(From the 3/8/99 Philadelphia Daily News)
Last week, Jake Bergey was named the National Lacrosse League Player of the Week.
On Saturday, he made a bid to win the award again this week when he scored three goals and had five assists to lead the Wings to a 15-6 win over visiting Syracuse before 15,678 fans at the First Union Center.
Bergey scored in every quarter but the first, and the Wings held the Smash's usually high-scoring Paul Gait to just one assist. This past January, Gait scored a season-high 13 points (nine goals, four assists) as the Syracuse downed the Wings, 19-12.
"It was a total team effort all the way through," Bergey said. "Our defense was so key. When you shut down Paul Gait and hold him scoreless, that is the big difference."
Philadelphia (3-5) jumped to a 4-0 first-quarter lead on two goals by Tom Marechek and one each by Jim Rogers and Kevin Finneran.
Todd Katanchik increased the lead to 5-0 just 38 seconds into the second quarter. Syracuse (2-5) then got goals from Jeff Klodzen and Del Halladay to pull the Smash to within 5-2. But Marechek scored his third goal of the game, followed by two goals by Brian Finneran, and another by Bergey as the Wings took an insurmountable 9-2 lead.