USA Ultimate

2010 USA Ultimate Club Championships
Mixed Division - Day 2

 
By: Matt Spillum, special to usaultimate.org
 
Steady wind and clouds greeted the teams heading into day two action. The conditions were considerably more humane than the previous day’s heavy heat and humidity, but the wind was strong enough to give teams problems. The power pools lined up with the top eight seeds all remaining in the top eight, just in a completely different order owing to Thursday’s last round upsets. The action promised to be intense, as the reconfigured teams fought for places in the quarterfinals.
 
Overhaul came into the first power pool as the surprise story of day one. After their hard fought win over one seed Slow White, they looked to continue their fine run against Mischief. “Half of our squad is new to Club Championships,” said Overhaul’s Colin McIntyre, “but I don’t think we’re overwhelmed. We have a lot of D skill, and our O line gave up very few breaks. We just have to keep getting quick goals and staying positive throughout the day.” Mischief had played a lot of close games on Thursday, and hoped to improve on their uneven first day performance.
 
They had seemed unable to put their best game on the field consistently for a whole game. The game itself opened with both teams trading, just sort of getting a sense for the other. The break arrived at the hands of Overhaul’s Seth Buchsbaum, getting a D that the Michigan team converted, Colin McIntyre to Matt Wilken. The teams traded points to half from there, then Overhaul’s focus and D allowed them to pull away a bit for the win.
 
Slow White’s game with Bucket offered a look at two of the tournament’s more heavily favored teams going into the weekend. Bucket’s athletic long game and powerful D had served them well in the heat of Thursday, while they had showed signs of difficulty in the breeze late. “Our key is keeping control in the wind,” said Bucket’s Victor Wu, “we like our depth and athletic ability. Even with the easier games yesterday, we keep in mind that those were still hard points and hard playing. It’s helpful for us to try to finish strong.” Mike Miller from Slow White had nothing but respect for his morning opponent: “Overhaul was one of the toughest D’s we’ve seen all year, and we think Bucket’s going to be right there with them. We look to get a block early, a big motivating play, and get that momentum.” That early break came right away, as a Bucket overthrow in the end zone led to a quick drive down the field for Slow White. A couple more breaks put Bucket in a bit of a hole before they could finally score as Doug Sindelar pulled in their first point. The points were by no means quick, as the wind made for many floating discs, but the jump balls seemed to go Slow White’s way as often as not: Dan and Evan Patistas were crucial in the air for the Bostonians, and Rusty Ingold-Smith was simply a dominating force on the field. Slow White put their stamp on the first half, 8-3, and then remained content to trade in the second half, taking a comfortable win. “Defense was key…we’ve played this team before,” said Slow White’s Evan Patistas, “and when we’ve put a zone on them, they sometimes have trouble with it.”
In the other power pool, Polar Bears met Drag’n Thrust. Polar Bears’ Greg Marliave looked at his team’s keys as being “keeping our energy and sidelines up... our zone is going to be big on a windy day like today.” An-Chi Tsou added, “we have a deep team, lots of great players who can all win some games for us.” On the other side of the tilt, Drag’n Thrust’s Dave Klink suggested that they would “fall back on our depth and D. It’s a windy day, which we really haven’t faced as often as usual this season, so we’ll adjust to that and throw horde after horde after their O line.”
 
Drag’n backed that up early, getting a couple of solid breaks to take a 5-2 lead. Polar Bears’ Michael Liu accounted for a lot of their points with his solid handling and decent deep shots, but Drag’n Thrust also forced him into a couple crucial turns. After trailing 8-4 at half, Polar Bears closed to 10-8 after an Emma Dobbins D led to a Robert Gormley to Ernst Westphal score. But Drag’n Thrust cut the run short with D’s by Melissa Jordan and Alex Baker, and put the game away to level their power pool record.
 
