Sunday, March 29, 2009

Yale Cup

We played savage at Yale cup on Saturday: Amy, Trisha, me, Meri, Clare, Emily, Heather. And it was AWESOME. The tournament was set up so that if you either won or lost all three games in your pool, then you didn't have to play a fourth game. So after a long discussion in the car, we decided that we were going to win our three pool play games... :)

Sat. 9:00am - vs Yale
We started off playing Yale in our first round. It was sunny with very little wind. We came out in man D and ho-stack and things weren't working for us so we dropped the first couple points pretty quickly. I remember the first point being horrible - there were something like 7 turnovers near our endzone and I was SO tired just from the first point of the first game and I was thinking, "OMG I can't believe we have to play savage the entire day." And Meri hasn't been playing much ultimate in the last month, being in Bolivia and all, but it came back to her pretty quickly :) I think we were all really intimidated at the fact that we were going to play with no subs.

After a timeout we committed ourselves to playing efficient offense and got our minds back in the game. Our cutters were doing an amazing job of making sharp cuts and getting open. And for defense since it was the same 7 people on the line, we all had pretty set positions and by the end of the day our trap cup (3 of the 4 - Amy/Clare/Emily/Heather) were working really well together. Amy and Clare have monster marks in the trap cup and forced a lot of turnovers.

At one point Meri and I decided to switch handler/cutter roles but we soon found out that I can't catch discs unless they're floaty dump passes or dishes and that she can't huck... Just kidding, Meri can huck but the one she threw to me this game didn't work too well. We decided that today wasn't the day to screw around with our roles on the field. Anyway, Final score 11-7.

Sat. 10:45am - vs NYU
We had lost in a pretty close game to NYU at Easterns (score was 6-9). So this game was going to be a rematch. :) We dropped the first three points pretty quickly 0-3 (common theme in all of sMITe's games apparently). And then we took a time-out to get our heads back in the game and we took the next three points to tie it up 3-3.

The rest of the game sMITe just scored point after point. At one time NYU set a zone on us once and we pretty much tore through their cup and scored without a turnover so that was the end of playing zone offense against this team (and pretty much for the rest of the day).

It was also this game where Clare started reading the disc really well and caught many of my hucks. Heather is an amazing cutter, handler, and overall frisbee player. She also has really graceful one-handed catches in the endzone. :) Final score 11-4.

Sat. 12:30pm - vs Tufts
This was our closest game of the day. I don't actually remember much from this game except I hucked it to Meri a few times - I love one-throw points to score. I think Meri hucked to me once and that actually worked out pretty well.

Again, our trap zone was key in this game. By the end of the game though, our man defense was falling apart and we were getting beat to the open side and getting scored on point after point. Luckily we had scored a lot during the beginning of the game so we still won at hard cap, final score 10-9.


Our savage line on Saturday. We're so tall :D Wooo 3-0 in our pool. :D Look we're so happy :)

We saw one of the TDs at Yale later that afternoon and she apologized for underestimating us and seeding us so low =P

Also my parents came to watch me play ultimate for the first time ever! It made me really happy since I tell them about ultimate all the time but they don't know how the game really works. After the Tufts game, my dad comes up to me and says, "Wow you guys look really tired. Do you always play with this many? You should get more people, more subs." I'm just looking at him nodding, stuffing my face with M&Ms and pringles and my mom looks at me nervously and points to some tournament bagels on the ground and says, "you should eat some bagels." =P


Parents + Grandma + me

We accomplished our goal of playing as little games as possible on Saturday so we finished at 2pm and went to Rudy's to get French fries with different sauces (the mango mayo was sooo good). After a while we decided that smoothies would go really well with fries so we went to Publick Cup to get smoothies.

Publick Cup with our smoothies and fries :D


For dinner we went to Taste of Thai or something. And they had this random sign that said, "I.I.T.Y.W.I.M.W.Y.B.M.A.D." So we were waiting for our table and taking turns making up things that the sign might mean. At at the end dinner I asked our waitress what that sign stood for and she asks me, "If I tell you what it means will you buy me a drink?" And I just look at her blankly and go "uhhhh" and then someone at our table asks her if that's what the sign meant and then I got it. =P

If I tell you what it means will you buy me a drink?


