Despite showing improvement, Los Angeles still struggled at the start against its SoCal rivals.

The Aviators played the Growlers for the third time in four games, falling in their third straight opportunity against San Diego. It was the smallest margin of the three matchups, with a 21-16 score at Canyon Crest Academy.

The Growlers improved to 3-1, increasing the gap between the top three teams in the South Division and the bottom three squads as the Aviators fell to 0-4. 

Even though Los Angeles has been searching for a quicker start, San Diego jumped out to a 5-0 lead after a hold and then four straight breaks. The Growlers showed off stiff defense yet again, recording four blocks across the first five points. Still, even after a four-goal lead after the first period — LA finally got on the board with 1:39 left in the quarter — the Growlers only increased their margin to five by the end of the game.

For the first time this season, the Aviators won a period by more than one goal, taking the second period 6-4. The offense did what it needed to do with a 22-throw hold which featured 10 swings and an assist from James Franklin to Mateo Dominguez.

On the next point, Royce Grundy, playing in his second UFA game, got the team its first break with his first career professional assist by slinging it to Garrett Santi his second score of the season and 25th of his seven-year career.

With the margin at two, the Aviators could not continue to claw back as the two teams traded points to make it a 9-7 lead for San Diego at halftime.

The back-and-forth affair carried into the third, with the margin sitting at two or three for most of the quarter. The Growlers got their lone break of the quarter in the final minutes after Matt Miller recorded a block on a huck attempt.

After a timeout with just over 20 seconds remaining in the game, the Aviators fielded their tallest 5 players to try and stop a buzzer-beating score. San Diego managed to get it around the height of LA, as Travis Dunn placed a cross-field blade right into the hands of Casey Wu.

While the Aviators relinquished their strong second quarter, the middle quarters have been much stronger for the LA squad across the past three games. Despite opponents outscoring LA 21-7 in the first and 17-12 in the fourth in those contests, the Aviators have only trailed 34-31 in the second and third quarters.

Los Angeles was able to get a break in the fourth — Franklin found Jonathan Lyle for his game-leading fifth assist of the game — but it happened with only 33 seconds remaining in the game after the Growlers already put up two breaks. Franklin continues to be a bright spot for LA, as the second-year Aviator is the only player with double-digit goals and double-digit assists. One of nine players to play in all four games, Franklin also leads the team in points played and plus/minus. 

The Aviators are winless, but have only played two of the top three teams in the South Division. Los Angeles has plenty of time before its next game, taking on the Houston Havoc and their 1-3 record at home on May 30.

Fans can catch the action at 7 p.m. by purchasing their tickets here Aviators vs Havoc tickets