoring just 1:32 into the game to take the early lead. They followed that up with another just over two minutes later to take a 2-0 advantage with 11:05 to play in the quarter. New England got on the board with 7:35 to go on a goal from Leblanc. However, the Wings would score twice more in the frame to take a 4-1 lead.

Leblanc found the back of the net for his second of the night just 45 seconds into the second to cut the deficit down to two, 4-2, and Dereck Downs scored with 10:11 left make it 4-3. Philadelphia followed that with two goals in the next 51 seconds to take a 6-3 lead. Crawford scored with 8:31 left to make it 6-4, but the Wings answered with two more goals in the next three minutes to take a 8-4 lead with 5:52 to play in the half. New England answered with two of their own, one by Digby and another by Kevin Buchanan — his first of the season — to cut the Philadelphia lead to 8-6 to end the half.

Leblanc again got the scoring started for New England to open the third, picking up his third of the night just 35 seconds into the frame to put the score at 8-7, but the Wings answered 32 seconds later to go back up by two, 9-7, with 13:53 to play. Downs picked up his second of the night with 4:38 to go in the third to put the score at 10-8.

Dave Emala pulled New England within one on his first career NLL goal with 13:41 remaining in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia then rattled off three goals in a span of 55 seconds to increase their lead to 13-9 with 10:01 remaining in play. Downs wrapped up his hat trick with 3:05 remaining to put the score at 14-10.

Kevin Crowley, the former Black Wolves star, led the Wings with four goals and Jordan Hall had one goal and five assists.