District 5 and Chad Larson Experience faced off in the other game of the second power pool. John Korber of District 5 acknowledged his team’s suboptimal Thursday performance would have to be improved on: “We have to work harder than yesterday…we had some lulls, jogged on a few points. We have to stay after it, work hard on every point, focus on how we play; the rest takes care of itself.” Chad Larson Experience captain Kevin Seiler looked to have his team play their savvy flow-based game: “All the top eight at this tournament are really athletic teams…we just want to come out with our game plan: take some chances, guard the long, get short turns and adjust as needed.” The early break came for District 5, and they claimed another one before taking half on a Liz Middleton to Sara Zuba score to make it 8-5. District 5 looked far more composed in the early going, but CLX was not going to bow out quietly. Chad Larson’s Jasmine Draper’s deep D set up Doug Jacobs brilliant toe-drag catch and suddenly the score was tied at tens. Both teams battled for any shred of momentum they could find, and District 5 pushed their lead to 13-11 when Brandon Redding hit a horizontal Zac Roy. CLX was still not done, and took a late lead as a Melissa Gibbs D gave Mike Lun the opportunity to hit Jasmine Draper to make it 16-15. CLX’s Achilles heel over the weekend had been unforced errors, however, and, on double game point, a throw away on a relatively short pass opened the door for District 5 to level the entire power pool at 1-1.
 
The theme of parity continued into Friday afternoon. Following the first round of power pool play, every team but Mischief and Overhaul were tied with a win and a loss each. Everything remained to play for, and no team could safely say where they would stand in the quarterfinal bracket.
 
Drag’n Thrust and District 5 had come away looking to continue the momentum they gained by winning their morning matchups. Both teams were playing excellent D and moved the disc quickly on O, trusting their athletes to bring down the throws. The two teams traded early, with a few Ds on one side being answered immediately by the other team. Neither team was able to convert until Jake Henderson found Pat Niles for Drag’n Thrust after District 5 sent a throw out of reach. From there, both teams traded to half, with big plays being made on both sides. For District 5, Chris Mazur, Zac Roy and Justin Segool seemed to be all over the field, while James Hron, Alex Delegard and Jeff Trosvig collected D’s for Drag’n Thrust. While Drag’n Thrust seemed to have little trouble with District 5’s zone, the game still remained tight enough that a run could still change the game. After District 5 closed to within one at 11-10, Drag’n Thrust answered with another wave of D, pushing the score to 14-10 before trading a point to finish their Friday undefeated and into the quarterfinals.
 
Polar Bears and Chad Larsen Experience needed to reverse their morning fortunes to book their spot in Saturday’s bracket. As close and even as the power pool was, either team could finish in any of the four spots based on this game. Every point was crucial, and both teams were clearly aware, as the score remained close through the first half, Polar Bears up 8-6. CLX found their rhythm after half a bit, taking the first three points out of the break, and then finally taking the lead 11-10. Polar Bears pushed back to take the next two points, going up 12-11 on a Adam Raty to Robert Gormley score. Both sides pushed the disc hard and made big plays, with Michael Liu, An-Chi Tsou and Bekah Sexton each making huge contributions for Polar Bears, and Kyle Gill, Chelsea Twohig and Jessy Erickson getting it done for CLX. Still, the nagging unforced errors continued to dog Chad Larson Experience, and Polar Bears were not going to waste the opportunities given them. At 12-12, the Bears converted three straight to finish the game on a Greg Mariave to An-Chi Tsou score, taking second in the power pool and pushing Chad Larson Experience to the pre-quarter game.
 
Mischief needed to win and win big against Slow White to avoid the pre-quarters. Slow White, on the other hand, looked to continue recapturing the kind of dominance that gave them the first seed overall going into this tournament. Much as they had against Bucket earlier, Slow White wanted to establish the tone early with a big break and quick score, before settling in to run their game. When you have their combination of athletic players and solid, disciplined offence, sometimes the script just writes itself. Slow White’s D concentrated on taking away all of Mischief’s main passing lanes, and then converting after the turn. Christopher Waite hit Julie Sussman to make it 8-2, Slow White, at half, and the game never got much closer than that. While Slow White was content to coast a bit in the second half, the outcome never seemed in doubt as they cruised to regain their place in the top half of the quarters bracket.
 
