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.