Mixed Division Final - submitted by Bil Elsinger
The third final of the day finds a gusting wind, alternating between 10-15 mph, coming across the field slightly North (upwind) to South (downwind). The wind effected the play in the Open finals, limiting options and making hucks harder to connect on.
The finals also finds two teams who both expected to be here coming into the tournament. Slow White was here last year. Kris Kelly of Slow White says of that experience, “We felt unprepared for last year in hindsight. We were just happy to be in Finals. This year we want the win.” Slow White has done a good job adjusting to other teams – partially explaining their success – they’ve had the opportunity to see Shazam three times this year, and with a game two days ago, they have a better idea of what Shazam does. Eric Mattson of Shazam Returns says of that situation, “We’ve won three times in our three meetings, but none of those times were in finals. It’s windy, which works to our advantage. We have a lot of veteran players who have a lot of experience in a variety of conditions. It’s about the team that plays well in the finals. That’s who will win.” Shazam Returns is the fourth version of Shazam to play here. They’ve made semis three of those four times, although two years ago they lost to Slow White in pool play – that was Slow White’s first year at the show – Slow White come up from a low seed and went undefeated until a loss in quarters. Last year, Slow White learned how to make it to finals – this year we’ll see if they’ve figured out how to come away with the win. White returns most of their roster – maybe 20 of a roster numbering in the 20s last year. They added a few men from other mixed teams, including Seth Mann and Mike Rozinsky of 6 Trained Monkeys, and Tim Warden-Hert (Tim W-H) from Whoreshack. Cristal Chan is another big addition, along with a few younger college types. Shazam is a conglomeration of older Shazam teams, some ex-Sockeye guys that joined the team as Steve Finn returned to the team (and Mixed), and other folks in the Seattle scene who had been playing open and women’s. Their women look fairly different from past years with additions coming from out of town.
Injury update: Slow White is fairly healthy – no one has been lost. Shazam’s Eric Mattson went down yesterday with an injury to his hand, and will not play.
Slow White starts on the north end of the field. Shazam’s D team is on, pulling. Included are Eddie Feeley, Erin Gallegher, Mike Leech., Charlie Ellis, Steve Finn, Shannon O’Neil and Megan Zdancewic. Slow White has a Patisteas, Dan Patisteas, Tim W-H, Mike Rozinsky, Rob Spies, and Sean Laing start on O… Shazam starts out zoning, with Mike Leech on the mark, trapping. Eddie Feely goes over number 5 of Slow on a cross field, and Shazam looks to break. After several quick passes, a backhand goes into the turf in the EZ. Shazam zones again. Mike Leech picks up the disc off of a turn in the cup, and throws to an open Erin Gallegher.
Rosie Ano, Steve Sullivan, Chelsea Pawlek, Mike Rozinsky and Time W-H come in on offense for Slow White… Shazam comes with person, forcing straight up and Slow White is in the spread, 9, 16, handling, but both teams turn, unforced, then Slow White throws to no one. Mike Schwindeller picks up the disc and throws to Carla Fowler to go up 2-0.
Shazam zones as Slow White goes downwind, and Slow White hucks immediately way in front of the Patisteas receiver. Britt Atack sends a huck the other way, and Ayron Jones goes up high and almost pulls it down. Slow White starts on their own EZ line. Slow goes over the zone with a big scoober, and Shazam transitions to person. Slow White throws to a Shazam defender coming in hard. Slow is playing person. Britt, Erin Gallagher, and Mike Leech handle upwind, as Shazam is in a spread. Britt Atack hits Megan Zdancewic for 3-0. Slow White looks out of their game, but they know how to come back.
Shazam comes down person, forcing straight up again, and Slow has trouble getting an upfield, Slow turns on a short inside out jam to the dump. Hall Walker has the disc near the ez, takes a big break to Charlie Ellis, who hangs one on an around to Tucker Jackson, who jumps once, twice, and pulls in the 4-0.
Arnie Larson pulls, and again Shazam zones, something of a 1-3-3, with tall Mike Leech marking, and three women in the wall/cup. Slow White’s Sean Laing punts, then Shazam hangs one, and benefits from some luck again, as a Slow defender gets a hand on the disc, only to have it go right to Leech. Shazam works it up the field to the EZ line, and takes a time out. Out of the time out, Shazam turns on a swing, and Slow is slowed down and isn’t able to huck, then throws over Evan Patisteas. Steve Finn then throws a goal to Annie Plank, 5-0. The crowd sighs, wishing for a better game.
Mike Miller comes in, along with Cristal Chan, Erin Kelleher, Kendra Frederick, Seth Mann, Miles M-B, and Mike Rozinsky. Slow White gets into the game, against a person D from Shazam, and Rozinsky hucks but Jane Kaufman is there. Shazam hucks away, and Mike Miller has the disc again. Erin Kelleher occasionally acts as the pivot handler, as Mike and Rozinsky handle on the sides… A Miller push pass turn comes back on a foul call, and Miller throws the goal to Seth Mann. Slow White finally gets in it. 5-1.
Shazam’s offense finally hits the field. Dave Bestock, Brit Atack, Scott Causey, Charlie Ellis, Pam Kraus, Nora Carr, and Megan Zdancewic come in. Miller stays in on defense. Miles MB, Christina Allen, Kat Neal, Kevin McCarthy, and Evan Patisteas zone, but then Kraus tries to hammer over and Slow’s defense has a chance to score. Allain’s backhand to Neal is too far in front, despite Neal’s layout, and Shazam has it 15 meters out. The wind is dead. Scott Causey hits Dave Bestock up the line for 6-1. Shazam’s offense has, on occasion, had some troubles, but this line is not a pure offensive line – they’ve learned to limit their losses over the course of the tournament.
Rosi Ano tries to stop a disc, it pops up in the air, and a couple throws are needed to get out of the EZ. Ayron gets an acrobatic D snatched just out of the intended receiver’s hand, then Rob Spies gets a great layout block in return. An unforced error by Slow, and Shazam’s Mickey Thompson picks up the disc, then Tim W-H plays some great dump D, and Thompson is forced to take a bad dump. Tim W-H turns on forehand, with Mike Schwindeller getting a piece. Carla Fowler lays out to save a low throw, and Shazam may be closing in on its women when they have the disc. Ayron tries a tough throw, but turns as Fowler lays out again. Chelsea Pawlek and Carla Fowler have a little discussion, but generally, the game has been fairly call free. Matt Greytak double pumps a backhand, which may confuse the Slow White receiver, who drops, five yards out. Shazam turns on the swing, and it gets windier, especially at the crow’s nest level. Rosie Ano and Tim WH handle as Seteh Man gets some good upfield cuts. Then comes a strange high throw. Tim WH comes out on an injury sub, and Rozinsky comes in for Slow – while Finn comes in for Shazam. Shazam takes the time out after what has now been a long point. With no options, Finn hucks away, but it comes back on a receiver call. Shazam turns and loses yards. Slow drops an open pass, but Shazam turns fairly quickly. Slow doesn’t hit an under receiver, and this looks sloppy. Ayron lays out to get the long throw, and Mike Schwindeller finds Carla Fowler on the around breaks. 7-1.
Slow White just does not look in the game – despite Shazam giving them several opportunities – drops and misthrows are occurring, and not always because of pressure.
Shazam zones again (as Slow goes downwind). Slow White was practicing against their version of this zone prior to the game, so it doesn’t take them by surprise. I first saw this version of the zone (tall man marking – going around the more vulnerable throwers, with three women playing a tight cup) with Lawn Party in a Canadian tournament. In any case, Phillips has a goal, but drops in the EZ. Shazam turns with a forehand, 15 out of their own EZ, and Dan Patiesteas pulls down a huck and eventually Steve Sullivan gets the redemption to Phillips, 7-2.
Slow White’s defense is dangerous when it is on the field, but this is only its second opportunity, and that upwind. The wind at field level seem to be brisk.
Slow White zones – it looks like a three person cup – it’s pretty loose. Scott Causey handles for Shazam with Tim Laverty nearby. This may be a version fo the Brass Monkey zone – thes same zone that Shazam plays. Mike Miller takes an immediate huck off of the turn, but the wind catches it and pushes it far too far. The crow’s nest feels sympathy for the Rufus folks. Shazam turns 25 out, and finally Mike Miller quickly hits Evan Patisteas up the line and Slow White’s defense gets into it. 7-3.
Both team’s defenses can, at times, be more consistent than their offenses – that’s why both teams get runs off against opponents. We’ll see whether Shazam’s O can stem the tide. Slow shows person as Shaam goes upwind. Steve Finn jacks it to Nora Carr with a backhand, and she gets it off of the layout. Four throws and we’re at half. 8-3.
We’ll see whether Slow White can adjust over half. Kris Kelly of Slow White, says of the issues Slow White has seen, “We’ve been jittery. The offense is as tight as I’ve seen it all season. The wind may be hurting our confidence. We rely on our defense to get breaks and we haven’t been able to get them on the field.” A lot of Slow White’s turns have come off of things that Slow White hasn’t done all tournament. The wind has continued to gust from 5-15 mph all half.
Perhaps fortunately for Slow White, their D team takes the field for the pull, upwind, of course. Shazam’s O includes Finn, Lavety, Bestock, Ladd, Jane Kaufman, Nora Carr, and Sarah R-V. Slow White zonestwom en in the cup(tallish). Tim Laverty goes up on a high swing, and Finn fills in with a catch of the mac. Other than that, Shazam has no trouble working it down the field, with Finn hitting Jane Kaufman in the EZ. The good kind of hitting. 9-3.
Shazam is back to zoning, and just as Slow White looks like they are breaking the Z, they throw too far in front of a receiver. Slow plays good D, and a cross field hammer goes up in desperation. A pretty (and low) 50 meter throw from Sean Laing hits his receiver and Shazam transitions. Steve Sulivan throws the goal to Kendra Frederick, 9-4.
Patisteas, Miller, Rusty I-S, Mann, Neal, Phillips, and Allain go in on D. Shazam turns – this looks like a pretty pure offensive line for Shazam – we’ll see how they do on D. Unfortunately, they try to huck to a woman, and Dave Bestock steps in for the D off the poach. Jon Ladd takes a long throw over Finn’s defender to 10-4.
Eddie Feely marks in the Shazam zone and Slow White has figured it out as they work it up the field, and Shazam transitions, but on a dump, Slow White drops again. Shazam works it up the line, forced forehand, and Arnie Larson gets another, 11-4.
Shazam pulls out of bounds, Tim W-H starts with the disc at the brick, calls something, but then after a discussion there’s no call. This has happened both ways. Shazam seems a little more prone to calls, but again, calls haven’t slowed things down much. After working it down the field, Seth Mann hits Rusty I-S. Slow White’s offense looks a lot better this point. 11-5.
Slow pulls into the EZ, and both Shazam handlers stumble, then a low throw and Carr’s layout can’t recover it, Slow has a chance for a break, 15 meters out. Miller hits Rusty Ingold-Smith for 11-6. Shazam takes a time out to stem the swing in points. The nice pull really set things up here for Slow White – and this is one of those points where you know, with the way that the offense handles the pull, that they’re going to get in trouble.
Slow pulls upwind, and Kevin McCarthy and Carmelo Pabon come in on D. Slow zones downwind again. Shazam turns, not forced, and Slow is looking for another break. As we’ve noted, they like to go on runs, but then they turn, and transition to person D. Shazam’s Ladd underthrows a half field huck, and Slow has another opportunity. Bestock goes over on a hanging cross field swing, outjumps the offensive player but only macks the disc, and Slow White retains. Slow then marches up the field, and they are officially on a run. 11-7.
Evan Patisteas gets a D as Slow plays person D, then takes an injury sub, but he walks away to the far side of the field, so hopefully it is just temporary. Hard cutting Seth Man comes in for the ISO cut, the throw floats, Finn gets a hand on it, and macks it, Man n almost picking it up, then Shazam throws away of a nice double travel, and Slow takes what should be an easy throw and it gets macked up, Slow touches it twice, and the thrower of Shazam’s turn gets the disc back. Shazam works it up, but throws over the intdended receiver in the EZ. Finn lays out going to (unusual for him), but doesn’t ge the D, Slow hucks it, Chris Farina gets a remarkable bid that almost brings in the huck, but it’s just a bit too far. Shazam has a crowded midfield, all receivers within 25 of disc, then Shazam’s male handlers take a bunch of quick throws to each other, Arnie Larson, Tim Laverty, Finn, and Ellis moving the disc up the field (and upwind) – no woman touches, finally converting the offensive point. 12-7, and Shazam breathes a sigh of relief as Shazam’s D team comes back on the field. A good run for Slow White – let’s see whether they can get another.
Shazam pulls downwind, Tim W-H (of the big hair) and Chelsea Pawlek handling, with most cuts coming under. Rosie Ano gets the disc several times. Mike Leech catches the D in front of W-H and Shazam has the look at the break. Mike Leech to Ayron Jones off of a stopped disc. 13-7.
Shazam is still zoning. Go with what works, I guess, although Slow has pretty much figured the zone out, as they march down the field, Sullivan to Dan Patiesteas, 13-8.
