Jun 22, 2019
The San Diego Growlers looked to exact some revenge from a May 4th road loss against the Seattle Cascades and remain atop the West Division. The Cascades began play with a patient offensive hold, then Michael Tran came out firing with a first throw, full-field flick to Travis Dunn. The Growlers rattled off two breaks when Will Turner fed Marcel Osborne for the goal, then Wes Groth threw a confident hammer to Scott Radlauer on the next point for the 3-1 lead. After a couple holds, the Cascades punched in their first break, but San Diego answered right back with a score and two more breaks. The teams traded, and Jonathan Helton blocked the last second throw from SEA to end the quarter, 8-5.
The second quarter started with 3 holds from each team, then San Diego scored and broke twice. Bailey Wu blocked a Mark Burton blade which led to a Sam Fontaine dish to Dom Leggio, then Turner was heads-up for a block that yielded a Tim Okita assist to Tran, 14-8. The Cascades got back on track and traded with the Growlers, but Sean Ham’s scores late in the quarter were clutch. After securing a Helton flick on the sideline endzone with fancy footwork, Ham followed it up with a concentrated effort to catch a deflected disc at the buzzer, 16-10.
Seattle needed some defensive stops to stay in the game and kept the pressure on after a couple of holds and breaks, 17-14. More trading, then the Cascades earned a hold and another break to get within two scores, 20-18. The Growlers stopped the bleeding with a solid Dunn to Ham connection, Seattle held, then Okita closed out the quarter with a smooth assist to Dunn, 22-19.
The Growlers and Cascades traded four offensive holds in a row which significantly drained the clock. After a long San Diego hold, Osborne found Dunn for the dagger break to go up 28-23 with just over two minutes remaining. The teams traded out and the Growlers earned their 8th win convincingly, 30-25.
Travis Dunn led the Growlers with 7 assists and 5 goals, followed closely by Jonathan Helton with 4 assists, 4 goals, 1 block, and Sean Ham with 1 assist and 6 goals. This is the first season San Diego has won more than 7 games, and they will need 1 more win (or LA loss) to secure a home playoff game. Seattle will make their last SoCal trip this weekend and will play the Growlers on Saturday, Jun 29 at historic Balboa Stadium.
