45 seconds left.

The Desert Dogs tried to sneak a goal in from behind, but Seals’ keeper Christopher Origlier’s shoulder just barely blocked it.

30 seconds left.

The entire stadium was on its feet. The Desert Dogs had possession, gearing up for a shot at the Seals.

Ten seconds on the board!

The ball went flying, steady on the route to the goal, but in its way was the goalie in purple.

It hit Origlieri’s pads, hit the ground and the final buzzer sounded: the Seals finally took victory at home.

The No. 8 San Diego Seals and the No. 9 Las Vegas Desert Dogs came into the game tied 7-9 with nothing more than a tiebreaker advantage to separate them. There was more than a win on the line: there were the playoffs. And San Diego’s 14-12 win took them one step closer to clinching their spot.

The Seals either needed the Georgia Swarm to win one of their games against the Rochester Knighthawks or they needed to take matters into their own hands and win the Las Vegas rematch. At the 1 p.m. match Saturday, the Swarm lent a helping hand to the Seals—the Swarm’s decisive 13-6 victory over the Rochester Nighthawks officially clinched the Seals’ spot in the playoffs.

It would be wrong to say the outcome wasn’t a result of the team’s cohesive success; coordination and communication were crucial in facing an opponent like Las Vegas. Still, four standouts paved the path to victory.

1. Zach Currier: Man of the match

Following the Desert Dogs’ relative dominance of the first quarter, Currier ran all over the second quarter, pulling out a hat trick all within the 15-minute time constraints.

The transition player found the net for the first time with the help of Connor Robinson and Tre Leclaire, leaping over the Las Vegas defense to net the ball.

Currier’s second goal was all his. His initial shot attempt hit the back of the goal, but Currier scooped it up again and dove from behind to slip through the Desert Dogs’ keeper. He kept the momentum running, and Currier put in a third goal in a row for the Seals just a minute later.

“My teammates were doing a lot of work to get me open, and tonight, it happened to be me that was getting the bounces,” Currier said.

Currier scored again in the third and the fourth for a total of five goals. Four assists put him at nine points, proving he was an absolute force to be reckoned with.

2. Noah Armitage and Ben McIntosh: Hat tricks all around

While Currier put in an impressive five of the Seals’ 14 total goals for the night, he wasn’t alone in being an offensive powerhouse. Forwards Noah Armitage and Ben McIntosh recorded a joint six goals—a hat trick apiece.

“[Armitage] giving us a few goals was big,” head coach Patrick Merill said. “And getting us some depth scoring, which was really important for us too, to put up a bigger number.”

“Our offense came through for us tonight.”

3. Christopher Origlieri and Danny Logan: Sealing the fort

The matchup was as much a game of lacrosse as it was a game of ping pong—for all the incredible offense, the defense worked just as hard to fend off the feisty Desert Dogs.

“Chris [Origlieri] closes out games better than any goalie in the league, and he did it again tonight,” Merrill said.

Indeed, after letting in eight goals in the first half, Origlieri held the Desert Dogs scoreless in the third and tallied eight saves. The keeper let in just four goals in the final period, ending with 39 total saves.

“I have to shout out Danny Logan, too,” Merrill said. “I don’t know if there’s a better defender in this league, and he proved that again tonight.”

Logan was the right-hand man in the backfield. The defender secured 12 loose balls, the most of anyone on the field, and assisted on one of Currier’s goals.

4. A mighty fanbase

Egged on by Salty the Seal (San Diego’s ab-flexing mascot), bass-heavy music and a ruthless MC, over 9,000 fans made it clear why the theme of the night was “Fan Appreciation.”

“This place was rocking, incredible,” Currier said. “That’s probably a record for this building. I’ve never seen it this packed and this loud, so we were feeding off of it.”

Whether they were yelling, “shame,” at the Las Vegas team, booing the referees for unsatisfactory calls or starting the wave, the fans were the fuel in the cog machine.

In the following day’s rematch against the Desert Dogs in Las Vegas, the Seals fell short in a 16-18 loss despite an attempt at a fourth-quarter comeback.

Luckily, with their spot in the playoffs already locked in, the Seals can sigh a breath of relief and set their sights on the postseason play.