The San Diego Seals had a busy 48 hours with two road games in two days. Let’s start with Friday night, as the Seals traveled to Las Vegas to take on the Desert Dogs. Las Vegas came in with everything to gain, and gain is what they did as they took down the visiting Seals, 10-8. Here’s the cliffnotes.
The first quarter was a stalemate as both sides scored two goals a piece. Zack Greer and John Wagner for Las Vegas and Kyle Jackson and Dane Dobbie, both on the power play, for San Diego.
The second showed absolutely nothing from San Diego because it was the Jack Hannah show. The Las Vegas forward scored three goals in the frame, giving him the natural hat trick. One of those goals was on the power play, and most importantly, Las Vegas had taken control. 5-2 Dogs at the half.
One goal a side was the story in the third, both of which were on the power play. For Vegas it was Rob Hellyer and for San Diego it was Wesley Berg.
Pretty short and sweet so far, right? Las Vegas dominated defensively and goaltender Landon Kells was spectacular. The fourth quarter, compared to the other three, was a track meet. Nine goals were scored in the quarter, matching the nine we had up to this point in the game. Scorers for San Diego were Jackson twice, giving him the hat trick, and Berg three times, giving him four on the night. For Las Vegas, scorers were Sean Westley, Jonathan Gagliardi, Greer, his second, and Hannah, his fourth. Take a minute and add all that up and that gives us our final, 10-8 Las Vegas.
Players of the game for Las Vegas were Hannah (4+2), Greer (2+6), and Hellyer (1+4). Kells was incredible all game long, keeping a potent Seals offense at bay. He made 42 saves on 50 shots. For San Diego, Berg (4+2), Jackson (three goals), and Dobbie (1+1) led the way. Christopher Origlieri shined some moments, but looked unsettled in others. The youngster stopped 37 of 46 for the game.
“We felt like we hadn’t played our best game of lacrosse yet,” said Kells. “It just comes down to trusting my teammates and trusting that everyone around me will do their job. I go out there and do mine – we do it together.”
Las Vegas (2-3) has some time off to relish in their first franchise win against San Diego. They take their home floor on January 27th at 10pm against Panther City Lacrosse Club (2-3).
As for San Diego, let’s get to Saturday night’s game two of two, this time at the Loud House against the Colorado Mammoth.
If you’re still with me, first, thank you. San Diego had a quick turnaround to try and right the ship. Unfortunately for the Colorado faithful, that’s exactly what they did. San Diego took game two of their road trip, 12-8.
Austin Staats must have taken exception to the fact that he was held out of the goal column in the Las Vegas game, because he came out in the first quarter against Colorado on a mission. Staats scored the first three goals of the game in the first 6:25 of game play. Sheesh. Connor Robinson finally stopped Staats and the Seals with his first, but was answered by Mac O’Keefe.
San Diego continued the offensive production they lacked the night before with two-straight to begin the second. The first was from Kyle Jackson and the other from Dane Dobbie. Zed Williams and Danny Logan traded goals, and then Eli McLaughlin and Connor Kelly rattled off two in a row for Colorado. O’Keefe notched his second to close out the quarter, making it 8-4 Seals at the break.
McLaughlin scored his second to begin the third, but San Diego rattled off three-straight to seemably put this one to bed. Scorers were Wesley Berg, Curtis Dickson, and Tre Leclaire. Chris Wardle got his first to close out the third, but this one was all but over.
It took a while for the scoring to start in the fourth, which is exactly what San Diego was looking for. A potent Colorado offense that is silenced, makes it difficult to make a comeback. Finally at the 6:25 mark of the quarter, McLaughlin registered his third, and four minutes after, Robinson got his second. Unfortunately that’d be it for the Mammoth’s scoring. Cam Holding got his first in the waning seconds, and that’d be it. Your final, 12-8 Seals.
Players of the game for San Diego were Staats (3+2), O’Keefe (two goals), and Berg (1+6). Christopher Origlieri was stunning, looking very much settled compared to the night before. He stopped 43 of 51 on the night. For Colorado, McLaughlin (3+3), Robinson (2+3), and Kelly (1+2) led the way. Dillon Ward was stout at times, just coming up short. He made 41 saves on 52 shots. Milestone alert: McLaughlin, with his three goals, is now at 236 for his career. That surpassed John Grant Jr for most goals in franchise history. Pretty decent company for Eli.
Origlieri was asked about the differences between the two games back-to-back. “I think our compete level and a couple bounces didn’t go our way last night. I honestly think we put in a decent effort, but tonight we put in a great effort.”
San Diego (3-2) has to go back to Pechanga at some point, right? Well, no rest for the wicked as they ship right back off, this time to Albany (6-0) for a massive showdown. Faceoff in that game is Saturday night at 7pm. Colorado (1-4) looks to right the ship as they stay home and welcome Calgary (2-2) to town Saturday at 9pm.
