The No. 8 San Diego Seals took on the No. 3 Vancouver Warriors for a season rematch on Sunday, after beating the Canadians 11-9 back on Jan. 16th. San Diego was coming off a fresh loss against the Colorado Mammoths on Friday, where they fumbled a 6-0 lead to lose 14-12.
“We were hoping to use that as a way to learn from some of the mistakes that we made in the second half and try to write a different script here today,” said San Diego’s head coach, Patrick Merrill. “But it was a very similar feeling at the end of this one as it was in Colorado.”
The Seals fought a feisty match against the Warriors for the first three quarters to start the fourth up six goals to five, but the Vancouver team brought the heat to make a comeback win, 7-9.
“We’re clearly right there with the top teams in the league, but there’s some serious soul searching that needs to go on,” said Merrill.
San Diego’s faceoff specialist, Trevor Baptiste, kicked off the first quarter with a victory, opening the door for the Seals. San Diego defender Graydon Bradley’s early penalty put the West Coast team down a man, but it was no problem for forwards Connor Robinson and Pat Kavanaugh. Scoring a goal apiece less than two minutes apart, the Seals shut out the Warriors 2-0 in the first quarter.
The two teams were even-keeled in the second quarter. The Warriors found their way through the Seals’ defense twice, with goals from Steph Charbonneau and Keegan Bal. The Seals had two goals of their own: one from veteran forward Pat Kavanaugh and one from Marquez White, a Seals rookie making his NLL debut.
“We felt like we were in control of the game,” Merrill said. “We had a really good start, and then we let it slip away.”
Vancouver outscored the Seals 2-3 in the third quarter to whittle San Diego’s lead down to 6-5. The Seals couldn’t defend their lead in the fourth quarter, with forward Noah Armitage scoring San Diego’s only point of the quarter. With four consecutive goals to start the quarter, the Warriors took the victory 7-9.
“I think we have the character to compete for four quarters, but it’s just about preparing for that,” said Baptiste. “It stinks sitting on these losses, but it gives us a lot of time to regroup and to think about things critically, take the emotion out of it, and let’s go forward.”
The star of the show was Marquez White. A Poway native who was called up from the Seals’ practice squad just this weekend, White didn’t waste time showing his worth.
“To do it here in my hometown, in front of my family with this group, it’s super exciting,” White said. “I thought maybe I’d get one chance [to score], but when I saw it, I had to take it.”
A defender for the Seals, White took the chance on a loose ball to fly past the Warriors’ defense, slinging the ball past Vancouver keeper Christian Del Bianco for a goal all his own.
“I was in those stands, just like all the kids in the Poway jerseys tonight, and I made it out here,” White said. “A lot of hard work when I was young, and a lot of dedication, and you can be doing this too.”
“First game, first shot, first quarter, first goal. It’s a pretty sweet stat,” Baptiste said of the goal.
The Seals are now on a bye week and play their next match on the road against the Saskatchewan Rush on Saturday, March 14.