Jon Ladd hits Hall Walker going away downwind, and Slow White doesn’t show much defense. 14-8, game point Shazam.
Shazam finally plays person, Slow White tries to one hand a catch and drops it, and with the chance to win, Larson throws too far ahead of Leech, but Slow White throws a very poor huck that ands 20 yards away from anyone, Arnie Larson hits Charlie Ellis on a nice away cut, and Megan Zdancewic wins the game, 15-8.
We had a look at a Slow White defensive run, but they were unable to string together multiple runs. This was never really a game, with Shazam’s early run. In a strong field this year, with a lot more parity than in the past, Shazam has shown some separation from the pack. They will represent the U.S. at Worlds next year.
Mixed Division Day Three - Submitted by Bil Elsinger
Quarters.
The wind starts out at 10-15 mph, more upwind downwind than cross, then calms down to 5-10 as the round progresses. We’ve just missed the rain, which is off the Coast, and a little earlier in the morning, and it’s pretty good Ultimate weather, cloudy skies acting as a screen for the sun, comfortably warm, and a lot of humidity sitting in the air. The weather does not make a big difference this round.
Brass Monkey vs Tandem.
Tandem’s John Jay, while taking a break from directing brown uniformed team, says, “We’ve already played to seed. Its nice to be back in the position of underdog.” In the upcoming game against Slow White, he hopes that his team’s athleticism on defense will make the difference.” That difference results in the first point, a break for Tandem. Brass Monkey then gets the next point to Kerry Soo Von Esch. Tandem runs, at least temporarily, three handlers with an offset group of cutters, all on one side of the field, and fairly close in. They score fairly efficiently – they get good cuts from their unders with decent separation.
On the two adjacent fields, travel calls on assists for goals are both overturned by Observers – legitimizing their presence, although who knows if the travels would have been called without observers. Both games are fairly call free, however, and all involved teams are pretty good on calls in general. In fact, all of the quarterfinalist have been very spirited throughout the tourney. It’s nice to see deserving teams earning what they get, and to see fairly uninterrupted play.
Tandem zones Brass Monkey, and manages to get up 4-2. They are clearly fired up, and Brass Monkey is a bit flat – resulting in some miscues. Brass gets back to 4-3, then have the possibility of getting the break back and take a time out. Later, after more zone, Chuck Kindred gets a D as Tandem tries hucking over the zone, and Brass hucks right back to Wendy Chan, 6-5 Monkey. Brass continues to zone, this time to transition but Tandem ties. Tandem then has a chance to get a break, but they put a throw just a little too far in front of Carson Thomas. Brass hucks to Hard, but that throw is also too long. Brass scores, then plays a 3-3-1 that looks a bit loose – as usual, one of Monkey’s tall men is marking and trapping – at this point it is Mike Sintetos. Tandem hammers across the field, however, and then scores without much trouble for 7-7.
At half, Colin Mahoney says of playing Mixed, “It’s fun to be here, although a little frustrating.” He’s not in the shape that he would be in if he were practicing regularly – and he’s often assigned the other team’s toughest deep threat – in this case, Patrick Hard. He still seems to be doing a good bit for Tandem – but that explains why he isn’t more dominating. With a team like Tandem playing in the series, folks with heavy schedules can join Mixed and get a dose of competition and fun, all in the form of competitive ultimate. The team trade after half, and eventually get to 9-9. A bit later, Mahoney makes a greatest attempt with a receiver in the area, but the Brass Monkey defender D’s the disc as it comes back in bounds, in the EZ, no less. At 11-9, Brass is back to playing person, and Tandem gets the goal off of several short throws, 11-10. Stephen Antonopoulos hits Patrick Hard for a very fast forehand, and Brass is up 13-12. Tandem’s cutters sometimes end up pretty deep, but they get a lot of nice unders, and are still threats for the deep cuts. They tie up at 13-13. Hard finds a receiver open, as Tandem’s defender tries a poach D, but then gets caught off of his man.
Tandem’s Angela Tong, gets a big catch against some tough d, then hucks over Brass to tie, 14-14. Brass turns on a high stall count, and Colin Mahoney pulls in the 15-14 break up high. Brass turns, and Tandem has the disc to win, but Monkey’s Geoff Dolan, a sub for an injured player, gets the D, then subs out with his own injury. Tandem almost gets a poach D, and Brass hucks too short, and Tandem’s Alyssa Ricker catches the D. Then, Jesse Woodward gets a key block on the line and Brass converts, 15-5. Despite Monkey fading a female defender into the lane, Tandem’s Alexander Bowman hits Rebecca Simon for 16-15. Tandem again gets the look to win, but takes an unwise cross field, and Hard hits a backhand to Woodward to tie the game, forcing double game point. Tandem puts in Jon Jay, Rebecca Simon, Jennifer Kim, Tom Matthews, Angela Tong, Andrew Berry and Alexander Bowman on offense. Brass has Josh Greenough, Hard, Von Esch, Nate Miller, Alicia Dantzker, Wendy Chan and Geoff Dolan on D. Hard pulls it out of the back of the EZ. Three quick Tandem undercuts, and Brass gets a D after Tandem has no options and has to make an unwise decision. Greenough hits Hard going away, 17-16.
Tandem really stepped it up in this game – and, like other quarters teams, has benefited from both new additions and another year of playing together. They are right on the edge, and had their opportunities to put the game away.
Shazam vs. Barrio.
Barrio’s Grant McCall says that Barrio is excited about playing teams that they’ve never seen before. “The fact that we’re here shows our solidity, and let’s other teams see the continuity that we’ve had together.” Barrio has competed, just missing Natties in previous years, although the last couple years has seen the team splitting up and playing Open and Women’s. That experience tells, as Grant continues, “We’ve had fun knocking down some teams who hadn’t heard of us. We’re ready for this game – we’ve learned how to adjust as the tournament has progressed.” The ability to adjust is certainly important – teams that are learning to put a cap on their opponent’s strengths are benefiting, while teams that get stuck with one set of tactics are having trouble.
Shazam and Barrio start off trading points, with fairly efficient offenses, 5-5, although Shazam’s D gets a turn or two during this series. Shazam’s handlers are getting the disc off pretty quickly, in many cases taking a series of throws at a two count – especially when Dave Bestock, Steve Finn, and Tim Laverty are in. Shazam’s defense finally gets a break, requiring two attempts to get the goal – Mike Schwindeller gets a hand block and then hucks to Megan Zdancewic for the go ahead goal. Barrio ties, with a lot of good work from Jeff Grobe and Liz Penny. Barrio gets its own look at a break, but Shazam keeps its lead. Then Shazam uses the zone that it borrowed from Brass Monkey for a D and their second break. Shazam takes half. Liz Penny is happy to talk about Barrio. “I’m really excited and rally proud. Shazam is a great team, but they are worried about us. We came here not even having played a nationals team all season, and here we are in Quarters.”
Shazam receives, and they’re running, like almost everyone else, a spread offense with two male handlers and one female. Dave Bestock usually is the primary, and Shazam’s woman cutters often give the dump immediately after getting yards. Shazam scores on offense, 9-6. Carla Fowler gets a D, then Mickey Thompson pulls down a disc between two defenders, catching his own tip, and calling a time out as he falls to the ground. Out of the time out, however, Barrio’s defense is stifling. Later, Shazam’s D gets more looks, and after turns by both teams, gets another break at 11-7. Shazam zones some more, Barrio gets back to 12-9, and gets the break thanks to some softer D from Shazam’s O line, to 12-10. Shazam doesn’t give up another break, however, and Pam Kraus pulls in the winner, as a disc floats over a crowd to her waiting hands, 15-11. Barrio plays a good game – they look like they belong in Quarters. They’re just catching on of the better teams when that team is peaking. Another year or two of experience, and who knows… It’s definitely nice to have them at Natties, as they represent some strength from the SW.
Rival vs. Amp.
Rival’s Ricky McClellen on their matchup with Amp, “We want to avenge our loss from earlier this season. We were only at half strength then.”
Amp comes out with strong cuts, scoring just in front of two defensive layouts. Rival’s Diane O’Quinn gets a D as Amp has only one cutter (this happens often for Amp), and handlers standing around the disc, but Amp gets the disc back and takes a break, 2-0. Amp zones, gets a D, and takes a time out. Amp has a miscue on the dump, but the second handler is in the area and can saves the disc for another break. Rival and Amp trade to 4-1. Both teams turn a couple times, and Rival drops near the EZ and Amp gets the easy break, 5-1.
During this run, Rival’s normally unflappable female handlers are having some trouble. Throughout the tourney, they’ve done a very good job of getting yardage off of their throws, taking big breaks, and basically doing what they want on the field. As a set, they are probably the best group here, especially in terms of making things happen. Things don’t go as well for them this half, however, and Amp’s D is playing really well. They takes advantage of the turns. Amp is cool, and makes things happen. Their handlers, although not always that active, very solidly provide outlets and get breaks.
Rival gets back into it and looks a lot smoother as they score a couple, as Asa Wilson steps up a bit and drives their offense to goals, although Amp keeps its lead, 7-3. After taking half, the teams trade. At 9-5, Holly Sommers (again!) takes the big inside out to Diane O’Quinn. Later in the game, Rival, starting at their own EZ, plays a long vertical stack, no dump. They play without a dump for the first few yardage gains, then wait for their swings to come in and provide relief, until finally Holly Sommers makes it back. They work efficiently and get the goal to 10-7, Amp’s lead. Rival stays within two, although their sideline has to encourage the cutters to keep moving – 11-9. Amp’s offense looks pretty good this game – they are on. Rival isn’t able to force a break, and Amp goes on to win the game. Rival is eliminated from contention, but has played a great tournament. They’ve shown that they are one of the top teams, have been a class act all tournament, but just aren’t able to come back from their bad first half. They have shown the most improvement, year over year, after winning only one game last year, but making it to quarters this year. It would be nice to see them continue next year – especially if they can hold on to their new additions, and get some out of region play.
Mischief vs. Slow White.
Kris Kelly of Slow White, “I think people are fired up.” In regards to their late round loss to Rival, “We had a big lapse yesterday – but we learn from our mistakes.” Friday is definitely the day to stumble once, and Kelly is confident that her team is coming in with their heads in the right place. Mike Miller tells the Slow White huddle, “Our heart is our fire.” Meanwhile, across the field, Kris McQueen reminds Mischief’s D line, who will be pulling, “Defense sets the tone.” Mischief’s D goes out and gets a break, as Wade Hellner hits Will Goodyer for the first defensive break of the game. Slow White’s O gets back on track with an answering point. 1-1.
Mischief gets the next, and Slow answers, 2-2. A bit later, Mischief gets a break back off of a Slow White throw that led its receiver too far, then Mischief comes out with a zone of their own, two men, one woman in the cup, the woman the middle middle, a man short deep, and women matching up. Their zone gets a little loose as the point goes on, and Slow White ties at 4-4. Slow White picks up a break, Mischief has an opportunity to bring it back as they shut the upfield cutters down – facing a stall 9 turn – but Mischief doesn’t convert, and its 6-5, Slow White. Mischief matches at 6-6. Slow scores, then gets a break using their zone, taking half at 8-6. Mike Miller is happy with the offense form his D line – they are converting on the turns. He is optimistic, as he notes, “We’ve always been a 2nd half team, at least until this tournament.” Both offenses score out of half – Slow White’s looks smooth as their long looks are connecting. They have some big receivers – which makes for some good matchups. Slow White zones, Mischief sits on the trap side, then takes a swing and as the zone comes across, Mischief takes the nice throw through the gaps to Paul Youn. 10-8. Mischief earns a couple of looks, but isn’t able to convert – And Slow White hucks to Dan Patisteas to hold on to their lead. Tyler Grant gets a good look to Kevin Smith to stay in the game. At 12-9, there’s a very long point, and Slow White finally gets the backbreaker, to go up 13-9. Slow White holds on for the win. Mischief looks a little jittery through parts of this game, and just aren’t able to change the momentum late. Slow White is peaking at just the right moment, perhaps.
Semis: Slow White vs Amp, Shazam vs Brass Monkey
Shazam’s Brit Atack has four keys to the game according to a sports book that he read on the way here. “Work hard, play smart, play together, and have fun.” Both Shazam and Brass Monkey do these things and it shows. They’ve met many, many times in the past, starting with 2004, when Brass owned Shazam all season, including a win at Regionals, and seemed destined for the title, but then Shazam met them in semis (like this year) and turned the tables before going on to win it all.
Then, in 2005, Shazam looked like the team to beat, but Brass beat them in Power Pool play, starting Shazam’s spiral down to 9th place. This year, the teams have split, with Shazam having a better record. Both teams have a core of elite players, both teams have talent all the way to the bottom of their roster, and both teams have played a fairly rigorous schedule, this year. Brass, however, is coming off of a close win over Tandem, while Shazam has rolled in their last three games. Shazam starts off on O, with Mike Leech, Dave Bestock, Jon Ladd, Megan Zdancewic, and Pam Kraus in, and Shazam works it down on under cuts with Ladd finishing to Zdancewic unmolested. Shannon O’Neil, Arnie Larson, Eddie Feeley, Ayron Jones, and Erin Gallegher come in on D, Monkey throws too high, not forced, and Shazam picks up for 2-0. It’s not good to let Shazam’s D to get any momentum going, but Patrick Hard hucks OOB, and Shazam has another break look.
