Shawn Palmer, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Di Miller
The Colorado Mammoth (1-1) hosted the San Diego Seals (1-1) for their first home game since March 19, 2020 and the Mammoth who had been victorious with a win in week one wanted to stay unbeaten. The 8,730 Mammoth fans were pumped and ready to go and it was if they hadn’t missed a beat. San Diego had other thoughts as they wanted to even their record after dropping their home opener by one goal last week. San Diego used a stifling defense and two four goal runs to defeat Colorado by the largest margin this weekend by far. Final Score: San Diego 13—Colorado 4.
The first quarter started with both teams having chances at each end but neither team could find the back of the net until the halfway point of the quarter. Eli Mclaughlin (1G, 2A) received a pass from Chris Wardle (1A) as he cut through the middle and beat Frank Scigliano (27 saves, 1A) to the stick side for the opening goal of the game. Colorado thought that they had doubled their lead four minutes later but it was reversed after a challenge was made and the replay showed that a player was in the crease before the ball crossed the line. This reversal seemed to change the momentum in the game as 20 seconds later San Diego’s Tre Leclaire (3G, 2A) had the ball at the top and with an over hand bounce shot and beat Dillon Ward (32 saves) to glove side to tie the game at one. Thirteen seconds later Wes Berg (2G, 3A) came around the pick and fired a laser to the top corner over Ward’s shoulder for the Seals first lead of the game. In the last minute of the quarter Leclaire had the ball at the side of the net, faked to the far side and beat Ward with a shot to the short side to give the Seals a two goal lead at the end of the first quarter. The shots on goal at the end of the first quarter had San Diego leading Colorado 14-9. Score at the end of one: San Diego 3—Colorado 1.
The Seals continued their scoring run in the second as Dane Dobbie(3G, 1A) received a pass in front of the net with his back turned to Ward he bounced a backhand shot past Ward who wasn’t expecting a shot from that angle to increase the lead to 4 – 1 for the Seals. Colorado stopped the four goal run when Connor Robinson (2G, 1A) cut through the middle and caught a pass from Ryan Lee (1G, 1A) and beat Scigliano with bounce shot stick side making it 4 – 2 for San Diego. With less than five minutes left in the first half, Scigliano made a nice outlet pass to Cam Holding (1G, 1A) who was on a two on a one, he passed it to Leclaire who faked high and beat Ward through the legs for his hat trick goal, increasing the Seals lead 5 – 2. Less than a minute later Jeremy Noble (2G, 4A) on a nice behind the back (BTB) pass from Berg took a quick bounce shot that beat Ward through the legs to end the quarter with the Seals still leading the Mammoth. The shots on goal at the end of the first half favored San Diego 25 over Colorado 18. Score at the end of two: San Diego 6—Colorado 2.
The Seals started the second half the way they left off the first when Holding picked up a loose ball after Colorado was whistled for an over and back call and he went in all alone on Ward to beat him through the five hole to extend the lead to 7 – 2 for the Seals. After another goal was called back against Colorado for a crease violation, Dobbie received a pass from Leclaire and made a great BTB to beat Ward to the short side while short-handed. This goal may even show up on Sports Center! Robinson stopped the latest four goal run by San Diego with the goalie pulled for the extra attacker as he was standing all alone in front of the net, received a pass from Zed Williams (2A) and beat Scigliano through the legs with 0.2 seconds left on the clock. Shots on goal at the end of the third quarter was San Diego 38 and Colorado 22. Score at the end of three: San Diego 8—Colorado 3.
Less than two minutes into the final quarter Mac O’Keefe (1G, 2A), while short-handed, cut behind his defender, received a pass from Casey Jackson (2A) and beat Ward to the top corner to reinstate the six goal lead for the Seals. The Mammoth frustration was building, another penalty ensued and San Diego went on the power play, moved the ball around, Noble received it at the left bottom corner and his quick stick beat Ward through the legs to make it 10 – 3. One minute later, after Ward made a nice kick save the ball went up in the air, Berg grabbed the rebound and fired it to the stick side to beat Ward making it 11 – 3 for the Seals. After the goal, the Mammoth bench had seen enough and Ward was replaced by Tyler Carlson (4 saves) for the final ten minutes of the game. The Mammoth had a power play just before the half way mark of the fourth quarter and Lee took a hard bounce shot to the far side to beat Scigliano cutting the San Diego lead to 11 – 4. San Diego in transition went on a three on two and Noble who was at the top faked a shot and fed Dobbie at the crease and his quick stick into the open corner beating Carlson. Dobbie’s hat trick goal extended the Seal’s lead to 12 – 4. San Diego’s Patrick Shoemay was sent to the box for a five minute major for body checking. Unfortunately Colorado’s woes continued as they couldn’t take advantage of the extra attacker. Colorado pulled their goalie for an extra attacker in the last two minutes and Drew Belgrave (1G) picked up the ball at center ran the floor and shot into the empty net. The shots on goal were the Seals 49 and the Mammoth 31. Final Score: San Diego 13—Colorado 4.
THREE STARS:
San Diego Seals—Tre Leclaire (3G, 2A)
San Diego Seals—Dane Dobbie (3G, 1A)
San Diego Seals—Frank Scigliano (4 GA and 33 saves)
NEXT UP:
The Colorado Mammoth (1-1) will head to Ft. Worth, TX on Friday December 17, 2021 to face the Panther City Panthers (0-2) at Dickies Arena for the first time. Game time 8:30 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on ESPN+ in the USA and on TSN.ca or the TSN app in Canada.
The San Diego Seals (1-1) will head up to Calgary to face the Roughnecks (1-1) at Westjet Field at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday December 17, 2021. Game time 8:00 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on ESPN+ in the USA and on TSN.ca or the TSN app in Canada.
Shawn Palmer, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©