A defensive battle for three quarters turned into an offensive shootout in the fourth and the San Diego Seals came up on the short end, falling 11-9 to the Vancouver Warriors on Friday night at the Rogers Center in British Columbia, Canada.
After combining for nine goals in the opening three quarters, the teams dropped the gloves and tallied 11 in the fourth and final quarter but unfortunately the eight of those were scored by the Warriors, including a game-high six by Warriors forward Keegan Bal, all in that fourth and final period.
A 6-3 game after three quarters, things got interesting early in the fourth as Vancouver scored twice in the first 3:57 to climb within a goal at 6-5. Ryan Benesch halted the Warrior run on a run down the middle, taking a nice feed from Cam Holding and beating Warriors’ goalie Aden Walsh low on the stick side to put the Seals back on top by two, 7-5.
Vancouver came back however and went on a 4-0 run to jump ahead 9-7 with 4:33 left in the game. Holding put an end to the run, coming up with a loose ball near midfield and putting it into the net to draw the Seals back within one at 9-8.
Still down a goal, and a player, after Wes Berg was called for a holding penalty with 2:01 left in fourth, Seals Head Coach Patrick Merrill made a gutsy decision to pull goaltender Chris Origlieri to draw to even strength and Rob Hellyer rewarded his Coach’s faith, scoring a goal with 1:27 left to tie the game at 9-9. Still on the power play though, Bal scored his fifth of the night just 19 seconds later to put the Warriors back up, 10-9 and less than a minute after that, Bal dashed the Seals hopes of a comeback, scoring an empty netter with just 14 seconds left for the final goal of the night.
With the loss the Seals fall to 3-3 on the season while the Warriors run their record to 3-1. The Seals will return to the turf next Saturday night (Jan. 18) when they take on the Las Vegas Desert Dogs at the Lee’s Family Forum Arena in Henderson, Nevada.
National Lacrosse League →