In a game that came down to the wire, the San Diego Growlers pulled out a gritty 26-25 win over the Seattle Cascades, which included a buzzer beater goal as time expired. No team led by more than two points at any period, but the Growlers dug deep late in the game to pull out the victory and the West division season title.

San Diego started the game at a massive disadvantage, playing for the first time without captain and All Star Travis Dunn. It was apparent early on that they missed their star player, as their offense wasn’t quite as confident marching the disc downfield. In his stead, the Growlers’ other captain, Steven Milardovich, stepped up his game. With a more focused role on offense, Milardovich used his size and athleticism to outmaneuver the Seattle defenders, and put up a season-defining performance, tallying 6 goals and 5 assists to help lead his team.

“Missing Travis was a huge loss, he’s the main cog in our offense.” noted Milardovich. “I had to cross over to offense to take his spot, and it also showed how talented and deep the rest of our offensive unit is that we were able to still play a clean and efficient game.”

Even with Milardovich’s stellar performance, Seattle seemed to have an answer for everything that San Diego threw at them. The Growlers and Cascades exchanged the lead multiple times throughout the game, and neither team looked in control for any extended period. For Seattle, Mark Burton and Khalif El-Salaam plagued the Growlers every point they were on the field, scoring effortlessly with deep shots that the Growlers struggled to cover. El-Salaam was directly responsible for more than half of Seattle’s points, even with San Diego’s best defenders hounding him all game.

“When we saw how effectively they were hucking to El-Salaam, we started mixing in a few more defensive looks to slow them down.” said Milardovich. “But they are certainly just as comfortable playing small ball, too.”

In the second and third quarter, the Growlers defense locked in, and helped build a lead for the home team --thanks in part to Trevor Purdy’s uncanny ability to shut down the deep space and score on the other end of the field. San Diego held a slim lead heading into the fourth, but their offense made a number of miscues early on, resulting in a Seattle lead with 5 minutes left.

Despite being down, San Diego used those final five minutes carefully, and waited for their opening to retake the lead. With 1:30 left, the Growlers would get their chance. Scott Radlauer, who had been taking the toughest defensive assignments all game, baited a swing pass from Seattle’s handlers, and had a jaw-dropping layout block to steal the disc out of the air. In a few short passes, Purdy hit Radlauer in the endzone to put the Growlers up 25-24.

Seattle answered with a goal of their own, leaving just 30 seconds for San Diego to try and win the game before time expired. The Growlers went off to the races, moving downfield with the disc as quickly as they could. Unfortunately, Seattle’s defense cranked up the pressure the closer San Diego got to the endzone, and Helton was forced to put up a prayer of a pass as the buzzer sounded. A pack of San Diego and Seattle players converged to the disc, but San Diego’s own Steven Milardovich was the one that skied the pack for the goal and the game.

With this win, San Diego has earned their first regular season title in the West division. They have one game left in San Jose but have shut out Los Angeles and earned the best record in the West for the first time in the program’s history.

“Clinching the division is a huge achievement for this team. I am so proud of all my teammates who have been putting in work for years… I am especially happy for the owners, Will [Griffin], Justin [Goodman], and Ryan [Slaughter] who have poured so much into making this team successful.” said Milardovich after the game.

This season has been a testament to the work that San Diego has put into their program over the past five years. The team struggled for the first few years as a franchise, and made the playoffs for the first time in 2018. No matter how their final regular season game plays out, San Diego will have one of the three best regular seasons of any team in the AUDL this year.