San Diego Edges Philadelphia To Advance To West Final

Dane Dobbie’s second goal of the game at 6:58 of the fourth quarter turned out to be the game winner as the San Diego Seals held off the Philadelphia Wings 9-8 Saturday night in an NLL quarterfinal game at Pechanga Arena in San Diego. Captain Brodie Merrill picked up 11 loose balls during the game but it was his caused turnover in the final seconds that sealed the victory. “We get another weekend and that means the world to us,” said Seals rookie defenseman Patrick Shoemay during the ESPNU postgame interview. Shoemay scored his first two career NLL goals as the Seals advance to the West Conference Final against Colorado. “It’s these types of games I feel like you play the most free,” said Shoemay during the ESPNU postgame interview. “You know what’s in store. You know there’s two results that can happen and you gotta be at peace with it when you go into the games.” Dobbie had two goals and two assists in the game while Austin Staats led the way with two goals and three assists. Between the pipes, Frank Scigliano made 37 saves. “Frankie is the backbone of this team,” said Shoemay. “He’s the best goalie I ever played with. He’s a leader on and off the floor and he stepped up tonight.” The Seals (10-8 in the regular season) notched the first playoff win in franchise history and San Diego outshot Philadelphia 49-45 to avenge a 13-12 overtime loss to the Wings during the regular season. For the Philadelphia (9-9 regular season record), Matt Rambo scored three goals while Kevin Crowley dished out five assists and Zach Higgins made 40 saves. The Seals will meet the Colorado Mammoth in the best-of-three West Conference Final with game one set for Friday night in San Diego (10pm ET ESPN+/TSN.ca). Colorado punched their ticket to the next round with a 16-12 quarterfinal win over Calgary. The Seals won the season series against the Mammoth two to one. San Diego came up with a 13-4 win in Colorado on December 11th and then the Seals beat the Mammoth 9-7 on March 19th in San Diego. Colorado salvaged the third and final game between the two teams in the regular season winning at home 11-10 on April 9th at Ball Arena.