vs. UNCW: 9-12
vs. NYU: 7-11
vs. Emory: 11-10
vs. App State: 13-0
Sunday: Bracket Play
vs. Duke: 9-10
vs. UVA: 8-9
During our first game we learned how to play with our "outdoor legs" on real grass. It was kinda like learning how to play real ultimate all over again. It was windy, but we focused on man defense and flow during our first game. We dropped the first half 2-7 pretty quickly; we kept getting beat to the open side and things just weren't clicking for us. Then things started coming together during the second half: Rosa made a lot of great cuts and catches; zone O was looking a lot better. We upped our intensity, and took the second half 7-5, but it still wasn't enough to win the game. Final score: 9-12.
UNCW's giant 4-man cup is no match for Daphne!sMITe zone O working the disc up the field
Nice cut from Rosa, several passes later,
I/O break from Daphne to Smeri for the score.
Then we played NYU, which was a really fun, intense game. We tried clam, which worked really well because they had no idea what was going on. They kept yelling at each other to make cuts - "There's like 3 people poached!! Someone make a cut!!!" and eventually turned the disc. It was a very upwind/downwind game with gusty wind, which made throwing frustrating for some, fun for others. We also put on some zone, and they played with three handlers back, so it was basically man downfield. Our dumps - mainly me, had a hard time getting open. I think I get intimidated by bigger/faster people covering me as a dump. During this game we also had a lot of good dump-swing-break progressions and nice I/O breaks. We won the last two points, but not enough to win the game because it was time-capped. Final score: 7-11.
Our game against Emory was pretty intense. The wind had picked up, so we traded downwind points, each got an upwind break, and we lost the first half (6-7). We had several huck plays downwind (me to Smeri or Jenny) with the purpose of setting a zone, but many of those huck plays worked so we didn't even have to put on zone. But when we did, we put on a lot of trap, which was pretty effective. Then we won a key upwind point which tied the score and then we won 11-10 on universe point. :)
Against Emory, Jenny catches the swill, throws to Doris for the score!
Against App State we practiced trap zone and spread. It took a while to get people to cut in spread, but eventually Shan, Jenn, and Chenxia and some other people made some really good cuts (not all at the same time of course) and we had some good looks downfield. Chenxia made a few really awesome low catches and in general she's really aggressive on the field, which is really exciting to see :) Jenn is also really good at getting open and solid with her claw-catching. Final score: 13-0.
More efficient way of massaging... :)Sunday was much colder and rainier than Saturday, but there was much less wind. During our first game against Duke there were a lot of drops because of wetness. Erika and Daphne had a lot of run-through Ds. And we also boxed one girl - their main handler and receiver ("funny how that works" says Daphne). At the beginning of the game, they put on zone and I kept dropping it within the first few passes or throwing hammers unnecessarily. :( There also wasn't much movement downfield on zone O, which made it hard to move the disc upfield. Duke took half at 5-7.
There was one instance where Daphne threw a hammer to Smeri, which came up short and was caught by Rosa, who was then trapped in a four-man cup on the sideline and because handlers weren't crashing for her, she threw a stall-9 hammer which went almost straight up in the air, which Catherine caught(!!!), and a few passes later, Rosa cut in the endzone for the score! There was another point where Daphne threw a nice I/O pass in the endzone to Erika for the score. Anyway, the second half looked a lot better; we had much better throw and fewer drops, but we lost the game because of not defending deep throws. Shan was cutting really well and getting open at will - always 10-feet from her defender, and making lots of nice catches. We battled back to tie it 9-9 but lost on universe point 9-10.
Our last game against UVA was played on the world's crappiest field; I think there were more non-grass patches than grass patches. And there were no cones and a big mud puddle in the middle of the field. This was the only game where I scored - and I scored twice! Once going deep for Daphne and another sliding catch when I was a dump going up the line for Veena. Smeri decides she can't let me have all the fun in the mud, so the next point she also lays out to score. UVA threw 1-3-3 defense, which confused us, but Daphne, Catherine, and Erika had a lot of nice up-the-line passes. We won the first half 7-6. During the second half, we kept getting beat deep (again), and we lost on universe point (again) 8-9.
What looked good: clam - maybe because a lot of teams haven't seen it?, quick handler movement, flow, cutter movement and getting open improved immensely over the tournament
Things we need to improve on: defending against deep cuts, transitioning between zone D and man D and clam, defending dump cuts, being heads up in the cup (constantly being aware of where the other team is), clearing WIDE... we know what we're doing for the next couple practices...
Does anyone else get post-tournament depression?
Quote of the day:
"I wish I were good enough to play professional ultimate. And then I wish professional ultimate would pay me." - NG
