USA Ultimate

Bay Area plays into top seed in YCC Mixed division

Some familiar faces, as well as some new ones were found at this year’s Youth Club Championships.  Annual standard bearers such as DiscNW, BUDA, and Minnesota welcomed new teams from Fayetteville, Bay Area, and Chicago.  But that does mean that the new teams were pushovers.

Round One

New to YCC, Fayetteville's coach knew that they'd be underestimated.  And underestimated they were.  Taking on the #1 seed in the pool, Minnesota, Fayetteville came out guns blazing.  Powered by solid play from Abe Coffin, Joe Bell, and Sue Marie Brenden, the team from Arkansas hucked the disc early and often.  Talented players from Minnesota Jason Tschida, Vince Vik, and Jack Patrick Kunkel weren't able to stop the machine from the south.  Final: Fayetteville 13, Minnesota 8.

Powered by the spirited play of Logan Pruess, Rein Boyd, and Meredith Bray, Madison was hoping to continue off their 2009 success.  Comprised of five high schools, the athletes from Bay Area came out loud and proud, and their spirit was audible for all to hear.  Bay Area's Nathan White and Simon Higgins were more than happy to be on the receiving end of huck after successful huck from handler’s Sam McClure and David Hwang.  They made quick work of the 30-player roster from Madison.  Final: Bay Area 13, Madison 2.

Denver handlers Will Barrettt and Lisi Lohre had their hands full against a tenacious four person defensive cup from Boston's BUDA.  Using a strategy of keeping the disc short didn't work.  Late in the game, Denver turned up the energy, but it was too little, too late.  Future Carleton player Will Herold, 14 year old Angela Zhu, and the powerhouse from Boston could do little wrong.  Final: BUDA 13, Denver 1.

Chicago's Tim Fergus, Joe Simonelli, and Patrick Kaufmann meant business.  And you knew one way or another, Chicago was going to bring something special.  But DiscNW's Mario Lowe, Jessie Thoreson, and all around play from Khalif El-Salaam helped early in the game.  Although the morning had little wind, the team from Seattle put the zone on five separate points.  A flying layout from DiscNW’s Christian Tugade in the end zone took Seattle to the half, 7-3.  The Chicago/DiscNW game was the best spirited game of the round.  But DiscNW were looking for more than just good times.  A well-placed put from Jordan Lim to Alice Edwards for the win.  Final: DiscNW 11, Chicago 6.

The Bay Area Happy Cows had momentum going into the second round.  This was their inaugural YCC tournament and they had something to prove.  Even against a zone, Minnesota possessed reliable handlers in Emily Petersen and Anna Barnett.  Spirit and encouragement from Carlos Lopez helped Minnesota find its groove.  Down 8-7, looked to Jack Simpson to tie it up, 8-8 in the soft cap.  Staring down a 9-9 universe point, San Francisco’s coach knew it would come down to calm execution. Bay Area found Simon Higgins on a 30 yard downwind huck for the win.  Final: Bay Area 10, Minnesota 9.

Fayetteville had a powerful thing going for them, they’d been playing together for four years.  All 18 players on the team come from Fayetteville High School.  And that means trust.  Despite the wind picking up in the second round, both teams were able to score upwind.  Spirited play kept Madison in the game.  Late in the game, a ten minute point Fayetteville was helped out by a sick layout D from Abe Coffin.  Fayetteville scored upwind to go up 6-2.  And the machine kept rolling.  Final: Fayetteville 10, Madison 8.

BUDA’s relentless zone D continued into the second round, forcing Pat Kaufmann, Jimmy Sykora, and the rest of the Micromachines from Chicago work for it.  Their careful possession meant fewer turnovers from both teams than the first round.  While the team from Boston jumped out to an early lead, Chicago found themselves rolling in the middle.  BUDA’s Jason Milan had a great game.  An upwinder to Danny Katz helped to seal the deal.  Final: BUDA 13, Chicago 5.

The final game of the round pitted two teams from the Western states, Denver Cutthroat against Seattle’s Disc Northwest. Cutthroats’s Mark Rauls came up big with an endzone D.  The first half found both teams playing man-on D.  But in the second half, DiscNW’s four person cup was the right call as west winds gusted to 13 mph.  DiscNW was up 8-5 and the softcap went on.  There was more left in the tank for Denver, but it wasn’t enough.  Final: DiscNW 11, Denver 7.

Exchanging hucks early, Madison found themselves up 2-0.  Madison’s tenacious D was lead by future St. Olaf player, Lauren Hagen.  An upwind and up the line throw from Logan Pruess to Dana Williams helped Madison to go up 5-3.  Late in the game, Minnesota tied it up with a layout score by Seth Donatell.  With the soft cap on, a hand block by Madison’s Ethan Blakeley helped lead to a Wisconsin victory.  Final: Madison 11, Minnesota 7.

The afternoon was a gorgeous 82F and sunny, yet the winds were gusting to tricky 19 mph.   This didn’t prevent Fayetteville from patiently working the disc upwind for nearly 30 throws for the score to go up 4-2.  The point was kept alive by a dump-saving layout by Sunnyside’s Brooks Dawson.  But the Bay Area followed immediately with an upwind point of their own to make it 4-3.  Fayetteville’s Abe Coffin found Joe Bell for two points in a row, while Dylan Holland’s incredible layout D kept the game close, but it was the Happy Cows who turned it on in the second half.   Using shorter throws and a few dominators, Bay Area was able to methodically work with disc when needed.  Bay Area was up 9-8 when the soft cap went on.  The once underestimated crew from San Francisco then really turned up the heat.  Final: Bay Area 12, Fayetteville 8.

Seeded first in their pool BUDA went up 5-0, forcing DiscNW to use both of the timeouts early.  The always moving Qxhna Titcomb and ups from Matt Bandes challenged Seattle at every turn.  Down 7-2 at half, DiscNW came out in a frenzy.  While their cup was moderately effective, they didn’t have the throws.  Final: BUDA 13, DiscNW 4.

The best game of the day pitted Denver’s Cutthroat against Chicago’s Micromachines.  Early in the day, Chicago's coach confidently stated, "We're looking to turn some heads."   Chicago started out strong.  But Denver was not to be denied.  Down 1-5, Denver scored the next seven points to go up 8-5.  Deep plays and layout Ds were the theme of the afternoon, as the teams traded scores.  Colorado’s Nhi Nguyen came up with two fantastic Ds in ten seconds.  Jimmy Sykora and Bridget Babcock played key roles in keeping Chicago in the game.  Despite a great defensive effort from Denver’s Will Barnett, Chicago’s Tim Fergus caught a upwind point to keep it close at 8-9.  And then things got interesting.  After exchanging hucks, Chicago took the downwind point, to make it a 9-9 game and force a final point.  Denver’s Jared Shields came up huge with a D and the final point looked to be in Denver’s favor.  But it was Chicago who refused to give up.  Against a zone and a 17mph wind, Cutthroat methodically worked it up wind. And when it was all on the line, Chicago came out on top, scoring the first win of the day.  Final: Chicago 10, Denver 9.