Warriors Come Up Short

Photo Credit Mark Steffens

If you’re a fan of the Vancouver Warriors you might think that the season was more like “The Long And Winding Road” given the ups and downs they have gone through coming into the game on a five-game winning streak.

While they came out with hopes of making huge inroads considering they were under the guidance of lacrosse legend Curt Malawski who has a history of making winning teams out of nothing.

His level along with the coaching staff he put together was nothing short of impressive but as strong as the Warriors get all other teams have the same mindset of bringing home the championship trophy.

The recent on their home floor as they dominated the New York Riptide by a convincing 16-10 margin made believers out of many of the nay-sayers who felt that the season was long gone.

In conversation with some in the area at various lacrosse boxes some were wondering if they should consider renewing their season tickets for next year, but the win changed that thought.

As much as they tried to pull out a win in hopes of keeping their season alive the final road trip south of the 49th saw the San Diego Seals 16-9 win has them head into the 2024 NLL Playoffs,

The Seals started strong and managed to outscore Vancouver by a 4-1 margin in the first quarter that saw Wes Berg get them on the scoreboard one minute in adding to it 2:15 later with Dobby getting a PP marker giving the Seals a 2-0 lead. 

Vancouver’s Martel pulled them within one at 9:13 only to have Jackson scored at 6:44 putting the Seals up 3-1. 

Port Coquitlam’s Curtis Dickson grabbed the final goal of the quarter at 3:48 putting the Seals up 4-1 with a commanding lead after one.

The Seals stopped the run, however, with three goals in the final 1:23 of the first half. Tre Leclaire scored first and 11 seconds later, 

Danny Logan managed to score on a breakaway putting the seals up 7–5 but it was Dickson’s second of the game with only 1.9 left that gave the Seals a 8-5 heading to the dressing room at the half.

The home squad continued the pressure at the Warriors in the third that saw a pair of goals with Dickson scoring (1:31) his third of the night giving the Seals a comfortable 9-5 lead.

This was followed by one a short 12 seconds later off the stick of Danny Logan who put the Seals up 10-5. 

The Warriors managed a pair that cut the Seals lead to 10–7 only to have former Delta Islander Tre Leclaire score at  2:38 giving the Seals an 11-7 lead after three.

The final quarter saw Austin Staats, Jackson and Berg score for the Seals giving them a comfortable 16-9 win over the Warriors who were desperately in need of the win but come up short.

San Diego finishes the regular-season 13-5 and opens the 2024 NLL Playoffs at Pechanga Arena at 7 p.m. as the League’s No. 2 seed and will face the No. 7 seed. 

The Warriors pulled out all stops desperately trying for a win, but come up just short and no doubt there is a strong possibility that there could be changes next season.

Thanks to the Warriors for an entertaining exciting season!!