Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Ryan McCullough
On Saturday April 2, 2022, the Toronto Rock (10-5) on a quick turnaround after beating the Georgia Swarm last night played the San Diego Seals (9-4) who had been waiting in Toronto for the game. The Rock started off slow as they were trying to get their legs under them and were short a couple of right-handed offensive players as Dan Dawson and Rob Hellyer were both out with injuries, so they needed to look to some of the other players to step up and fill the gap. Through three quarters it was a close game, but the Rock pulled away in the fourth to double-dip the Seals. The win moves Toronto into second place in the Eastern division a half of a game ahead of Halifax. Final Score: Rock 14—Seals 7.
Just over a minute into the game Austin Staats (1G, 4A) with a nice give and go with Brett Hickey (2A) to Staats shot and beat Nick Rose (35 saves) to the short side. The next eight minutes went without any goals as both defenses played well until Wes Berg (2G, 2A) received a rebound off of the back glass and went far side to make it 2 – 0 for the Seals. The Rock got on the board on the power play when Tom Schreiber (1G, 6A) passed to Zach Manns (1G, 2A) who beat Frank Scigliano (43 saves) to the far side to cut the lead in half. A minute later Dan Craig (6G) fired an outside shot that went over the goal, he was able to get his own rebound and put it in the open side to tie it up at the end of the first quarter. The shots at the end of the first favored Toronto 19 to San Diego’s 12. Score at the end of one: Rock 2—Seals 2.
San Diego came out flying to start the third quarter only 27 seconds in. Casey Jackson (3G) received a pass in front of the crease, and he beat Rose with a bounce shot five-hole to regain the lead at 3 – 2. Toronto would go on a four-goal run shutting out the Seals for the remainder of the frame. It start with a goal in transition when Aaron Forster (2G, 1A) received a pass and dove across the crease beating Scigliano to the short side to tie it up again, this was Forster’s second goal in the last two games after scoring his first NLL goal last night. Twenty-five seconds later while two men short Mitch de Snoo (1G, 1A) beat two defenders and unloaded a shot to the top corner giving the Rock their first lead of the game at 4 – 3. Toronto would continue their run when Craig received a pass from Schreiber and his over hand high to low shot beat Scigliano to the bottom glove hand side corner to make it 5 – 3. Just over halfway through the quarter Challen Rogers (5A) sent a nice pass o Forster and his over hand shot went over the shoulder to the top corner giving the Rock a three-goal lead at the half. The shots at the end of the first half were Toronto 35—San Diego 22. Score at the end of two: Rock 6—Seals 3.
Four minutes into the second half San Diego cut into the Toronto lead when Zack Greer (1G, 1A) took a low sidearm shot that beat Rose through the legs to make it 6 – 4 for the Rock. Toronto would get that one back about four minutes later when Latrell Harris (2G) picked off a pass and went in all alone, dove across the crease and beat Scigliano through the legs to increase the Rock lead to 7 – 4. San Diego would fire back when Berg beat his defender and his high to low shot went to cut the lead to two at 7 – 5. They’d put up another from Jackson after got received a pass behind the net while on the power play, he dove ahead and beats Rose to the top corner making it a one goal game at 7 – 6 with less than four minutes left in the third. With 25 seconds on the clock, on transition Schreiber with a nice flip pass to Harris fired a nice twister shot through the legs for his second of the night extending the Rock lead to two once more. The shots on goal at the end of the third quarter were Toronto 48—San Diego 34. Score at the end of three: Rock 8—Seals 6.
Toronto came on fire in the fourth scoring six unanswered goals. It started off at the 2:37 mark while on transition, Brandon Slade (1G, 1A) picked up a loose ball, went coast to coast and beat Scigliano through the five-hole to make it 9 – 6 for the Rock. There was almost five minutes of scoreless lacrosse before another point went up on the board. Schreiber from the side of the floor stopped and his low shot went short side to extend the lead to four at 10 – 6. Less than a minute later Craig from the outside with an over hand rip went top corner on the short side to make it 11 – 6 for his hat trick goal. While on the power play Craig got a pass from Schreiber at the top and his overhand shot beat Scigliano to the short side for his fourth of the night and the Rock had doubled the Seals at 12 – 6. Craig would notch his fifth 30 seconds later as he got a pass at the crease and his quick stick beat Chris Origlieri (4 saves) who had taken over in net for Scigliano after the last Craig goal. On the power play, Craig got pass from Rogers right in front of the net and he beat Origlieri to make it 14 – 6 as he scored his fourth in a row and sixth in the game for the sock-trick. San Diego would halt the run when Jackson scores his third for the hat-trick on a great BTB feed from Dane Dobbie (2A) and his bounce shot beats Riley Hutchcraft (6 saves) who was in net to take over for Rose and it was 14 – 7 for the Rock. In the last three minutes of the game there were three different fights as Billy Hostrawser (1A) fought Brodie Merrill in the main event as the Seals were visibly frustrated with their performance and how Rose was able to shut down their offense throughout the game. The shots on goal were Toronto 61—San Diego 48. Final Score: Rock 14—Seals 7.
The Three stars of the game were:
Dan Craig—Toronto Rock: 6 Goals
Tom Schreiber—Toronto Rock: 1 goal, 6 assists
Nick Rose—Toronto Rock: 6 GA and 35 saves (second game in a row with only 6 GA)
STATS:
San Diego Seals—SOG 48; Saves 47; Face-offs 8-24; Assists 13; LB 74; PP 1-3
Toronto Rock—SOG 61; Saves 41; Face-offs 16-24; 17; LB 77; PP 3-7
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (10-5) will head to Rochester to play the Knighthawks (3-11) at Blue Cross Arena, on Saturday April 9th, game time 7:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the action on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can catch the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
The San Diego Seals (9-4) will play host to the Philadelphia Wings (6-8) at Pechanga Arena on Friday April 8th, game time 10:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the action on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can catch the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©