Wings are taking flight in return to field, improving to 4-0 with Saturday night win

The Wichita Wings picked up their fourth straight win Saturday night, a 9-6 victory over the Amarillo Bombers at Hart Arena.

The Wings, back in action this season thanks to a community-wide effort to put the team back on the field, were coming off a 13-0 victory in their first home game of the season.

Both that game and the one Saturday evening were played in front of boisterous nearly sold-out crowds.

The Wings (4-0) had averaged 11 goals per game with a plus-22 goal differential before Saturday’s matchup against the Bombers.

But Amarillo would not be stopped so easily.

At the end of the first quarter, the two teams were tied at 2 goals apiece.

“It was our closest game so far of the season,” Wichita midfielder David Lucio said afterward. “Everyone came out a little antsy because it was the first time we were playing a solid team, and it was at home.”

Moments before halftime, Lucio escaped multiple defenders to sneak the ball into the goal and give the Wings a 3-2 lead. The Bombers equalized with a goal five minutes into the third period.

In one of many highlights for the Wings, defender Daniel Sack made a shot that traveled almost the entire length of the field and tied the game again, this time at 4. The last six minutes of the third quarter was a defensive battle, and the match was still deadlocked entering the final stanza.

In the last quarter, the Wings turned on the offense. Wichita scored back-to-back-to-back goals at one point en route to a 7-4 advantage. Goalkeeper Steven Hamersky made numerous saves and the hosts added two more goals to carve out a more comfortable lead.

The Bombers snuck in two goals in the final few minutes of the game.

Hamersky said he was glad to see the level of competition increase because it gave his team what he felt was a needed wakeup call.

“I think the last game we played gave us a little bit of a faux idea of what we’re actually trying to play against,” Hamersky said. “It was great to see us break through that.”

When all was said and done, the Wings had scored five goals in the final, decisive period Saturday.

And that had the home crowd buzzing.

“That’s just indoor soccer,” Hamersky said. “We can be up by three and four and they’re chanting, ‘I believe that we will win,’ but with indoor, anything can happen, so you can’t count it too fast.”

That chanting fans inside Hartman Arena did not go unnoticed by Hamersky and his teammates.

“It’s crazy,” Lucio said. “We’ll go play away and there will be 200 to 300 people there. Then you come home and play in front of thousands of fans and it’s a real home-field advantage. These fans are the best.”

Hamersky agreed, saying the support made a difference.

“The fans were great. It mimicked the prior game,” he said. “The fans came through for us tonight, and I really think that’s what helped us to win in the second half.”

The Wings are back at Hartman next Sunday, Jan. 12, to take on the 1-0 New Mexico Runners.

This story was originally published January 4, 2020 at 11:51 PM with the headline "Wings are taking flight in return to field, improving to 4-0 with Saturday night win."