Eric Mattson hits Britt Atack as the Brass Monkey defender gets caught flat footed, and Shazam is up 3-0, Monkey time out. After the time out, Shazam sends in a new defensive line, including Carla Fowler, Mike Schwindeller and Mickey Thompson. They force middle, and Brass Monkey throws too far in front of Chris Coco. Shazam works it back up the field, but leaves the disc too high on the EZ, but then get it right back after an unforced OOB throw and Ayron gets the 4-0 goal. Charlie Ellis and Hall Walker come in on D, while Brass Monkey’s O line includes Nate Miller, Stephen Antonopoulos, and Matt Albinson and Slow White works it up for their first goal. Shazam marches it back down for 5-1. Brass hucks the disc away, and Brit Atack hits Scott Causey sandwiched between two defenders for 6-1. Chris Coco gets great separation as Monkey works it down patiently for 6-2. Hall Walker then hits Jane Kaufman over a male defender and Patrick Hard hits Geoff Dolan for 7-3. Jon Ladd sticks his hand out to get swing D, and Jane Kaufman scores again for half.
Out of half, Shazam zones using Brass Monkey’s zone, with a tall man marking, and often circling shorter handlers. Both teams turn, and it’s a long point with Shazam taking a time out – although the Brass defenders have their hands on their knees Mike Leech then hits Arnie Larson for 9-3, and another break. Brass Monkey’s offense at this point includes Matt Albinson, Mike Sintetos, Geoff Dolan, Alicia Dantzker, and Alison Purcell are in on offense, but there’s a turn, and Britt Atack throws the break, 10-3. Out of a time out, Brass works it downfield, Chuck Kindred to Nate Miller for 10-4. The Monkey D includes Coco, Wendy Chan, Joshua Greenough, heather Brown, Will Lavery, Mike Sintetos, and Alicia Dantzker, and they haven’t had a lot of time on the field yet. Chris Coco ensures a D on an OOB huck, but Brass turns and Dave Bestock hits Jon Ladd, 11-4. Hard hits Geoff Dolan with one of his pretty hucks, 11-5, then Brass goes to a zone. Bestock handles with Atack, getting swings to Ladd, and upfield throws to popper Nora Carr, Bestock and Atack crashing the cup when trapped on the line (a specialty of the Brass Monkey zone), and eventually Pam Kraus pulls in 12-5. Hard catches a goal to keep it at 12-6.
Brass shows a new zone look, maybe some junk – as they spread across the field and Shazam turns. Brass scores twice in a row, but the goals come back on calls, and the third attempt doesn’t work out despite a really nice layout by Wendy Chan (?). Hall Walker drops while looking into the EZ, but Shazam gets it back as Bestock hits Arnie Larson for 13-6. Hard hits Coco off of a pull play, and its 13-7. Matt Albison comes off of a blind side poach and gets a great layout D after Monkey shuts down Shazam’s pull play, and gets another at 13-8. Monkey’s pull never comes in, and Shazam starts out 5 yards out, but is not able to score. Eric Mattson lays out to get a D, but goes out of the game after trainers come over to look at his hand.
A few turns later, another injury substitution, both teams make a mental error or two, and finally, Monkey’s Nate Miller hits Chris Coco for 13-9. Ladd sprints away from his defender for 14-9 off of a pull play. Shazam’s Megan Zdancewic has done a good job with Kerry Soo Von Esch, as Kerry Soo, normally a big goal scorer, isn’t getting the looks she’s used to. Or alternately, Brass Monkey comes in a bit tentative because of the very close Tandem game. Monkey’s Wendy Chan gets a great layout D poaching off on a pull play huck vs. Shazam’s male deep. Kerry Soo lays out to maintain possession, but cramps up, and Patrick Hard, gentleman that he is, carries her off the field. Another couple turns and Brass scores, 14-11, and Shazam’s offense is not looking good. The lead has been so large that up until this point, Shazam doesn’t seem to worried, but around this time the concern starts to mount. Shazam puts in the ex-Sockeye line, and Brass plays some great stifling D – forcing Sarah Ross Viles to take a desperation high throw, but Shazam picks it up and Pam Kraus eventually hits Zdancewic for the final goal, 15-11. This game obviated some trends. Shazam’s D team is tough, and gets some big runs, even against the smoothest of offenses. Shazam’s O team can, in turn, be run against, although Shazam has been adjusting their lines to deal with this through the tournament. Brass just let too much go for too long – and despite winning the second half, 8-7, are out of the running.
Brass Monkey is a great team – and their program doesn’t sacrifice quality for anything – they also have some of the best cheers, with Henrik Meng’s guitar and Chuck-towns’ violin soothing their opponents wounds after a hard fought game. Long live the Monkey.
Slow White vs. Amp.
Slow White and Amp meet on one side of the brackets, and Slow White is probably not unhappy with their draw. Their quarters matchup looked a lot more like the semis that most people would have predicted, but Slow White made the most of the first round, and are coming in with all pistons firing. Both their O and D line was connecting on their hucks at the end of quarters. Very early in the season the two teams split.
Amp, meanwhile, is also looking pretty good. Their drubbing of Rival saw some fairly decent efficiency on O, and some nice defensive stands.
Slow White pulls coming out of the gate. Their D line features Evan Patisteas, late season addition Megan Schoellhamer (who was not planning on coming, but was talked into it despite a heavy class schedule), Chris Farina, Hannah Phillips, Christina Allain, Mike Rozinsky, and Mike Miller, pulling. There’s a 5-10 mph wind, mostly up and down the field, and the sky is still grey. Chris Farina starts the game out nicely for Slow White with a D on a dump, and Mike Miller puts it just high enough for Farina to go over two defenders for the first break of the game. Amp may have shown a woman poach in the lane off of the turn. Slow White, 1-0. Amp’s O set includes Peter Knappenberger, the every third touch Brian Felt, and the very quick Raha Mozaffari, whose throws are prettily efficient. Cutters downfield include Sean Murray, Whitney Viets and Jeff Loperfido. Knappenberger and Felt take a lot of little dumps and give and goes after gains, Amp uses their women for some yardage, almost all the cuts come under, and Sean Murray pulls Amp’s first goal. Slow White’s O includes Miles Montgomery-Butler, Tim Warden-Hertz, Chelsea Pawlek, Dan Patisteas, and Kendra Frederick, who gets some big gains, then is abandoned as Amp clamps down on D.
A desperation throw, Slow White comes up with it, but it comes back on the contested stall. Then, a few quick throws and Slow keeps its lead, 2-1. Dan Furfari and Allison Cameron see some O action, as Amp works up the field, but then Mike Miller gets a poach D on what is meant to be a crossfield swing and launches an immediate huck – another break. Slow White, 3-1.
Cristal Chan, Erin Kelleher, and Adrienne Altobelli are Slow White’s defensive defenders on this point, but Amp puts in a new O line and works it down, gaining some advantage from their lefty handlers. Dugan Lawrence pulls in the goal for Amp, 3-2. Off of a pull play huck from Mike Rozinsky to Dan Patisteas, a foul is called and the disc comes back. Off the call, the full set of cutters is 60 yards away from the handlers. Amp’s Castle Sinicrope is forced to lay out for a low throw but isn’t able to get it. Slow turns, however, and Amp’s Stachowski hits Sinicrope for the goal. 3-3. Out of their spread, Slow gets good down field movement, and Steve Sullivan finishes to Kendra Frederick. 4-3.
Slow White sits the offside handler’s defender (woman) in the lane, Amp tries a huck but turns, Slow turns back, unforced on a swing, Rusty Ingold-Smith (Rusty) and Patisteas are in on the D point, Amanda Bailey and Hannah Phillips are cutting down the field, but Slow turns. A hand block by Chris Farina that floats straight to Mike Miller is a turn, but a call stops Slow’s fast break. Miller tries the huck, but Loperfido gets the block 10 feet away from the throw. Amps gets some yardage from its women, but Evan Patisteas gets a D and Hannah Phillips save a low Miller huck meant for Patisteas, who had started with the stopped disc on the line, dumped, then immediately sprinted down the field as Miller took the huck. Phillips hits Patisteas for the break after the long point, 5-3. After trading Kendra Frederick gets a great grab off of a huck with contact on her arm prior to the catch – nice concentration. Slow White’s Christina Allen gets a D off of a poach, and Slow White gets another break, 7-4. Amp’s Raha Mozaffari, as the third handler on offense, does a great job of both getting the disc either back to the other handlers, or throwing for short gains. She darts across the field when a dump is needed, and has great hands. Miles M-B of Slow gets a layout poach D off a midfield throw as the handler he is defending sags too much, allowing him to step into the lane.
Slow doesn’t convert, however – but Amp’s downfield is lagging as they stand watching the handlers move the disc around. Off of about 25 passes in a row, Amp finally scores. Interestingly, even when there are no cuts downfield, the handlers are able to keep control of the disc, and don’t get in much trouble. Off of a nicely balanced offense, Slow White takes six or seven passes, and hits Patisteas in the EZ, 8-5, with Kendra Frederick doing a lot for Slow White. Kris Kelly, of Slow White, “Our Team is fired up, confident, calm, and energized. We need to keep rolling in the second half.” On the success of Slow White today, “We are running a lot more for each other than yesterday.” Patrick Gilman, of Amp, and also not playing because of concussion suffered in quarters, says “Slow White is one of those teams that plays really great person D, so if our offense isn’t spot on…”
Slow White comes out of the half fired up, and take the first point off the pull, from Tim W-H to Kendra Frederick, 9-5 Evan Patisteas steps into the lane and gets a D, and Slow White has the disc to make the game seem much less reachable, but turns. Amp’s Raha Mozaffari hits Sean Murray for 9-6. Sean Mann to Dan Patisteas for 10-6, After a couple of turns, Amp scores again. 10-.7. Slow answers back quickly, 11-7. A long point ensues, and eventually Slow gets another break, 12-7. the teams trade points, 13-8. Amp gets a couple in a row, with a break, but doesn’t make up the gap, 14-10 Both teams turn on their own EZ line, but Amp’s Harrison Treegob eventually gets it to Sean Murray, upwind. Finally, Slow White’s Rosie Ano hits Dan Patisteas for the 15-11 win. This game is another that was, more or less, decided by the end of the first half.
Amp has definitely improved this year as they’ve built on last year’s bracket play experience. If they can continue their upward arc, next year could well see them in finals.
Both Amp and Brass Monkey have better second halves – but the lead that they let slip away in the first half comes back to haunt them. This is a pretty good result for Amp, however, as it takes one of last year’s finalist to stop their run. Amp can be a little soft at times, and while Slow White can get out of it, they are a very well rounded team when in full stride.
Finals Preview:
Slow White and Shazam have met a couple of times this season. At the Boston Invite, Slow White did not yet have its full roster, although Shazam was playing off its coast. At Spawnfest, Slow White was also missing some folks. In both cases, Slow White lost. The power pool loss is not great history for Slow White, obviously, but Slow White was also not hitting on all cylinders Friday. They are an almost unstoppable team when fully on fire, and bring a very competitive defensive team. The two teams are fairly even in several categories – they have a strong group of sometimes quiet women, very good defenders, who can also generate nice yardage gains, but each team gets a lot of big plays from their men. Both teams can send some very good defenders, although Slow White may have the edge height-wise. Both have some veterans, Slow White benefiting from a couple of 6 Trained Monkey transfers, and Shazam with their ex-Sockeye guys. Both go on runs. Both have beaten early favourites on their way here, and both have erred in the last couple of days. Both can be very disciplined, and seem to maximize the gender game.
We should have a good finals.
Mixed Division Day Two - submitted by Bil Elsinger
Power Pool Play.
First Round.
The first round sees a slightly overcast beginning. The wind comes across the field, around 10 mph. There is sometimes a slight angle, making the endzone further away from the crow’s nest the upwind side. This is an issue, especially in the beginning of the round, as teams score much more easily on the EZ closer to the nest. The first set of breaks almost all come on the crow’s nest side. As this round goes on, the wind picks up a bit, maybe to 15mph. It is affecting play, picks up a lot of discs and floats them, and is limiting some players fairly significantly.
Pool E. Slow White vs. Shazam. Rival vs. Flycoons.
