By Jim Jackson, Special to The Inquirer
Brad Kotz scored five goals last night, and John O’Brien made 28 saves, 18 in the second half, as the Philadelphia Wings defeated the Baltimore Thunder, 14-13.
The victory, before 6,479 in the Baltimore Arena, moved the Wings (2-0) into a first-place tie in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League with the Detroit Turbos (2-0), who defeated the New England Blazers, 13-9, last night.
“Kotz was awesome,” Wings forward Mark Hahn said. “O’Brien was also solid in the goal for us. He kept us alive.”
“We moved the ball well,” Kotz said. “We kept the pressure on the entire game. We tried to wear Baltimore down. O’Brien was the difference. He played a great game.”
“It was anybody’s game,” said Wings captain John Tucker, who had a goal and three assists. “Kotz is a great scorer, and O’Brien was hot in the goal. Both teams played hard, but we just had that little bit extra it took to win.”
The Wings sprinted to a 5-2 lead in the first eight minutes of play, but the Thunder rallied to cut the lead to 5-4 at the end of the first quarter. The Thunder tied it at 5-5, and the teams traded goals until, with the score tied at 8-8 with 30 seconds left in the half, Philadelphia called a timeout.
When play resumed, Tucker fired a lefthanded rug-hugger past Thunder goalie Tom McClelland for a 9-8 lead with 13 seconds remaining. Six seconds later, Bill Dirrigl pumped in a long-range shot for a 10-8 Wings lead at halftime.
Philadelphia increased its lead to 13-10 in the third quarter as Kotz scored two goals. O’Brien, who relieved starter Kevin Bilger at the beginning of the second quarter, made seven saves.
The Thunder, on goals by Butch Marino, Pat Welsh and Brooks Sweet, roared back to tie the game at 13 with 5 minutes, 4 seconds remaining. Kotz then scored the game-winner during a power play with 3:37 left in the game. It was Philadelphia’s fifth power-play goal of the game.
(Philadelphia Inquirer, January 22, 1989)