The San Diego Seals, fresh off a thrilling 9-8 overtime victory over the Panther City Lacrosse Club in the quarterfinals of the 2024 National Lacrosse League Playoffs, are moving on to the semifinals, where they’ll face the Albany (N.Y.) FireWolves in a best-of-three series that gets underway on Friday, May 3, at Pechanga Arena. Faceoff is at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are available at https://sealslax.com/.

The first 2,000 fans to come through the turnstiles Friday night will receive free Seals playoff bucket hats.

Game 2 will take place on May 5 at the MVP Arena in Albany (noon) and if necessary, Game 3 will be played at Pechanga Arena on May 10 at 7:30 p.m.

The Seals come into the series having won their last two games. They won seven of their last nine to close out the regular season and including playoffs, the Seals are 9-1 at Pechanga Arena this season.

This is the Seals’ second trip to the NLL Playoff Semifinals. In their only other appearance, they fell to Colorado two games to one at the end of the 2021-22 season.

The FireWolves defeated Halifax, 9-3, at home on Sunday to earn their spot in the semifinals. Albany went 11-7 during the regular season and entered the playoffs as the NLL’s No. 3 seed, while the Seals, who finished the regular season 13-5, came into the postseason as the League’s No. 2 entry. San Diego faced Albany once during the regular season, capturing a 14-7 victory back on Jan. 20 in Albany.

Albany was one of the NLL’s biggest turnaround teams. They made an eight-game improvement after going just 3-15 a year ago. A streaky team in 2023-24, the FireWolves started the season on a tear, winning their first six games. That streak was halted however by the above-mentioned Jan. 20 victory by the Seals. Like San Diego, Albany comes into the semifinals having won their last two, including Sunday’s playoff win and a 16-10 victory over the New York Riptide in their final game of the regular season, but prior to, the FireWolves had lost five-straight.

Originally the New England Black Wolves, the franchise relocated to Albany prior to the 2021-22 season and re-branded as the FireWolves. The Seals have faced the franchise three times and are 1-2 in the all-time series, including this season’s victory on Jan. 20. During the 2018-19 season, the teams met in New England in a game won by the Black Wolves, 17-14. They met again during the 2021-22 season in San Diego in a game won by the FireWolves, 13-12.

Broadcast Information: All games in the series will be broadcast to a national cable television audience on ESPNU and streamed to a global audience on ESPN+.

Head coach 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 2022, this is the team’s second berth in the NLL Semifinals under Merrill’s stewardship.

Postseason Milestones Within Reach

· Dane Dobbie has 81 career playoff goals. He needs five more to pass John Tavares (85) for the most playoff goals in NLL history.

· Curtis Dickson needs six goals to become the fourth player in NLL history to score 70 career goals in the playoffs.

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.

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