USA Ultimate

Old & In the Way, Well Done Claim Titles in Boulder

Sunday morning brought the start of day two of the 2010 USA Ultimate Grand Masters and Masters Women’s Championship. Thank you to all of the 26 teams that traveled from across the United States to compete in this great tournament, as well as all of the volunteers, who without them the weekend would not have happened.

 

 

-          Mojo 2.0 came out strong for day two despite their small roster. The team was able to get a few nice throws in downfield, including Emily Meisters, whose D’s were able to set her team up for some scores. But Retro’s handler, Tammy Moose, lead her team on the field with nice flow throughout the whole game taking the match 15-5.

 

-          In the Top Shelf and Crack’d quarters both teams came out slow on defense, giving the other team a chance to find the holes and walk up the field continually. But Crack’d took to an aggressive defense and shut down Top Shelf 13-10.

-          In the semifinals, Well Done came out with a vengeance. The team received a first-round bye after remaining undefeated the day before. They came up against Crack’d, who were still tired from their close game against Top Shelf. Well Done came out with a lot of patience with the disc and calmly worked against an aggressive Crack’d defense. Well Done decided to throw their four-person cup on the worn out group and forced Crack’d to swing the disc a lot. When Well Done threw a man defense, Crack’d was able to work it up the field, but had trouble putting the disc in for the score. This eventually lead to Well Done’s 15-4 win and advancement to the finals.

 

-          The other semifinal match up was Retro and the Safari-tarians. The two teams stayed close to each other throughout the game, neither of the teams having more than a two-point lead. After Retro took half, 8-6, the Safari-tarians came out looking for a battle and went up 10-8. After that, the game kept going back and forth between the teams including some hard fought overtime. But in the end the fresher legs of the Safari-tarians came out on top with a 16-14 victory and a bye before the Women’s final.

 

-          For the quarterfinals, the Nice Guys from San Diego found themselves up against Yomo Fog Oho from Colorado. The Nice Guys had a lot of flow for a couple points but were no match for the aggressive Yomo defense. In addition to the defense, Yomo showed a lot of patience and valued the disc a lot more than the Nice Guys. In the end, the Nice Guys fell to Yomo Fog Oho 14-9 and got bumped down to the consolation bracket.

 

-          Surly’s defense came out a little disorganized against their Big Sky Grand opponents. But after spending some time talking to each other on the line, the team became more cohesive. The team made a huge effort to make it down the field quickly and trap Surly in their end zone several times. But the handling of Mark Hauska and Johnny Hock from Surly was able to find a lot of open field and score several of the team’s goals. After the half Big Sky Grand started to have a small run, but in the end they fell to Surly 12-8.

 

-          Old and In the Way continued their strong run in the tournament against Throwback in the quarterfinals. The nice handling of Jeff Van Spriell and Michael Kuhns played very well into the hands of Old and In the Way as they were able to weave up and down the field constantly. Throwback’s Paul Wheaton and Darren Byle worked hard to put the struggling Throwback team on the scoreboard. But Old and In the Way standout Randy Ricks made some strong plays to move them into semifinals 15-9.

 

-          DoG’s Simon Verghese was a main component in DoG’s 15-8 victory over Ball & Chain, scoring seven points. Ball & Chain handlers Marc Seto and Rex Taylor tried to keep Ball & Chain in it, but in the end it was not meant to be.

-          Old and In the Way brought their whole cheering squad to the semis match up against DoG. In the beginning, both teams started off playing good clean Ultimate with neither of the teams giving up a lot on the field. Most of the turnovers happened in the end zone while being contested by the opposite team. The fast-paced game continued to be closely fought with DoG taking half at 8-7. After half, both teams continued to keep the disc off the ground except for a couple of good D’s from the other team. William Taylor and Simon Verghese were the big scorers for DoG and Scotty Bennett and Kevin Hamm worked hard to keep Old and In the Way in the lead. After tying the game at 12-12, Old and In the Way quickly took control of the game and ended it with a 15-13 win and a trip to the finals.

 

-          Yomo Fog Oho started the semis against Surly slowly and had problems connecting with each other, whereas Surly worked the long field and quickly got on the scoreboard. They also had great success capitalizing on Yomo’s mistakes. But Yomo would not lie down so easily; the team from Colorado quickly found themselves connecting with each other halfway through the first half. With their fast pace, Surly started to have problems keeping their team connected and quickly lost their lead. Halfway through the game and with a few offside problems, both teams requested observers. With this, the game picked up pace and Yomo picked up their intensity. This intensity started to affect Surly’s play as they continued to have connection problems and made a lot of turnovers on Yomo’s end zone. With this breakdown, Yomo was able to come through with a 15-11 win and a ticket to the finals, where they would face their rivals Old and In the Way.

-          After an hour bye both teams were ready to start the final for the Masters Women’s. Well Done started their defense by poaching their Safari-tarian opponents. The Safari-tarians quickly made note of this and were able to work the open field which lead to a tight game. But the Safari-tarians had a problem with overthrowing their target. As the wind picked up, Well Done tried to throw their four person cup, which had given other teams in the tournament problems. But the Safari-tarians had no problem sending their crisp throws around the field. Well Done was able to take half 8-7 with long hucks from Julie Wolf and Melanie Deaver. As the wind picked up for the second half, Well Done took to a huck-and-throw zone strategy. The Safari-tarians started to throw a four person cup on Well Done, but the team was able to patiently work the field with four handlers. With the wind driving, the two teams battled long into soft cap. Within the last two points, the disc traded teams several times until Well Done was able to come up with the game winning huck. In the end, the hometown team Well Done sealed the Master Women’s Championship title with a 14-10 final.

-          For the Open Division a large crowd began to form as the two Colorado teams, Yomo Fog Oho and Old and In the Way, started the Grand Masters final. The two teams ended up trading points for the first few points until Old and In the Way took half 8-4. During the halftime, both teams took the time to work on throwing in the harsh wind. After half, Yomo came out big and took the game to within two points. But after a timeout, Old and In the way brought the game to an 11-6 lead. Yomo did not lie down and went on a short run. But in the end the strong connection and good flow of the Old and In the Way brought them to a win. The final goal being scored by Scotty Bennett’s push pass. Old and In the Way became the 2010 Grand Master Champions with a 15-10 win against their rivals.