The San Diego Growlers hosted the Salt Lake Shred on Saturday, July 1 in the AUDL Game of the Week.

San Diego began with a patient hold on offense, and Salt Lake countered with a methodical score. The Growlers next possession lasted more than 6 minutes and after 3 missed connections, the Shred converted their first break, 2-1.  Tyler Bacon sent a long backhand throw to Stefan Samu for the equalizer and the Growlers had two opportunities to punch in a break, but the Shred held, 3-2.  Salt Lake notched another break with 10 seconds left, but Paul Lally sent a curving throw to the back of the endzone and Max Gibson soared for the buzzer beater goal, 4-3.

The teams traded offensive holds to start the second quarter, punctuated by a highlight layout grab by Gibson, 6-5. More trading ensued, with another highlight catch in traffic by Samu, and several throws later Michael Tran assisted to Kyle Rubin. Both teams traded several more goals, but after San Diego dropped a disc, Salt Lake scored a key break to take the lead 11-8.  The Growlers had time left but were unable to capitalize before the buzzer sounded.

Salt Lake came out firing after halftime and recorded 3 consecutive breaks before Travis Dunn found Max Gibson to stop the bleeding, 14-9.  The teams traded goals, then San Diego forced a turnover, called a timeout, and earned their first break when Tran fed Gibson, 15-11. Both teams traded multiple scores to end the third quarter, until Trevor Purdy intercepted a Shred buzzer beater attempt, 18-14.

The Shred held to start the fourth quarter, but the Growlers matched their score with a Travis Dunn blade to Samu who jumped backwards to make another highlight reel catch.  San Diego had a chance to break on the next point, but the first throw was blocked after a timeout and Salt Lake held, 20-15. Momentum certainly swung in the Shred’s favor as they rattled off 3 breaks in a row before Lally found Eli Salmon for the Growlers hold, 23-16.  With only 3:39 remaining, Salt Lake scored on offense and ran out the clock for a convincing 26-16 victory.

The Growlers were led by Max Gibson (1 assist, 6 goals, 1 block) and Michael Tran (2 assists, 3 goals, 2 blocks) with +6 performance. Stefan Samu (2 assists, 2 goals) also contributed a solid +4 game. San Diego will have a bye and then travel to the Pacific NW to face the Portland Nitro and Seattle Cascades on July 14-15.