Shazam’s defender, Eric Mattson says, about Shazam’s loss yesterday, “The first day of Nationals always has surprises. In ’04, we lost the same pool play game. Mixed is unpredictable because you don’t know much about the other teams. As far as facing Slow White, he noted, “The two times that we’ve seen them, we’ve done pretty well, but this is Nationals, so you never know what will happen.” Co-Captain Kris Kelly of Slow White (injured) said of Slow Whites 3-0 record yesterday, “We did what we needed to do yesterday. We held seed. That’s really all we wanted.” On facing Shazam, the early favorite, “We like to have a reason to come out fired up.” Shazam receives and after turns by both sides, scores the first goal. Person is being played on all fields (despite the wind in the first point, although Shazam goes to a zone, gets a D, but turns. A very long point ensues. Shazam takes long throws downwind – while Slow White works the disc back up the field only to turn before making it to the EZ. Young Eddie Feeley scores the first break for Shazam, 2-0. Slow gets the downwind, answering back 2-1. Then Slow White gets a run off, as a Shazam huck gets Ded by a nearby Slow White female defender poaching, and as Shazam’s swing gets caught in the wind. Slow White manages three in a row, with Slow White taking advantage of turns, and Shazam not reacting to the transition quickly enough. Mike Miller hits one of the Patisteas for 5-2. Shazam stops the bleeding by jamming it up the line for 5-3, but Shazam looks really worried. Shazam’s D team gets it back on an upwind for 5-4, and Shazam’s defensive team, perhaps the best that Slow White has seen all season, goes on a run, turning the score around to 8-6. Shazam’s pulls during this time are hurting Slow White, as Kris Kelly observes, “When either team is in the middle of the field, they score.” Also, “We have to do something about Steve Finn. He gets those tough slash cuts that are hurting us.” A couple of points later, Slow White has a chance to get a break back, but Pam Kraus comes down with a Callahan on the upwind EZ, and Shazam holds its lead, 9-7. The points are coming upwind in this game, as Shazam holds its lead to 10-8. It gets sunny around this time, and the wind is around 15 mph. Shazam gets another break in a fifteen minute point to go up 12-9, then, having broken Slow White’s will, takes the rest for 15-9. Slow White now has a defeat, although better today then tomorrow.
In Rival’s huddle, savvy vet Holly Sommers tells her team, “This is day 1 of a brand new tournament.” Another vet who has been around Sarasota a few times, Ricky McClellen, added, “We proved yesterday that we can compete with any team.” On the other side of the field, Mark Aagenes of the Flycoons gave me some inside information. Tim Murray, once of Sub-Zero, and the Flycoon’s notable addition was facing some health issues that were limiting his play. He’s a big part of their success, so this is a big hurdle for the team. On today, “We just want to hold seed. In our first game, at least.” Rival starts out with a huck to Asa Wilson. The Flycoons tie. The two teams continue to go back and forth, with Flycoons zoning as the wind picks up. They get a break, get another, and are suddenly up 5-2, and hold their lead to 7-3. Their D plays tough, and almost every time Rival turns, the Flycoon defensive team scores. Just before half, a Rival drop turns into a Flycoon score. Fairly typical so far. Rival continues to turn, and the Flycoons might be benefiting from what is now a 15 mph wind. The Flycoons are a very very tough team when the weather is nasty, and they continue to inch further ahead, 12-5. As Ricky McClellen explains, Rival started slow. “The Flycoons came out fired up, and we came out even. Our next game is more important.” This turns out to be true, as the Flycoons hold on to a 15-9 win.
Pool F. Barrio vs. Amp. Brass Monkey vs. Mischief.
Mischief’s affable (but deadly serious as a defender) Mark Smith talks up the good points from Mischief’s 2-1 record on Thursday. “We’re coming off some good momentum from yesterday.” About Mischief’s loss to Barrio, “They’re a good team, but we beat ourselves at the end, as our 13-10 lead turned into a 13-15 loss.” Meanwhile, Josh Greenough of Brass Monkey, noted of their and Mischief’s rivalry, “We were trying to figure out how many times we’ve played them this season, and couldn’t.” He added that Mischief “does nothing but get better every year.” Mischief comes out of the gates looking smooth, going upwind 1-0. Brass gets stuck on their own EZ for a while, takes a long throw that turns, and Mischief gets the break downwind. Mischief is putting on some good pressure, as the wind helps them limit Brass Monkey’s options. Mischief is doing a good job of executing both directions, and Brass Monkey drops a few discs. A pretty hammer against the wind, and Mischief has a lead on Monkey at half, 8-5. Monkey zones a few points during the first half. Out of half, Patrick Hard, with a furrowed brow, throws a high bladey forehand that comes down perfectly to Kerry Soo Von Esch, just beyond the reach of a male defender to get to 8-6. Mischief responds with their first zone of the day. More back and forth, and Brass gets a break back just after half, and some trading gets the teams to 11-10. Brass is trying to score downwind, Mischief provides some stifling D, and Brass dumps back one third of the field, but then starts moving up on an inside out and some break mark throws, but turns. At 15 yards from the upwind EZ, Mischief takes a time out, but doesn’t convert. A bit later, Hard takes a nice 50 yard backhand to Kerry Soo again. 11-11. Monkey then has a shot to go up, but the disc goes off of a Monkey chest. Interestingly, instead of covering a man streaking deep, Josh Greenough of Brass stays with his mark, and saves the D by getting a hand block. Both teams turn, the wind picks up, then Kevin Smith takes a high blade that hits Tyler for 12-11. Brass is having trouble getting the disc upfield when going against the wind – there aren’t a lot of cuts. Monkey’s Antonopoulos hits Geoff Dolan for a pretty forehand huck, and eventually Kerry Soo pulls in the 12-12 tie. Mischief has an easier time of it, as Mark Smith hits Astrid Manning with a half-field huck. Brass answers by jamming it up the line, 13-13. Mischief gets a lucky one up the line, although since he’s on offense, he’s looking back and can get a better read on the disc, helped a bit by Monkey’s defender stumbling. 14-13. Mischief closes out at 15-13. They’re back to form. There’s one less undefeated team.
| An up and coming Barrio, the big story of yesterday, coming in 3-0 off a big upset on Mischief, faces Amp, who had some tough games yesterday. Amp has established themselves as just in range of the best teams, and is looking to improve. Taking down the unknown Barrio would help Amp greatly. Against a person defense, Barrio’s Julia Tenen starts Barrio off fast, and Barrio scores the point. Amp scores, then gets another off of a short turn by Barrio for the first break, getting their break on the downwind side. Amp gets another break upwind to go to 3-1, but then Barrio gets four in a row as their D team puts a lot of pressure on Amp. Chris Shepard from Barrio hucks an open upfield huck for 6-3, as miscues see Amp trying to throw to people looking the other direction. Amp takes a time out in an attempt to shift the momentum. This works as they score out of the time out, 6-4. They then go to zone. Jeff Gruber gets a pretty layout as Amp tries for a downwind break, but this is called back off of a fouled discussion. |  Amp's Whitney Viets looks for an easy dump as she's shadowed by Big Liz Penny of Barrio. (photo by Scobel Wiggins) |
The marker convinces the thrower that there was no foul, and things stand. Barrio takes half, 8-5, but Amp scores out of half going upwind. Barrio’s Julie Tenen and Austin Gregerson are handling. When they get the under cut, the flat stack catches up to the disc and sits even. Barrio goes to 9-6. Amp answers back, and has a chance for a break, but overthrows. On offense, the Barrio offense is very structured and disciplined. For example, on one dead disc, the downfield cutters are evenly spaced across the field, 15-20 yards away from the disc, and look like the perfect diagram of the spread O. Liz Penny often initiates from the stopped sic. Amp, meanwhile, have three handlers, a vertical stack, and an iso out in the lane. Barrio holds onto their lead, however, and get to 13-9 before finishing 15-11. Barrio continues to be the sole undefeated team.
Round 2.
Pool E. Shazam (1-1) vs. Flycoons (1-1). Rival (1-1) vs. Slow White (1-1).
Almost anything can happen this round, as the teams have all beaten each other, sort of. Many of the placements depend upon who beats who. Shazam could win the pool if they win and Slow White wins (or Rival would have the head to head on them). Rival could win the pool if they win and Shazam wins (or Flycoons would have the head to head on them). More than one team could end up in pre-quarters, again depending upon other team’s results.
Shazam vs. Flycoons. After a couple of turns, Shazam scores downwind. The next point sees some turns from both teams have trouble, but the Flycoons trouble come as they try to get the downwind. After a 20 minute point, and a time out, Shazam finally gets the upwind, breaking the Flycoons for good. Shazam then pulls, and the disc lands within one foot of the far right hand corner of the field (from Shazam). Tucker Jackson, all 6 feet 4 of him, marks the Flycoon handler, who has no options looking upwind. A desperation upwind gives Shazam’s Eddie Feeley his first Callahan of his Natties career, and Shazam is up 3-0. That’s basically it for the Flycoons, who maybe allow their history with Shazam to effect their attitude towards this part of the game (Shazam gets to 7-1). They don’t make much noise until the second half. They then pour too much energy into the lost cause (see the later results), and suffer in the later round. Shazam, 15-9. With Shazam’s win, they will finish either first or second in the pool, depending upon Rival’s result. The Flycoons, meanwhile, await their fate. Should Rival win, the Flycoons are playing an extra game to get to the brackets. Should Slow White win, Rival would be 1-2, tied with Flycoons, and Flycoons would have the head to head. So Rival could finish either in first or in last.
Rival vs. Slow White. Rival starts out on offense – they score quickly and cleanly. They then get a D, and get the downwind, 2-0. Slow White answers with two in a row, then the teams trade points, with both teams going upwind. Slow White continues on the run, getting to 4-2. Slow White tacks on a couple more, 6-2, and Slow White zones. Rival scores on the zone, 6-3. but Slow gets it back, 7-3. Rival makes a lot of mental errors during this time, sometimes throwing to no one. Rival scores a goal coming out of half, and I didn’t keep track of these points as, after the initial switch in leads, the point differential points towards a not very interesting game. Slow White seems to be building on its previous play with Rival (just like Shazam did with the Flycoons), and the wind slows down to 5-10 mph. Slow gets to half first. Then Slow White starts dropping the disc, and Rival starts to convert as they fire up, getting a big chunk of points right after half A run of breaks and it is 12-11, as a bunch of small things seem to add up, but it is still Slow White’s game. The horn goes off. Slow then just throws the disc away, and both teams have turns as a marathon point begins. ON an injury sub, Asa comes in and makes a couple big throws, one going too far, another biddable, but dropped in a tough try. Both teams know that this point could be the make or break one, especially as the turns mount. Another set of subs come in off of both offensive and defensive layout. Rusty from Slow White subs in, along with a Rival defender. Off of another injury sub, Mike Miller joins, but after a turn, Asa takes a time out. We’ve just had half the line change, and Slow White went from an almost all O line to a mostly D line. Out of the time out, however, Rival gets the point of the game for 12-12. Slow White’s Miller drops an easy one, but Rusty gets it back on the D. Turns by both teams, but finally Seth Mann hits Rosi Ano for 13-12. Rival tries to go to the well again (Asa), but there’s help D there. Slow White takes a risk, and it doesn’t work out. Rival has a couple of women handling, with four men downfield some of the time. Charlie Yood hits Asa for the tie as Rival works it up the field. Asa has been playing since the 12-11 hell point. Universe point. Slow White’s Tim Warden-Hertz starts with the disc, but just turns it over, on an execution error on a break mark attempt. Rival’s Lori Ewald throws to Bian Edgerton, who hits Holly Sommers, and she finishes it off to Christopher Church as Rival takes the pool.
1. Rival 2-1. 2. Shazam 2-1. 3. Slow White 1-2. 4. Flycoons 1-2.
Pool F. Barrio vs. Brass Monkey. Mischief vs. Amp.
Barrio vs. Brass Monkey. This is Barrio’s first real test, as the other teams in their pool, and Amp really haven’t shown that they are at the same level as the best teams at the tournament. Barrio beat Mischief, but Mischief is prone to games where they lose their focus (see Golden Spike, NW Regionals). Barrio is in range, as they’ve shown per their win against Amp, but giving Brass Monkey a good game would help indicate that the Mischief game was more than just Mischief losing focus. Brass Monkey, meanwhile, wants to hold on to its position atop the D pool, and needs a win here to do that. Barrio comes out fired up, scouring the first goal. Brass Monkey fires back as Alison Purcell hits Patrick Hard upwind to get to 1-1. Barrio throws a disc away, without pressure, and Brass shows why it is one of the leading contenders, as they convert for 2-1. Brass then breaks again, this time upwind, for 3-1. Barrio matches the upwind goal, 3-2.Nate Miller gets a big D, then Hard goes up and over Barrios Grant McCall, then gets the assist for 4-2. Barrio scores with their spread D. Barrio continues to look aggressively for Liz Penny or some other male cutter under, but really wants to take the long throw to a cutter going away from the close in horizontal downfield stack. Barrio’s Chris Shephard gets a sneaky poach D, coming to hard, and Barrio gets the break back, 4-4. Brass gets the downwind to go up, Chuck Kindred gets a handblock, but Brass turns, but eventually Brass gets the goal. Then they find room for a break, 6-4. Barrio’s Jeff Grobe, who by the way is not wearing yellow shorts, and therefore is not as easy to pick out of the Barrio lineup, even though he makes great play after great play. Curse UPA and the uniform uniform requirement. Patrick Hard, only misthrowing once that I saw all day, hits Kerry Soo upwind, for 7-5. Brass zones with a regular 3-3-1, Barrio turns, and Brass gets to half, 8-5. Barrio is pretty patient on offense, but despite their patience, turns over coming out of half after a break mark attempt is handblocked, 9-5. Despite Brass Monkey playing like D like they are up a few points, they still get another break, 10-5. Barrio gets one back, and Brass Monkey is dropping the woman defender of the off-woman handler into the inside passing lane (the one that Barrio is trying to hit Liz Penny, or some other primary cutter on). Barrio gets a few in a row despite this change. Barrio sneaks in a couple breaks, as Brass Monkey looks a little sleepy to 11-9, but then the Monkey awakes, and Monkey’s Nate Miller hits Kerry Soo (see a trend here?) for 12-9. Nothing much changes after this, as Monkey wins 15-10. Maybe Barrio is for real, but not so real that they can beat the Monkey.
