The ferocious first two quarters of the match had the Electric Factory buzzing with excitement as the San Diego Seals led the Saskatchewan Rush six goals to four, but the No. 1-ranked team came back to dull the Seals 12-9.
The Seals came out leagues hotter against the Rush than they did at the pair’s last matchup. Back on Feb. 1, 2025, the Rush held the Seals scoreless for the entire first half, with the Seals scoring all eight of their goals after halftime. This year, the Seals flipped the script: shutting out Saskatchewan in the first quarter and ending the half with a 4-6 advantage.
“I think we’re one of those top teams, to be completely honest, and I don’t think our records [4-4] have showed that,” said defender Graydon Bradley. “We stumbled a little bit out of the gate, but in that room we believe we’re one of those top teams.”
If the goals from forwards Dylan Watson (2), Tre Leclaire (2), Connor Robinson (4) and Wes Berg (1) were impressive, perhaps even more so was the Seals’ defensive front. Seals’ goalkeeper Christoper Origlieri even earned an assist on the first goal of the match, since it was his save that helped transition Trevor DiCicco send the ball to Watson.
The Saskatchewan Rush are loaded with offensive power, with four players ranked in the top 20 in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) this season: forwards Ryan Keenan (49 points), Austin Shanks (42 points), Robert Church (41 points) and Zach Manns (40 points). The Seals held them off for a while, but once Shanks found fellow forward Matt Acchione for the Rush’s first goal of the match, it was difficult to stop the red-hot offense.
“It’s a game of angles, inches, and seconds,” said Bradley. “The smallest little difference is what comes down to having a different scoreboard.”
The Seals displayed their defensive prowess midway through the final quarter, when they were behind 10-8. Defenders Danny Logan and Eli Gobrecht were sent trudging to the penalty box, leaving Saskatchewan with a two-man advantage for two minutes. The Rush kept possession for nearly the entire two minutes, but solid defense and three consecutive saves from Origlieri kept the score stagnant.
Origlieri saved 29 of 41 shots fired at him by the Rush. The Seals’ keeper has now blocked 80% of shots in the team’s last four games.
“I don’t see any reason for us to hang our heads and not learn and take a step next week,” said Patrick Merrill, San Diego’s head coach.
It was a game of passion, and far from a clean game. The aggression and resulting penalties kept the Seals from playing to their full potential– and ultimately kept them from keeping the advantage over the Rush.
The referees sent players to the penalty box 16 times: six for the Rush and 10 for the Seals, including a five-minute major penalty to defender Ari Steenhuis for illegal cross-checking.
“We have to be way more disciplined, we talked about it all week,” Merrill said. “[The Rush] are the type of theme that, if you are undisciplined, they are going to make you pay for it. And they did tonight, we paid dearly for it.”
Regardless of the loss, it was a night of records and near-records as Trevor Baptiste and Zach Currier continued to have standout performances. Baptiste, already leading the NLL in faceoff wins and faceoff percentage, added 16 more out of the 24 played. It puts him at a total of 162 career face-off wins and bumps him up to sixth in the NLL annals.
Currier tallied an impressive 16 loose balls (Saskatchewan’s LB leader had a mere eight). He needs just one more to hit 100 for his career.
“We’re going to work our way up that leader board. Talk is cheap, but we’ll prove it,” said Bradley.
The Seals are back on the road to take on the Oshawa Firewolves at 4 p.m. next Saturday, Feb. 14.