We stayed in the Branford TV room that night where they had 12 reclining chairs and a flat screen TV. It was pretty sweet. The chairs didn't recline all the say but they were still pretty comfortable but some people still ended up sleeping on the floor.

Branford TV room


On Sunday we gained 2 more people, Anne and Agnes. Conditions were rainy, wet, and a little bit windy (maybe 5-10mph) but not too cold :)

Sun. 8:30am - vs. Brown
I don't think I've ever played Brown this year on sMITe. I've played them on Hatch but that's a different story. They're a pretty intense team and it was a really great game for us. We played a trap cup that worked well in the slippery wet conditions. Brown put a clam on our vertical stack so we just switched to ho-stack for the rest of the game. Our ho-stack was looking really good this game: the timing of the cuts was really great and it seemed to me like there was always someone open. They also poached a lot of the handlers which screwed us up a little bit but it didn't seem to be a problem after we recognized them. At one point in time Heather made this sliding one-handed catch for a low disc where she slid 10 yards in the mud. I felt like I spent more energy yelling things at my teammates this game than actually running. I don't know why but it seemed like no one could hear me.

Brown took half 8-7 and right after half they scored two more points to make it 10-7 Brown. They pulled and I threw a huck to Meri for the score to make it 10-8. We scored another point (I think it was me to Meri again) to make it 10-9. The next point we had forced a turn and worked it up to our endzone and I threw to Heather who caught it and called herself in. Heather's defender insisted that she wasn't actually in but Heather said that its her call and that she's in. Then Heather's D tried to call a pick on Heather's cut but that was already too late. Anyway, Heather's score counted which tied it up 10-10. The last point was kinda ridiculous... at some point Meri hucked it to me, which bladed towards the break side. I positioned myself to catch it but Clare was in front of me and jumped to catch it. She bobbled the disc 4-5 times and the ended up on the ground clutching the disc to her chest. Then we all rushed the field and piled on top Clare - it was pretty awesome - coming back when we were down 3 points to win the game. Final score 11-10.

Sun. 10:15am - vs. Vermont
Not really sure what happened in this game... We played a lot of trap zone but it kept getting broken. We tried marking straight up but our downfield D was not working. We got beat up the line a lot and we weren't able to seal their swings to the break side. Also Vermont did a good job of defending our deep looks. On a good note, I feel like I gelled more with the other handlers this game. Final score 7-13.

Sunday team - tied for 3rd.


Complete scores: http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=34&id=6330

P.O.D. - Heather and Clare
My player of the day vote goes to Heather and Clare. They played really well this tournament. Heather always looks so graceful and has perfect form when jumping for high discs. She's a scrappy player in general and isn't afraid to get muddy to get the disc. She's one of our best cutters AND she can huck!

Clare is a huge asset on the team because of her speed and also because she learned how to read really well this weekend. She's also not afraid to go up for the disc when covered by multiple defenders that are taller than her. She also has perfect form layouts - they're so pretty!

On another note, Meri, Doris, and I are all pretty broken. Not injured, but just really sore. Meri claims that she wasn't in tournament shape after her month of traveling and she's been coughing a lot - someone should tell her to quit smoking. Doris is in pain because she'a always in pain after tournaments. My whole left side of my body and lower back are sore from pulling. =P

Friday, March 27, 2009

Tournament Schedule

I'm so excited for Yale Cup! It'll be the first time this year when Smeri and I will be on the same line :D And my parents are going to come watch me play! They've never seen me play before. Yayyyyy :)

And here are our tournaments for the rest of the season. Come watch us play!

