San Diego narrowly defeats Ventura in final quarter

By NSL • April 23, 2005

The San Diego Sea Lions look like the next NSL dynasty, defeating the Ventura Pelicanos in the final moments of the fourth quarter, SD: 100.75 - VC: 93.75. Ventura led only by a quarter of a point throughout the game until the 3rd quarter saw both talent stacked teams tie. San Diego’s incredible 4th quarter of 29.5 lay down the pain as the Ventura Pelicanos were unable to close their first win.

Today’s game 3 of the San Diego Sea Lions series of the 2005 Quiksilver California Cup had better wave conditions with shoulder to head high sets, providing more scoring opportunities than Game 1 and 2.

The Ventura Pelicanos arrived in Oceanside hungry for a win with a dismal 0-2 record. The Pelicanos’ traveling team roster included Tom Curren, Tim Curran, Keith Malloy and a strong group of beach break specialists ready to set the momentum as San Diego again decided to surf first in the top of the first quarter. The Sea Lion’s first quarter group led by Taylor Knox posted an opening quarter score of 23.75 setting the benchmark for Ventura to post up strong scores.

Legendary surfer, Tom Curren began the Ventura first quarter with a 7 point best wave score. Midway through the heat, Curren delivered a massive cutback off the top of th wave, hitting the end section and rotating backwards in classic Curren style, earning an 8.0 score. Along with veteran power surfer Keith Malloy, Ventura was able to post a 24 point quarter, leading the Sea Lions by a mere quarter of a point.

In the second quarter, both teams generated an impressive 26.25 quarter with Ventura still leading by a quarter of a point at halftime. All four scorers for San Diego delivered over 5.0 scores with Austin Ware showing his true potential posting a 7.5 score.

Ventura’s second quarter group featured the incredible Tim Curran who scored a 9.0 on a left with three power snaps, 1 floater and an insane 360 air reverse grab stomping the landing. "I was looking at the waves earlier in the morning and was hoping to get a medium size wave where I could do two turns and an air. When I caught that wave I realized, wow, this is the wave I had been looking at" said Curran after earning the Most Radical Maneuver of the game. With only minutes left in Ventura’s 2nd quarter, Nick Rosza pushed the quarter score from 23 to 26.25 with a huge 7.0 score improving on substantially on his previous weak scores. Ventura continued to lead 50.25 to SD’s 50 points.

Third quarter action had the Sea Lions bench and fans screaming as world class surfer, Taylor Knox boosted a frontside air on a tricky righthander wave to score a 7.0. SD’s 3rd quarter again remained close with SD scoring a 21.25 quarter score and a cumulative score of 71.25. Wave conditions became increasingly challenging as the wind played a factor in lower scores for both teams. Ventura’s lead of a quarter of a point (.25) equalized as the Pelicanos could not post above a 21 quarter score, forcing both teams to enter the final 4th quarter in a dead tie.

San Diego’s fourth quarter will go be talked about for a very long time as Rob Machado faced a low scoring dilemma seldom seen throughout the 2005 Quiksilver California Cup. "The last two days for me have been out of rhythm, yesterday I had a shocker, a 4.0 but I have been posting 6.5s to 7.5s, not bad scores but I haven’t been in rhythm with catching the right waves" said Machado. With 6 minutes left, Machado sat on scores less than 4.0 in the 4th quarter until Machado broke a time out unleashing his fury on a righthander with 12 mind boggling maneuvers to score a 7.5. Along with substitute Benji Weatherley’s 6.5, the quarter score for the Sea Lions rose fr
om a respectable 25.5 to an astounding final quarter score of 29.5.

Ventura now needed to meet or beat the 29.5 as San Diego now led with a cumulative score of 100.75. However it was not to be, the Pelicanos could only post a quarter score of 22.5 losing to the San Diego Sea Lions, 100.75-93.75.

Game MVP went to San Diego Sea Lions Austin Ware whose total game score of 15.5 contributed greatly to San Diego’s win. "I was trying to stick to the lefts as I had better potential and I got a new board that I’m psyched about" explained a jubilant Ware.

Ventura Coach, Davey Smith said, "We’re not losing by a whole lot, we don’t have all of our main guys, yet our younger guys are gaining invaluable experience so I’m not down at all, I’m stoked. I knew we needed to win this game but we laid it all on the line."

Game 4 of the San Diego Sea Lions series continues tomorrow at Oceanside Pier between the San Diego Sea Lions and the defending 2004 California Cup champions, the Orange County Octopus. Game introductions will begin at 8:30 a.m. with a game start time at 9 a.m. The San Diego Sea Lions lead the series with 5 straight wins and zero losses, Santa Cruz 4-2, Orange County 1-1, Ventura 0-3, Los Angeles 1-5.