Defending National Lacrosse League West Conference Champion San Diego Seals set to open 2023-24 season at home against Calgary on Dec. 9
Daunting schedule sees the Seals host nine games at Pechanga Arena as the full 2023-24 schedule is announced
The defending National Lacrosse League West Conference Champion San Diego Seals will open the 2023-24 NLL season at home against the Calgary Roughnecks, runners up to the Seals in the West in 2022-23, on Saturday, Dec. 9 at Pechanga Arena. The ball will drop at 7 p.m.
The Seals-Roughnecks matchup is the first of 18 regular season games announced by the NLL this morning. It’s a daunting schedule that will see the Seals play just two of their first seven contests at home. On the flip side however, San Diego will play seven of its last 11 and five of its last seven games in the friendly confines of Pechanga Arena.
Season tickets for all nine regular-season home games are currently on-sale at HERE.
It’s not an easy start to the season for the Seals. After opening their campaign against the Roughnecks, who finished 13-5 last season, the Seals hit the road in Week 2 to face the defending NLL Champion Buffalo Bandits at the KeyBank Center in Western New York. San Diego will have revenge on its mind as the teams met once last season with Buffalo eking out a narrow 7-6 victory over the Seals at Pechanga Arena.
After a bye, the Seals return to home turf on Friday, Dec. 29 for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Rochester Nighthawks, who went 10-8 and earned a spot in the playoffs last season. Following the Rochester contest, the Seals will not return to Pechanga Arena until Feb. 4 as the team’s next four games are all on the road. They include Friday, Jan. 12 at the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, Saturday, Jan. 13 at the Colorado Mammoth, Saturday, Jan. 20 at the Albany FireWolves and Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Philadelphia Wings.
As the calendar turns to February, Pechanga Arena will be the place to be for local box lacrosse fans. The Seals return home on Sunday, Feb. 4 (2 or 3 p.m. PT) when they play host to the Colorado Mammoth. It promises to be an intense matchup as it was the Mammoth that knocked the Seals from last season’s playoffs with a last second 13-12 win at Pechanga Arena in the postseason’s opening round. The Mammoth are one of the NLL’s top teams, having appeared in the last two League Championship Series, defeating Buffalo in 2022 to capture their first title in franchise history before losing to the Bandits last season.
A road game in New York against the Riptide follows on Saturday, Feb. 10 along with a bye before the Seals close out February with a home game against the Georgia Swarm on Friday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.
March will be a busy month for the Seals as the squad plays five games in a span of just 23 days. They’ll open the stretch with a road contest in Fort Worth, Texas against Panther City on Friday, March 1, and it’ll be a quick turnaround as the Seals will immediately return home to host the Toronto Rock at 7 p.m. the following evening, Saturday, March 2, at Pechanga Arena. It figures to be a tough contest as Toronto went 13-5 last season, second in the East, and advanced to the East Conference semifinals where they were eliminated by the eventual NLL Champion Buffalo Bandits.
After facing the Rock, San Diego gets to stay home on consecutive weeks for the first time all season as the following Saturday (March 9) they’ll host the Halifax Thunderbirds at 7 p.m. Halifax went 10-8 last season, earning a berth in the playoffs. The Seals will travel to Calgary for a contest on Friday, March 15 before closing out the month at home with a game against their rivals from “Sin City,” the Las Vegas Desert Dogs on Saturday, March 23 (7 p.m.) at Pechanga Arena.
The final month of the 2023-24 NLL regular season features two more home contests for the Seals. On Friday, April 5 (7 p.m.), they’ll play host to Panther City. They’re on the road in Canada the following week to face the Saskatchewan Rush on Saturday, April 13 before concluding the regular season with a home game against the Vancouver Warriors on Friday, April 19 at 7 p.m. at Pechanga Arena.
National Lacrosse League →