2015 U.S. Open Championships - Men's Division Day Three Recap
Chris Goodpaster
Posted: July 4, 2015 01:30 AM
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The fourth-annual U.S. Open Championships are underway in West Chester, Ohio.
Thirty-six teams across the men's, mixed and women's divisions are competing to take home the first leg of the 2015 Triple Crown Tour.
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Semifinals
Revolver v. Truck Stop
Coming into the semifinals with a perfect 5-0 record after a very impressive two days of pool play, Revolver was looking to take a step closer to perfection and see if they can claim the U.S. Open title for a third consecutive year. When I asked ESPN’s Evan Lepler what the match-up to watch was in this game, he simply smiled at me and said, "All of them." The only real test Revolver has seen all weekend came in their first game against Ironside. Revolver ended winning that game by one. Truck Stop, after some ups and downs on Thursday and Friday, found themselves facing off against the San Francisco powerhouse, hoping to serve them their first loss of the tournament. Truck Stop managed big, impressive wins over PoNY and Inside Rakete in pool play but also lost to both Johnny Bravo and Furious George by two. Whether they could advance to Sunday play would all depend on which Truck Stop team showed up in the semifinals.
With very little wind and near-perfect playing conditions, the game turned into more of an offensive clinic rather than the defensive showcase game we were all expecting. Both teams came out looking very efficient on offense and traded the first four points. At 2-2, Russell Wynne came up with a D that Revolver converted into the first break point of the game, making the score 3-2 Revolver. Revolver switched out of man defense into a zone about half way through the first half, and it worked. Unforced errors and small miscues by Truck Stop ended up costing them as Revolver used every opportunity to extend their lead. Truck Stop just did not seem to have an answer for Revolver’s ability to get open at will. With the great decision making and perfect puts down field from their handler set, Revolver’s two breaks were just too much to overcome in the end. Revolver ended up winning the game 15-12 and advancing to the finals for the third year in a row.
Johnny Bravo v. GOAT
Johnny Bravo was looking to get back to the finals of the U.S. Open for the second year in a row and hopefully get some revenge on Revolver who took them down last year 14-12. Bravo came into the semifinals feeling confident after accumulating an impressive 4-1 record in pool play. GOAT snuck into the semifinals after a couple of must-win games on Friday. They eked out those wins over Team Colombia (who they trailed at one point by five) and Ironside on double-game point, 17-16. The question of the day – which GOAT team would come out for this game?
GOAT captain Geoff Powell really stepped up the defensive intensity and took control in the first part of the game. In the first two points, he produced two great plays on defense which both resulted in break points for GOAT, putting them up 2-0. GOAT continued to keep pressure on, with Bravo would never really seeming to be out of the game, but a nearly perfect first half from GOAT gave them an 8-5 lead at the break. In the first half, GOAT only turned the disc over on one point. With time running out at 12-8, Bravo started dialing up the deep shots and went on a four-point run to tie the game at 12 apiece in a game to 14. But David Hochhalter, with his fourth assist, found Remi Ojo in the end zone for the game-winning point. GOAT knocked off the number one seed 14-12 and advanced to the Sunday’s championship game against Revolver.
Placement Games
In the placement games, Ironside took total control over PoNY and cruised to a 13-9 win to take fifth place. Great Britain fell to Ring of Fire in an exciting 17-16 game. Great Britain’s Justin Foord tallied seven assists in that game. Temper took down Furious George for ninth place, and Inside Rakete rolled through Team Colombia to take home 11th place.
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Today brings the 2015 U.S. Open championship game, and it is sure to be a good one – GOAT was the team that knocked Revolver out of last year’s National Championships in the pre-quarterfinal round, and Revolver is sure to have that game on their minds. If Revolver comes out and plays like they have all week, they could cruise to a win, like they did early Friday morning, but this seems to be a different, new GOAT team we have not seen much of this weekend. They will not go down without a fight.
The men's championship game kicks off at 4:00 p.m. ET and will be live on ESPN3.
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