Mischief vs. Amp. Like all other teams this round, both Mischief and Amp are 1-1. Amp’s being forced down to pre-quarters depends upon this game. Amp starts out scoring, with Brian Felt getting a nice huck after a long point to go up 1-0. Mischief then turns on the EZ, and Amp gets the upwind to Eugene Yum for 2-0. Yum goes over Tyler Grant for 3-0, and Amp is rolling. Mischief, always bold, turns on a huck, but Amp gives it back, and Mischief finally hucks in their first goal after a ten minute point. The teams that Mischief plays, especially ones that haven’t seen too much of them, consistently underestimate both their ability and their willingness to take tough throws and make them work. They score upwind against Amp throwing all the way across the field and over the stack from 5 yards out on one sideline. No Amp defender is nearby.3-2 (Amp). Mischief’s Kevin Smith outleaps Amp for a high disc, but then loses the disc on an attempt into the endzone. Amp converts 4-2. Tyler Grant lays out in the back of the EZ for a nice catch, 4-3. Mischief then gets a break, 4-4. Amp answers, 5-4, Mischief misfires to Tyler, both teams turn, then Mischief’s David Pickett and Paul Youn work it back and forth while trying to punch it into the EZ, with Pickett finally going around the mark to hit a woman across the field for the goal, 5-5. This is an interesting contrast in styles, as Amp is definitely an under cut, under cut, under cut team with a lot of give and goes, especially from Felt, and Mischief has a lot of deep looks. Mischief does do a good job of controlling the disc underneath, and can gain yards on undercuts, but often their first looks are deep. Back in the game, Mischief leaves a man wide open, but Amp hucks too far. Amp then returns the favor, but Mischief’s throw is on, and Mischief has the lead, 6-5. Mischief’s Adam Brown is streaking downfield all alone a point later, and Mischief gets a break, 7-5. Amp answers, and Paul Youn counters, 9-6. Mischief sneaks in another, mischievously. Amp then works it up the field against a couple of layout D attempts, but turns near the EZ. Mischief hucks it away, then Amp again works it up, finally scoring 10-7. Mischief’s D is very tight here, and when they get the turn, use throws like a big hammer floating hammer meant for Kyle Smith’s superior matchup. It works out. Amps’ women mostly come under for cuts, but Mischief’s women are taking those cuts away with on the hip defense. At 12-8, Kevin Smith hits Quinn Kennett for 13-8 after laying out for a D. Mischief finishes the game out, 15-9.
1. Brass Monkey, 2-1. 2. Mischief 2-1. 3. Barrio 2-1. 4. Amp 0-3.
1-3 decided on point differential. Amp has to play pre-quarters.
Pre-Quarters
Tandem v. Flycoons for the right to play Brass Monkey in quarters. Interestingly, this is the same result as last year for both teams, except they’re coming from different directions. Flycoons came up from the lower pool last year, and Tandem dropped down from the higher. Unfortunately for Flycoons, who did everything right this year, including winning two games on Thursday, and one on Friday, they’re still facing elimination, and not because of what they did, but rather, what Shazam and Slow White didn’t do. If Slow White had finished their game out against Rival, Rival would be here right now, with a 1-2 lower pool play record, just like Flycoons, but the head to head loss. Slow White failed to finish Rival out, and as a result, Shazam finishes second and not first, Rival finishes first, and Flycoons play the pre-quarters.
Tandem, meanwhile, ripped up lower pool H, taking games against Axis and Chewbacca Defense 15-7. Pool B looks like the strong pool of the day, as the Poodle Club, the other team from Pool B, won both of their games in pool H.
Last year, Tandem won. We’ll see what happens this year. There are observers all around for the pre-quarts, but they won’t be calling timing on the field in this game.
Tandem comes out playing zone. They must not have read my write-up from NW regionals, as the Flycoons ripped apart three zones in a row on NW Sunday. The Flycoons, presciently, include zone-master Michael Farris in their starting O line. Flycoons walk down the field and score, 1-0. In walking past the Tandem team, the average height of their women stands out, or rather, doesn’t stand out – they’re pretty short. Flycoons start out playing person, and Tandem works it down with their spread O. 1-1. Tandem is playing a regular zone, one man, two women in the cup, Colin Mahoney the short deep when I notice specific personnel (but this is later in the game). There are a couple turns, Tandem tries to huck over Mark Aagenes, but learn that this isn’t the best strategy. Tandem is trapping on the sideline – there are four people around the disc when they push it to the line. Off of another Flycoons turn, Tandem jacks it to Mahoney, who hits an open lady in the EZ as his defender gets tangled up with the woman’s defender, and Tandem gets the break, 2-1. Tandem plays a really tight cup, with one guy juking in and out, disrupting the Flycoons short throws. The Flycoons turn, and Tandem Calvin Oung jacks one quickly to Carson Thomas who gets some great extension on the layout and Tandem is up 3-1. Tandem continues to have 5 players within 20 feet of the disc. There’s a moderate wind, but it varies from 5-15 mph during this half. Flycoons takes a lot of short throws with Tim Murray or Mark Aagenes crashing the cup. Tim Murray goes over the zone to Emily Smith, 3-2. Flycoons zone too, with Michelle Levinson, Alexander Bowman, and Jon Jay handling for Tandem. They aren’t afraid to go over the top to Angela Tong, as the wind picks up to 15 mph after being fairly light. Tandem scores fairly easily vs the zone, 5-2. Will Sutton does some handling for Flycoons too. Some points are traded to 7-4. Flycoons is back to playing person, as they try to figure out a way to stop Tandem, but Tandem works it down cleanly, and get half, 8-4. During much of this time, Tandem is looking for the huck immediately after the turn, almost always guy to guy.
After half, Flycoons zone again with a 3 person cup, and a close short deep, looking 4 person at times. Tandem throws through the cup, and gets yardage – scoring another break, 9-4. Flycoons then answer against the zone, with the winds still sitting around 5-10 mph. During this entire time, a big mass of dark gray clouds sits menacingly in the near distance. Tandem’s Jon Jay goes over Flycoons zone to Tong yet again for another Tandem score. Tim Murray slide catches a pull on the run, earning some questioning looks from the sideline, then both teams turns, and it starts raining. Both teams score to 11-5. With another possible break, Tandem’s receiver drops a huck in the endzone. More turns from both teams, and finally, Flycoons scores, 11-6. They take another at 11-7 off of a Tandem drop. Tandem is playing three male handlers, and three women cutters, spread, with 1 male cutter. They’re looking for him deep, and get him, 12-7. Flycoons commit the double offsides with hardly any wind, and are stuck in the middle of their EZ. They aren’t able to make it up the field, and Tandem scores. Flycoons answer back as Tandem’s defense looks flat. The rain starts to pick up, but the wind has stopped almost completely. A few turns later, some back and forth, and Tandem gets to 14, Flycoons throws to a wide open lane against the zone directly up field to get to 14-10. Off of a Tandem hanging huck, Jesse Adams catches up for the D. There’s some more turns both ways, and the rain starts hitting pretty hard, and Jen Nichols hits Adams to get to 14-11. Off a Tandem drop, Flycoons gets to 14-12, just after a lightning strike hits off in the distance, 1, 2, 3… 10 seconds elapse and per the tourney rules, we have a half hour mandatory break. Unfortunately for the Flycoons, who love the weather, and who were on a run, when the break finishes, the rain is a sprinkle, and there’s hardly any wind. Alexander Bowman hits, who else, but Angela Tong, for the final goal, both players pulling in the disc right in front of Flycoon layouts.
The other prequarters: ICE vs AMP for the right to play Rival. ICE wins its game against Black Molly, going 2-1 in pool G. Black Larry wins against ICE, but then loses to Pinatas, going 1-2. Black Molly loses to both Pinatas and ICE, going 1-2. Pinatas wins both games, going 2-1, but because of their inherited win from pool play, lose out to ICE on the head to head. ICE moves up. Everyone else is out of the running for quarters.
Rich LaVigne of ICE on coming up the hard way, “We obviously had some trouble yesterday. We’re looser today, and we didn’t get down. This is a lot of people’s first and second Natties.” As far as playing Amp, Rich notes, “We haven’t seen them and don’t know anything about them. If we’re playing decent ultimate, we can play with anyone.” Meanwhile, captain Jeff Snader tells Amp, “We play best when our backs are against the wall. Well, our back is against the wall.”
ICE starts out with a spread, three male handlers, three women flat across the field 20 yards away, and one male, who they look to consistently for the long huck. Just like Tandem, they seem to want this look right away, and will take it off the stopped disc. This works for them, 1-0. Amp turns on their first possession, but ICE gives it back. Amp also is playing three male handlers on O, they look for the guy cutter away on a huck, but there’s a foul. Both teams seem to be using the same playbook. There’s a turn, however, and ICE has Georgette Moyle handling upwind, and ICE gets the break for 2-0. Off of another Amp turn, ICE has three people in the passing lane not doing a lot, but this seems to be by design, as they look for the break, but float it into a crowd of people, turning over. Amp turns on the dump, and Sarah Danilson pulls in the 3-0 score as ICE transitions quickly. Amp finally gets into it with a goal. 3-1. Amp then zones downwind, and ICE’s Michael Francis takes high backhands over the zone. ICE turns over near own EZ, Amp turns back, etc, and eventually ICE scores. Amp’s O is getting a lot of hard work from Harrison Treegoob, but eventually their offense stagnates, and they take a Time. They convert after the turn, 4-2. ICE tries a hammer across the field – they aren’t afraid to take some risky throws – but a layout doesn’t get to it. Amp doesn’t capitalize, and ICE jacks it away again, too far. Again, Amp turns, and finally ICE’s Clay Schelitzke lays out in front of Amp’s Dugan Lawrence to go up 5-2. The wind picks up about this time to gusts of 15 mph after being light for most of the this half. An Amp drop, a Tandem fumble, and Amp finishes with a push pass for 5-3. ICE throws into a cluster of players, and Amp gets back to 5-4. Amp’s Castle Sinicrope gets a big D, but Amp turns, ICE turns back, and Dan Furfari throws up a super high huck to a guy streaking away, not so covered, and he gets the assist for 5-5. During this point, there’s a little bit of intentional fouling on the mark that’s pretty obvious, and probably not a good idea with observers around. The observer talks to the players, and this stops. Amp is on a run, as ICE tries to take a dump that has vacated the area, and Amp capitalizes to Marc Stachowski to go up the break, 6-5. ICE makes a claw catch of a tough pull very low to the ground, the crowd shakes its head in consternation, and the pull-catcher turfs the disc. Amp scores to go up 7-6. ICE Ted Reynolds, showing no fear, hucks it to a streaking Zach Eastlund, who gets a hand on the disc, but doesn’t pull it down over his defender. Amp turns on its own EZ (going upwind), and while Amp is still in transition, ICE scores, 7-6. Amp throws a low disc, the observer is gone to, the disc is called down, and ICE hits the 7-7 goal right away. The next point they take half, 8-7. Out of half, ICE pulls 20 yards, as the disc slips out of the puller’s fingers. ICE zones, with a four person cup, which is too loose, and Amp shreds for 8-8. Amp’s Loperfido bids for and gets a D, Amp hucks to a wide open women, and a few throws later and there’s another very open woman for 9-8, Amp. The wind is gusty about this time. ICE tries to talk Amp into thinking that a disc is up after it bounces on the ground, thanks observers for making the call, Amp gets the goal as the observer runs off the field, 10-8. ICE then drops an easy middle under cut, but ICE gets it back with a D on an EZ throw, but Amp eventually gets the score at 11-8. Amp gets another D, scores 12-8. A couple of turns later, and Dan Kresowik of ICE picks up a goal from Reynolds off of the first throw. 12-8. Amp’s Sean Murray sprints past his defender off of a huck and quick goal, 13-9. ICE continues to go long, as the cutters come all the way back and sit close to the handlers, leaving the deep with lots of space to operation, 13-10. The wind stops, and the rain starts to increase. A couple of turns later and Amp scores 14-10. A drop from ICE, and it’s the game as Stachowski hits Alex Peters for the game winner. Amp goes up to quarters.
Bracket Play.
Looking at things purely from a record point of view, there aren’t any differences in Bracket play opponents. Of course, there are teams that are stronger than others, but this is a pretty good field. As the round robin defeats show, there’s a lot of parity this year, even though the top teams from last year aren’t really off much, if at all. The big four, Shazam, Mischief, Slow White, and Brass Monkey are still here, and all have shown that they belong. Rival and Barrio have both managed wins over big teams. Rival’s beaten two of the big four – that should earn them a place in the hallowed halls.
