Despite losing for the first time this season, the Philadelphia Wings gained ground in this week's Lacrosse-Network.com Experts Poll.

The Wings split two games in a tough weekend, staving off New York on Friday before suffering a 21-12 blowout loss the next night in Buffalo.

Losing didn't matter, though -- Philadelphia drew the first-place vote of all eight Experts, earning the maximum score of 96 points. The Wings scored 95 points last week.

The top of the rankings remains unchanged except for slight adjustments in points. Minnesota placed second (85 points) for the third straight week, just as long as Colorado (79 points) has occupied third place.

In fact, the only positional change came midway down the rankings, where Rochester converted an 18-8 rout of Chicago into an improvement to seventh, with 50 points. Calgary (38 points) went the other direction after losing at Toronto.

At the bottom of the table, a change might be coming soon -- Edmonton remains in last place despite posting its first win of 2008, but the gap between the Rush and the Chicago Shamrox is down to a single point, 13-12.

Our panel of eight experts includes a wide range of top lacrosse minds, including Outsider's Guide writers, players, and coaches. Scoring is on an 12-11-10-etc. basis, so that the maximum score a team can earn is 96 points and the minimum is eight points.

The complete rankings from this week's Experts Poll, with comments (win-loss record through Sunday is in parentheses):

WEEK EIGHT                                      Pts  Prv
 1. Philadelphia Wings (6-1)                     96    1
    How do Wings respond to 21-12 loss?
 2. Minnesota Swarm (6-2)                        85    2
    Tough spot to end 2-game skid (at BUF)
 3. Colorado Mammoth (5-2)                       79    3
    Big Western showdown on Saturday (vs. SJ)
 4. Buffalo Bandits (6-4)                        72    4
    Pounded the Wings this past weekend
 5. San Jose Stealth (4-3)                       64    5
    Aiming to make West a race again
 6. Toronto Rock (5-3)                           54    6
    Winning the games they ought to win
 7. Rochester Knighthawks (4-4)                  50    8
    Back on track?
 8. Calgary Roughnecks (3-6)                     38    7
    Riggers, 'Jax allowing Rush back into race
 9. New York Titans (4-5)                        36    9
    Hung tight with PHI for a long time
10. Portland LumberJax (3-6)                     25   10
    Inconsistency dragging 'Jax down
11. Chicago Shamrox (1-6)                        13   11
    This team is in trouble
12. Edmonton Rush (1-6)                          12   12
    At long last... a victory!