The San Diego Seals completed the season-series sweep of the Colorado Mammoth on Friday night at Pechanga Arena San Diego by a final score of 12-7. With the win, the Seals clinched a home playoff game for the first round of the NLL playoffs.
After a back-and-forth first half, the San Diego Seals were dominant in the second half, outscoring the Mammoth 7-3. Forward Casey Jackson led the Seals’ offensive efforts with four goals, including the franchise’s first penalty shot, while forwards Kyle Buchanan and Dan Dawson each finished the night with seven points (three goals, four assists).
“Both teams competed really hard tonight,” said general manager and head coach Patrick Merrill. “We knew they were going to be a little bit desperate; they were a little banged up on the front end. They had a couple of their bigger offensive guys out, so they were going to push the pace a little bit. They’re a young team and they’re athletic. I thought we did a pretty good job of weathering the storm and wearing them down as the game went on.”
The Seals’ special teams prevailed in the win. The man-down team killed four penalties, including a five-minute major, and added two short-handed goals. The power play unit scored four man-up goals in the victory.
“I thought our special team’s were really good,” continued Merrill. “Our short-man team was good, especially in the first half, to kill that five-minute penalty, and then obviously getting that huge goal shorthanded was nice to break that up. It was definitely a boost that we built off of.”
Goaltender Frank Scigliano stopped 45 shots in the win, including all 16 shots in the fourth quarter. San Diego’s defense held Colorado to three goals in the second half to complete the three-game sweep.
San Diego will host the Western Division Semifinal at Pechanga Arena San Diego on Monday, May 6 at 7:30pm PDT. The Seals host the Buffalo Bandits in the regular-season finale on Saturday, April 27 at 7:00pm. Fans can now reserve their seats to the West Division Semifinal immediately following the game by visiting SealsLax.com.