The New England Black Wolves led 10-9 late in last Sunday's game against Rochester, when Wolves goalie Aaron Bold made a save off his shoetops, one of 45 for him on the night.

New England went on to win 11-9, making them 4-1 overall and 3-0 at home, both for the first time since the franchise moved to Mohegan Sun Arena from Philadelphia. Following the game, there was talk about Bold's late game play.

"He's won championships," forward Reilly O'Connor said of the goalie, acquired by the Wolves from the Saskatchewan Rush on Aug. 1. "He's got the championship pedigree."

"I haven't seen the breakdown of his stats, first half vs. second half, but he has certainly been better in the second half of games," Black Wolves coach Glenn Clark said on his weekly conference call. "He's a guy who prides himself on conditioning; he runs a personal training business and he lives that lifestyle. ... The fourth quarters, in particular, have been his strongest. It's kind of his makeup, I guess."

The Black Wolves hit the road Saturday for a game in Toronto (3-2) at 7 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre, not far from the homes of many of the New England players and coaches, who practice regularly in the Toronto area.

Three of New England's wins, two in a row, have come by two goals or fewer. The Black Wolves defense will be put to the test, too, by a Toronto team which has scored 20, 24 and 17 in their last three games, all victories.

The Rock are led by Adam Jones, tied for the National Lacrosse League lead in points (36), tied for second in goals (14) and third in assists (22) and by Tom Schreiber with 13 goals.

New England's Shawn Evans is fourth in the league in points (32), while Jay Thorimbert leads the NLL in loose balls (57) and faceoff wins (75).

Bold holds the third-best goals-against average at 11.15 and is third in saves with 190.

"Their shooting percentage has been really high and the quality looks they are getting, they are capitalizing on," Clark said of Toronto. "They have just been on a really good streak goal scoring-wise, and that will be our challenge, to try and disrupt that and slow that down."

v.fulkerson@theday.com