The San Diego Seals, which finished the regular season 13-5, will open the 2024 National Lacrosse League Playoffs at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 27 as the No. 2 seed against the No. 7 seed Panther City Lacrosse Club at Pechanga Arena. Tickets are available at https://sealslax.com/.
For San Diego, they’ve had their sights set on the postseason ever since last season’s shocking defeat to Colorado (13-12) in the West Conference opening round. This season, the NLL did away with separating teams by conference and instead moved to a single-table unified standings in which teams were ranked top-to-bottom regardless of geography.
The playoffs now feature the No. 1 seed (Toronto) vs. No. 8 (Rochester); No. 2 (Seals) vs. No. 7 (Panther City); No. 3 (Albany) vs. No. 6 (Halifax), and No. 4 (Buffalo) vs. No. 5 (Georgia) in the quarterfinals, with a bracket-style advance through to the NLL Finals. The quarterfinal round is single elimination, while the semi-finals and finals will continue to be best-of-three series.
Saturday’s game will mark the third time this season that the Seals and Panther City have squared off with the Seals winning each of the first two contests, 10-9 in overtime in Ft. Worth on March 1 and 14-10 in San Diego on April 15. In that last game, the Seals overcame a 10-9 fourth-quarter deficit by scoring five unanswered goals over the final 4:57.
All-time, the Seals are 6-1 against Panther City and in the series, the Seals have outscored Panther City by a total of 88-65.
The Seals embark on the playoffs having won seven of their last nine to close out the regular season, including a commanding 16-9 win over Vancouver last Friday night at Pechanga Arena. The Seals were 8-1 at Pechanga Arena during the regular season. Panther City lost its regular season finale to Calgary (9-11) but before, had won two straight.
Saturday night’s game will not be broadcast on local television in San Diego, however, it will be streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.
Head coach Patrick Merrill: Patrick Merrill has now guided the Seals to the playoffs in four consecutive seasons. His regular-season won-loss ledger stands at 53-31 (.631) since joining the Seals in 2018. Merrill has guided the Seals to the playoffs in each of the four full seasons he’s been at the helm, including a berth in the 2022 West Conference Finals.
Players to Watch
· Wes Berg finished the regular season with 108 points, second-most in a season in team history, behind the 109 he scored during the 2022-23 season. His 108 points were the sixth-most in the NLL. Berg’s 67 assists led the team and were tied for seventh in the NLL, while his 41 goals were second on the team and tied for 12th in the League.
· Austin Staats finished the regular season with a team-record 50 goals, which was fourth-most in the NLL.
· Combined with 52 assists, Staats scored 102 points on the season, 11th-most in the NLL.
· Staats and Berg are the only players in team history to score more than 100 points in a season.
· Trevor Baptiste, the renowned faceoff specialist, finished the season third in the League in faceoff wins with a team-record 308. His 71% faceoff win percentage ranked third in the League among players with at least 250 faceoffs taken. Baptiste also set a team single-season record for loose balls secured (177), a figure which ranked 3rd in the NLL.
· Goalkeeper Chris Origlieri finished the season with the National Lacrosse League’s second-lowest goals-against average (9.79) among starting netminders. He played the third-most minutes in the League, a team-record 1,059:57; he recorded the NLL’s fifth-highest save percentage among starters (79%), also a team record, and he finished the year ninth in the League with 661 saves on the season. “Rigs’” 13 wins as the Seals’ starting goaltender were also a team record.
· Defenseman Kyle Rubisch led the Seals and ranked 7th in the NLL this season with a team-record 29 takeaways.
Follow the Seals on social media: For the latest info on the Seals, visit sealslax.com and follow the team @SealsLax on Gorjeo, Instagram, TikTok, y Facebook.
