USA Ultimate

We're officially out of pool play and heading into elimination rounds first thing tomorrow morning. While all top seeds had hard-fought games in round one, a hugely surprising upset was dealt by Pool B three seed Sub Zero, who worked hard to steal the victory from Toronto GOAT 15-9. The Minnesota crew started off with a punishing 3-0 sprint into the game. Sub Zero was not without their share of turnovers, but once they brought the score to 5-1 behind the massive throws of Simon Montague and big deep opportunities thanks to Kyle Gill, the game seemed already decided. GOAT’s Karl Loiseau was running all over the field, making substantial plays on both sides of the disc, but the efforts of few can rarely carry the weight of a whole team, especially at this level of competition. With little to no wind riding through Frisco this afternoon, all teams were airing out the disc and giving their deep cutters a lot of chances to make big plays in the end zone.

Other one seed v. three seed match ups in round one ended as predicted by their initial placements within the groups. The most exciting contest of the early round was defending champions Doublewide v. Ring of Fire. Pulling to Doublewide, Raleigh came out of the gate with an intensely vocal sideline and legs that showed they were playing for Sunday. Point for point, Ring traded scores with Doublewide, ending with the Austin squad taking half 8-7. No breaks were won by either side in the first half. At next glance, Doublewide was up 11-8 with Ring of Fire beating themselves with unforced errors. Late in the game, Ring’s Josh Berkowitz had a stellar layout D to put his team back in offensive action, but an unnecessary end zone turn on a strike cut gave Doublewide’s Kurt Gibson the opportunity to crush a full field flick to Jake Anderson and extend the gap to 12-8 Doublewide. The game ended in the cap at 14-9 with both teams looking toward their next opponent.

Results from the highly anticipated match ups coming out of Pool D made one thing clear – winning the tournament at the expense of Denver’s Johnny Bravo is going to be a bruising battle. Bravo held seed by going 3-0 for the day, but the scoreboard doesn’t articulate their uncontested dominance of Pool D. Chain Lightning, like Ring against Doublewide, looked like they were going to cause early problems for Bravo. They fought against the Bravo cup as well as a zone offense can, finding gaps and putting up hucks past Bravo’s deep defender, including a 60-yard put to a streaking Asa Wilson. Despite the brilliant offense displayed by Chain, it was unfortunately peppered with unforced turns on dumps and swings that were punished by Bravo’s defensive handlers. Without a doubt, Bravo’s Jimmy Mickle is establishing himself as one of the best all-around players in the division. Along with Mickle’s stunning performance, the notable addition of Nick Lance proved worth all the hype. Regardless of names attached to the Bravo line-up, the team was cohesive and confident from their first point to their last today, showing the rest of the men’s teams and the fans exactly why they were seeded in the top tier this weekend.

In the much less capricious Pool A, San Francisco Revolver erased any doubt that they are the team to beat this year. Much like Bravo, a four-point victory was rendered an arbitrary number as the play of the game viewed much closer to a shut out than a tight game. The mood on Revolver sideline was goofy and playful much of the day, displaying a blind confidence in the expected on-field successes of their teammates. Without disrespect to first-round opponent Truck Stop, who played a tremendous first game, the Revolver squad was just on a different plane of composure throughout the first day. Standing out as individuals within the Revolver machine were Russell Wynne for playing the best man defense seen all day and Tim Gilligan who made absurd plays in the end zone. When on the field, both made the efforts of their teammates a little less strenuous. Following the first-round victory, Revolver continued their reign on Pool A with a deft victory over four seed Florida United (15-6) and a much more athletically demanding game over Pride of New York (PoNY) (15-11). 

As expected after a tremendous regular season, PoNY captain Jack Marsh is unquestionably one of the top players in the field at the National Championships. While the hopes of PoNY cleating up on Sunday are low, the team displayed a threatening potential for the years to come. Christopher Mazur ran circles around defenders (literally) in their win against three seed Truck Stop and Kevin Riley’s defense is equal to that of any team pulling the disc. A one point-victory over Florida United has to be the biggest pause taken when evaluating this team’s performance today and is perhaps the most telling statement of what to expect out of New York on Friday.

