Photo Credit: Greg Siller
The San Diego Growlers hosted the Seattle Cascades on June 1st at Mission Bay HS in a pivotal West Division matchup.
On the first point, the Growlers took advantage of a Cascades turnover with a break score from Stefan Samu to Ethan Li. Seattle held on the next possession despite a turnover, and then broke back to take an early 2-1 lead. San Diego matched tactics and held on offense and broke quickly with a Max Hume assist to Michael Tran. The Cascades proceeded to take control with a hold and two consecutive break scores to go up 5-3. Travis Dunn’s perfect flick throw to Hume stopped the bleeding, but Seattle countered to end the quarter, 6-4.
San Diego secured a key hold with Bryce Lozinski’s left handed high release to former Cascades player, Peter Lenz. This goal started a series of offensive holds from each team as they battled back and forth. With a minute left on the clock, the Growlers were unable to hold despite two chances, so the Cascades took a 10-8 lead into halftime.
The Cascades certainly gave the Growlers chances to start the third quarter, but despite a timeout and offensive substitutions, Seattle was able to hold on for the score. The teams traded a couple of goals, then the Cascades earned another break to pull ahead 14-10. San Diego responded well with a Lenz to Garrett Hable hold, then Tran recorded a hand block and the bookend goal, 14-12. But with 24 seconds left, Seattle calmly hit several underneath cuts and finished with a buzzer-beater hammer score, 15-12.
The Growlers committed a throwaway on their offensive possession and the Cascades took advantage with a break to increase their lead by 4. After what appeared to be a no-call strip gave Seattle the disc, Samu got it right back with a hand block and layout catch of the deflection for the callahan goal! The teams traded, and San Diego proceeded to get a much needed break after a timeout when Dunn hit Matt Miller in the end zone, 17-15. The Growlers had another chance to break but just overthrew the receiver, and the Cascades held with 2 minutes remaining. A Miller to Dunn to Lozinski quick hold was much needed, and then a critical Growlers break was nullified by a questionable offensive foul call. San Diego got the disc back as Li connected with Caden Sigerud for the goal with 7 seconds left, but Seattle ran out the final seconds and achieved a razor thin 18-17 victory.
The Growlers were led by Travis Dunn (5 assists, 2 blocks) with a +7 performance, and Stefan Samu (3 assists, 1 goal, 2 blocks) was key with a +5 game as well.
Next up, San Diego will have a bye weekend and then host the Los Angeles Aviators on Saturday, June 15 at 6:30 pm at Mission Bay HS.
