By WILLIAM N. WALLACE and SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES MARCH 7, 1988
The New Jersey Saints hung on until the end tonight and beat the Philadelphia Wings, 12-10, in a Major Indoor Lacrosse League semifinal playoff game before 4,118 spectators at Byrne Meadowlands Arena.
The Saints had a four-goal lead cut to two near the end of the fourth period, but the Wings didn’t get another shot at Larry Quinn, the New Jersey goalie, in the last 50 seconds.
Each team had 62 shots on goal. Quinn made 34 saves in the second half.
The Saints, who finished second in the league’s eight-game season, which ended last week, will play the Washington Wave for the league championship on March 20 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Md.
The Wave, with a 6-2 record, finished first in the four-team league, one game ahead of New Jersey. It gained a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The championship game will conclude the second season of the league, which matches six-man teams in arena hockey rinks on artificial turf. The players are paid $150 a game. The Saints were the dominant team tonight. They built an early four-goal lead, then lost it as Philadelphia went ahead by 7-6 early in the third period.
The Saints responded and again led by 4 with 1 minute 40 seconds to go. Don Borges, from Lynbrook and C. W. Post, and John Driscoll, a Virginia alumnus from Manhasset, each scored three goals. Borges was named the game’s outstanding performer.
The Wings were the more aggressive team taking 10 penalties, the Saints scoring twice on power plays and once on a penalty shot by Kevin Cook, the former Cornell star from Levittown.
My name is Michael Bonaventura and I was on the MILL NJ Saints Champs Team (after we beat the Wave in DC.
If you have any additional collaterals for that Team, I would love to see them.
We have footage in the archive from 87 and 88 Saints.