July 26, 2025
The San Diego Growlers traveled halfway across the country to face the Austin Sol in the first round of the UFA South Division Playoffs. The Growlers were hungry for revenge after giving up a fourth quarter lead to the Sol during their regular season loss, but would also need to battle against adverse conditions such as the heat, wind, and a long day of travel.
Austin started hot with a hold on offense and after a couple of San Diego turnovers, earned their first break score of the game. San Diego bounced back with an efficient hold by way of a Max Gibson assist to Oliver Artus, 2-1. The teams settled in offensively and began to trade several goals each, highlighted by a long backhand throw from Travis Dunn to a leaping Khalif El-Salaam. With the score 6-5, Reggie Sung intercepted an errant Sol pass, and the Growlers called timeout to substitute in their offense with 9 seconds left. After a foul call in the endzone, Gibson centered the disc and assisted to a diving Dunn with 2 seconds left to tie the game at 6-6.
The Growlers had the momentum in the second quarter with El-Salaam continuing to attack the deep space, resulting in a Dunn goal and their first lead. After an Austin throwaway, San Diego seized control with a Michael Tran connection to Stefan Samu for the break and their fourth consecutive score, 8-6. The Sol battled back with a hold despite a three minute long point with multiple turnovers from each side. San Diego took advantage of another Austin throwaway with a Samu dish to Max Hume for a break and the 10-7 lead. The teams traded goals until the Sol had a chance to break after a timeout, but a deflection from Bryce Lozinski fell into the hands of Samu and the Growlers called timeout with 19 seconds remaining. With their deep game dialed in, Matt Miller took an immediate downfield shot to Gibson, and eventually Daniel Brunker threw a buzzer-beater scoober to Dunn, 13-10.
The Sol's Henke brothers began the third quarter with a score and tried to fire up the home crowd, but the Growlers answered the call with a goal. Austin held, then had a chance to break after a timeout, but once again San Diego prevented any comeback surge when Will Turner found Kobi McCracken in the end zone, 15-12. The teams traded a couple scores each, then Sung came up with a huge block which led to a Miller to Dunn break after a timeout. During the next Austin possession, tight defense caused a turnover, and the Growlers patiently swung the disc across the field until Gibson hit Turner with a backhand down the line for their second break in a row, 19-14. The Sol were down but not out yet, and were able to score twice before the end of the quarter, including a buzzer beater to cut the deficit to 20-16.
San Diego's deep game continued to connect as Marcel Osborne sent the disc to Dunn in the end zone as he shielded away his defender to catch the goal. The next point lasted 3:04 minutes and featured 3 blocks from the Growlers (2 by Gibson, 1 by Tynan Sander), and eventually led to a long throw to El-Salaam that was initially tipped by his defender but resulted in a second-effort Superman layout score for the dagger, 22-16. Austin was able to hold on offense and record a break score, but it took over 3 minutes, and San Diego was content to run down the clock. In the end, the margin was too great, and the Growlers proceeded to score three consecutive goals to seal the road playoff victory 25-19!
The Growlers were led by Travis Dunn (5 goals, 5 assists) with a +8 performance and Matt Miller (4 assists, 1 goal, 1 block) with a +6 effort. Highlight factory Khalif El-Salaam (3 assists, 5 goals) and Max Gibson (3 assists, 2 blocks) were unstoppable in the deep space all game long and had +5 and +4 games respectively.
Next up, the Growlers will travel cross-country to Atlanta on August 8 for a rematch against the Hustle for a third time this season in the South Division Playoff Final. The winner will advance to UFA Championship Weekend in Madison, WI on Aug 22-23 to face the three other Division winners from the East, Midwest, and West.
