The San Diego Seals’ 14-8 victory over the Calgary Roughnecks on Friday night at Pechanga Arena was a big one. The team clinched the playoffs mid-game after a Las Vegas loss put the Seals and Roughnecks into the playoffs. Then, with the win over second-place Calgary, it put 1-½ games between the two West teams with four games to go for the Seals and three for the Roughnecks.

After the game, Patrick Merrill and the players celebrated in the locker room before going back out to the field to sign autographs for awaiting fans, a post-game tradition for the Seals.

“Pretty excited. The boys are pretty excited. Everyone thought they played really well tonight and we knew that we could potentially be in line to clinch a playoff spot. It’s just one goal down, we’ve got lots of work to do, but that’s a big one,” head coach Patrick Merrill said.

The win also gave San Diego the tiebreaker over the Roughnecks if there were to be a tie atop the West division when the season is over. Their magic number to clinch the division is at two.

The Seals are in command of their destiny with the West division. They will clinch with a combination of two wins or Calgary losses.

After their win yesterday, the Seals are in pretty good position to win the West with the tiebreaker going in their favor. pic.twitter.com/aJtnF6L0Xx

— Jonny Richardson (@itsjonnysd) April 1, 2023

Even with Calgary winning out, the Seals could go just 2-2 in their final four games and win the West. If Calgary loses once, the Seals only need to go 1-3, and Calgary losing twice would mean the Seals clinch no matter what.

San Diego has four remaining games: two each against the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (one at home, one on the road) and the Colorado Mammoth (one at home, one on the road).

Calgary has three games remaining: two against the Panther City Lacrosse Club (one at home, one on the road) and a home game against the Las Vegas Desert Dogs.