USA Ultimate

Day One

Given the complete unpredictability of the tournament last year and the more stable results throughout this year’s regular season, I expected a bit more "to seed" results on day one. Fortunately, Pool B was there to provide me some support. Then there was Pool A, and the Pro Flight Finale was up to its annual tricks. The women’s division didn’t feature the results we saw in men’s division this year where both pool winners lost to the teams that finished fourth, but there was plenty of surprise.

Starting with Pool B – Brute Squad is a strong squad that was expected to do well after their U.S. Open and Pro-Elite Challenge performances. The Bostonians proved that neither previous strong finish was a fluke. They opened the weekend against Showdown, a team in transition. Strong v. Transition in this case produced a predictable result. Brute did show a few different looks, but their tight person defense on Showdown’s cutters forced creative throws throughout the game, and Brute cruised to an easy 13-4 win. Meanwhile, Fury and the Capitals played a game that was as much about the Caps’ inexperience as it was about Fury’s experience. The Capitals came out strong and stayed with the Bay Area team for most of the first half but couldn’t keep up that pace with their small squad (15 to start, with a large contingent away at a wedding), which included a large number of rookies. The Caps didn’t look like themselves and lost 13-7.

The second round swapped which weaker team was playing which stronger team, but the results still were as expected. Again, the Caps came out gunning, holding with Brute Squad until 7-6, when Kathryn Pohran went down with a broken patella (and immediately up to Canada for treatment). Afterward, Brute Squad rolled to a 13-7 victory. Fury’s match up with Showdown was not competitive throughout, and Fury got a relatively easy win, 13-4.

The final round of pool play featured the games expected to be competitive. The Brute Squad v. Fury match up went quickly titled in Brute’s favor. Playing tight defense to create Fury miscues and capitalizing on those miscues Brute had a 7-2 lead at the half. The second half was more competitive, but still probably a bit messier than each of the teams feels they can play. Fury made the gap a bit smaller but couldn’t narrow it enough and lost 13-9. And finally, the Caps once again kept their game close for a while but couldn’t finish, this time against Showdown. The Texans quickly turned the Caps’ errors into scores in the second half and won 13-6. While it would be easy to point to the short Caps roster and errors as reasons for the big loss, credit should also be given to Showdown who improved their execution throughout the day.

Now, for Pool A. Upset number one featured Nemesis overcoming Traffic 13-10. Seemingly no one outside of Chicago and the team’s friends and family expected Nemesis to compete well in Washington, and their day proved many wrong. A team dealing with extreme roster turnover, their results leading up to this weekend were disappointing, but they managed to turn something around in the week since Chicago Heavyweights. Their game with Traffic was not clean on either side, but Nemesis proved that they know how to win ugly, and that’s still winning. There were plenty of turnovers from both teams, but Nemesis more often than not would find a throw and a catch when they needed it, high stall or not. Add in a few big plays, strong handling from Sara Miller and a new core of handlers, and Nemesis notched the first big upset of the tournament. The other first-round game in the pool was a marquee match up featuring this year’s world champions and last year’s national champions. Scandal showed up at the tournament with only 15 players but plenty of strength. Both teams showed a little rust, possibly from Worlds hangovers. Riot, in particular, seemed to struggle building yards without doing a lot of work. Throughout the game, Scandal prevented them from hitting in-cuts in the middle of the field, so much so that when Fiona McKibbon caught a 25-yard gainer in the middle and was able to turn it into more easy yards to Sarah Griffith, it stood out. Yet when those cuts did materialize, all too often Riot’s timing was off just enough that the handler was already looking elsewhere. While Scandal seemed to be doing more ‘work’ than is often the case, they were still able to execute well enough to take this one, 13-11.

Nemesis continued their winning ways in round two. Again, Riot did not look clean, and Nemesis seemed to find a pass that worked each time the stall count got high. The result – a 12-8 Nemesis win. Scandal and Traffic played out a 13-10 game, which was an upset by seeding, but was not an unexpected result. The small Scandal squad continued to gel and simply outplayed the Canadians in this game. A few too many smooth and easy points for Scandal spelled the difference.

Only the final round of Pool A’s day went "as expected." The two reigning champions both took games that were close for a little while and turned them into comfortable wins in the second half. A bit more skill, athleticism and experience just seemed to pay off in the later stages of each game.

Day Two

Day one’s results left us with a very interesting bracket for day two. One side of the draw featured marquee names, including last year’s national champion and a rematch of this year’s Worlds finals. The other side of the bracket featured the one team to dominate on day one and a number of teams with surprising results.

The quarters match up between Fury and Riot was the most anticipated game in round one. The game was hard fought, with scoring shifts that really didn’t seem to indicate momentum shifts. Riot’s mental strength against their long-term rivals was present throughout the game. On multiple occasions, Riot took two-point leads that Fury was able to get back, but San Francisco was never able to turn those recoveries into sustained momentum or a lead. After finding themselves tied at 9-9, Riot closed out the game with two consecutive scores to notch another win over Fury and advance to the semifinals.