March 28-29: Yale Cup
April 11: UMassacre
April 18-19: Sectionals (Burlington)
May 2-3: Regionals (Hanover)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Easterns!! Day 2 (and 3)

Sunday's games:

8:00am - vs UMass
  • We woke up super early to start warm-up at 7 am but...
  • UMass never showed. We won by forfeit :P We later found out that they only had 10 ppl and 3 of them got injured on Sat so they decided to go home early :(
  • We ended up scrimmaging ourselves 5 on 5 to keep warm for our next game against...
9:30am - vs NYU
  • This was a pretty good game in terms of being on the same skill/experience level.
  • We worked on clam and trap zone and both worked really well. I love it when teams freak out when we put a clam on. Kelly/Amy/Emily did a great job on defending the open side and Ethan/Sluts took care of the break side. Heather and Anne were awesome at defending the I/O lane. There was always great communication among us and it worked out really well.
  • Our trap zone looked decent - it worked well against this team but in general, we still need to work on cutting off throws going back towards the non-trap side and having the mark check behind her shoulder towards the dump.
  • Final score: 6-9
11:00am - vs App State
  • Next we got to rematch against App State
  • We came out hard in intensity and picked up the first few points
  • I remember our trap zone and clam looking good again
  • There were a few frustrating points because the wind made throwing and catching difficult, but people still kept cutting hard. I remember continue cuts, which we've been working on all weekend, had great timing.
  • Kelly R. and Clare especially did really well this game. I think we also had a textbook example of our endzone play this game as well. It was really exciting :)
  • Oh! And Lydia wrote a cheer for the other team to the tune of "Under the Sea" (Little Mermaid)
  • Final score: 8-6
12:30pm - vs Harvard (scrimmage)
  • Finally we scrimmage Harvard, who had like 20 people this weekend (2 full lines with subs!)
  • This was a fun game but my right foot was hurting a lot during this point and Amy's knee was hurting as well. I'm sure other people were hurting as well but everyone pushed through.
  • Exciting point of the game goes to Mangpo for catching a stall-9 floaty throw to the middle of the stack in the endzone. And get this, Mangpo claw-caught the disc directly over her head when Lucy was trying to D it. :)
  • Final score: 4-6
Kelly made so many amazing cuts and catches this weekend


Clare was amazing this weekend as well. She also had a perfect layout on Saturday where she caught the disc but dropped it when she hit the ground. But her layout was soooo pretty.


Emily and her never-ending endurance.


General great things sMITe did:
  • Being loud and communicating: I heard some people yell the loudest I've ever heard them yell (Lydia, Ethan :) ). And clam worked really well because people were talking to each other.
  • Continue cuts: these were starting to look really good. People were generally patient with the disc and only threw to people who were open. I'm really excited to see sMITe's offense get even better in these coming weeks.
  • Defense: our defense improved immensely over the course of the weekend. We got broken less, stayed on the open side more, and chased less. Obviously we need more work on our defense (who doesn't?) but we improved a lot over the weekend.
  • Being positive: Pumping each other up and not letting people get down on themselves.
Things to work on:
  • Transition from O to D: People still need to be quicker on playing defense after the disc is turned: putting the mark on right away or picking up the deepest person if we're playing a junk D. I think some people still tend to beat themselves up over not catching the disc or getting D'ed, but we need to get in the mentality that the past is past and play D!
  • Dump defense: We worked on defending handlers going up the line last week and also sealing the swing, but this still needs a lot of work.
  • Reading!!!: A-B-C.
Fun things!!

A sMITe tournament isn't complete without a log roll.


Clare looks pretty content up there.


Sluts in heaven when given a head massage :P


Kelly decides she wants to eat 3 kids meals at Sonics


A few of us decided to stay in Wilmington for an extra day to explore and go to the beach. We went to downtown Wilmington and there was a ship to play around on. The walk up the plank to the ship was SO painful...


Amy, Mangpo, Anne, Me, Heather, Emily, Lydia with the setting sun :)


Captain Mangpo


The next day (Monday) we went to Carolina Beach


The water was really really cold.


Me and Mangpo decided not to go into the water, unlike Amy and Heather the brave ones.


