Shawn Palmer, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: National League Lacrosse
The San Diego Seals (1-3) visited the Vancouver Warriors (1-2) at Rogers Arena on Sunday December 29, 2019 for the final game of the decade and of 2019 hoping to come away with their first win of the season after dropping a game on Friday night to the Calgary Roughnecks. Vancouver was trying to continue their winning ways after defeating the New York Riptide a few weeks ago as the weekend wrapped up with an afternoon game on the West coast. The teams would not disappoint the 6,125 fans in attendance. It took extra time to determine the winner but San Diego out dueled Vancouver in OT for an 11–10 victory.
Logan Schuss (1G, 1A) started the goal scoring for Vancouver all alone beside the net and Mitch Jones (3G, 5A) found him with a nice pass to beat Frank Scigliano (1A, 46 saves) to the far side just 20 seconds into the game to give the Warriors the 1–0 lead. Keegan Bal (1G, 5A) would score at 3:49 with a shot from the outside to beat Scigliano over the shoulder that hit the crossbar; went down; and the backspin sent it right back out to the front of the net. It wasn’t called a goal but Vancouver threw the challenge flag and the replay showed the ball did bounce past the goal line. The call was overturned and the Warriors extended their lead to 2–0. At the 7:18 mark, Connor Fields (4G, 14LB) took a shot from the left side on the power play and it looked like Eric Penney (47 saves) had made the save; but as the referee was coming over to blow the play dead the ball rolled behind Penney and over the line to give the Seals their first goal of the game. Then while Vancouver was on the power play, Brodie Merrill (1G, 2A) picked up a loose ball and fed it to Cam Holding (1G) on a breakaway and he beat Penney through the legs for a shorthanded goal to tie the game at two. The shots on goal were in favor of San Diego 14-11. Score at the end of one: San Diego 2—Vancouver 2.
The second would start off with Vancouver’s Derek Lloyd (1G, 1A) scoring his first NLL career goal as the Warriors were killing off a five-on-three. Lloyd came out of the penalty box picked up the loose ball and went low on Scigliano and beat him between the legs to give the Warriors a 3–2 lead. Riley Loewen (1G) was next to score for the home team. He received the pass from Jones right in front of the crease and beat Scigliano under the arm with no time left on the shot clock 4-2 Warriors. Johnny Pearson (1G) who missed all of last year with an ACL injury scored on an outside shot through the legs and started a three-goal run for the Seals. A minute later Connor Kearnan (2G) got the pass cutting from the left side and shot far side beating Penney to the far post to tie it at four apiece. Fields would cap off the run and let a laser go from the top that Penney got a piece of but the shot was so hard it went off his shoulder and into the net giving San Diego their first lead of the game. Vancouver answered right away as Bal flipped the pass to Jordan McBride (3G) behind the net; and McBride dunked the ball behind Scigliano before he could cover the far side to tie the game at fives. After a six minute scoring drought, Wes Berg (5A) would set up the next goal for the Seals with the pass to Kearnan cutting through the middle of the floor to beat Penney far side for the lead once more. Fields would complete his first career hat trick with a side arm low to high shot from the outside top corner extending the Seals lead 7–5. The first half would end with the Seals still leading in shots on goal 32-27.
Scoring slowed in the third with a combined four goals and Vancouver outscoring San Diego 3-1. The Warriors would receive an early power play and Mitch Jones (3G, 5A) fired a hard low shot from the top to beat Scigliano cutting the Seals lead to one. Jones would score again three minutes later off the pass from Brandon Goodwin (2A) as he came down the middle of the floor; and fired a hard shot to the top corner off the post and in past Scigliano to tie it up seven all. McBride scored the third and final goal for the Warriors in the third off the cross floor pass from Jones and fired a shot between the legs of Scigliano to give the Warriors the lead once more 8–7. The Seals would get their lone goal four minutes later at the 12:57 mark from Braden Bradley scoring his first career NLL goal after being activated today. He’d score in transition as he ran the floor to beat Penney between the legs tying the game at eight apiece. San Diego still led in shots on goal 42-41 but Vancouver was closing the gap.
The fourth would see the team’s trade goal for goal the first two within 10 seconds. Jones would open up the scoring in the fourth quarter for Vancouver looking like he was going to pass and instead shot to the short side to beat Scigliano giving them the 9–8 lead at 1:23. Only 10 seconds later Brodie Merrill (1G, 2A) fed to a cutting Kyle Buchanan (1G, 2A) and his shot beat Penney between the legs to tie it up at nine at 1:33. After five minutes of scoreless lacrosse, the Warriors would pick up four loose balls on an offensive possession allowing McBride to get the pass from Bal to score his hat trick goal on a shot from in front that beat Scigliano to the far side giving the Warriors the one goal lead 10-9. Once again the Seals would answer back quickly as Fields would score his fourth of the game with a long range low shot to beat Penney through the legs to square it up at ten with just over eight minutes to go in the game. Vancouver killed off a three minute power play in the last five minutes of the fourth. With 10 seconds left in regulation, the Warriors had a chance to score but Scigliano shut the door allowing the Seals to get one more chance to win the game but their lone shot from Buchanan was stopped by Penney sending the game into overtime. Vancouver outshot San Diego 56–54 after four quarters. Score at the end of Regulation: San Diego 10—Vancouver 10
After two possessions for each team in OT with each goalie shutting the door, Brodie Merrill nabbed the loose ball and ran the length of the floor on a breakaway and beat Penney between the legs at the 1:49 mark into OT giving the Seals their first win of the season. Final Score in OT: San Diego 11—Vancouver 10.
TEAM STATS:
San Diego—58 SOG; 18 SOFF; 80 LB; 14-25 FO; 1-4 PP; 10 PIM
Vancouver—56 SOG; 23 SOFF; 64 LB; 11-25 FO; 1-4 PP; 11 PIM
NET-MINDER STATS:
San Diego Frank Scigliano—56 SOG; 46 Saves; 10 GA; .821 Sv%
Vancouver Eric Penney—58 SOG; 47 Saves; 11 GA; .810 Sv%
The three stars of the game:
- Mitch Jones (3G, 5A)
- Connor Fields (4G, 14LB)
- Frank Scigliano (1A, 47 saves)
NEXT UP:
The San Diego Seals (1-3) have a bye-week and will host the Saskatchewan Rush (2-1) at Pechanga Arena on Sunday January 12, 2020, game time 4:00 p.m. EST.
The Vancouver Warriors (1-2) will head to Colorado to face the Mammoth (2-1) at the Pepsi Center on Saturday January 4, 2020, game time 9:30 p.m. EST.
Shawn Palmer, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©