The San Diego Growlers hosted the Seattle Cascades on Saturday, June 17 at Mission Bay HS in an exciting West Division matchup.
The teams traded goals to start the game and the Growlers had two chances to break during a 3 minute point, but the Cascades held, 2-1. San Diego scored on offense, then took advantage of a Seattle throwaway when Jordan Queckboerner dished to Ethan Li for the break score, 3-2. Another long point followed, with multiple chances to break and a timeout, but the Growlers could not convert. San Diego held with 3.5 seconds left, but an offsides call and a deflected disc led to a Seattle buzzer beater, 4-4.
San Diego converted their offensive possession with Max Gibson’s assist to Travis Dunn and had a chance to break on defense, but Seattle once again held tough. Both teams traded multiple holds before the Growlers punched in a break score with a Dunn forehand to Stefan Samu, 9-7. More trading ensured, then the Growlers wasted a golden opportunity after a Garrett Hable block as the Cascades scored before the buzzer sounded again, 10-9.
Seattle started a sequence of two offensive holds from each side, but the Growlers caused a turnover, called timeout, and Gibson unleashed a backhand to Samu for the break, 13-11. The teams traded, then San Diego capitalized on a break opportunity after a timeout with a Michael Tran goal, 15-12. Seattle committed a turnover and San Diego did not have enough time to score, but carried the lead and some momentum into the 4th quarter.
Travis Dunn sent a big backhand to Stefan Samu to begin the scoring, but the Cascades held on offense and scored their first break of the game, 16-14. Michael Tran scored another goal for San Diego, but Seattle doubled down with a hold and two breaks to tie the game, 17-17. The Growlers got a key hold after marching down the field when Tran connected with Caden Sigerud, but the Cascades struck back quickly with 55 seconds remaining. The Growlers overthrew their receiver on the sideline with 23 seconds left, but Jordan Queckboerner secured the block as time expired to send the contest into overtime!
The Cascades scored the first goal of overtime and had a chance to break, but a throwaway and a Queckboerner hammer to Reggie Sung tied the game at 19. On the next possession, Jimmy McGuinness secured a huge interception, and a timeout was promptly called with 41 seconds on the clock. The Growlers offense completed three throws, but the next attempt flew out of bounds, and giving the disc back to the Cascades with 24 seconds left. With time winding down, Seattle threw a desperation hammer that was somehow pulled down out of the air, and another short throw resulted in the go-ahead score, 20-19. With one second left, the Growlers could not tie the game and suffered their third heartbreaking loss in a row.
The Growlers were led by Travis Dunn (6 assists, 3 goals), Stefan Samu (2 assists, 4 goals) and Michael Tran (1 assists, 6 goals) who all contributed +6 games. San Diego will head north to face their SoCal rival, the Los Angeles Aviators, on Saturday, June 24 at Occidental College.
