NLL leading scorer Jeff Zywicki (left) and the Washington Stealth will look to stay perfect when they play host to Aaron Wilson and the Minnesota Swarm Friday night at Comcast Arena.
SWARM TO BATTLE UNDEFEATED STEALTH
Zywicki, top-ranked offense look to keep winning ways alive
02/04/2010
By Brett Bowker for NLL.comThe undefeated Washington Stealth (5-0) host the Minnesota Swarm (1-3) Friday, Feb. 5 at 11pm ET in the Comcast Arena and will mark the first meeting between the two teams this season. After winning out a close game 12-11 against Colorado last week, Washington is poised to solidify its top spot in the West Division. First, the last remaining undefeated team in the league must play two games against the Swarm. After the game on Friday, the two teams will play again in Minnesota next week.
The Swarm will have its hands full against the league's top scoring offense, which comes in averaging 14.6 goals per game. The multiple scoring threats on the Stealth present match-up problems for many teams on defense and routinely produce different top scorers in each game they play.
Washington forward Jeff Zywicki is the league's top point scorer with 35 points and is the reigning Offensive Player of the Week. Zywicki is followed closely by forward Lewis Ratcliff (29 points) and forwards Rhys Duch (25 points) and Cam Sedgwick (20 points) are also top-15 ranked scorers.
Washington is anchored by its big athletic defense, featuring defensemen Eric Martin, currently sixth in the league in loose balls. Goalies Tyler Richards and Matt Roik each have given strong cage performances throughout the season while splitting game time, with Richards seeing the majority of time so far. Also, transition player Jamieson Koesterer leads the league with a 63% win percentage on face-offs.
Minnesota enters the matchup coming off a loss to the Buffalo Bandits last week, 11-7. It appears as if they are still trying to find their team chemistry and momentum, as they sit at the bottom of the West Division rankings.
"Obviously for the first time this season we are the desperate team," said Minnesota Head Coach Mike Lines. "We are sitting at 1-3 and the only good thing about losing that game to Buffalo was that it was to an Eastern team. Right now we are currently one of three teams in the conference with three losses so we certainly aren't out of it by any stretch of the imagination."
Forward Callum Crawford leads the team with 19 points, with forward Aaron Wilson right behind him with 18 points. Goalie Kevin Croswell is coming off a solid game in net at Buffalo after relieving Nick Patterson early on and then going 23 for 29 between the pipes.
"Not a lot of people are picking us to win this one. However, our mindset will be no different than it is any other week and we are going to go into Washington expecting to win," said Swarm Assistant Coach Aime Caines.
The Swarm is 4-1 all-time against the Stealth.
Watch the game live on the NLL Network at NLL.com.
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