Game 3 Recap: Growlers at Spiders
Written by: Marcus Lee
Coming off an intense game against the Seattle Cascades the Spiders looked to use their momentum to overcome the San Diego Growlers. The Spiders have struggled in the first quarter this season. In the first quarter of their game against the Growlers the Spiders continued to make mistakes giving up 4 breaks in a row to begin the game. The first three points of the game saw only three completions from the Spiders offense while also having two throwaways and a dropped pass. The Spiders continued to make mistakes in the first quarter and they were not able to get the disc back once they threw it away. The Growlers offense proved to be a problem for the Spiders in the first quarter as they only had four turnovers compared to the Spiders eight. One of the only bright spots from an otherwise sluggish first quarter from the Spiders was Andrew Moore. Moore is playing in his 4th year with the Spiders and has used his experience and speed to become one of the most prolific offensive players on the Spiders. Moore was able to be a threat in the deep space leading to him scoring a goal and throwing an assist. This strong quarter proved to be the kickstart of an elite performance by Moore who ended the game with just shy of 450 receiving yards, 2 goals, 2 assists, and 4 hockey assists. Moore’s goal and assist kept the spiders afloat as they ended the first quarter down 7-4.
The second quarter proved to be a dominant one by San Diego on the offensive side with their offense only throwing the disc away 3 times and scoring 7 more times. The Spiders were able to eliminate some of their mistakes only having one drop in the second quarter compared to the 4 they had in the first. The Spiders were able to find some offense in the rookie star who has become a reliable centerstone in the Spider’s offense, Jordan Kerr. Kerr had yet another stellar game, he ended with over 200 yards in both throwing and receiving as well as 5 goals 2 assists and a 100% completion rate on his passes. In the second quarter alone though Kerr caught three of the Spiders four scores which included catching a buzzerbeater huck at the end of the half. Despite the Spiders cleaning up their offensive play they were not able to stop San Diego and were down 8-14 at half.
In the second half the Spiders were able to slow down the Growlers offense as their defense was able to force 11 turns in the half 7 of which were blocks including multiple blocks from Marcelo Sanchez and Jace Bruner. The defense was able to use the momentum generated by these blocks to hold the Growlers to only 9 points in the entire second half. Unfortunately the defense proved too little too late as the offense was not able to take advantage of the slowed down Growlers. In the end the offense was able to move the disc more and work the field more efficiently but were still only to score 8 times leading them to losing 16-23.
This game was an eye opener to the younger Spiders team, who dropped to 1-2 on the season. Although it was not a good game the Spiders beat themselves and proved that when they are able to fix some of their mistakes they will be a dangerous team. As their young stars continue to gain experience the Spiders hope to be able to show their full ability and potential. The Spiders hope to get a win this Saturday, June 26, at 6:30 against the visiting Austin Sol.