Thanks to the missteps from earlier, Mischief and Slow White face each other in elimination. Neither team savors the prospect, surely, as this is last year’s finals, and both knows that the other team is big time. Slow White, however, has lost a little from last year, as Jasper and Teddy are both obviously not around – either would have helped Slow White in their times of need. Slow White, at times, seemed to lack the smooth hucks that could get the disc into the Patisteas Twins hands, as Mike Miller could only be on the field so often. Mischief is looking strong, and while Tyler Grant isn’t as unstoppable as he was last year, the rest of the team has gotten a little bit better, all. And as a championship team, that’s saying a lot. It will be tough for Slow White to make it past Mischief here, although both teams have their work cut out for them.
Things look grim for Amp, coming up from the bottom. They’ve played one extra game, and don’t always have the spring in their step that make things easy. They also don’t have an Asa to go to for easy goals, and Rival’s woman may well eat Amp’s alive. Amp is where they should be, probably – should they lose the quarters – given the results from the season so far, they should be decently pleased with how they’ve done. Rival is still a bit of a mystery, as Slow White more or less had them put away, but couldn’t finish the deal. Shazam also was up big, which tells us that Rival likes the big come back, and maybe has an offensive line that you’d like to see out on the field, as an opponent, and a defensive line that you should be afraid of.
Tandem, like Amp, is about where they should be. The addition of Colin Mahoney, and another year of play together, has made Tandem a better team than least year, but Brass Monkey just reeks of professionalism, and Tandem will have trouble dealing with that. Other than Mahoney, Tandem is something of a faceless army. I still have trouble identifying individuals on the team. Brass also, with the exception of Mahoney, towers over Tandem, height wise. On the other hand, Tandem may just be hitting its stride, as a win over the Flycoons is nothing to be sneezed at.
Shazam is not a great matchup for Barrio (where Amp was). Barrio seems to rely on its athleticism at times, and can be a bit predictable. The veteran strategist on Shazam should take advantage of that, and Shazam’s ability to put line after line of defensive challengers out on the field may wear Barrio out. We’re getting late in the tourney, and Barrio has not had a third day at a Natties event before. Shazam has also ironed some of its problems out, and is on a roll.
There’s no way that the four top seeds can meet in semis since Mischief and Slow White are playing. There is, however, a decent chance that three NW teams will make it. With both Rival and Slow White on the top of the bracket, there’s an equally good chance that one of the finalist will not be from the NW. Unfortunately, even if Amp manages to win their first game, it doesn’t look good for them in the finals. But this writer could be wrong.
Mixed Division Day One - submitted by Bil Elsinger
After a scary Wednesday, weather wise, Thursday was perfect Ultimate weather. Gray skies, warm but not hot, a mild wind that never went beyond a stiff breeze. Super fan Garrett Dyer noted that the wind was perfect – it separates those with decent disc skills from the rest, but yet doesn’t change how teams play. The morning started off with very little movement in the air, but things picked up to some gusts in the 5-10 mph range, maybe pushing past 10 mph by the early third round. The wind was mostly cross-field, so there wasn’t an upwind-downwind. One of Mischief’s Smith brothers remarked, after a huck that went awry on the field, that the wind was having an effect on throws, maybe making them carry a bit.
So yes, weather = basically not much of an effect = no excuses today, although tomorrow is another matter entirely. On to the results.
First round. Thursday starts off with pool play. Round one sees the top seed in every pool playing their third seed, and the second seed playing the fourth.
Pool A. Shazam v ICE. Rival v Bashing Pinatas.
Bashing Pinatas premieres some sort of new fangled technology for their flip with Rival, as a slingshot contraption is their “flipping device.” As their disc shot into the air, Rival calls “same.” The numbers are with Rival, but the promise of tomorrow is with Bashing. The result: Bashing wins the flip. Who cares about numbers (not Rival).
Rival’s Holly Sommers tells the Rival huddle, “I’m nervous. I’m always nervous” and “I don’t know anything about this team.” Rival starts off getting some nice woman to woman gains, but turns on a cross field throw. Bashing Pinatas, in their fist Natties point, fails to take advantage and turns right back. Rival takes the easy score and goes up 1-0. The two teams go back and forth. Each gets a break to get to 4-4. There’s a lot of contrast between these two teams, especially on the women’s side. Bashing is young, and Rival has added several veteran women. Up to this point, both teams have been fairly efficient. Rival plays a flat stack, with men and women split downfield to start. Holly Sommers isn’t shy, as she makes some big throws, both across and up the field.
Bashing, meanwhile has a stack that looks more vertical, and seems to depend on mostly male handlers. Rivals makes it 5-4, then goes on to take half 8-6, as their greater experience helps them convert on Bashing’s over-hasty throws that turn. Rival is also good at taking the breaks fairly immediately – as Ryan West from Bashing comments “It’s all new to us. It’s hard to adjust. 90% of us have never been to Natties.” Rival takes another coming out of half, then adds a couple more breaks later in the second half off of zone D, and taking advantage of Bashing’s youth. Rival ends up with their first win of pool play in the last two years, 15-11.
ICE comes out in bright yellow, perhaps making up for the missing sun. “Let’s play within our game.” says Rich LaVigne to his Iowan team-mates. “This game is simple, but these teams are good.” he adds. He talks about efficiency as a big goal. Hall Walker of Shazam Returns, meanwhile, learns about driving efficiency as he hurries back to the fields after forgetting his cleats. At least he didn’t forget them back in Seattle. On the back of both zone and person defense and a couple ICE drops, Shazam goes on a roll. Mike Leech, Shazam’s big zone marker, gets a handblock and throws a goal to Shazam’s big man (in height at least), Tucker Jackson to go up 5-0. ICE finally gets a goal after Shazam turns on their own EZ to get to 5-1. The last time these teams played each other was in the placement bracket two years ago. The results here were the same, although by a wider margin, as ICE’s missing practices show. This is the blowout of the day, at 15-4, Shazam.
Shazam 1-0, Rival 1-0, Bashing 0-1, ICE 0-1.
Pool B.
In the matchup between the two non-practicing, college alumni teams, Poodle Club (Carleton) and Tandem (Brown (and pink)) go toe to toe. Poodle Club gets the first break, going 1-0. The teams trade, with Tandem playing a vertical stack. A nice scoober from Benjamin Galeota Sprung, some easy breaks, and a miscommunication by Poodle and Tandem gets the break. Tandem is playing a bit cleaner than Poodle Club none of Tandem’s players seem to stand out from their pink and brown crowd. They do manage to force a couple Ds, and that combined with a drop or two from Pool D, and Tandem takes half. Poodle gets the first goal out of half, but doesn’t manage to make up the ground lost already. They lose 15-10. Or rather, Tandem, on their bicycle meant for two, wins. Or both.
Mischief and Barrio start out their game going back and forth. The Barrio horizontal gets their receivers open, but as Chris Doyle reviews Mischief’s play, he says, “They had a few drops, but we didn’t capitalize.” Mischief is also running a flat stack. In an early point, in very quick succession, a Mischief guy throws to Tyler who throws to another guy, who throws back to Tyler, but the throw is too deep. Barrio has three male handlers back, and another male coming under, but turns, and Mischief evens up the score. During a Barrio time out, Liz Penny takes time to review her teams play, noting that it is a little sloppy, and tells them to clamp down on the disc. Mischief manages a couple breaks in the first half, and go up 9-7. Barrio is still playing the spread, but there’s not a lot of open cuts downfield, with a couple of Smiths playing D downfield along with two Wus (Steffi and Shirley). Barrio is patient, however, and brings it back to 8-9. Mischief grabs another break or two, and gets to 13-10. On a zone vs. person transition error, Mischief leaves a Barrio woman wide open upfield, and Barrio gets to 13-11. In the first half, Barrio had some good long throws off for goals. Mischief reacted by backing more aggressively. At 13-10, Barrio gets its act together, and more importantly, does not give up. The open under cuts are there, and Barrio uses them to good effect. Barrio gets a break after an incomplete huck. Barrio gets another break off of Mischief’s second pass. Barrio grabs a third point after a few turns by both teams. As Liz Penny says, “we inched up on them.” At the same time, they amp up their D, and go on a 5 point run. Mischief’s 13-10 lead turns into a 13-15 loss, with 6’4 Austin Gregersen working as both a handler and a receiver, Jeff Grobe coming up with some key Ds, and Liz Penny doing the things that Liz Penny does so well. Also, Barrio does what she tells them.
Tandem 1-0. Poodle Club 0-1. Barrio 1-0. Mischief 0-1.
Pool C.
Over in Pool C, Mark Aagenes of the Flycoons is also a bit nervous. Here because his team is facing Black Molly, out of the NC. Both teams come out showing vertical stacks, and both teams experience a few early turns. Black Molly’s Raju Prasad throws a big huck to Peter Mueller to keep it close. Black Molly comes in missing a couple players, 6’4” Ryan Smith may have had work obligations, and Becky Cleveland is also not here. Meanwhile, Troy Revell, one of Black Molly’s captains and an important player to their team, is coming off of an ankle injury from practice this last Sunday. At 5-4, already up a break, the Flycoons get a pretty full field break mark huck from James Kennedy to Tim Murray, who goes up high over his Molly defender. The Flycoons go on to take half, 8-4. Black Molly is not counted out, however. Despite their weak start, they come back strong, with a fairly gender balanced attack, 11-9, but the Flycoons, off of a patient spread offense and looking very clean, gets another break to make it 12-9. Somewhere in there, Molly’s Phil Prudich gets a great D on a cross field throw, then makes a nice Callahan attempt, unfortunately from OOB. A big huck to 6’6 Bryan Conklin is lost, and the Flycoons get a cross field break to go up 13-9. There’s back and forth after this, but Flycoons come out with the win at the same margin, 15-11.
Bad Larry took the field against Slow White wearing red, and ready to show the world that last year was a much excused fluke. Bad Larry’s women use the vertical stack to get a bunch of touches in a row, and Julie Beeby gets a nice break to a wide own receiver in an early point. The teams trade points. After a big hand block, Mike Miller, throwing to a 6 foot guy going deep against a 5’2 woman, throws a hammer OOB. The guy lays out, but to no avail. Later, Miller redeems himself with an assist to get to 5-5 and a break. Bad Larry plays a flat stack with two male and one female handler, as does the Slow White D, with Miller doing much of the handling and throwing the big throws with another man and a woman back. Again, with a balanced attack, Larry muscles down the forehand side, going up 6-5. Slow White turns things around as the game progresses. Their efficiency reaps big rewards as they continue to get breaks, going up 13-9, and eventually 15-9. They are deeper than Bad Larry, as Larry seems to rely on the same couple of players for many of their big plays, and aren’t consistent enough when trying to hold onto the disc. Flycoons 1-0. Black Molly 0-1. Bad Larry 0-1. Slow White 1-0.
Pool D.
The Axis of C’ville (Charlottesville) runs a flat stack with one woman handler on offense. Robert Runner for Axis gets off a nice lefty flick break on a dead disc for the first goal, 1-0. but turns. Amp also runs the horizontal but turns. The defensive line for Axis runs a vertical with two male handlers. A big cross field throw gets them a 2-0 lead.Amp gets back in the game, however, and manage a couple of breaks to get back to 6-5. Amp turns after an EZ time out, and Axis has trouble working the disc up the force side before getting a couple of big breaks to tie, 6-6. Kevin Kusy of Axis then throws to Natasha Sienitsky to go back up. Amp looks a little static as Runner lays out to get a D on a swing pass. Axis takes a time out. After the time, Kusy pulls it in for the lead, 7-6.
Amp’s Jeffrey Snader says, “We’ve put ourselves in a bad situation. It’s just our own mistakes.” Amp scores to pull even 7-7. Despite very close D from Amp, Axis gets a clean look at a huck, and Marshall Koch throws a beauty to Jason Ng for half. Amp comes out of half and takes a break back, as Amp invites Axis to try out their deep throws, but those throws aren’t connecting. The breaks from Axis are working, however, as they tie 10-10. Amp’s flat stack has a lot of folks standing around downfield, as they seem to isolate cutters. Kevin Aha of Axis gets a handblock and the double happiness to take Axis to 11-10. Some trading then occurs, and Amp gets a couple breaks back for 12-11. Axis turns on a miscommunication, and Sean Murray hits Eugene Yum for 13-11. Elizabeth Lim observes that “People are getting tired, and they look tired.” Alex Peters gets a foot block, but then Amp turns again. Amp scores and Axis looks pretty tired off of patient offense by Amp. Amp goes on to the 15-12 win, holding on to their seed.
Chewbacca Defense, out of Austin, Texas, starts out with a spread offense, two women deep, two male cutters less deep, and one woman handling. They lose a break, however, and find themselves down 2-0. They seem not to be using the full field, as they spend some time dumping and taking short gains. Brass gets the disc again, and after a lot of guy touches get a great break from Mike Sintetos on an around backhand to Linda Shively for 3-0. Brass is still up 6-4, with Chewbacca running three handlers, one main cutter, then two downfield cutters on O. There aren’t any cuts from the back until the upfield gets the disc, then they take big looks away. Brass starts playing zone around this time. Don Tom, Matt Clark, and Greg Clark handle against the zone, but Matt Clark’s hammer goes over his intended female receiver in the endzone. Brass plays the L stack down the field, and Chuck Kindred puts out a pretty forehand that his female receiver droops. More zone, which works for half, 8-4. Brass Monkey holds onto their lead, 10-7. Brass Monkey’s zone features a tall male marker and several defenders within 20 feet of the disc, especially for sideline traps. A Chewbacca attempt to throw across the field is Ded by Josh Greenough as he skies the far side receiver. Josh then throws the break mark over his (shorter) defender’s head for 12-7, which eventually ends 15-8.
