Shawn Palmer, Correspondent Toronto Rock
Lacrosse is Awesome ©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Toronto Rock
The Toronto Rock (1-1) travelled to San Diego to play the Seals (0-2) for the first time ever at the Pechanga Arena on Saturday night December 14. It was also the first time that Dan Dawson played against the Seals after playing with them in 2018. Both teams came into the game with one loss: San Diego to Buffalo; and Toronto to New England.
Prior to the game the Rock announced that two mainstays in the lineup, Latrell Harris (Healthy Scratch); and Adam Jones (Injured Reserve) would not be playing. Even without these two, Toronto came out firing on all cylinders, scoring early and often and Nick Rose shut the door on the Seals all night earning a 13–6 win for the Rock.
Toronto would dominate the first not allowing the Seals to score. Tom Schreiber (3G, 2A) scored the first goal just over three minutes into the game on a beautiful behind the back shot from well outside to beat Frank Scigliano (6 Saves) for a shorthanded goal. Johnny Powless (1G, 2A) scored the second Rock goal just over three minutes later on a pass from Dan Craig (1G, 5A) to double the lead. They would score their third in a row on the transition as Challen Rogers (1G, 1A) went across the middle and passed to a wide open Josh Jubenville (1G) to the short side for his first career NLL goal just past the midway point of the first quarter to give them a 3–0 lead; and continued the scoring run with the final goal of the first when Dan Dawson (3G, 1A) came in front and reached over Scigliano to beat him to the top corner. The Rock came out of the first ahead of the Seals 4–0, even though San Diego had outshot Toronto 13 – 9.
The second quarter started just as the first had left off as Dawson took a low shot on Scigliano with one second left on the shot clock to score just inside the post to increase the lead to 5–0 for the Rock. The goal was Dawson’s 1400th point of his great career. San Diego was finally able to solve Nick Rose (52 Saves) after a lengthy offensive possession on the power play as Wes Berg (4G, 1A) beat him over the shoulder on a nice hard overhand shot to the top corner. The Seals were finally on the board after almost 20 minutes and the lead was cut to four with Toronto holding a 5–1 lead. The Rock got that one back just over a minute later as Rob Hellyer (2G, 4A) took a low shot from about 10 feet out and it went through Scigliano’s legs and slowly rolled near the line. Scigliano reached back and grabbed the ball just as it crossed the line and the referee called it “no goal”. The Rock would challenge the play and it was overturned giving them a 6–1 lead. At that point the Seals would make a change in net bringing in Nick Damude (24 saves) to replace Scigliano. San Diego came right back and Berg would score his second of the game as he cut down low; beat his defender; crossed in front of the crease to beat Rose over the shoulder cutting the lead to four in favor of Toronto. Two minutes later Craig welcomed Damude into the game with a power play goal after some good ball movement beating him with a shot to the top corner increasing the gap back to five. The teams went back and forth for the last half of the quarter with both goalies making some good saves until on transition, Rogers received a breakaway pass from David Brock (2A) over the shoulder after a few fakes to end the quarter with the Rock leading 8–2. The shots at the half were San Diego 31—Toronto 21.
Less than a minute into the second half, Schreiber cut across in front with a crease dive and beat Damude to the far side to give the Rock a commanding 9–2 lead. Connor Fields (2G) was able to get the Seals going in the second half just over four minutes into the quarter as he took a low hard, sidearm shot from the outside that beat Rose and cut the lead to six. Two and half minutes later Fields would score his second in a row taking a pass from Brodie Merrill (2A); he spun around and took a shot beating Rose to the low stick side to make it 9–4. Berg continued the Seals run with his hat trick goal to beat his defender diving across the crease scoring past Rose to the far side getting them to within four. The third quarter ended with the Rock ahead 9–5; and the shots in favor of the Seals 44—Rock 28.
Just like each of the first three quarters the Rock would open the scoring in the fourth with Dawson notching his hat trick goal as he moved in from the boards to beat Damude short side to regain the Rock’s five goal lead at 10–5. Six minutes later Berg would score his fourth of the game grabbing up the loose ball and went straight down the middle of the floor to beat Rose low on a nice shot again closing the gap 10–6 and their last on the night. Schreiber got that goal back coming from behind the net and curled out front, took a shot on the run to the far side low corner increasing the Rock lead once more. Zach Manns would score his first career NLL goal cutting across the middle of the floor taking a low shot to beat Damude with one second left on the shot clock; and Toronto would end their scoring on the night with Hellyer taking a low shot from the outside to the corner. Final Score: Toronto 13—San Diego 6.
Final Shots on Goal: San Diego 58—Toronto 43.
The Three Stars of the Game:
- Nick Rose – Shutting down the Seals offense with 52 saves
- Wes Berg – Supplied four goals and much of the offense for the Seals
- Tom Schreiber – After an off week last week looked more like himself with his five points.
NEXT UP:
The next game for the Seals (0-2) is on December 27, against the Calgary Roughnecks (1-0), game time 10:00 p.m. EST.
The Toronto Rock (1-1) will also play on December 27, as they travel to Rochester to play the Knighthawks (0-1), game time 7:00 p.m. EST.
Shawn Palmer, Correspondent Toronto Rock
Lacrosse is Awesome ©