The National Lacrosse League semifinal Saturday afternoon between the Toronto Rock and the Philadelphia Wings puts goaltenders Bob Watson and Dallas Eliuk front and center.

They are two of the best.

Toronto's Watson led all NLL goaltenders with a 77.15 save percentage during the Rock's 9-3 regular season. On Wednesday, he was named to the league's first all-pro team.

Philadelphia's Eliuk had the third-best save percentage, 76.32, and was named second team all-pro goalie. The Wings went 7-5.

"Both are outstanding," all-pro attacker Gary Gait, whose Pittsburgh CrosseFire missed the playoffs, said from his University of Maryland athletic department office in Baltimore when asked to assess the matchup. "But you just don't play against a goaltender, you play against an entire team, and Toronto does a better defensive job than Philadelphia.

"I'd rather play Philadelphia than Toronto. (The Rock) really take away the middle and don't give up the easy shots, which allows Watson to focus on outside shots that are not of the same quality. Dallas carries his team defensively. He stops everything because he has to."

Eliuk craves to help turn the tables on a Toronto club that rocked the Wings 13-2 in last season's semifinal. As well, the Rock prevailed 15-13 in Philadelphia in the only regular-season meeting this year.

"Last year was probably one of the worst performances in the history of the Philadelphia organization," Eliuk said from Philadelphia on Thursday. "Needless to say, we know what we have to do this time around to get a better result."

Watson is well aware he'll have to be at his best to match Eliuk save for save.

"They've got a lot of guys who can put the ball in the net," Watson said from his Guelph, Ontario, home. "They might be the fastest team in the league, they've got an experienced goaltender between the pipes, and I assume they have a bitter taste in their mouths from last year.

"They're a lot better team than last year. At the same time, we've grown as a team. It's going to be an interesting game."

Tom Marechek led the Wings in scoring with 67 points, including 41 goals. Mark Millon had 66 points including 33 goals. No Rock attacker scored as often.

"Adding Millon and Chris Panos really strengthened their left side," says Watson. "That presents a problem for us because now they have an equal balance offensively. We need to be at our best."

Most of the players are used to best-of-seven playoff formats. The one-game NLL semifinal showdowns are a test of nerves.

"You have to bring everything to the table for one game," says Watson. "It's a hit or a miss. You have to come prepared to play."

Chris Gill, whose 50 points including 30 goals led Toronto scoring this season, loves the one-game format.

"It's one of those things where you say, 'We win this thing and we're going to the final. It's do or die.' Our team has played like that for the last two months, so this will be just a continuation," he said before flying east from Vancouver for the big game.

The Rock have won four in a row.

"We had a little chat after a couple of games where we were going in the wrong direction," Gill said. "We all stood back and looked in the mirror and approached it as a team, not as individuals.

"We decided to concentrate on the little things instead of the big picture, and in the end the little things led to the big picture."

Eliuk says he won't be keying on any one Toronto shooter.

"They have all of the experience they could every want," he said of the Rock. "There is no one particular shooter I have to watch out for.

"That's what makes them dangerous. They have the depth most other teams don't have, at both ends of the floor."

The Rock drew more than 80,000 to its six regular-season home games. If they win Saturday, they qualify for the final, which would be at Maple Leaf Gardens on 6 May. Toronto would smash the 100,000 attendance barrier.