2012 Club Championships: Thursday Mixed Recap
Maya Ziv
Posted: October 25, 2012 11:07 PM
Cosa Nostra started off the day with a huge upset against Overhaul. Cosa Nostra went up early, with Overhaul fighting back. But Cosa Nostra’s deep threats were too much for Overhaul to contain. Yet Overhaul worked hard to stay in the game, bringing it back to tied at 12s. Cosa Nostra Captain Emily Scholten said that at that point, their defesnse kicked it up just one more notch to put the game away, 15-12. This was just the first upset for Cosa Nostra, as they also defeated Bucket later in the day. Cosa Nostra will face Blackbird and CLX in the power pools tomorrow.
Odyssee had an exciting fight against 7 Figures in the second round. 7 Figures was up 9-6 at one point, but Odyssee brought it back to 9-9. The teams traded points and eventually Odyssee secured another break, a swing in momentum, and the teams found themselves in a universe point situation. After a few too many poor huck attempts from 7 Figures, Odyssee capitalized on the dump and swing and moved across the field to put in the winning score. 7 Figures seemed tired as well – by the end, they were having a hard time chasing down the Ds, whereas Odyssee seemed all the more excited to turn up the heat and keep running down discs that seemed out of reach. The Canadians also focused very well on discs battered by the wind; they reacted well to where the disc was going, not necessarily where the thrower intended. Time after time it looked like a disc was about to be a turnover but the Canadians reeled it in effectively.
In the second round, Drag’n Thrust went down 10-5 to the Flycoons (after an 8-5 half). However, when the gusty wind picked up Drag’n decided to change their strategy a bit. Their handlers started testing the zone more by putting up deep shots over the cup, and relied on Brian Schoenrock and James Hron to play "50-50" ball in the air. Captain Austin Lien also stated that he believes it affected MTF mentally – it seemed to set them on their heels. Drag’n took advantage and went on a 7-1 point run, getting up 12-11, and eventually winning 13-12.
In the third round, Blackbird and Wild Card traded points and breaks until 9s, with Blackbird having a hard time containing the excellent break throws from the Wild Card handlers. Wild Card was very aggressive, bodying out the Blackbird defense to snag discs in the air and laying out all over the field to pick up low throws. The wind had died down enough that even when Blackbird threw a zone, Wild Card was able to work it through the cup with cuts from the back of the cup and quick throws through the holes that appeared. It looked like Blackbird was losing steam until Tyler Grant came on for the D line to play a few key points. Though injured, his marks proved difficult for Wild Card to break, and his "in-your-face" defensive style seemed to intimidate the cutters. The score was 10-9 on serve when Grant made an up the line cut to the front corner of the endzone to receive a high stall floaty put from Daniel Gillick. His excitement after that point fired up his team, and they stepped up their intensity to go on a run of breaks, taking the game 15-12.
Other observations:
- Though Chad Larson Experience had lost some key players from last year’s roster, captain Kevin Seiler spoke with pride about the longevity of the core of the team, especially with the group of women from Iowa State.
- After an exciting day with some great games, Flycoons end up taking fourth in their pool. The Flycoons went up early on a couple opponents today, but couldn’t close out any for wins.
- The wind strongly affected many of the games. When it got especially gusty in the second round, it was clear to see which teams had the best disc skills of each matchup.
- Cosa Nostra was the surprise of the tournament, breaking seed to finish second in their pool with close wins over Overhaul and Bucket. They will move on to the power pools tomorrow.
- Slow White did a good job of shutting down AABQ’s movement up the line. When the dump defense improved and Slow also stopped the women from cutting under, they succeeded in making ABBQ struggle with a stagnant disc.
- Blackbird defeated Mischief 15-9 – according to captain Brian Garcia, the wind played a huge factor in slowing down Mischief’s momentum on offense.