2011 YCC Girls Day 1 Recap
Josiah Moore
Posted: August 14, 2011 07:37 AM
YCC 2011, Girls Division
Saturday Recap
PHUL |
Looming at an average of 5'10", the ladies of Moxie managed to look quite intimidating despite their status as relative unknowns. In their opening round game against BUDA, they fell 3-1 as they made sloppy mistakes and took their first timeout. Out of the timeout, the ladies of PHUL started to show a little poise (and moxie) as they evened the game at 4's. With PHUL's athleticism and length ever present, their battle would be to maintain the poise they showed over these few points. PHUL did take the lead at 6-5, but BUDA came up with the crucial D's down the stretch to win after soft cap 8-6. PHUL wouldn't be held back, coming out strong against Minnesota, and they would hold on for an easy win 10-6. PHUL would continue their run against Cincinnati, winning 9-7. At 2-1, PHUL needed a victory over Denver to have a good shot at the finals. The game was neck and neck, but at 6-5 Denver caught 3 tipped discs on one point, as well as getting a great layout grab from #19 Erika Hiromitsu. They would convert for the score and eventually go up 8-6. Hard cap sounds making PHUL's last point meaningless, as they drop 8-7. Tough, athletic, and exciting to watch, these girls have a way of making even the most non-partisan of reporters root for them. |
BUDA |
After dispatching the tough Pittsburgh girls in round 1, BUDA had a bye to rest up and prepare for two straight games against Disc NW. The ladies from Boston looked calm and collected on offense all day, and that wasn't going to change just because the defending champs and their little sisters were on the schedule. The feisty U-16 Seattle girls had been giving other teams a bit of trouble, but the disciplined BUDA girls would have none of it. Treating every second on the field as a chance to improve, BUDA refused to let up despite taking half 7-0. They needed to carry as much momentum as possible into their matchup with Seattle's U-19 girls, and they had plenty after a 13-1 victory. BUDA came out firing, but it was Disc Northwest's Nina Finley on the board first with a nice grab over #8 Hannah Yee. BUDA struggled against zone most of the first half, but would rebound. BUDA started to rally behind multiple D's from Hannah Yee, and after a layout score by Yee they pulled within 7-5. Unfortunately, hard cap would sound, signaling the end of BUDA's comeback hopes as they dropped 8-5. A key game with Denver loomed, and the BUDA girls were prepared, overcoming visible fatigue to win 9-7. At 3-1, the fundamentally sound, defensively stingy girls of BUDA seem poised to take another whack at Disc Northwest on tourney Sunday.
|
Denver |
Denver opened up the day against Cincinnati with a gorgeous inside out huck from handler Lisi Lohre for a point. This would become a huge trend for Denver, as they would live and die by the huck all day. In contrast to this, the girls from Cincy were keeping it close with pinpoint accuracy on unders and intelligent swings. The game would be tied at 8-8 for a hard-capped universe point. Denver's #3 Nhi Nguyen would get a huge D, then runs through to catch an immediate huck. Erika Hiromitsu would score on an iso to take the win 9-8. Against Disc Northwest in round 2, the Cutthroat girls found themselves overmatched by Disc Northwest's zone. Although they moved it efficiently, Denver lacked to poise to punch it in and turned it many times after good progress. Denver would eventually fall 10-5.
Denver came out zone to go up 3-0 in their next game against PHUL, and although the Pittsburgh ladies would respond, they never quite got out of the hole as Denver improved to 2-1. They would need to finish out the day against a tough BUDA squad, but as crunch time approached Denver's offense shut down allowing BUDA to pull away. In the end, Denver's offense was too one-dimensional to quite fit into to top tier as they dropped to 2-2.
|
Minnesota |
After an easy opening round win over Seattle U-16, the Minnesota girls looked overmatched against Pittsburgh, Disc Northwest, and Cincinnati. Despite a great sideline atmosphere and a natural camaraderie between the girls, their "flow" never materialized on the field. Poor communication on defense led to easy swings and up-line cuts for any handler facing their defense. Handlers waited until high in the stall to look for swings, causing unforced turnovers. The talent was there, as you could see on beautiful throws from "Huck Happy" Tess Garvey and Aly Fassett-Carman, and big D's from Erynn Schroeder and Razel Johnson. All in all, this was an exceptionally talented team. It seemed like they needed 2-3 weeks more practice to be ready for this tournament.
|
Cincinnati |
Led by handlers Kayla Fry and Bethany Kaylor, the Cincy girls were hands down the most accurate throwing team in this division. This team had an identity alright- crisp offense. The flow was tremendous, but the squad did run into some problems with execution in key spots. Being one of the smaller teams at the tournament, Belle needed to keep their throws low and direct, but they were all too often high and floaty, leading to a loss against the much taller PHUL squad. Against Denver, the offense was running perhaps better than it had all day, but a lack of defensive playmaking gave the game to Denver. Cincinnati seems to be doing all they can at this tournament, but their roster isn't diverse enough to pull out the stops they need.
|
DiscNW U19 |
Disc Northwest was the clear favorite heading into the day, and they remain that way at the end after going 4-0. The two things that set them apart are their intensity on defense and their sense of positioning. They always seem to know where the disc needs to go. During their journey to 4-0 today, Disc NW tended to get a lead, and then start playing zone. When I asked Disc Northwest coach Chris Forsberg about his reasoning behind the zone, he told me that they were just trying to "slow the game down and avoid letting teams score on a big huck in 30 seconds." This strategy paid off, as every game Seattle played was time capped before a comeback could happen.
|
DiscNW U16 |
Disc Northwest's U16 girls were taking everyone's best shot all day. One might think that a U16 team would see some unfocused teams who thought they could beat up on the smaller girls, but Disc Northwest's dominant reputation kept teams alert. Throughout the day, the U16 girls backed up the reputation that preceded them. Though not as fundamentally sound as their U19 counterparts, the younger squad showed the sort of aggression in attacking the disc that you find on championship caliber teams. They also showed the ability to take some tough blows without getting down or self-destructing. Their efforts would not translate into victory, but they certainly leave me with a distinct impression: We got next. |