2014 Nationals - Women's Division Day 3 Recap
Leah Brown
Posted: October 19, 2014 03:13 AM
Leah Brown recaps Saturday's action in the women's division at the 2014 National Championships in Frisco, Texas.
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2014 Nationals Women's Division:
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Day three brought the decisions for next year’s Pro Flight and all final placement games. The wind was back this morning, and stronger than it was on Thursday. That wind gave teams fits in first-round play as they battled it out for placement.
Placement Games
Tabby Rosa and Green Means Go squared off for 15th place. Both teams were slow to start, and the first half of the match was a contest of wills. The game was riddled with errors, but GMG showed up for the second half and proved they wanted the win just a little bit more. Both teams were scrappy and heads-up during play, but GMG edged out the Floridians 10-8.
The Nemesis v. Capitals game was more of the same. Fatigue and the wind were taking their toll on both teams, and it was a tight contest to half. As neither team had many legs left for cutting, both resorted to their handlers to make gains up-field. Again, the game came down to a battle of wills, and Nemesis showed they wanted the W more. They dug deep to take the win over the Capitals 13-9 and finish in 13th place.
Heist also showed they still had fight in a close match with Underground. Heist’s zone defense was effective in the wind, but after half UG, changed up their over-the-top offense and started working the disc underneath. They managed to tie the score at 10s in a game to 12 by tallying four straight points. Heist captain Robyn Wiseman came up huge defensively and threw a huck to the end zone two points later to end the game 12-10.
Showdown and Ozone fought for fifth in the third round of play. Both teams showed up for the match and played smart offense. As the wind was at its strongest of the day, both Showdown and Ozone played zones. Showdown opted for a five-man cup on a few points, while Ozone played tight on the cutters but poached off the Texas handlers. Eventually, Ozone was able to find the holes in Showdown’s cup to go to half. Eventually, Showdown made the mistakes Ozone needed to capitalize and finish the game, 15-11.
Pro Flight Qualifiers
In the two games for seventh place, Nightlock faced off against Molly Brown, and Schwa matched up against Traffic.
After Molly’s threat to Scandal on day one, it would seem they should make short work of Nightlock. But the Bay Area women showed that they can still be deadly.
After taking the half, Nightlock went up 11-8 in a rough-and-tumble game. Molly had all their offensive connections firing, but was unable to convert those moves into scores. In the cleanest game of round one, Nightlock scored on an up-wind point to take the win 13-8.
Schwa and Traffic’s match was much less competitive. Although Schwa looked to play the long game, the wind made it difficult for them to connect. Traffic had no problem executing and quickly finished their seventh place match 15-6.
Semis
In a twist for the weekend, both semifinal games were upsets according to seeds, although neither result was necessarily surprising.
Scandal came out strong in their match against Brute Squad and showed that they weren’t to be intimidated. With a man defense that harried every pass, Scandal forced Brute into many mistakes.
Photo credit: Daniel Thai, UltiPhotos
With a consistency that only comes with practice and plenty of athletic talent, Scandal made the most out of each Brute Squad error. For each point the Bostonians scored, Scandal was able to answer with three or four of their own. Octavia (Opi) Payne was, of course, a large help in the assist department. Kimberly Beach also had an impressive performance, scoring multiple Scandal points. To try and stop the excessive scoring, Brute played a zone defense on Scandal’s cutters, attempting to stop them from getting to the end zone; however, the Washington, D.C., team made some minor adjustments on O to keep the scoring going. In the second half, Brute cleaned up their game, but it was too late to erase the damage, and they fell 15-7.
Fury and Riot both made small runs in the first half of their semifinal. But neither was letting up on their man-to-man defense throughout the half, and neither could score without a quick answer. Of course, this match up has been seen before, and both teams were eager to win bragging rights and the chance at the final.
Photo credit: Jolie Lang, UltiPhotos
Although Riot generally plays a fast, explosive game, Fury’s effective switches and constantly changing defensive looks held Riot to a slower pace. For most of the first half, Riot ran their offense through Rohre Titcomb and Angelica Boyden, and both made impressive decisions and big plays for scores. Eventually, Fury’s defense managed to cause some mistakes in Riot’s offense, and Fury reacted in typical fashion to turn those opportunities into quick scores. Fury’s Alex Snyder said that although there were tough points and many opportunities to lose focus, the girls from San Francisco reacted perfectly to every situation.
Ultimately, Fury came out on top 12-10 in a fantastic installment of the Riot/Fury rivalry.
Tomorrow, in a repeat of last year’s national championship final, Scandal and Fury will compete to see who will take home the title.
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