The Saskatchewan Rush opened up their title defence with a one-goal loss to the New England Black Wolves on Friday.

The first and fourth quarters sunk the Rush as they lost 12-11 to Black Wolves in the opening game of the 2018-19 National Lacrosse League season.

New England came out of the gates hot and opened up a 4-1 lead on Saskatchewan after the first quarter. Mark Matthews scored the Rush's lone goal on the power play with 7:48 gone in the quarter.

Matthews, Robert Church and Jeff Shattler scored three straight goals for the Rush to open the second quarter and tie the game at 4-4. New England answered with five of the next six goals before Rush added two more to finish the period down 9-7.

Shattler scored a pair in the second, while Ben McIntosh and Matthew Dinsdale scored just 40 seconds apart at the end of the quarter.

McIntosh scored two more and Church added his second to open the second half as the Rush took their first lead of the game, moving in front 10-9 on the Black Wolves.

New England’s Callum Crawford scored with 48 seconds left in the third quarter to tie the game. The Black Wolves carried that momentum over into the fourth quarter and picked up goals from Stephan Leblanc and Reilly O’Connor to retake the lead at 12-10.

Church completed his hat trick, scoring with the goalie pulled to get Saskatchewan within one with 1:09 to play, but they couldn't close the gap any more than that.

Matthews finished with two goals and eight points, while Ryan Keenan chipped in with seven assists in the loss. Rush goalie Evan Kirk made 41 saves, while Alex Buque turned away 38 shots in goal for New England.

Saskatchewan returns to the court this Saturday when they host the expansion San Diego Seals for their home opener, 6:30 p.m., at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.