The San Diego Growlers traveled north to face the Oakland Spiders on Saturday, June 10, in an important West Division matchup.
In windy conditions, the Growlers yielded two breaks to the Spiders before getting on the scoreboard with a Paul Lally dish to Steven Milardovich, 2-1. The teams traded two scores in the downwind endzone, capped off by a Travis Dunn assist to Kyle Rubin. San Diego punched in a break with a crazy tip catch by Jeff Silverman, but the Spiders countered with an upwind hold to take the lead 5-4.
Similar to the first quarter, Oakland scored two in a row with a hold and a break, before Max Hume caught a goal and had to leave the game with an injury, 7-5. The Spiders scored two more, then the Growlers got back on track with Dunn's downwind flick to Tom Konogeris, 9-6. The teams traded, then San Diego almost beat the buzzer with a layout callahan, but came up a foot short, 11-7.
In a role reversal, San Diego started the third quarter with a hold and a break, with both scores coming from a Dunn to Milardovich connection, 11-9. Oakland punched back with two goals once again, but San Diego was able to hold downwind, 13-10. The Growlers dug deep to generate two consecutive breaks, when Jordan Queckboerner dished to Garrett Hable, and Ethan Li found Caden Sigerud for the score, 13-12. The teams traded, and a Silverman layout block against his former team prevented another Spiders score as the third quarter expired.
Oakland and San Diego traded two holds to begin the fourth quarter, but a Spiders layout block plus 2 break scores was a key turning point in the game, 19-15. As the clock wound down, both squads traded holds, and Oakland cemented their win with a late break, 21-17.
The Growlers were led by Jordan Queckboerner (4 assists, 1 block) with a +5 performance. Travis Dunn (4 assists, 1 goal, 2 blocks), Kyle Rubin (4 assists, 1goal), and Steven Milardovich (1 assists, 4 goals, 1 block) each contributed +3 games. San Diego will host the Seattle Cascades on Saturday, June 17 at Mission Bay HS in a must win game to keep their playoff chances alive.
