Close but no sea-gar. Even one last scoring attempt by Robert Church appeared to nearly glance off the cross-bar in the dying seconds.
Seals 12, Rush 11
It was almost a comeback for the ages.
Well, almost.
The Saskatchewan Rush rallied for five unanswered goals in the final seven minutes — three of them by unheralded Clark Walter — to get within one goal of the San Diego Seals on Saturday night, but that’s where the comeback attempt stopped.
Close but no sea-gar.
Even one last scoring attempt by Robert Church appeared to nearly glance off the cross-bar in the dying seconds.
“He got pushed as he was shooting and it just pushed the ball wide,” said Rush head coach and associate general manager Jimmy Quinlan. “Again, I’d take Robert Church in that position any day of the week.”
Saskatchewan scored twice in the final minute in what was yet another tough game against Western Division-leading San Diego which held on for a 12-11 victory in National Lacrosse League action before a crowd of 7,524 fans at SaskTel Centre.
“We were good on the bench; we were organized down the stretch. We had plans; we executed plans. Then we got a look,” added Quinlan.
“We said we were going to get a look. If we could run that back, we’d probably put that in the net. At the end of the day, we did everything we asked of them and the players executed.”
Walter finished the night with a career-high five goals. Church added four goals and three assists for the Saskatchewan, which trailed 4-1, 5-2 and 10-4 by periods.
“It was definitely a hard-fought battle and we fought our way back,” said Walter. “It felt good for a little bit but obviously a tough way to end it. It’s the way she goes.”
Dan Lintner and Mike Messenger also scored for Saskatchewan, which went 0-for-4 on the power play.
It was the third straight loss for Saskatchewan, which opened the season with four wins in its first six games.
“A lot of good, a lot of bad,” Quinlan said of Saturday’s tough loss.
“I think what I will take from that game is the fact that we just stuck with it. The ball wasn’t dropping. Their goalie was playing well, but we kept plugging away and we kept telling our guys that it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming.
“That fourth quarter, I think we showed the team that we’re capable.”
The Rush has yet to win this season while allowing the first goal of the game. That trend continued Saturday as the Rush not only gave up the initial goal but the first four as Saskatchewan dug itself into a hole trailing 4-0 early.
Wesley Berg had a pair of goals and four assists to lead San Diego. Dane Dobbie added two goals and three assists. Tre Leclair also tallied twice for the visitors, who got singles from Mac O’Keefe, Jesse Gamble, Kevin Crowley, Patrick Shoemay, Curtis Dickson and Austin Staats.
The Rush outshot the Seals 60-50.
“Obviously disappointed on the loss but Jimmy was happy how we battled and came within one,” said Walter, who notched his first career NLL goal just last week in Fort Worth and now has six goals.
“That last shot (by Church) was unlucky. He (Quinlan) is happy with how we fought back. Obviously it’s tough to lose, but there are some good things that came out of the game.”
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