USA Ultimate

Mixed Division Mid-Atlantic Regionals Recap

While the wide open Mid-Atlantic Mixed Regionals ended with a familiar team on top, there was plenty of uncertainty coming into the tournament and several big results over the weekend.

Though the region was well represented at July's Philly Invite, the presence of substantial out-of-region teams from the Central and Northeast limited the number of head to head matchups. There were several games to draw on from August's Glazed Daze in North Carolina, but Chesapeake Open's cancellation due to Hurricane Irene left little clarity in how this season's contenders stacked up against one another. Sectionals didn't help matters with the 1 seeds falling in all three events; presumed favorite Ambiguously Grey dropped all the way to 4th in the Capital Section. Emphasizing the perception that the Regional tournament was open for anyone to take, Carolina newcomers Cahoots were elevated to the 1-seed in the rankings despite limited pre-series results while 2-time defending champions AMP found themselves relegated to 8th.

Two months of above-average rainfall had left the region heavily saturated, so when the forecast closed the tournament's intended fields near Washington it was disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. RC Laura Taylor did an amazing job quickly finding several alternatives and the event went ahead as scheduled with the site shifted to the Kennett Square Polo Fields outside Philadelphia and the two North Carolina teams graciously adding 2 more hours to their commute north. The fields were sticky where not outright muddy and the playing conditions were not fast. Temperatures dropped more than 10 degrees for a chilly weekend marked by occasional light rain and some wind that may have affected play, but treated all teams equally.

[PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Leclaire, UltiPhotos.com]

Pool play bore out the difficulty of ranking the teams with 3-seed Death By Jubilee pushed to universe point by 12-seed Derty People and then beaten the following round by Pittsburgh's Muffin Men, the 13th ranked team. Among the other pools' favorites only Renegade survived their final round 1 v 2 matchup, avenging a Sectional pool play loss to Charlottesville-based Virginia Slims to move into semis. AMP's disciplined team play and deep roster prevailed over Cahoots while Termite's Entourage beat Whagonweel by 5 and Ambiguously Grey rose to the top of Pool C with an 8-point win over Death By Jubilee.

Playing their fourth game of the day in the semifinals tested the mental and physical toughness of all 4 teams and kept both games tight. AMP broke first, Renegade responded and the teams traded out several exhausting points through the second half before AMP won a final break and held on O in the cap for a 14-12 win. Entourage fell behind early, but their small roster rallied ahead. Ambiguously Grey scored to bring the score back to 10-11, but the hard cap ended the game there, setting up a Founders Section final and sending the two Capital teams into the second place bracket.

AMP and Termite's Entourage provided an intriguing finals matchup. Entourage, a New Jersey-based pickup team organized by long-time AMP standout Sean Murray, featured a roster of more than 10 other former AMP players now taking a break from most of the summer club season, but still skilled and very experienced. Their numbers were supplemented by longtime Philadelphia stars Jon and Kristen Frentzel and a number of talented women led by Katie Ryan.

[PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Leclaire, UltiPhotos.com]

Entourage had won a hard-fought universe point game over AMP at Sectionals and the experience fueled the Philadelphia team's preparation through September. AMP also welcomed the return of Alex Peters and Raha Mozaffari, absent at Sectionals, the latter moving from her usual offensive role onto the D line to counter Entourage's 4-women offensive lineup. AMP's women had the first word in the game, Preeti Nalavade poaching deep to catch a D over the leaping Jon Frentzel and Alex Grintsvayg in the endzone. AMP punched it in the other way, then pulled and converted another turn for a 2-0 lead. Entourage scored on O and the teams traded out until 4-3 when AMP's first turnover gave Entourage sight of a break. However AMP's Aaron Caulfield D-ed a deep throw to Sean Murray and Melanie Berlin threw to Melissa Devlin for a score the other way. Two points later Caulfield was again big in the air, fighting for position to catch the goal for 6-4 before AMP took the game to halftime with two more breaks, 8-4.

Coming out of half, and receiving in the rain, two drops became Entourage's first two breaks before AMP converted a careful zone offense point, then broke back twice again, Bill Schrecker to Raha Mozaffari and Brian Jin to Justin Illuzzi off a huge breakside D from Andrew Baill to take a 11-6 lead.

Entourage's next O possession was the game's longest point with several turnovers and calls from each side, while Entourage eventually fought through the conditions to hold, it would be their last score. At 11-7 AMP's O turned on the goal line, but a Brian Lo layout D took back possession and Krista Winalski scored her 3rd goal of the game for 12-7. Justin Illuzzi got the D and score to make it 13. Keith Torrey forced a turnover on the endzone which Harrison Treegoob converted to Andrea DeSabato for 14 and Justin Illuzzi threw the final goal to Melanie Berlin for AMP's 3rd consecutive Regional Championship and 6th straight bid to Nationals. AMP features just 4 players who have remained on the roster since their 5th place finish in 2009, but have comprehensively rebuilt their new core. After introducing 15 first-time nationals players in 2010 and continuing to develop this season, they return to Sarasota more experienced and ambitious in 2011.

Ambiguously Grey played through the backdoor for a rematch with Entourage, smashing Cahoots and beating Renegade on universe point 12-11. The DC team began the "game to go" on the front foot, earning the only breaks of the first half and building momentum for an 8-5 lead behind captain and standout deep Calvin Oung, formerly of Truck Stop and Tandem. Entourage started the second half by sending primary handler Brian Felt deep, and though the backhand huck from Sean Murray was blocked, it was a turning point; after the game, Murray admitted the mistake "made him mad" and his determination showed. Entourage scored, then came down forcing middle on D, bothering their opponents with more physical marks and slowing Grey's downfield flow. Off a few Grey mistakes and drops, Entourage converted 4 breaks in a row to take the lead, one a contentious, diving out of bounds goal by Sean Murray that was initially ruled in, sent back to the thrower by the observers when it was unclear if the receiver had bobbled his one-handed grab, then scored again by Sean Murray. When Ambiguously Grey finally held possession and scored it was 10-9 Entourage.

The teams traded points, Grey sending Calvin deep with leading throws to space and Entourage starting to dominate the middle of the field through Steph Bailey, Katie Ryan, Kristen and Jon Frentzel. After a huge endzone D by Gary Rodman over a taller cutter, Entourage's Jeff Truskin, Kristin Stroupe and Jeff Loperfdio worked the full field for another break and some breathing room before Kristen Frentzel accelerated through her mark for a D and Krystal Golankiewicz scored for the win.

Elsewhere in the results, second-year team Renegade distinguished themselves well to take 4th, their only losses in the front and back door, to the eventual first and third place teams, by a combined 3 points. Muffin Men played well above seed, finishing in a tie for 5th with Cahoots. Whagonweel conceded 7th to Death By Jubilee. Blueprint, American Hyperbole, Seven Minutes in Heaven, Virginia Slims, Jughandle, Derty People, Encore and Scum rounded out 9-16.

Photos of the action courtesy of UltiPhotos' Kevin Leclaire.  Additional tournament coverage can be found here.