Brass Monkey 1-0. Chewbacca Defense 0-1. Amp 1-0. Axis 0-1.
Round 2.
Pool A.
Rival and ICE both play some zone, with ICE working it down without too much trouble for 1-0. ICE looks like it is trapping the sidelines, but doesn’t have a lot of success, as Rival goes up a few. They hold the lead to half, 8-3. After half, Rival comes out a little loose. A little too loose, allowing ICE to come back to 10-9. Both teams are sloppy during this time, but ICE benefits more. Rival pulls itself together, however, and takes several in a row to 13-9. Holly Sommers of Rival says, “This team won their region. They’re a good team, and good teams can come back.” Despite this, or perhaps because of these words, Rival holds on for a 15-10 win, and ICE looks a bit out-classed in this pool. Other than a few points after half, ICE doesn’t seem to get its act together in these couple games.
Bashing Pinatas comes out with a zone against Shazam, and get a turn or three. They don’t know that they should be intimidated. Shazam takes a lot of very quick throws through the cup, with Dave Bestock, Scott Causey, Steve Finn, Tim Laverty and others rushing their way up the field, but despite the quick exchanges, not much yardage is gained, and Shazam turns before scoring. Bashing goes up 3-1. Meanwhile, Shazam’s defenders seem a step off, as Bashing works it up the line, and Bashing’s Lauren Nelson gets a handblock to put Bashing up 4-1. Shazam just keeps turning over. Bashing had a three man cup for a while. Bashing’s strategy here, to slow Shazam down, and not let them get off their called plays, meant that while they were able to maintain their zone, Bashing dictated the terms. Shazam then gets its defense in, and is able to change the pace of the game as it forces person D. It changes it to the tune of a 15-7 victory.
Shazam 2-0. Rival 2-0. Bashing Pinatas 0-2. ICE 0-2.
Pool B.
Mischief continues its troubles from its previous game, as Poodle Club goes up 9-8 after Mischief takes the first break, then half, 8-5. Poodle can throw some pretty strong defenders at an unsuspecting team, and as a Mischief player notes, “If you put it and it’s not on, they eat it up.” Derek Gottlieb makes a big difference for Poodle Club, as his throws allow Chris Rupp to gain a lot of yardage downfield, as Ben Hahn, Tomas Jensen, and other CUT alumni make things tough deep. Mischief zones after half, getting couple Ds, and their trapping zone works at 9-9, giving them a break to 10-9. Mischief is putting a lot of pressure on when Poodle gets to the forehand side, and Poodle Club keeps throwing to that area. When Poodle’s poppers or handlers crash, Mischief collapses with the crash, making for a lot of bodies in a very small space. Derek Gottlieb hucks to Anne Bosscher (gasp, a Madison alum), but the throw goes too far. Poodle joins in on the zoning on D, but things don’t go that well. Mischief stays in the lead. They benefit from a throwaway, and look smooth as four quick throws, all breaks, result in a 12-10 lead. Mischief clamps down, and goes on to win 15-12.
Barrio and Tandem trade some turns in the beginning of their game, but Barrio gets a break fairly early, then adds another later in half to get to 8-6. Barrio is getting the disc off at low counts, and Tandem is playing catch up D. Barrio has turns, but Tandem isn’t doing a good job of converting, although running a vertical, and with some nice inside outs and break marks, Tandem gets back to 7-8. Barrio scores out of half to go to 9-7. Liz Penny and Angela Tong are often matched up in this game, making for good yardage from both players. At 13-11 (Barrio up), Tandem benefits from a fingertip D attempt mack that a Tandem handler pulls in and hits an open player with an inside out in the endzone to get to 12-13. Later, tied at 14s (with cap at 16s), Barrio’s Austin Gregersen hucks to Colin Hutten to go up 15-14. Tandem’s Andrew Berry does a lot of work on O, and Tandem scores, 15-15. With Barrio’s O, there’s a lot of space on the spread. The start out with some short chancy throws, and Penny throws to Grobe, but Grobe drops in the EZ. Tandem then takes a full field huck to a streaking Colin Mahoney (who looks a bit out of place, height-wise in the mixed confines), but even a full layout gets him only the tips of his fingers on the disc, laying out past Grobe. Chewbacca comes back with a huck to Grobe, who manages the catch just beyond Mahoney’s outstretched hands, and a short pass later and Barrio has the win.
Barrio 2-0. Poodle 0-2. Tandem 1-1. Mischief 1-1.
Pool C.
The Flycoons go up 6-4, with a zone point to take them to 7-4. There are uncharacteristic drops by Larry that represent the point differential. The Flycoons Johnny MacLean grabs a flashy D near the EZ, and the Flycoons take half 8-4. The two teams then trade, more or less, with those first few breaks making the difference, 15-10, Flycoons.
Molly goes down early and never makes its way back, as Slow White rolls. Slow White can be exceptionally efficient, especially when they are playing a team that can’t match their athleticism. Molly hucked to start the game, but didn’t pull the hucks in for goals, and Slow White has been putting on pressure all along. Slow White’s Mike Miller gets a finger tip layout in the endzone off of a long throw to finish the game, 15-7.
Flycoons 2-0. Slow White 2-0. Bad Larry 0-2. Black Molly 0-2.
Pool D.
Brass struggles against Axis early on, as Axis is forcing Ds, but not taking advantage on O. Axis goes up 5-3, then Brass takes a time out. Brass goes to a zone at 4-5, and gets a turn. They continue to force Axis to make a lot of passes, and Axis responds by turning. Brass takes half 8-5. Stephen Antanopolous (take that, spellchecker) of Brass Monkey is doing a lot of handling. Hard has one of his pretty forehands to Alison Purcell who shows a burst of speed (after she recognizes that there is a throw up to her) to pull in the score. Despite being fairly solid all around, Axis seems to let things go after Brass earns a few breaks. Brass tacks on a couple more breaks to go up 12-6, and finishes out at 14-9.
Chewbacca Defense goes up 6-5 on Amp in the only observed game of the round. Chewbacca has been earning their Ds, but have been jacking it without enough restraint, and are only up one. Amp goes to zone too, and gets a D, but then hucks the disc away. Vanessa Waner, Don Tom and Jason Conrad handle for Chewbacca as Amp traps the sideline. Chewbacca turns on some long throws against the zone. Amp looks static, but then goes over a crowd of non-cutters at a high stall count, and Eugene Yum pulls in the tie. The then try zone themselves, and Amp looks a little slow as Chewbacca goes up 8-6. At 9-8, Chewbacca Defense’s Harpery Ray, Matt Clark, and Elliot Murray are handling. Their downfield cutters are getting decent separation, but miscues leave a huck without a cutter and Amp could tie. Amp’s Alex Peters, Lauren Felt, and Jeff Loperfido are handling in Amp’s flat stack with Whitney Viets, Eugene Yum, Kathi Jenkins, and Marc Stachowski downfield. A couple turns from both teams, and it’s a long point with tired players all around. Chewbacca doesn’t get much cutting, and Jeff Loperfido gets a big layout catch D and there’s a time out. Chewbacca is still leading at 12-11, but Amp’s Raha Mozaffari gets a go to D, and Amp converts to tie. Amp earns another turn, and Alex Petrs hucks to Sean Murray who has steps on his defender. He goes over a couple women and Amp is up 13-12. Both teams turn multiple times, and points go both ways, and Chewbacca gets breaks to 14-13. At 14s, cap at 15, Amp’s Brian Felt throws to Stacey Janz for the 15-14 win.
Brass 2-0. Amp 2-0. Axis 0-2. Chewbacca 0-2.
Round 3.
Pool A.
Shazam’s Steve Finn to his team, “We need to get our minds, our legs, and our hearts up to speed. When we come out, we’ve got to go boom.” Meanwhile, across the field, Asa Wilson, one of Rival’s main deep threats, tells his team that “They’re very athletic… They’ll huck to anyone.” Rival’s Ricky McClellen added, “We can play with any team out here.” Rival starts out with a called play. Asa throws the goal to Michael Wood (?). Rival then shows zone, and Steve Finn, Dave Bestock, and Pam Kraus work the disc down the field for the tie. Asa Wilson goes high to score the next goal, as Shazam doesn’t challenge on defense, 2-1. Shazam answers, then gets a break, 3-2. Shazam shows zone, Mike Leech gets a block and the goal. Asa Wilson then scores the next goal unmolested. Later, Shazam playing a spread offense, gets in trouble and Pam Kraus has to huck out of it Rival works it downfield and gets the break back, again to Asa Wilson. Shazam eventually gets to 9-5, then starts to cave.
 Rival grab in upset win verses Shazam. (photo by Scobel Wiggins) | Rival continues to bring zone, and Shazam has several turns, many of them unforced. At 9s, Shazam’s receiver comes back for the disc instead of catching in stride, and Rival works it back down the field. An uncontested foul in the EZ, and Rival gets it off of a time out to score 10-9. Shazam comes out running hard the next point and scores it with a mixed offensive/defensive line, but Rival is close. The next point, half way down the field, Rival’s Holly Sommers calls for Lisa Kotora out of the stack on an isolation away cut, and Rival’s veteran women are, in combination with the difficult to stop Asa Wilson, providing the spark for Rival’s turnaround. Those women are strong, have great hands, more than solid throws, and can play with each other, and Rival is using them well. |
Shazam’s O line has trouble with a disc, then is a step behind Rival’s cutters, and Rival goes up 13-11, again with Rival’s women being fairly open all over the field. Michael Wood of Rival calls an OOB disc in, the disc goes back to the thrower, and Rival scores. On a side note, only a couple mixed games were observed. There were a few calls in other games that may not have been very good calls, and could have benefited from an observer. On the other hand, in most cases, observers in Mixed games go unused for the most part, especially since the number of calls all day, minus two or three games, were minimal. The flow of the games themselves were very fluid. The Shazam-Rival game was not exceptional in this regard. Rival builds on its lead, and pulls the second big upset of the day, at 15-12, Rival.
After two losses, ICE’s Rich LaVigne wants his team to focus on the simple things. “Let’s focus on throwing and catching.” Bashing comes out fast, however, and goes up 2-0. ICE starts playing zone. They get turns off of it, and put in some goals. ICE’s handlers, though horizontal, play very close to each other, and don’t seem to set up across the full width of the field. They use the zone to go up 4-3, then trade to 8-7. Around half-time of this game, the wind picks up a little, maybe hitting a bit more than 10 mph in gusts. The wind is a cross wind on all of the fields. Ice continues to zone to 12-9, although both teams are sloppy, and there are several multi-turn points. ICE holds on for a 15-12 win, as they hold on to their seed.
Rival 3-0. Shazam 2-1. ICE 1-2. Bashing 0-3.
Pool B.
Mischief and Tandem start out trading breaks to 8-7 at half. Then Mischief goes 4-1 out of half, going up 12-8. Tandem scores out of half to make it 12-9, but then Mischief holds on to this lead, 15-12.
Barrio goes up 4-2 on Poodle Club, as Liz Penny momentarily feels pangs of uncertainty about where her loyalties lie. These soon pass, however, and Barrio builds on to its lead, 14-8, whereupon Poodle Club makes a mini-run, but Barrio wins both this game and the pool, 15-10.
Barrio 3-0. Mischief 2-1. Tandem 1-2. Poodle Club 0-3.
Pool C.
Mike Miller of Slow White says to Mark Aagenes of Flycoons, prior to their game, “I’m happy that we’re playing each other.” With both teams guaranteed to be in the power pool tomorrow, both can be magnanimous, although Miller’s sentiment rang true in this circumstance. Flycoons start off with a zone, they get an EZ D, and convert it to go up. They get another turn, moving up 3-1. Slow White stays in it, 3-2, and has a chance to score, but Flycoons get it back, and James Kennedy pulls in a last second layout for 4-2. Flycoons continue to zone, Slow White stays within the two breaks, but are working hard to do this. Then, Slow White turns it around at 3-5, taking advantage of some Flycoons errors, and take a few in a row for 6-5 and get another break before taking half 8-6. The two teams trade points to 10-8, as the Flycoons work zone transition to stop the Slow White’s person O. Slow zones back later in the game, and continue to trade, getting to 11-12 after having multiple goals pulled back off of calls. Mike Miller does a lot of work on D, gets every other touch on O, and Slow White gets to 14-11. Slow White goes on to win, 15-12.
