Marcelo A. Sagüez, Correspondent Calgary Roughnecks
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Candice Ward
The now 7-8 Calgary Roughnecks could not rally a comeback on Saturday March 30 to beat the San Diego Seals. Chasing the win Roughnecks were unable to beat a more cohesive Seals team, and on their home turf would drop the contest 16-9 losing the series two games to one.
Rhys Duch (1g, 3a) set the tone 21 seconds from the opening face-off with a blast from the shooter position to the top corner on former Roughnecks goalie Frankie Scigliano. Although the tempo was high off the early goal, the Seals outscored the Riggers 4-3 at the end of the first.
Calgary’s predictable go to attack was detected early in the first quarter as Curtis Dickson (3g, 2a) was laid out trying to beat three San Diego defenders in front of the crease, resulting in a Calgary power-play for the high stick on Dickson. Despite the advantage on the man up, Calgary was unsuccessful in capitalizing the advantage.
Trailing 9-5 at the half going into the locker room, the Roughnecks would need to rally and put it together. In the third, Dickson put in a highlight reel goal going top shelf on Scigliano, with a behind the back underhand no look shot. Giving the home team some much needed momentum. Score at the end of three: San Diego 13—Calgary 7.
With 15 remaining, it was do or die for Calgary, but they could only muster two goals while San Diego would score three. Dickson on the extra attacker at 10:45; and Reece Callies (1g) with an unassisted short-handed goal at 12:53. San Diego would start and close out the final frame with goals from Casey Jackson (4g, 1a); Austin Staats (2g, 4a) on the power play; and Adrian Sorichetti (1g) with the final nail in the coffin. Final Score: Seals 16—Roughnecks 9.
“There are usually a lot of penalties early; last couple of games there were some in the first half and then the referees put the whistle away and let us play the game,” explained Malawsky. “In the five-on-three, we should have capitalized on that and we put ourselves behind the eight ball. They hit some shots, we hit some pipes, and Frankie (Scigliano) made some big saves and it’s a game of momentum – and they had it. It’s a disappointing night for us.”
Calgary was two for six on the power-play, while San Diego was two for four on the night.
“Disappointing,” said Coach Curt Malawsky” they were better than us in all areas of the game. They deserved to win the game and we deserved to lose the game, we got the result we deserved.”
Curtis Dickson got his 700th point but despite this milestone, the Riggers needed to be better to move up the play-off ladder. Calgary has clinched a playoff berth as the Rush would defeat the Warriors 12-9.
“Embarrassing,” said Dickson. “This is as close to a playoff atmosphere as you can get in the regular season and we went out there and laid an egg. That’s unacceptable. If we want to be a contender and we want to make a run in the playoffs in this league, we can’t have efforts like that. Something needs to get figured out here pretty soon.”
Seals forward Dan Dawson reached his milestone scoring his 500th goal tonight; and his point total for this contest (2g, 6a). “My 500th goal is a testament to the coaches I’ve been playing for the past 18 years,” said Dawson. “I’ve been surrounded by teammates who have made my job easy. I’m lucky to have been able to do it with this group tonight.”
Seals goaltender Frankie Scigliano turned away 44 of 53 Roughneck shots.
“The defense was letting me see the ball well,” said Scigliano. “We played our system tonight, and I thought we played a full 60 minutes. That’s a step in the right direction. You want to win all of the season series, and that’s a big one for us tonight.”
NEXT UP:
Calgary (7-8) will head east to face the Philadelphia Wings (3-11) on Saturday April 6, game time 12:00 p.m. EST.
San Diego (9-4) will head to the East to face the Georgia Swarm (11-4) on Friday April 5, game time 7:35 p.m. EST.
Marcelo A. Sagüez, Correspondent Calgary Roughnecks
Lacrosse is Awesome©