By Tim Panaccio, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Philadelphia Wings, looking for their third straight Major Indoor Lacrosse League title, have gotten off to a rocky start this season.
For the first time in nearly three seasons, the Wings are under .500 (1-2), last in the six-team MILL in shots on goal and last in on-goal scoring efficiency (20.5 percent). They don’t have anyone among the league’s top five scorers.
Meanwhile, the New York Saints, who visit the Spectrum tonight in a rare 8:45 p.m. start because of the Villanova game earlier in the day, are in first place in the American Division with a 1-1 record.
So is anything seriously wrong with the Wings?
“We had a sit-down on Tuesday to address just that,” said forward Scott Gabrielsen, who has just three goals this season. “We came up with a few answers. Do we want to win this thing a third time? Morale is low. So is our focus. You can’t just walk into the building off the street, put on your gear and expect to win. We need to find that old spark.”
Coach Dave Evans said: “We’re not getting those high-percentage shots, the good shots on goal that we need. Something is missing this season; I don’t know what. We don’t seem to have the sense of urgency that sparked us the past two seasons. There’s less team togetherness. I feel some of the guys haven’t been having as much fun as they should. Everything is different.”
Evans also noted that the club, basically unchanged over the last four years, is aging. The Wings’ average age is 28.5, while some of the other clubs – Detroit and New York, for instance – average about 26 years of age.
“Twenty-eight or 29 may not seem old in some other sports, but it is considered old in box lacrosse,” said Evans. “We needed some injection of new blood this year and we didn’t get it. Look what New York did. They got rid of some dead weight and they’re hungry again.”
(Philadelphia Inquirer, January 26, 1991)