USA Ultimate

Both US teams continued to improve Tuesday on the second day of the World Junior Ultimate Championships.  The US Boys began with Colombia at 9am in light rain.  The Colombian Juniors team is brand new to the international scene but they managed to win their first game in international competition against longtime Juniors stalwarts Sweden on Monday before scoring six on the highly skilled Australian team in the afternoon round.  The Columbian team is short and quick with a few highly skilled players.  The US began the game on offense and Colombia played a force forehand while the US ran its effective and improving horizontal stack.  The US worked it efficiently down the field before Jeremy Norden found Alex Kapinos for the goal.  The US Boys kept up the offensive efficiency while the defense was stifling and the game ended at 17-0 in favor of the yanks.  The almost highlight of the game was an attempted greatest from Christian Foster to a bidding Ben Feldman.   While the final score was lopsided it did not reflect the great potential of the Colombian squad.

The US Girls began against Finland and like the boys they faced a force forehand and ran a horizontal offense.  They scored the first point on their second possession when Brenna Hokanson found Chelsea Murphy with a forehand.  In the game Finland found the endzone twice, once to make it 4-1 and a second time to make it 11-2.  At 12-2 Amber Sinicrope made a nice lay-out catch and then threw an inside out backhand to Maise Richards for the goal.  While the final score was 17-2, like the boys first round game, the score did not reflect the Finnish team's talent and potential.  Their offense was wide open and several possessions were ended on throws just off the fingertips of their receivers.

Because of the small number of girls teams the division is set up in a double round robin.  At 1:45, the US Girls faced Australia in their second pool play game against the team.  The Australian girls have improved greatly in their first three games of the tournament and it showed in this game.  Australia changed their game plan and game itself opportunities for big yardage gains deep.  Throughout the game they hucked against the US Girls 4 person cup zone (henceforth known as the 4-2-1 for brevity) and on a few occasions came up big.  The US Girls took half 9-2 behind strong play including a nice grab by Shannon McDowell at 3-1, some good dump defense by Claire Suver to create a turnover at 4-1, and a well placed huck from Sam Valesano to the speedy Patty King to open the lead to 8-1.   The US Girls scored the first point out of the second half before losing focus and letting the Australians score four of the next six points including the second offensive break that they have allowed all tournament as the Australians attempted to climb back into the game at 12-6.  The US Girls called a time-out and refocused to take the next five points behind a lay-out endzone D from Hokanson at 13-6 and a poach block by Drew Johnson at 15-6.

On Tuesday the US Boys got their opportunity to play in the showcase round and their 4pm match against Canada was eagerly anticipated.  Prior to the round both teams were 3-0.  The last time they played the US Boys beat the Canadians in the 2004 gold medal match 17-9.  The US Boys were impatient to prove that they were as good as the 2004 squad and the Canadians were ready to prove that they were the team to beat.  By game time the clouds were long gone and the sun had come out with a slight upwind downwind breeze.  The US started on offense going down wind with Kapinos, Casey Ikeda, Norden, Grant Lindsley, Foster, Sam Kanner, and Chris Kosednar on the starting line.  The Canadians began with a force backhand while the US started with their well-practiced horizontal offense.  The US moved the disc downfield patiently.  Canada had a look at a D on a bid from Andrew Vogt and two passes later Lindsley saved the possession with a nice lay-out grab before Kanner threw a forehand to Ikeda for a score and the 1-0 lead.  The US came out backhand on their first defensive point and Kapinos got a poach D about four yards outside of the Canadian endzone.  Adam Miller pickedit up and as the stall count got high Eli Friedman cut from the dump position to the open side for the goal and the 2-0 lead.  On the third point of the game Canada got on the scoreboard on a nice catch by Jordan McPhee over the US’ Andrew Hollingworth on a huck by the Canuck’s Joshua Magnusson.  The US scored on their second possession of the next point as George Stubbs picked up the trash with a big lay-out catch on a huck intended for Kapinos.  The intensity ramped up on the fifth point when the US came out in a 1-3-3.  Robin Stewart-Demartino got a point block on Canada’s Russell Street, but Street reacted quickly and layed out to maintain possession for Canada.  Kanner got a piece on the next pass and Foster finished off the D and the US headed towards the endzone with Friedman finding Foster for the 4-1 lead and a Canada timeout.  The US Boys kept the pressure on and at 6-2 Stewart-Demartino got a footblock in the 1-3-3 which lead to a sweet Kanner to Kapinos goal on a counter (turn-the-page) cut.  At 8-2, both teams showed some weaknesses as the teams combined for nine turnovers.  On the point Canada’s Pat L’Esperance came up with a nice layout block, but goal line turnovers doomed Canada and the US put it in for the goal and the half, 9-2.  The two teams traded out of half to 11-5 before Canada got the first break on the US offense for the tournament to make it 11-6.  Canada came out strong on D again and at stall nine Ikeda pulled out a perfectly lucky 50 yard hammer to HS teammate Norden for the score.  At 13-7 Keilan Way of Canada came up with a nice block but it deflected right to Kosednar and a few passes later Foster finds Darden Pitts for the score.  The US then put the pressure back on and took the last three points to win the game going away 17-7.  While Canada certainly had a handful of unlucky breaks and uncharacteristic miscues they will need to really step up to have a shot against the US Boys later in the tournament. 

In the evening teams shared a great pasta dinner and then enjoyed some freestyle from the Spinning Bees.  

Tomorrow the US Boys face Israel and Sweden while the US Girls will see both Canada and Finland for the second time of the tournament.