Shred Outlast Growlers

The San Diego Growlers traveled to Salt Lake to take on the undefeated Shred at Zion’s Bank Stadium, site of the 2024 UFA Championship Weekend.

The Growlers started strong with a Travis Dunn goal and a Stefan Samu block, which led to a Matt Miller to Michael Tran break score for an early 2-0 lead.  The teams traded several offensive holds, until Salt Lake earned a block and converted their first break to tie the game 5-5.  San Diego bounced back with a great toe-tap from Casey Wu for the goal and after causing a Shred throwaway, called a timeout with 24 seconds left.  The Growlers worked the disc into the red zone and newly signed KJ Koo bent a forehand into the hands of Travis Dunn at the buzzer, 7-5.

To begin the 2nd quarter, Salt Lake converted two offensive holds and another break to even the game at 8-8.  The Growlers punched back with a huge backhand from Dunn to Max Gibson who dished to Koo for the hold.  Each team traded three holds, with the last Growlers score coming from a perfect flick from Tran to Samu for the 12-11 lead. The Shred were unable to score before the buzzer as the Growlers took a one point lead into halftime.

San Diego cashed in a hold with a Koo to Wu sliding goal, but Salt Lake doubled down with a hold, a layout block, and a break to tie the game at 13-13.  The Shred capitalized after two Growlers throwaways to convert two more breaks, causing a San Diego timeout.  A couple more Growlers throwaways yielded two additional breaks until Dunn stopped the bleeding with a full field conversion to Miller, 17-14. San Diego forced a Salt Lake throwaway, marched down the field with a golden opportunity to break, but an interception led to a Shred score just before the end of the quarter, 18-14.

The Growlers forced a few turnovers but the Shred were finally able to convert a key hold to start the 4th quarter.  San Diego scored quickly with a Koo to Oliver Artus strike, but Salt Lake also continued to score on offense as the clock continued to run down.  The Growlers punched in a break opportunity with 4 minutes left as Samu connected with Casey Shugarman, 21-18.  The teams traded a couple more holds but it was too little too late as the Shred prevailed 23-20.

The Growlers were led by Travis Dunn (3 assists, 5 goals) with a +6 performance. KJ Koo (5 assists, 2 goals, 1 block) and Stefan Samu (2 assists, 1 goal, 1 block) were also key contributors adding +5 and +4 games respectively.  

Next up, San Diego will host the Seattle Cascades on Saturday, June 1 at 6:30 pm at Mission Bay HS.