2015 U.S. Open Championships - Women's Division Day One Recap
Jeff Haney
Posted: July 2, 2015 09:26 PM
 |
|
The fourth-annual U.S. Open Championships is 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.
Related Links:
|
There weren’t many surprises at the U.S. Open on Thursday in the women’s division. In fact, there was not a single upset based on original seeding. The top four overall seeds survived unscathed as Scandal, Fury, Brute Squad and Riot all went 3-0 on the day. On the flip side, those seeded toward the bottom of each pool finished the day with records of 0-3; Schwa, Heist, Phoenix and Fusion fought hard but came up short in their match-ups today. Although there weren’t any real surprises, that didn’t mean there wasn’t any excitement, with several teams challenging teams seeded above them before succumbing. There were several intriguing and exciting match-ups as teams worked out on-field chemistry in the face of stiff competition throughout the day. Here’s a rundown of how each pool shook out on the first of four days of competition in West Chester, Ohio.
Pool A
Overall top seed Scandal started their tournament off with a convincing 15-8 win over Showdown. At 4-3, Scandal rattled off four points in a row and didn’t look back. Kelly Hyland contributed four goals, two assists and one defensive block in the game.
Shortly after dispatching Showdown in what was the largest margin of victory for any team in Pool A on the day, Scandal was tested by Heist in a match that ended with the slimmest margin of all the Pool A match-ups. Coming off a 10-15 loss to Brute, Heist was hungry to earn a victory. Scandal relied heavily on Jenny Fey and Kath Ratcliff behind the disc, who would often find Sarah Itoh for yardage gains. Heist runs almost exclusively through Robyn Wiseman; when she is not creating scoring opportunities with her deep looks to streaking cutters, she is breaking the mark to generate movement for her team. In the back-and-forth contest, Scandal and Heist were tied as late as 10-10. After a Scandal score made it 11-10, the D.C. women capitalized on a deep pull and a Heist drop on the first pass to come out on top 12-10. Both teams had plenty of opportunities to take this one late in the game, but Scandal gritted it out to start the day 2-0. After watching these two teams battle, it is not surprising that both Fey and Wiseman are at the top of the overall stats for assists (and goals, for that matter) so far at the U.S. Open.
For their part, Brute Squad was quietly working out the kinks in their game as they posted wins over Heist (15-10), Traffic (15-10) and Showdown (15-9). Brute got off to a fast start against Showdown in the third round, going up 4-1 before letting the Texas women rattle a few off to tie it up at 4-4. Brute recovered on their next offensive point when they punctuated a patient offensive effort with a patented Emily Baecher high-release backhand to speedy Laura Bitterman to take the lead 5-4. On the ensuing point, Brute Squad’s Courtney Verhaalen bookended an explosive layout defensive block with a great grab in traffic to put Brute up 6-4. Brute held on for the victory and look to continue their streak tomorrow morning. Before this game, Showdown outlasted Fusion 15-11 and finished the day 1-2.
Heist gave another higher-seeded team a run for their money in a close game against Traffic. Heist took an early lead, but Traffic came back and was up 10-9 before pulling away and earning a 15-11 victory. Both teams looked tired at the end of the first day of play, and there were lots of turnovers on both sides. When Heist did generate turnovers, they struggled to capitalize. As a result, Traffic was able to pull away. Traffic finished day one 2-1, having topped Fusion earlier in the day but falling to Brute Squad.
Scandal finished their day with a 15-10 victory over Fusion, who scrapped and fought until the very end of the game. Although Fusion finished the day 0-3, they did post double-digit scores against all three teams they faced. They will square off against a Brute Squad team that will look to be gaining momentum as pool play wraps up before meeting Heist in the final round of pool play.
Pool B
Pool B mirrored Pool A in many ways. Fury and Riot made statements in all three of their match-ups to remain undefeated, while Schwa and Phoenix came up short in their quests for a pool-play victory.
Fury completely erased any memory of their surprising start at the U.S. Open last year (starting the tournament 0-2) with an impressive bottom line today. Their closest match was in the first round, where they beat Ozone 15-10. They went on to defeat Schwa convincingly, 15-4. While the score for their last game of the day indicates a dominant performance, Fury took their time in defeating Phoenix 15-5. There were several long, turnover-ridden points for both teams. In the end, Fury was able to grit it out and apply the defensive pressure on Phoenix cutters needed to force turnovers. Some new Fury faces made their presence known – particularly Sarah Carnahan, whose physicality was imposing, and Marika Austin, who was constantly open and helped move the disc both horizontally and vertically for her team.
Riot was equally impressive who also went undefeated in games against Schwa (14-9), Nightlock (15-9) and Ozone (15-5). While Nightlock made it interesting and was within striking distance of Riot at one point (down 8-9), the Seattle women buckled down and ultimately took control by going on two separate three-point runs to close out the game 15-9. In the end, Riot seemed to make adjustments, keying in on Nightlock’s tendencies, and Nightlock struggled offensively when their disc movement was stagnant.
Two things seemed to stand out while having logged limited time watching Riot over the course of the day. First, their handler corps was working well to move the disc and get it in the hands of their cutters. Paige "Diddy" Soper seemed to blend seamlessly into the tried-and-true Riot handler set. Furthermore, Rohre Titcomb was opening up the field with deeper looks to cutters such as Dom Fontenette and Jaclyn Verzuh. Which brings me to takeaway number two. Jaclyn Verzuh is the real deal. Fresh off a decorated high school career in Seattle and a gold medal with the U-19 National Team last summer, she is an undeniable force on the field and an enticing deep threat for Riot’s capable handlers. Look for her to continue to develop as a player on both sides of the disc under the Riot system.
Phoenix was a question mark coming into the U.S. Open, with some fresh new faces and a hunger to perform against the elite teams in attendance. They had flashes of brilliance but sometimes struggle to move the disc between the handlers and cutters. Too often, they were forced to reset in situations where the resets didn’t gain them much. Ultimately, they had a lot more unforced turnovers than they probably would have liked and fell to Nightlock, Ozone and Fury. They will have a tough match-up against Riot first thing on Friday morning, but it could just be the challenge they need to jumpstart a run.
Schwa started off their day with games against the top two seeds in their pool. Fury had their way with Schwa, while Riot let them hang around a little longer before winning 14-9. Their last game gave them a look at a team they beat 10-8 at Solstice this year, Nightlock. On the showcase field, these two teams battled it out. Hometown favorite Bethany Kaylor put on an impressive show with some crowd-pleasing grabs for Schwa. She logged one goal, four assists and five defensive blocks in the game, often playing deep defense. But her team’s effort fell short, and they ended the day 0-3 after falling to Nightlock 10-13. Nightlock notched two wins on the day by also defeating Phoenix in the first round of the day (14-7).
Ozone had an up-and-down day, falling to Fury early (10-15) before outlasting Phoenix for their only pool-play win (13-8). As mentioned earlier, Riot was impressive in the third round as they made a statement dispatching Ozone 15-5.
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.