I love Anne's expression in this picture. And Mangpo's got mad air.


more jumping :)


what a beautiful day


leaving our mark in the sand in north carolina

Stopping at Bojangles for biscuits and sweet tea! So yummy. Someone should start a Bojangles in Boston. I'd go every day and get super fat and not be able to play ultimate anymore.


We went to Duke Gardens... so prettyyy... why can't MIT be pretty.


:)


practicing my photography skillz


this one turned out decent, right? it's popping!


yay smite


gazebo!


if there is a hill, we must roll down it


Mangpo was a grass magnet


It was much more dizzifying then I ever thought


can you guess what it spells!?!


this time with a lower-case "e"


picking grass off of Mangpo


guess who?!

what a great vacation :)

give me comments!!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Easterns!! Day 1

Easterns was pretty awesome. We had 11 players and one Shuangy for the weekend. We were supposed to have 3 compact cars but Sluts and I decided that driving a minivan would be more fun.

On the way over from RDU my car stopped at this restaurant called Wild Boar or something and they had the most amazing baked sweet potatoes (with cinnamon and sugar and butter... mmm...) And this was also when I learned that Sluts was very possessive over her ribs. We had gotten a half-rack of ribs to share and when the waiter put it down in front of me Sluts perked up and said, "MY RIBS." Then immediately afterwards she was like, "omg, I can't believe I said that, I'm so rude." hahaha.


Here's a rundown of our games on Sat/Sun:

We played four games Sat (high of 55ish, mild winds with gusts):

9:30am - vs Appalachian State
  • First outdoor game of the season!
  • We were down a lot the first few points.
  • Worked on both vertical and ho stacks. Ho-stack was working really well, opening up a lot of deep games.
  • We came back to take half 7-6.
  • We lost a point to make it universe point, then another
  • Final score: 7-8.
11:00am - vs Cornell
  • We couldn't break through Cornell's 4-person cup trap cup
  • Wind made it hard to throw/catch hammers
  • Difficult to dump to another handler in trap cup
  • Kept getting broken and not sealing the disc
  • sMITe ran hard every point and Clare almost scored one
  • Final score: 0-13.
Beach break!!!
  • We had two byes so we decided to buy food and eat at the beach.
  • Sluts and I tried selling discs to people at the beach. We didn't sell any but this couple gave us $5!! :)
  • Some people were tossing a disc around and Clare was jogging towards catching a disc and then suddenly found herself in a giant hole that someone had dug out.
Hanging out and eating at the beach


Mangpo being cute


The giant hole that Clare fell into


Clare's flick


Playing with my camera features, trying to make Emily pop


No beach picture collection is complete without pictures of cute puppies


Shuangy's foot!


Another cute puppy

I don't know why, but this picture makes me laugh

Heather throwing at the beach
  • At some point we had to go back to playing real ultimate:
3:30pm - vs Duke
  • Worked on our trap zone, which worked well sometimes
  • Duke put a zone on us many times, trapping both sidelines
  • We had a hard time finding holes in the cup and swinging it around the trap cup
  • Again, defense was not fast enough in sealing the dump/swing or putting on a mark in general
  • Our cuts were open and looked really good, had trouble catching in the wind
  • Final score: 2-13
  • And then we played Wah with Duke. Kelly got really really into it:
  • Had another bye so we took the opportunity to take dumb pictures and play more Wah.
We're trying to make smeri jealous


I love Heather's expression


go sMITe!

6:30pm - vs UNC-B
  • Came out hard for the last game of the day (4 games and 3 byes in one day is pretty ridiculous)
  • All our cutters were amazing in this game - I remember Lydia, Clare, Heather, Sluts, Anne, Mangpo, Kelly, Emily, all making great cuts and catches.
  • Final score: 6-7
Player of the Day (POD?) - Lydia
My P.O.D. vote goes to Lydia for cutting hard, having sticky hands for making our new endzone play work multiple times, getting multiple Ds. She was also LOUD and patient with the disc. Yay for Lydia :)