Seals Stay on the Beach and Avoid Riptide, 15-11

History has a way of repeating itself and for the New York Riptide (1-7) history was less than 24 hours old.

For the second straight night, a close first quarter begat a tied up half and New York would come undone in the final thirty minutes.

An ominous start to the proceedings saw Alex Buque, the New York netminder surrender four goals on just six shots to duplicate his Friday outing in Philadelphia.

.The San Diego Seals (2-5) came across the country in an effort to try to gain their mojo and started well when Cam Holding (2g) beat Buque for an early lead.

Not a bad start for a team who lost it’s starting goaltender, Frank “The Tank” Scigliano minutes prior to the game due to illness.

Normal back-up, Nick Damude was pressed into service and San Diego opted to have Connor Kearnan serve as his back up.

The Riptide went on a small run courtesy of Tyson Gibson (3g,2) at 1:22.

Things simmered until Connor Kelly(1g,2a) followed by what may be the goal of the season from John Ranagan (1g, 1a) who took a pass from Buque, stormed down the floor, was double team, went down and somehow put a shot behind Demude.

New York was putting things together and holding a 3-1 lead with just 5:19 played.

Zach Greer (3g,1a) with a pair followed by Casey Jackson (2g,2a) and Jeremy Noble (1g,5a) and Tor Reinholdt (1g) stole the Riptide mojo to close the opening quarter with the Seals swimming, 6-3.

Gibson and Tyler Digby (2g,4a) brought the Tide to within one with 7:41 elapsed.

The battle was on and Kyle Buchanan (1g,2a) stepped up to end the home team run at 10:16 on the man advantage.

New York fought back with a power-play goal of their own from rising star, Jean-Luc Chetner (3g2a) at 12:26.

Chetner had another in his Gun and with ;47 in the half, New York was visiting recent history again with a knotted up score of 7-7.

San Diego finally solved Gowah Abrams who spelled Buque after the fourth Seals goal and orchestrated a huge third quarter.

Wes Berg (2g,3a) converted a pretty passing play from Jackson and Noble on the man advantage and with 1:23 played, the Seals were barking.

It took all of eleven seconds for Brandon Clelland to best Alex Woodall on the faceoff to take it to the house which put San Diego up, 9-7.

Jackson at 5:36 and Greer just 1:03 later put the visitors seemingly in command, 11-7.

The onslaught was put to a halt with a Chetner goal off a pretty assist from former Seal, Ethan Schott (1a) to close the curtain on a quarter that San Diego owned, 4-1.

On to the final stanza and more of the same from the amphibians.

Connor Fields (1g,3a) deposited yet another man advantage goal at 2:46 with Berg at 3:08 and Holding off another face off win at 3:10 seemed to blow things apart.

Don’t head to the Parking Lot quite yet because Connor Kelly dished off to Digby again, on the man up and with 4:48 to play, Riptide fans were hopeful for another huge comeback like the one they manufactured against the Georgia Swarm just two weeks prior.

Kieran McArdle (1g) signed in on the scorebook to get the 3,275 fans in a tizzy.

Could the Riptide make up a 14-10 deficit in just 2:35?

The answer was a resounding “no” when Eli Gobrecht (1g,1a) put one in the vacated New York net with one minute left.

Showing heart until the bitter end, New York had one last power play in them and Tyson Gibson closed the book on the 15-11 final with a goal with sixteen seconds remaining.

Dis and Dat: Damude played well in the emergency start and knocked aside 36 of the 47 shots that came his way.

For the Riptide, Alex Buque started and finished the game and ended with 22:09 of playing time and stopping 9 of 15 shots after the 2 for 6 start.

Gowah Abrams had the lions share of minutes, 37:50 with 29 saves on 37 tries.

Loose Balls went in favor of New York, 74-68 and face offs also favored the Riptide, 19 of 31.

Power plays were outstanding for both clubs with San Diego going 3 for 8 and New York countering at a 4 for 6 clip.

Kevin Neibauer

Kevin has followed and promoted the game of lacrosse since May 19, 1974.
The same day the Philadelphia Flyers won the Cup, the Philadelphia Wings were introduced to Neibauer and Philadelphia.

Kevin has covered many sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and.. lacrosse. A former licensed football referee and baseball umpire, Kevin brings a unique insight to his game coverage.

A published writer in JustHockey Magazine, Kevin covered the American Hockey League as well as a monthly story on a pugilist where Kevin used the pen name, The Rink Rat. Neibauer turned his attentions to lacrosse for a few years and does his part, whether podcasting or writing to grow the game. Kevin branched out to his roots and currently provides insight for all Philadelphia teams for Edge of Philly as well as his full-time duties with LaxPhilly.