Two pools' second-ranked teams broke seed today: Pool B's Sockeye and Pool C's Ironside, both ending up 3-0 for the day. The second round match up between Seattle Sockeye and Sub Zero turned out to be the men’s division’s best game on the first day of play. The combined speed and technicality displayed by both teams in this contest was not met in any other game. Handler movement by Sockeye’s offense is proactive and aggressive in a way employed by no other team. It manifests like a continuous three-man weave fully integrated into a traditional stack offense. While Sockeye’s 6’3" receiver Matt Rehder is a standout player (scoring the first four consecutive points in their third-round win against Pool B one seed GOAT), everyone on the Seattle team is a constant all-around threat on the field. Huge contributions in the Sub Zero game came from Michael Caldwell, Duncan Linn, Sam Harkness, Reid Koss and virtually everyone else on the Seattle roster. By comparison and based on what was seen on day one, overall one seed Revolver is the only other team that has talent so well distributed across their bench. Sockeye’s game against Sub Zero was very congruent to their progress in the third round against GOAT. Both games found Sockeye trading points early in the first half, meeting each opponent at 5-5 before creating the space needed for a conclusive victory in the second half. The boys of Seattle enjoyed 15-11 victories over both Sub Zero and GOAT.

Austin v. Boston. Will Driscoll v. Will Neff. Huck v. Huck. The third-round game between Ironside and Doublewide played out like the kind of us or them battle you’d expect out of a Saturday elimination round. Both teams were playing 40 yards wide and 70 yards long each point with unapologetic defense punching them in the face the entire time. After exchanging points at the onset, a shift in Ironside’s favor happened when a huge skying D against intended Doublewide receiver Kiran Thomas ended in a full-field huck from Ironside’s Jack Hatchett to Will Neff for the break and lead. From there, the favor never tipped back to Doublewide. Receiving the pull after taking half 8-7, Ironside generated a two-point separation after another monster flick left Josh Markette’s hands and found those of Matt Rebholz in the end zone, despite lights-out defense from outstanding second year Doublewide player, Dalton Smith. Ironside protected their lead and, at 12-10, looked like a good candidate for the win. However, Doublewide is not the kind of team you applaud yourself for having a lead on until the game is over. In the next point, Doublewide’s Will Driscoll was ruled out of bounds upon receiving a wide swing pass. The call was questionable but put the disc in Ironside’s possession in Doublewide territory and resulted in a 13-10 extension of their lead. Doublewide continued their fight, with highlight defensive plays from Michael "Tank" Natenberg and a posterizing offensive sky by captain Jeff Loskorn in the final points, but inevitably suffered defeat by the determined Boston Ironside who claimed the top seed in Pool C. It would be wrong not to mention Ironside’s Danny Clark, who played a dominating offensive game with six goals against multiple marquee players from the Doublewide militia.  

Of mention in other rounds were a seeding swap due to Chain Lightning's defeat of Chicago Machine and a near monumental upset of Pool B one seed GOAT by four seed Madcow. The Ohio team took half in the second-round game against GOAT 8-7. Following shortly after a loss to three seed Sub Zero, it looked like GOAT was the biggest mis-seed of the tournament, but they ended up pulling out the win against Madcow on universe point. So, in sum, the answer is "yes" to both questions: 1) was GOAT playing poorly today, and 2) was Madcow playing extraordinary today. With a 1-2 day for GOAT in pool play, despite their initial seeding, there is little expectation that they will progress far into the weekend; but, as goes the thesis of the season and knowing the teams at this tournament – anything can happen.

Photos

Day 1 - Highlights - Images by CBMT creative

Video

Highlights - Nationals Day 1 from Micah Tapman on Vimeo.

Have any questions or comments? We welcome community feedback and discussion made in a respectful manner. Please refrain from profanity or personal attacks, as such public comments negatively reflect on our sport and community.