Brute Squad and Traffic had very different Saturdays – Brute tallied three dominant wins, and Traffic seemingly underperformed. Fortunately, this was the Pro Flight Finale, and anything can happen. Boston took halftime with an 8-4 lead, and the game looked every bit like what Saturday would have predicted, but Canada came out stronger in the second half, playing better defense and reducing their errors from Saturday’s play. In particular, Traffic’s throws improved. The wind wasn’t a big factor throughout the weekend, but for about 30 minutes, scores were primarily downwind in all of the women’s quarters. But Traffic had a number of strong, accurate throws up-wind that helped them generate breaks. However, after tying the score at 12-12 in a capped game, Traffic’s cleaner play eluded them. After a few turnovers in the 12-12 point, Brute Squad got their 13th and 14th points to finish off the team from Canada.

The other team from Canada – the Capitals – opened their day with Scandal. Both teams came to the tournament with limited numbers, and both teams fought hard through this quarterfinal, but the quality of the Scandal roster truly showed when it mattered. The Caps fought hard through the early part of the game, just as they had in all of their Saturday games (they were within three as late as 13-7), but they could not sustain against a Scandal line that continued to gel well with their small but talented group. 14-9 for D.C.

The final quarterfinal featured Nemesis and Showdown. Few outside of the teams themselves had high expectations for either squad, but Nemesis had established themselves as the surprise team of the tournament while Showdown had simply taken care of business. Still, true to the Pro Flight Finale, this was a close and well-contested game. Nemesis’ "win however you can" approach worked again, and 13-11 later, Nemesis was in the semifinals. Miller and Sara Scott continued to impress.

The Scandal v. Riot semifinal was one of the best games of the tournament. A 13-12 Riot win put them in the finals. The win was well-earned against a Scandal team that finally showed some signs of missing their full roster as the game reached its conclusion. Scandal built a lead 10-7 lead, but they were unable to hold onto it when Riot’s defensive pressure picked up, taking advantage of the leg-weary Scandal team. There were a few points with multiple turnovers, but there were a few too many times Scandal just didn’t have a cut when it was really needed. Ashley Daly continued to be a consistent threat for Scandal, spending much of the game open, as she had against teams all weekend. A huge layout grab from Daly got Scandal to 11-9, but at 12-11, a poach D from Kelly "Vegas" Johnson brought us to double-game point. Scandal worked up the field into the Riot half, but Daly was left with no options and Riot got the disc with a chance to win. A great layout block by Alicia White was given back to Riot due to a call two throws prior, and the Seattle team was able to work the disc into the end zone for the 13-12 victory. During this game, viewers could start to see Riot get their timing back, while it was also easy to see the clear quality of the Scandal lines. A few close losses this weekend will likely keep Scandal from the one seed the returning champion often gets at the National Championships, but they are still a clear contender.

The other semifinal was an interesting affair for a while. Nemesis and Brute Squad were tied at 5-5, trading scores in a game that was probably not as clean as Boston would have liked, although it was also fitting to how Chicago had played throughout the weekend. Brute Squad, which features multiple players from Nemesis 2013 in starring roles, was just too much for Nemesis, who started to show both their tired legs and continuing development in the second half. The game finished 13-8, and the finals were set with two teams that looked like they should be there.

The heavily anticipated match up turned into a rout pretty quickly thanks to the fresher and more-polished Boston team. Worlds hangover? Tired legs from a tougher draw to get to the finals? Just a bit off? Many explanations could come into play, but Brute Squad truly owned the Pro Flight Finale this year. With convincing wins over Showdown, Capitals, Fury and Nemesis and one tight win over a Traffic team that hit its shots in the second half, Brute Squad then took it to the World Champions from start to finish. Each time Riot threatened to get back in the game through big plays (saving layouts from Kate Kingery and others throughout the game), Brute would answer with clean play or a big play of their own, such as Leila Tunnell’s big layout block. Brute put their stamp on this tournament and the regular season. With between four and six truly competitive top teams, seeding may mean less at Nationals than it has in years, but Brute has certainly made a case to arrive in Frisco as the favorites.

Aside
The Pro Flight Finale’s results will have a big impact on the rankings and, therefore, bid allocation. It will be very interesting to see on Wednesday where the bids in the women’s division will fall. Nemesis will almost certainly catapult into the top 16, which won’t impact the Great Lakes, but could drag some teams up: Phoenix with their split games against Nemesis at Heavyweights looks to potentially vault back in to the discussion. Will the Capitals’ results push them down and leave the Northeast with only two bids? Will the Labor Tournament hosted by Nightlock impact rankings with Pop performing well, including two wins over top 16 teams?

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