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 + meWe 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 :DFor 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?
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.
Branford TV roomOn 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
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
