Seals ready to rock “The Electric Factory” for their home opener this Sunday afternoon against Rochester
Fresh off a 16-13 win in Ottawa to jump start their 2025-26 National Lacrosse League campaign, the San Diego Seals (1-0) are ready to rock Pechanga Arena, aka “The Electric Factory” this Sunday (Dec. 14) when they face the Rochester Knighthawks (0-0) in their home opener. It’s a matinee affair with faceoff set for 2 p.m. PT.
Sunday’s tilt with the Knighthawks will be broadcast to a national television audience on ESPN2 and streamed globally on ESPN+.
The Electric Factory has become one of the toughest arenas to play in for opposing teams in the National Lacrosse League. The Seals are 4-2 all-time in their home openers. The Seals went 6-3 at home a season ago and they come into the 2025-26 season having won nine of their last 12 regular-season games at Pechanga Arena. And since the start of the 2022-23 season, San Diego is 21-6 in regular-season games played inside The Electric Factory.
Offensively, the Seals are clicking on all cylinders after scoring 16 goals at Ottawa in their season opener last Saturday night. Tre Leclaire is healthy after battling injuries last season and exploded for five goals and four assists in the win over the Black Bears. Newcomers Corey Small, Connor Robinson and Noah Armitage made huge contributions as well as Small tallied three goals and an assist, Robinson a goal and three assists, and Armitage two of each. Trevor Baptiste, who also battled injuries last season, was a beast in the faceoff circle, winning 28 of 33 while also scoring a goal after winning the faceoff to start the second period.
And while the Seals had their earliest season start in franchise history playing their season opener on Nov. 29, Rochester will play its season opener against the Seals.
The Knighthawks went 10-8 and were a playoff team a season ago. The Seals will be eager to face the Knighthawks with revenge on their minds after Rochester won last season’s only meeting 14-13, in New York, on a goal with 11 seconds remaining after the Seals had erased a six-goal deficit to tie the game late. Rochester was eliminated in the first round of the 2024-25 NLL playoffs, falling to Vancouver, 15-10.
Seals-Knighthawks Head-to-Head
All-time, the Seals and Rochester Knighthawks have met three times and the Seals hold a 2-1 series edge. Rochester won last season’s meeting by a 10-8 score in New York after the Seals won the first two games in the series, both of which were played in San Diego: 19-6 in 2020 and 17-14 in 2023.
A Look Back at Last Season’s Contest: Ryan Smith’s fifth goal of the night with just 11 seconds remaining erased a furious comeback by the Seals as the Knighthawks stunned the Seals, 14-13, at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. Down 12-6 midway through the third period, the Seals staged a furious comeback and scored seven of the game’s next eight goals to tie the game at 13-13 with 6:06 left in the fourth. Rochester got the best of the Seals early on as it was a 5-3 game after one period with eight different players scoring goals. For the Seals, Zach Currier opened the scoring with a highlight-reel play, rebounding a shot that went over Knighthawks goalie Rylan Hartley’s left shoulder and over the net and instinctively shooting over the top of the net and sneaking one in behind the unsuspecting Hartley. The Seals’ other two goals came off the sticks of Tre LeClaire and Wes Berg, the latter from Berg coming on a power play. The Knighthawks outscored the Seals 4-2 in the second quarter to take a 9-5 halftime lead. Connor Fields and Ryan Smith both scored twice for Rochester while the Seals two goals were both scored on transition plays. Leclaire scored his second of the night picking up a long rebound off a Rochester shot and taking it the length of the field to score on a breakaway goal, while Trent DiCicco took a long pass from Seals’ goaltender Chris Origlieri and hammered one in from just outside the crease, beating Hartley between the legs. Things started to get interesting in the third quarter. The Knighthawks outscored the Seals 3-1 over the first 6:28 to jump ahead 12-6 before the Seals went on a 4-0 run of their own to get within two. Jake Govett scored two of the goals. After Govett’s second goal that came with 4:15 remaining, the Knighthawks pulled Hartley and put Riley Hutchcraft between the pipes. Rochester got a goal from Thomas McConvey with 45 seconds left in the quarter to halt the Seals run but Leclaire answered 37 seconds later with his team-leading fourth of the night to get the Seals back within two at 13-11 heading into the fourth. The Seals kept it up in the fourth, drawing to within one after Berg picked up a rebound and scored to get the Seals to within 13-12. With 7:52 left in the fourth, DiCicco was sent to the penalty box for a cross-checking penalty, but the Seals got the better of it as Govett scored his third of the night, a shorthanded goal off a pass from Currier that tied things up at 13-13. It was the game’s first tie since 12:25 mark of the first quarter. Unfortunately for San Diego, the Knighthawks defense buckled down and held the Seals out of the net for the final 6:06 and Smith’s goal won it for Rochester.
A glance at the 2025-26 Seals Roster
The Seals’ 2025-26 roster is a mix of new and old. While the team returns many of its top players from a year ago, they’ve also added a number of new faces.
Top returnees include forward and team captain Wes Berg, goaltender Chris Origlieri, faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste, forwards Pat Kavanagh, Tre Leclaire and Ben McIntosh, transition men Zach Currier and Trent DiCicco, and defenders Eli Gobrecht, Danny Logan and Graydon Bradley.
Among the Seals’ returnees, Berg ranked second in the NLL a season ago with 49 goals to go along with 39 assists. His 88 points were second on the team. McIntosh chipped in with 24 goals and 42 assists as his 66 points ranked fourth on the team). And Currier scooped up the League’s third-most loose balls (193), while forcing the third-most turnovers (32). And with the ball in his lacrosse stick, Currier’s 47 points (18G and 29A) ranked fifth on the squad.
The team’s top newcomers include forwards Connor Robinson and Corey Small. Robinson, who came over in a trade from Colorado, was the third-leading scorer for the Mammoth a season ago, tallying 67 points on 23 goals and 44 assists, while Small, who signed with the Seals as a free agent, was the third-leading scorer for the Toronto Rock with 51 points on 25 goals and 26 assists during the 2024-25 season.
The Seals are also excited about their top two picks from this year’s NLL Draft, transition man Ari Steenhuis from St. Catharines and forward Chris Kavanagh (younger brother of Pat) from Notre Dame.
Regular-Season Milestones on the Horizon
• Wes Berg (282 career goals) needs 18 more to reach 300 for his career.
• Berg (684 career points) needs 16 more to reach 700 for his career.
• Trevor Baptiste has 1,650 career faceoff wins and needs 50 more to reach 1,700.
• Baptiste has 977 career loose balls secured and needs just 23 more to reach 1,000 for his career.
• Eli Gobrecht has 86 career forced turnovers and needs just 14 more to reach 100.
• Corey Small has scored 949 career points and needs 51 more to reach 1,000.
Roster Breakdown
The Seals’ current 21-man regular season roster sees the team carrying eight forwards, seven defenders, four transition men and two goalies. The breakdown is below:
Forwards: Wes Berg, Ben McIntosh, Jake Govett, Tre Leclaire, Dylan Watson, Connor Robinson, Corey Small, and Noah Armitage.
Defensemen: Kellen Leclair, Graydon Bradley, Eli Gobrecht, Matt Wright, Patrick Shoemay, James Barclay and Zack Deaken.
Transition: Zach Currier, Trent DiCicco, faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste and rookie Ari Steenhuis.
Goaltenders: Chris Origlieri and Cam Dunkerley.
Also, defender Danny Logan, forward Pat Kavanagh and transition man Cam Acchione are going to start the season on Injured-Reserve, while fellow forward Chris Kavanagh will begin the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list. All players are expected to return, though there is no timeline for when that will take place.
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