Overhaul and Bucket met to finish out power pool play, and this game was not a display of smooth ultimate that one expects in upper level play at Club Championships. Both teams struggled to find a rhythm in a game marred by many errant hucks, unforced errors, chippy calls and absurdly long points. It seemed that Overhaul was having difficulty overcoming some key injuries, with James Highsmith and Seth Buchsbaum both out of cleats for the game. Meanwhile, Bucket seemed perfectly content to let the game go to a test of raw athleticism, figuring, probably correctly, that they had the advantage. At one point, Overhaul’s Matt Wilkin told me “we have a strategy, and we’re just not using it.” The first half finished 8-7 Bucket, but Overhaul would never get closer, as the second half became a war of sloppy attrition. Tom Haynes finding Ross Welch brought Overhaul as close as 13-10 after one of the longest points I’ve ever seen at this level, but Bucket took control from there, removing the last undefeated team in the division on a Matt Kafonek to Fred Sieling score.
 
In the aftermath of the power pools, we had two teams who had come in with a loss ending up atop each pool in Drag’n Thrust and Slow White, followed by Polar Bears and Bucket, respectively. District 5’s one point win over CLX gave them the slim margin for third place, while Overhaul slipped from presumptive first to third in the final tally. Chad Larson Experience and Mischief awaited the winners of the lower bracket pools in the dreaded pre-quarters.
 
But who would those winners be? The play-in pools featured close game after close game, still further evidence of the parity on display in the division. Still, none of the teams coming in with a loss was able to sneak up on any of their higher-ranked opponents, leaving everything to be decided by the 1-2 games. Both games were close, hard-fought affairs, with L.A. Metro breaking Snowbirds hearts after coming back from 12-9 down to win the game in double game-point, 15-14, and giving them a shot at Mischief. Meanwhile, AMP could not replicate their regionals win over wHagonweel, falling at cap, 12-11, to send the Raleigh-Durham team on to meet a frustrated Chad Larson Experience.
 
The Chad Larson Experience/ wHagonweel pre-quarter started with the 2009 runners-up and defending World Champions cruising to a 5-1 lead. However, a deep turn by wHagonweel led to CLX throwing a Callahan to wHagon’s Brad Thornton. At that point, Chad Larson Experience’s predilection for execution errors took over the game for a time, and the wHagonweel’s Joey Connelly collected the team’s second Callahan goal to close to 7-5. The game would tie at 8-8 after half, and wHagonweel finally gained their first lead at 11-10 on a Jordan Moore to Rob Sayre-McCord score. By this time, CLX had seen enough, and the Championship vets reasserted control, finishing a five point run to take the game and book a morning meeting with Slow White on a Jon Misra to Kurt Brorsen score.
 
The other pre-quarter featured the No-Cal/So-Cal matchup, Mischief vs. L.A. Metro. Both teams have very similar games, with Mischief having perhaps more depth overall. Still, in several meetings in recent years, L.A. Metro has struggled to win games against their Bay Area opponents. Metro was certainly going to give it their all, however, and the game began really tight, with points trading back and forth until Metro took the first break on a Kief Zangaro to Barrs Lang score. Rhythm was at a premium in this game, with both teams having a hard time establishing their offensive sets or consistently converting turns. The score hovered within a point or two either way, Metro taking half 8-6, while Mischief tied at 11-11 after Will Goodyer found Nick Weiss for the goal. Metro’s next point ended in a turn again, and Mischief had no problem converting that to take the lead as Kyle Smith hit Adam Brown. It would be easy to pack it in there, but L.A. Metro was here to fight, retaking the lead at 15-14 (cap at 16) in time to set up game point on Scotty Mahr’s assist to Keegan Uhl. “Last game of the day, it’s all about heart,” came the shout from Mischief’s sidelines, and, as they had all weekend, the Bay Area side found a way to pull it back level, Mark Smith to Kyle Smith. Double game point, pressure on, L.A. Metro threw the disc away perhaps fifteen yards out of their own end zone, and Mark would find Kyle again to take the game and set up their quarterfinal against Drag’n Thrust.
 
With Friday in the books, we are left with the meat of the tournament, Super Saturday, and the preparations to set up Sunday’s final. In a division with so much parity, every game is a chance to stand out or sit out. How it all goes down is the story tomorrow.