(photo courtesy of Alexis Goeller NLL)
The Toronto Rock (2-2) visited the San Diego Seals (1-3) Friday evening at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.
Both teams are coming off tough losses in at home in their last game. Toronto was defeated by Las Vegas, while the Seals were defeated by the Calgary Roughnecks. San Diego got even more bad news when starting goalie Chris Origlieri was placed on IR with a pulled groin muscle.
The goaltending match-up had Nick Rose in net for the Rock facing Cam Dunkerley in net for the Seals.
An evenly played game to start with saw the San Diego Seals get out to a late 3-2 lead after one quarter. The quarter wasn’t short of hilight reel goals with both Challen Rogers for Toronto, and Zach Currier for San Diego wowing fans with breath-taking goals in the quarter.
The second quarter saw Toronto take control of the game. CJ Kirst was front and center with a pair of goals in the quarter leading the Rock to a 5-4 lead at the half.
Although the Seals tied the game late in the third with a pair of Tre Leclaire goals, two Rock goals 0:40 seconds apart in the last minute sent the Seals reeling. Sam English and Owen Hiltz had Toronto in the lead by two heading to the fourth quarter.
The Rock dominated the fourth scoring four times to get the 12-7 victory. CJ Kirst added two more to his big evening, as well as Challen Rogers and Mark Matthews. San Diego’s Zach Currier had the lone goal for the Seals.
To The Game:
San Diego opened the scoring on a two man advantage with Corey Small firing a high to high blast off a Tre Leclaire feed at 1:09, but the Rock answered immediately when CJ Kirst fired a low laser shorthanded off a Mark Matthews pass at 3:09.
The Rock grabbed their first lead on a great individual effort from Challen Rogers off a CJ Kirst pass at 10:46, but the Seals responded on the power-play with Wes Berg finishing a Corey Small pass at 11:53. San Diego then added a late go ahead goal with Zach Currier converting a Danny Logan pass on a wrap around at 14:17.
After one quarter, Toronto 2 San Diego 2.
Second Quarter:
Wes Berg opened the second quarter scoring from in close off a Pat Kavanagh pass at 5:13, but Toronto answered when CJ Kirst, with a spinarama move from in close scored off a Brad Kri pass at 10:58.
Torontothen tied the game when Chris Boushy fired a high to high shot to the top corner off a Mark Matthews pass at 11:54, followed by CJ Kirst with his third of the half with a quick stick off a Dan Craig pass at 14:50.
At the half, Toronto 5 San Diego 4.
Third Quarter:
Josh Dawick opened the second half scoring with a high to low laser off a Dan Craig pass at 1:54, but a pair from Tre Leclaire would tie the game with just over a minute to go in the half.
The Rock finished strong scoring a pair with less the a minute left in the quarter. Sam English was put in on a breakaway off a turnover at 14:13, followed by Owen Hiltz diving across the crease off a Josh Dawick pass 0:40 seconds later.
After three quarters, Toronto 8 San Diego 6.
Fourth Quarter:
CJ Kirst increased the Rock lead with his fourth of the game converting an Owen Hiltz pass at 6:31, followed by Mark Matthews with a howitzer also off a Hiltz feed at 10:54.
Zach Currier stopped the Rock run diving across the crease to finish a Wes Berg pass at 11:13.
Toronto finished the game strong with goals from Kirst and Challen Rogers 0:33 seconds apart with under three minutes to go to seal the San Diego fate.
Final score, Toronto 12 San Diego 7.
The Three Stars:
1. CJ Kirst
2. Nick Rose
3. Challen Rogers
Game Stats:
- Shots on goal favored San Diego 48-45.
- The faceoff battle was dominated by Trevor Baptiste of the Seals 23-0.
- The loose ball battle went to San Diego 68-63.
- Toronto went 0 for 2 on the power-play, but scored a shorthanded goal.
- San Diego went 2 for 7 on the power-play.
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