Albany FireWolves Get Crucial 12-10 Win over Philadelphia Wings

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NLL Albany FireWolves

Albany FireWolves Get Crucial 12-10 Win over Philadelphia Wings

March 8, 2025 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Albany FireWolves News Release


PHILADELPHIA, PA - It came down to the wire, but the Albany FireWolves (4-9) used a great performance by Joe Nardella in the faceoff circle, strong defense, and a balanced offensive effort to defeat the Philadelphia Wings (5-7) by a score of 12-10 at the Wells Fargo Center.

Joe Nardella was excellent as he won 20 out of 26 faceoffs, picked up 13 loose balls, and scored a goal. Nardella achieved the milestone of 1,000 career faceoff wins during the game. Doug Jamieson was solid in net making 37 saves on 47 shots on goal.

Scoring for the FireWolves was led by Alex Simmons with 7 points (4g, 3a) as he continues to prove that he is one of the best offensive players in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). Recently acquired forward Kyle Jackson fit in very well and ended the night with 5 points (3g, 2a) in his first game with the FireWolves. Scoring was rounded out by Ethan Walker with 3 points (1g, 2a), Sam Firth with 3 points (1g, 2a), Joe Nardella with 2 points (1g, 1a), and Travis Longboat and Nick Chaykowsky each with 1 goal. Albany also got important contributions on the offense from Tye Kurtz with 5 assists and Dyson Williams adding 4 assists.

These two teams met two weeks ago in Albany where the FireWolves beat the Wings 11-6 so there was no shortage of animosity as these rivals are both fighting for their playoff hopes. As the game began at the Well Fargo Center in Philadelphia, it was Simmons who struck first with a goal to put the FireWolves up 1-0 three minutes into the game. Then the Wings would respond with three straight goals coming off rebounds and in tight shots to take the lead at 3-1. Soon after, Simmons would score again off a wild rebound to make it 3-2 and Firth would add another on a great cut to tie the game at 3-3 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter began as a defensive battle with both teams preventing each other from getting clean scoring chances for more than half of it. It would be Jackson who broke the ice as he scored his first goal as a member of the FireWolves to give them the lead at 4-3. Twenty seconds later Longboat would make his way to the middle of the floor and bury a great shot to extend their lead to 5-3. Philadelphia would get a goal in transition to cut it to 5-4, but Albany quickly responded with a power play goal by Walker to head into halftime with the lead at 6-4.

Heading into the third quarter it was Jackson again who got things going for the FireWolves with a beautiful diving goal that made it 7-4. The Wings would not go down quietly and scored two in a row to make it close at 7-6. The Albany defense was then able to make several big stops with Jamieson playing great in net to stop any momentum by the Wings. Simmons then scored his third of the night on a tough angle shot to keep the FireWolves in front at a score of 8-6 as the quarter came to an end.

The final quarter would be a hectic one as Albany looked to close out the game, but Philadelphia would make things interesting in the final minutes. Simmons would take advantage of a delayed penalty to score his fourth goal of the night and several minutes later Jackson would take flight to score his third of the night to give the FireWolves a 10-6 lead. The Wings would start to fight back with a goal on the power play and then another when they pulled their goalie for a 6 on 5 situation that would bring the score to 10-8.

Nardella was a work horse all night winning faceoffs and he would add an empty net goal to make it 11-8 for the FireWolves with under three minutes to go. Then things would get interesting with Philadelphia able to score two more times to make it a one goal game at 11-10 with 41 seconds to go. However, Nardella and the FireWolves would battle through the faceoff to come up with the ball as Albany called a timeout. Chaykowsky then sealed the game with another empty net goal and the FireWolves claimed a much needed 12-10 win.

Join the FireWolves for their next home game on Saturday, March 15 at MVP Arena against the Georgia Swarm for Marvel Super Hero Night.

Get tickets now for Marvel Super Hero Night! The first 3,000 fans will receive a FireWolves themed Marvel comic book. UAlbany alumni and Tewaaraton winners Lyle Thompson and Miles Thompson will return to the Capital Region as they suit up for the Swarm in this exciting matchup.

Fans can take advantage of the best ticket prices around starting at $15.96! For more information regarding tickets, visit www.albanyfirewolves.com or call/text the FireWolves front office at 518-675-8678 to avoid fees.

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