Black Molly’s Raju Prasad guaranteed the win over Bad Larry. Bold, and let’s see what happens. Bad Larry and Black Molly trade points early. at 3-4, James Beeby fakes his mark off his feet near the EZ, then takes the easy break mark to tie, 4-4. A little later, Molly is poaching a woman in the lane (dropping the swing D), and both teams throw away for no reason. This game is pretty ugly, as most points take several turns to resolve. Bad Larry manages a break, and goes up 7-6, then takes another break for 8-6. Bad Larry turns over a lot on deep throws, many of them unwise, and Molly, in a vertical stack, returns the favor often. Nick Poore keeps Molly in the game with a 2/3 field huck to Bryan Conklin. Then Bad Larry’s wheels fall off, as a dropped pull, and some more turns later, and Molly goes on a run to 10-8, with folsk like Stacey Prudich providing dump help. Larry stops the run at 9-10. The Beeby’s play their own game to keep Larry in it, 10-11, and the game goes on. And on. And on. Molly holds on for the win, 15-14, for the minor upset. This game takes 2.5 hours.
Slow White 3-0. Flycoons 2-1. Black Molly 1-2. Bad Larry 0-3.
Pool D.
Chewbacca Defense goes up 3-0 on Axis before Axis scores its first. Later, after half, Peter Lewis of Chewbacca Defense gets a great out going away from the disc high in the air layout fingertip grab that has the Axis players going over to congratulate him. At 11-8, the teams trade to 12-9. Axis is getting some good midfield hucks from the flat stack cutters downfield, and gets to 12-10. Axis then plays zone, trapping the sideline, and get a D on a crossfield throw, then Axis takes a hammer to Runner for to get another, 12-11. Axis brings zone again, but the zone stagnates, and Chewbacca works it to 13-11. Jason Ng from Axis, does a lot of work cutting, and keeps Axis in it, 13-12. Chewbacca turns on a huck, then Axis gets stuck on its own EZ before getting a couple of longs off to tie it up. Chewbacca is not taking care of the disc, as they look for one-offs instead of working the disc down the field. Kusy steps up with a big go to D, and Axis goes up 14-13.Don Tom to Matt Clark to tie up at 14s, and the horn goes off after the point is scored, hard cap 17, and we’re in overtime. Axis gets a hard go to D by a woman, a contested foul is called, the disc comes in on 9, and there’s a turn. Axis scores of the turn, 15-14. some turns follow, a long long point ensues, a couple of injury subs are taken, lots of calls, and finally, Chewbacca very patiently works it up and Elliot Murray gets the assist to Laney Bevill and ties it 15-15. After this long point, both teams score quickly, Andrea Duran to Duncan Hill, and Mia Iseman catching the answer. Then, in a bit of a let down, off of a Don Tom D attempt that macks the disc to a handler, Axis hits Duncan Hill for the 17-16 win, the upset, and third place in the pool.
Amp gets a break to go up 5-4, then gets another for 6-4, but Brass gets a break back to 6-5. Brass Monkey’s Chuck Kindred gets a layout D, then takes an easy throw to Patrick Hard to get to 6-6. Patrick Gilman of Amp notes that “Neither team’s offense is really clicking that well.” Brian Felt is doing a lot of work for Amp, and Amp jams it in to keep its lead. Brass gets the breaks back off a solid Hard D, 10-9, then Monkey comes out on top in a couple of jump balls for a second break, and gets up 12-10. At the beginning of the game, Amp’s handlers were light on their feet, getting some good give and go action, but things have slowed a bit down for them. Jesse Woodward catches a long looping throw from Hard off of a box and a superior read, and Brass keeps it up for a 15-11 win.
Brass Monkey 3-0. Amp 2-1. Axis 1-2. Chewbacca 1-2.
Tomorrow.
Power pool E has Rival and Slow White coming in with 1-0 records, and Shazam and Flycoons at 0-1. This is a powerful power pool, and Flycoons have to be hating the fact that Shazam is the other 0-1 team. There’s a chance that we could end up with a three way tie here, going to point differential. We’ll see whether Rival is the real deal, as both Slow White and the Flycoons are solid teams. Shazam has to hope that yesterday was just a wake-up call. It’s better to lose your game on day one or day two, then to lose it on Saturday or Sunday.
Power pool F sees Barrio and Monkey coming in 1-0, and Amp and Mischief at 0-1. The Barrio win could be just as much Mischief losing as Barrio winning. Of course, Barrio took the rest of the pool, but it’s not clear that this was the toughest pool. How Barrio does tomorrow of course helps us figure that out, although a win against Amp and a loss to Monkey wouldn’t really help us decide things. Mischief should never be counted out, so Amp is probably not very happy with Mischief’s misstep today.
The lower pool G has ICE and Molly coming in with 1-0 records, and Larry and Bashing with 0-1s. Larry is a tough 0-1 team, and could take both ICE and Bashing. They have to hope that Molly falls to ICE or Bashing, which may not happen. There’s some parity here – so it’s hard to call. There’s only one pre-quarters spot up for grabs.
H has Tandem and Axis at 1-0, and Chewbacca D and Poodle at 0-1. This seems like the tougher lower pool. Unfortunately, the winner also crosses over with the stronger power pool. Winning this pool means facing, who? Flycoons? Shazam? Any of those teams could come down. It doesn’t look good for this pool’s winner, regardless of outcome here.
Mixed Division Preview - submitted by Bil Elsinger
If the UPA Mixed Division Championships were a marriage, we would all be wearing tin. Yep, we are in our tenth year of crowning a mixed national champion (although there were Canadian qualifiers the first couple of years – can you believe it?). Speaking of national champions, next year’s US bid to Worlds (the national team version) is at stake. Location: an easy to get to-not that exotic-and increasingly expensive Vancouver, British Columbia (home of Team Fisher Price, the early favorite).
But first, what the hoo-hay. Who are all these teams? Chewbacca Defense? Axis of C’ville? Barrio? Bashing Pinatas? Black Molly? The Poodle Club (well, this one is an old familiar)… And what happened to Deliverance, Flaming Moe, and the Horde (a “Horse” by any other name would smell so…)? Those missing teams, last year’s qualifiers all, took part in the series, along with Puppet Regime and Mr. Briefcase. Some fell to old nemeses (see Flaming Moe to Poodle Club). Some fell to the return of old powers (see Horde out of the running because of Shazam Return-ing). Some to injury (see Deliverance). And of course, one of last year’s semi-finalist, the Gendors, disbanded.
The favorites are all teams steeped in recent success. Both of last year’s finalists, Mischief and Slow White are back. The 2005 champion, and last year’s semi-finalist, Brass Monkey is again in the hunt to recapture the trophy. After a year’s hiatus, the 2004 winner, Shazam, Returns. And there we have the top four seeds. Meanwhile, every returning team except for Bad Larry (who probably suffered write-off from last year’s underperformance, and who needed to be seeded under Barrio) and Poodle Club (last year the Salsa Police, etc.), was ranked in the top eight. Even ICE, previously known as METHod, reaped the benefit of previous appearances at the Show, with a ninth seed.
Despite efforts at strengthening inter-regional play across the country, there are several unknowns this year. Like most years, it is likely that we’ll see a few surprises (similar to Slow White two years ago). It’s likely that a team will come out of nowhere and fight their way into semis (see the first year of CLX, Hangtime, Shazam).
A short history recap: the NW region has had two semifinalist in eight of the ten years that we’ve seen competition, and is the only region to always have had a semifinalist. They are responsible for 16 of the 36 semifinalist spots. The Mid-Atlantic (recently in a drought), has the second most semifinalist, with 8. The other four regions have had 4 (SW), 3 (S), 3 (NE) and 2 (CLX) final four finishers. But enough with history. Let’s talk about the pools.
Pool A. Shazam Returns. Rival. ICE. Bashing Pinatas.
Three of Pool A’s teams are top seeds from their region. Despite the three number one seeds, this does not look to be the strongest pool – the stratification here may maintain itself through the first day, although the nine usually has a decent shot of upsetting the eight.
After a one year hiatus, a Master’s division championship for captain (ex-Shazam, ex-Brass Monkey, ex-Throwback) Steve Finn, Shazam, per its name, Returns. This year’s Seattle team has one lonely loss on their record (and that avenged the next day), even with an early season trip to take on the East Coast’s finest. This is not the (too young) team of two years ago. The average age then? Maybe 23. The average age now? Somewhere closer to 30. Only a few women remain from the earlier roster, with Pam Kraus continuing to be the female anchor of the offensive handlers, and with Jane Kaufman on the other side of the stack, pulling in goals. Steve Finn brought in a few ex-Sockeye faces, filling in the top half of an already athletic lineup with experienced winners, including a nice early season addition of Dave Bestock, the new Jimmy Chu of Mixed. This team is deep, with a second defensive set composed of folks who would be in the top seven of many other teams. Shazam’s modus operendi against the better teams seems to be to let things sit at even until half, then make a run as the other team wears down. Look for Ayron Jones if you’d like to see an improbable, off-balance, leap that drops your jaw.
Rival, out of Atlanta, Georgia, beat out its regional rival, Deliverance in pool play at Southern Regionals, en route to its domination of the South. Whether Rival can match or beat the best South finish (sixth) last year may depend on some of their new acquisitions, although improving on last year’s 0-3 showing in pool play shouldn’t be a problem. They still have Holly Sommers, Michael Wood, and Lisa Kotera. Added into the mix: Asa Wilson, a major ingredient in Gendor’s success last year, with a killer lefty flick, and as the Potlatch finalist crowd knows, he’s a great receiver to boot, Lori Ewald, formerly of Ozone and Godiva, and now big on the handles for Rival, as well as a couple familiar names from the last Southern team to make finals, Lisa Etchison and Diana O’Quinn. Also added is Matt Kafonek – keep an eye on him if you’re looking for a layout. This may be one of the better gender balanced teams, especially in terms of handling. Word on the street is that this team is similar to Shazam, in the sense that they’ll throw line after line of fresh defensive legs at you. Season results point to a middle of the pack finish, as Rival consistently beat Black Molly and those qualifiers from last year who didn’t make it this year (usually convincingly), but were unable to knock off Slow White or Amp. If the Chicago Heavyweight Championships (CHC) are predicative (a win over ICE), Rival will take second in this pool, but will have trouble later in the tournament. The Shazam game should be a fun one to watch, especially since both teams are better in the second half.
ICE is back, after a year free from the Florida sun. What used to be METHod, and is still mostly University of Iowa alum familiar to those who attended college nationals from 2002-2005, is still a non-practicing team (that’s two for two for the Central Region). ICE benefited from a less than pretty regionals format, and a three way tie for first place in their pool – earning their regionals finals appearance on point differential, and avoiding Moe (who smoked them the one recorded time that they played) completely. Added to the roster are several recent Northwestern players, including ex-D1 athlete Georgette Moyle and defensive handler Teddy Reynolds. Returners include team veteran Rich LaVigne (every single person on ICE is in their 20s), and mastermind Michael Francis and Dan Kresowik. The roster is comparatively small, at 21, although these numbers are more than ICE is used to, and gender-wise, ICE should be decently balanced. Like Rival, their results are middling with only wins against Poodle Club and Black Molly, and losses against all other qualifiers. Their first game will most likely be fairly painful, as their lack of practice will likely hurt them against the well oiled machine that is Shazam. They will most likely find themselves running into the lower power pool wall that is Pool C on Saturday, as the Rival game, though possibly close, should go Rival’s way. Thanks to that draw, ICE may have some trouble trying to make it up to pre-quarts.
Bashing Pinatas, out of Albany, NY, come in ready to celebrate. Because they are seeded sixteenth, one win could have them beating expectations, although of course every young team hopes for more. The two captains, Ryan West and Lucas Murphy have known each other since middle school. Yes, Bashing is one of the new wave of teams – with a core of players coming out of the juniors program. Having matured together through college, the team is still young, with most players around 22-23. Like many young teams, they love to run. Lauren Nelson comes up big in the important moments, and Stephen Glauser is another to watch for big plays. One of several teams with large rosters, it may take a while for Bashing to get some good rhythm going, although they should also still be fairly fresh late in the day and may be able to catch a vulnerable tired mid-seed. While their chances in pool A aren’t great, Bashing has a bright future in front of them. Not every 23 year old has an opportunity to play in their first club nationals, and there’s nowhere to go but up.
Pool B. Mischief. Tandem. Barrio. The Poodle Club.
Mischief, out of the Bay Area, has faced some challenges in their quest to defend their title. They are, top to bottom, a quality team, mature but youthful, and a good role model for younger teams with similar aspirations. Built into a powerhouse over the course of their five year existence, Mischief can be dominating when they are on (witness their final NW regional game, where they shellacked a strong Brass Monkey team 14-9 – in a pouring rain, no less, and their 15-6 whooping of Golden Spike in heavy duty winds in the round previous). At the same time, when they are off, they can be way off (see their loss to Golden Spike on Saturday of regionals, 13-15, with several unforced drops, and their loss to Shazam at Spawnfest after going up 7-2). They know how to win when winning is necessary, however. There’s a lot of stability, as most of the big names are returning, and on the male side there’s hardly any turnover, and as a whole the team looks remarkably similar. On the women’s side, Lori Eich is still big time, as is Crystal Cook and Shirley Wu, although all of the ladies contribute. New this years is Kate Leslie. When the middle of your male line-up includes folks like Chris Doyle, David Pickett, Wade Hellner, and Will Goodyer, you’re going to see a lot of success. This year should be no exception, although there’s a buildup of talent on the quarterfinalist level teams that could start to challenge the likes of Sha