The San Diego Growlers traveled north to face their SoCal rival, the Los Angeles Aviators, on Saturday, June 24 in a pivotal West Division showdown.
The Growlers opening pull was dropped by the Aviators, which led to a Clark Wang dish to Collin Gall for a break, and LA responded with a hold. After a turnover, a San Diego double-team caused an intercepted throw from Kyle Rubin for a Callahan score, 2-1. After 3 consecutive holds from each team, Steven Milardovich intercepted the centering pass, and a few throws later, Jimmy McGuinness found Trevor Purdy for the break score, 6-4. Caden Sigerud prevented an Aviators goal before the buzzer, but the Growlers were not able to take advantage after a timeout.
San Diego scored on offense which started a sequence of 4 holds from each rival, highlighted by a Stefan Samu catch over two defenders. At 10-8, the Aviators took advantage of costly Growlers throwaways by converting 3 straight break scores right before halftime for the 11-10 lead and a clear momentum shift.
The Aviators and Growlers traded holds to start the third quarter, then San Diego punched in a break when Shane Davidson assisted to Gall, 12-12. Los Angeles quickly countered with a hold and a break of their own. The teams traded two more offensive scores to end the quarter with LA in the lead 16-14.
To start the fourth quarter, San Diego held and then broke after a timeout when Milardovich connected with Max Gibson to tie the game at 16s. The Aviators struck back and the Growlers answered with another Gibson goal. Then LA seized all the momentum by scoring on offense then breaking twice in a row to take a 20-17 lead with 4:22 remaining. The Growlers scored on offense but the Aviators took final control after a hold and a break to eventually prevail 22-18.
The Growlers were led by Max Gibson (4 assists, 4 goals) with a +6 performance. Stefan Samu (2 assists, 1 goal, 2 blocks) contributed a +5 game and Jimmy McGuinness (1 assists, 1 goal, 2 blocks) was +4. San Diego will host the Salt Lake Shred on Saturday, July 1 at Mission Bay High School in the AUDL Game of the Week.
