2013 U.S. Open Saturday Recap - Mixed Division
Anna Levine
Posted: July 7, 2013 07:50 AM
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Mixed Division:
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The final round of pool play in the mixed division at the 2013 U.S. Open Championships brought some unexpected results. Ambiguous Grey started the day with a big win against Mischief, knocking the Bay Area team out of the first seeded spot down to third. Ambiguous Grey’s energy, ability to connect on offense and fast legs propelled them to a 14-10 win.
Cahoots gave Drag’n Thrust a run for their money in the final round of pool play, a game that would determine the last semifinals qualifier. Cahoots’ Ann Araps tore up the field on offense, losing her defender at every cut, while Tim Murray worked hard to keep the offense flowing. Meanwhile, Drag’n Thrust played amazing defense; Erynn Schroeder leapt and reached over Cahoots’ Kennedy Wolfe in the Cahoots end zone, only to repeat the action about 30 seconds later. Brian Schoenrock, Erika Baken and Tom Bomberg worked tirelessly for Drag’n Thrust to pull out the win, firing off successful deep looks left and right. Cahoots put together a four-point run to bring the game to 11s, but after a Drag’n Thrust time out, the team regrouped and put away the game 14-11. The Minnesotan team was off to the semifinals to face Mischief.
Semifinal: Polar Bears v. Odyssée
The first semifinal began with Odyssée in possession and the teams trading two quick first points. Odyssée’s offense had some rare misfires, and the Polar Bears immediately took advantage: Scott Roeder found Kevin Cocks in the end zone to raise the score 5-2. The Polar Bears scored three early breaks, looking particularly strong on offense: PBr was working give-and-goes down the line and waited patiently to hit open cutters deep. AJ Shankar was the dominant assister, looking to cutters like Morgan Paulson and Daniel Naruo in the end zone for the score.
Odyssée was not going to go down without a fight, however, and stepped up their consistent, handler-dominant offense. The Canadian team’s up-line cuts were virtually unstoppable, and the Polar Bears couldn’t stop Odyssée from getting two breaks in response. Odyssée players were making big moves: Gustavo Castano chased a throw from Julie Tremblay all the way to the back of the end zone, toeing the line for a score as two Polar Bears jostled for the disc. Handler Raynald Nemours was indefatigable on offense, centering the disc and cutting up the line seemingly simultaneously.
Soon after an unusually long and dramatic point that included, for example, PBr’s Casey Ikeda making a failed greatest attempt before later successfully leaping to intercept a score in Odyssée’s end zone, Odyssée’s Jean-Philippe Riopel reeled in the score to take half 8-7. The game was back on serve.
At half, An-Chi Tsou and Greg Marliave spoke to the team in the huddle. The group appeared to feel they were losing significantly, despite the close score. "Guys, 8-7 is on serve," Tsou reminded the Polar Bears. "We have to dig deep, but we don’t have to force anything or do anything fancy. We just have to play our game."
Immediately out of the half, PBr turned the disc and Odyssée scored their first break of the second half. With the Polar Bears lagging emotionally and struggling to maintain possession, Odyssée took a 13-9 lead. Unlike the Bay Area team, the Canadians maintained strong offensive consistency and were able to get break after break.
Praying for a comeback, the Polar Bears turned up their defense as a means of injecting some much-needed energy and confidence into the team. As usual, Kevin Cocks led the way with a hand block on the mark and catching the disc in the end zone to bring the score to 13-10 – and then 13-12. Adam Raty laid out to intercept an Odyssée pass to a player he wasn’t even defending, and the crowd went wild. Clay Miller intercepted a dump throw in Odyssée’s end zone, apparently having completed a Callahan, but the thrower had called a foul.
In the end, it was too late for the Polar Bears to make their grand comeback. At 14-13 with Odyssée in the lead, handlers Julie Tremblay, Gustavo Castano and Gabriel Monfette worked the disc all the way down the field with confidence, hitting cutters on the break side with ease. PBr’s defense couldn’t get in the way of their superior flow, and Castano caught the disc in the end zone to close out the game 15-13. Odyssée had beaten the Polar Bears after losing to them in the last round of pool play, contested immediately before the semifinals, and were off to the finals.
Semifinal: Drag'n Thrust v. Mischief
After winning a tough game against Cahoots, Drag’n Thrust captain Josh Hemmesch was optimistic about their ability to recuperate before their semifinal game against the formidable Mischief. "We’re going to take time to compose ourselves, and then we’re going to play with our legs and hearts," Hemmesch said simply. Their offensive strategy? "We’ve been concentrating on mixing up our lines, and we’ll continue with that," Hemmesch added. "We’ve also been experimenting with using two female handlers which has been working really well."
Mischief came off of a tough and unexpected loss in the previous round to Ambiguous Grey, having struggled with motivation and exhaustion. "We didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before, partially because our jerseys were stolen," explained captain Matt West. "We weren’t really focused, and Ambiguous Grey outran us." If Mischief wanted to make it to the finals, they had to regroup and regroup fast.
Mischief did more than pull themselves together. They came out with guns blazing, garnering three break points and taking the half quickly at 8-3. Mischief’s Matt Crawford and Adam Leventhal worked to shut down Drag’n Thrust’s formidable deep looks, while the Minnesotan team struggled to connect downfield and maintain possession beforehand. Hemmesch, Erika Baken and Jeff Trosvig worked hard to even the score and were often successful at finding teammates in the red zone.
Drag’n Thrust wasn’t successful enough, however. Mischief’s relative lack of turns, easy offensive confidence and fiery defense allowed them to win the semifinal game comfortably, 15-9.
The Bay Area team was elated to make the final match up against Odyssée. "We’re very excited," said Hemmesch. "This is the first time that we’ll be on ESPN, which is awesome." Hemmesch knows playing Odyssée will be tough, especially because the Canadian team is such a fast and athletic group. "Odyssée is in very good shape, and we were surprised by that the first time we saw them," Hemmesch admitted. He then added, "If we can come out with the energy we had in the semifinals, we will be good to go."
The best of luck to Odyssée and Mischief in the championship game tomorrow!
Photos by UltiPhotos.com (Extended highlights: Pool Play / Semis)
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