The San Diego Seals fell to the Colorado Mammoth 13-12 in the NLL Quarterfinals, tonight advancing Colorado to the Conference Finals. The match vs. Colorado had everything fans could want out of a lacrosse game – action, speed, power, a comeback, and a finish in the last moment of the game.
The scoring started off slow in the first half, with a 3-1 Mammoth lead after the first quarter. The Mammoth kept the lead through the second quarter, outscoring San Diego 4-2 to bring the score to 7-3 going into the half. From the Seals side it was Dobbie, Dickson, and Crowley who each got one in first half.
The tide started to turn minutes into the second half with back-to-back goals from Austin Staats and Wes Berg to bring the game to a 2 point lead. The Mammoth and Seals continued to go nearly goal for goal through the rest of the 3rd quarter, with the Mammoth maintaining their lead. Colorado got back up to a 4 goal lead at 10-6 before Mac O’Keefe snuck one in right before the end of the 3rd to go into the 4th trailing by 3. Seals’ goalie Frank Scigliano and Mammoth’s goalie Dillon Ward both had clutch saves throughout the night. Ward finished with 52 saves on the night and Scigliano with 32.
Both teams left everything on the floor in the fourth. San Diego started it off with a goal from Staats to get back to a 2 goal difference, followed by a goal from Ryan Lee of Colorado, his 4th of the night. Wes Berg and Austin Staats each got one more, bringing the Mammoth’s lead down to 1 point for the first time of the night with 8 minutes left to play. A minute later, Mac O’Keefe ripped his classic underhand shot to tie the game at 11-11, and Pechanga Arena went absolutely nuts. But the night wasn’t over yet.
Eli McLaughlin got his 3rd of night, followed by a beautiful behind-the-back goal from Crowley to keep the game tied at 12-12 with 3 minutes left to play. With 31 seconds left in the game, the Seals got their first penalty of the entire game with Belgrave getting 2 minutes for holding and giving Colorado their first Power Play of the night. With 1.8 seconds on the clock Eli McLaughlin scored for Colorado, and the Seals epic 2022-23 season came to a finish.
The Mammoth will face the winner of the Calgary/Panther City game, which takes place Saturday night at 6:30pm PT in Calgary and streaming live on ESPN+ and TSN.
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