OSN Senior Contributor Brad Stein on the call.
The Portland Stags continued their incredible turnaround from their 1-9 record in their first season. Taking on the San Francisco Dogfish for the second time this season, the Stags notched their 5th win in six games and continued to secure the top spot in the Western Conference standings.
The Stags started the game against the Dogfish sputtering. In a sport where converting on the few opportunities provided by the defense to score points, Portland ran into early inability to convert points off of Dogfish turns.
However, this Stags team has showcased nothing except resiliency throughout the season. They showcased this trait yet again, growing a lead in the second quarter to 9-7 at the half and continuing to build on it through a second half.
In fact, Portland would keep a lead between three and five goals throughout the second half cruising to a victory with a final score of 20-15, a comfortable margin of victory in the world of Major League Ultimate.
In the rest of the conference, the Vancouver Nighthawks knocked off the Stags’ I-5 rivals, the Seattle Rainmakers, welcome news to the army of Stags fans. With the Seattle loss, the Rainmakers drop to 4-3 with three games left to play. That means the Stags have a one game lead in the win column over the Rainmakers, The Stags have two less losses than the Rainmakers but have already had their bye weeks. Still standing in the way of the Stags? This weekend, the Stags travel down to San Francisco.
However, truly crucial to the Stags playoff and Western Conference regular season champions are two remaining games against Seattle, one at home and one on the road. The Rainmakers are the only team to defeat the Stags this season and the conference is still very much up for grabs. However, if things continue on the current trajectory, these matchups will set the Stags and Rainmakers for a crash course in the playoffs, meeting for a berth in the MLU Championship Game in Philadelphia.
The fact that the playoffs are in sight is a welcome fan for the legion of Stags fans who are ready to get their “antlers up.”
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
