(SAN DIEGO, CA – April 12, 2019) On an emotional night featuring the team’s Stick Up For A Cure campaign, the San Diego Seals dropped the season-series finale against the Saskatchewan Rush 14-8 on Friday at Pechanga Arena San Diego.
The Seals defense held the Rush to three goals in the first half but fell short in the third quarter allowing a five-goal run from the Saskatchewan offense.
“Obviously a disappointing loss for us tonight,” said defenseman Drew Belgrave. “It gives us something to look forward to next week to get this bad taste out of our mouth. I think we’re having a hard time keeping our focus for a full 60 minutes. I think we played a really good first half defensively, but we came out in the second half and weren’t doing what we should’ve been doing. We’ve got to get our body right and get our mind right.”
In a battle for first-place atop the Western Division, San Diego’s efforts fell short against the reigning NLL champions. The team couldn’t find a way to cut the deficit late in the game.
“We were not good enough tonight,” said general manager and head coach Patrick Merrill. “The last three games we just haven’t been good enough. [Saskatchewan] is a good team and I felt like we hung in there in the first half and played our game. I thought it had the makings to be a really good game for first place here tonight, and obviously it took us too long to get going offensively. In the third quarter, I thought we fell apart defensively, they went on a run and we couldn’t recover.”
Forward Connor Kelly continued to impress, leading the team’s offensive efforts with three goals and one assist. Forward Casey Jackson added a pair of goals, while forward Garrett Billings recorded four assists.
“I felt like we were way too passive,” continued Merrill. “We have to find more ways to be aggressive and get inside. We’ve got to look at our systems, we can’t have those types of breakdowns on either end. It just seemed like at times we weren’t on the same page. We’ve got to reset and refocus pretty quickly and get ready to bring a better effort.”
The San Diego Seals will play two final home games to close out the regular season. The Colorado Mammoth will make their first trip to America’s Finest City on Friday, April 19. Reserve your seats today at SealsLax.com.