USA Ultimate

2010 USA Ultimate Club Championships
Masters Division - Day 1

By: Tony Leonardo, special to usaultimate.org
 
Nothing so far has been too shocking, but perhaps to outsiders the fall of the Beyondors, the strength of Boneyard and the total logjam in Pool A (with the exception of Surly and GLUM) might be unexpected.
 

Pool A

 
Let’s start with Pool A. Surly and GLUM are winning, both are deep and well-conditioned and both teams have been defined, focused and together as a unit for years. The surprise “wildcard” spot currently belongs to the revamped DC-based 10 seed Chesapeaked. They lost to GLUM 15-12 but then muscled through two huge wins, a double-game point win over the 12 seed Santa Fe sleepers Le Tigre followed by a double-game point win over higher seed Fig Jam, 17-16. Against Fig Jam their D-line brought it from down 12-9 to a tie at 12s and a sense of confidence. The teams traded towards an exciting winner-take-all finish on a second-chance forehand bomb for the game-winner from captain AJ Iwaszko after the first sailed wide right. A win over Ball & Chain or a reasonable loss should preserve their place as the third team overall in the pool which would position them for a likely quarters crossover match with Chicago’s Real Huck.
 
Fig Jam, Le Tigre and Ball & Chain are thus in a dogfight for the last spot, with the surprising matchup of NW regional winners FJ and SW second seed Le Tigre in the last game of the day as the presumptive game-to-go. For Ball & Chain to get in the mix they basically have to both upset GLUM and beat Chesapeaked tomorrow, a daunting prospect. Last year this team also started off winless before rallying for some big victories, so don’t count them out yet.
 
In the match of top seeds, Surly was able to handle GLUM without much commotion, 15-9. This means they don’t seem to have a Worlds hangover, weren’t flustered by Toronto’s pressure defense, and are in easy command of the pool.
 
Le Tigre, featuring what may be the snazziest shirts in the entire tournament, a three-dimensional roaring lion’s head, brought both 3D glasses to see the uniform in full glory and their effective and unconventional method of line-calling. At Regionals they lost 13-3 on Saturday to the team they beat 15-7 on Sunday. Today they opened up their roster early in a 15-4 loss to Surly, then tightened the reigns for their DGP loss to Chesapeaked and their victory over Ball & Chain. Presumably they will maintain this strategy by bailing on GLUM and putting their studs on the line against Fig Jam at 12:15. Could be fun.
 

Pool B

 
In Pool B, Boneyard is “feeling pretty good” according to one of their players. As well they should, they’ve played a solid opening day and will be well-rested for a game against 11th seed Slow Country Boil and then the likely battle for top of the pool against Real Huck. Currently both teams are 3-0, with Chicago starting the day with a confidence-building 15-13 upset win over Death or Glory. The win propelled them to go ahead and take down the Beyondors, 15-9, exposing the overall #2 seed and opening up the pool. After that loss Boneyard sealed the deal by decisively dismissing the disorganized Beyondors 15-6. With the loss, the Beyondors now must defeat a NE team, either DoG in the morning or Rumble in the afternoon. DoG proved resilient after disappointing losses to Chicago and Raleigh-Durham by beating back rivals Rumble 15-8. A DoG win or Rumble loss basically puts them in quarters and on likely track to match up against GLUM whom they’ve now lost to at Regionals two years in a row.
 
The story of Pool B is the emergence of the speedy Boneyard, a team that seems capable of sending waves of fast defenders Plentl, Lang, McCall and Lupo to jam up throwing lanes. They have a more-than-capable offense with deep looks at will (watch out for the 6’8 Daron Edmonds) from an array or throwers so it’s really tough to figure out how to stop them. And yes, they’ve played far fewer points today than any other team and will be rested.
 
Chicago will try to knock them off. Or will they? They, too, are versatile and well-rounded and are riding high from an undefeated Thursday. The question for Chicago in the afternoon game is how much is the top seed worth? The answer is that the quarterfinal game for B1 may be of equal difficulty, but the semifinal will almost certainly feature Surly and that’s not who you want to play.
 
Tomorrow morning will also feature a fun match up between Colorado (Beyondors) and Colorado (Death or Glory). Both teams will limp into the match at 1-2 with identical losses to Real Huck and Boneyard. Winner should be a lock for the 3 seed (and thus an avoidance of playing Surly in quarters) while the loser must throw their lot in with the Rumble-Beyondors game at the end of the day. If Rumble is smart they should rest against Real Huck in the morning and gear up for Santa Barbara in their last-ditch bid to make quarters.