Piggybacking on my last post, our season over. We lost in the game-to-go to the game-to-go. We were beaten fairly by a better team, although if the weather was different or the game had been in another location, maybe it might have turned out differently. Regardless, it was a tough match-up and we met our fate.
Still, I feel great about our season. We were a team in the best sense of the word. Peaches says that he's never been on a team where everyone gets along as well as we did this year, and I agree. What we achieved, we did with positivity and support for each other. We played our best when everyone, 1-25, was playing. We were extremely consistent, too. We never lost to an inferior team, although you could say that we never rose to beat a clearly superior team (except Cal at the tail-end of Stanford, and even that win is questionable given the circumstances).
Linux and The Sultan did an incredible job captaining this team. From everything I've heard, they completely changed the attitude and character of the team. We had almost perfect attendance all year, even our weekly 6:30 AM practices. Their leadership inspired everyone to buy in, and that's really the hardest part. They put a lot of thought and sweat into this year. They complimented each others personalities well, too.
Graduating/Out of eligibility:
Linux
The Sultan
Peaches
Chotchkie
Kiosk
Concord
Banshee
Thor (maybe)
Wow, that is a great line, and they will be sorely missed.
However, this is a perfect year to to build on, even though we lose a lot of talent next year. Our team is deep, though, that I don't doubt that people will expand to fill the vacuum. Peaches made the good analogy of trimming the leaves on a fern so new shoots have room to expand. We gained a lot of experience this year and I think it will pay off very nicely.
I think there are 4 things that we can do between now and next season that will make next year even better.
1. Get the A team together early
It took us a long time to develop chemistry on offense this year. This was partly because we were adding me and Concord, two completely new players, to the mix and losing important players from prior years. We need to play together more. Fewer drills, more ultimate. We have all spring to do boring stuff. Everything, including drills and conditioning, should be about simulating in-game experience. And once the team is decided, let us play without constraints. I feel like we did too much thinking this year. Simplify the offense to its bones let us have some fun with it. We can refine it later. I also want to see everyone playing every position, and people letting the disc fly with no repercussions. Wins and losses in the fall mean nothing. Which brings me to no. 2...
2. Throw, Throw, Throw
We all need to be better throwers. We shouldn't have anyone whose throws keep them out of important games. Everyone should be able to put it to an open man deep. Our offense was too reliant on a couple throwers. I think we can push more regular throwing, with an emphasis on being more productive during the throwing session. Becoming a good throwing takes tens of thousands of throws. Our rookies will have a school year to catch up. One thing that's become clear to me is that you don't have to have pinpoint accuracy to be a great thrower. You just need to be able to see and throw to space effectively. This means controlling the curvature, speed, and height of your throw. Direction is not as important. Our legs will do the work, which brings me to no 3...
3. Weight lifting and Conditioning
We were in pretty good shape this year, but I think we can be much better. That is the next big leap in committment that Smaug has to take. You could tell that Tide, Colorado and UCSD were in better shape than us. I think we can take some of the time normally dedicated to field time and get people into the weight room. I dropped off the lifting program in the spring because school was brutal, and I definitely felt a difference. We'll all be better in the air and more explosive to make the exciting plays that we love so much. I want to find out what kind of program a big name program does and use that.
4. Play Club this Summer:
This might be the most important thing on this list. Club is where ultimate boys become men. It's incredibly helpful to get a new perspective on the game, especially for the guys that have played their entire careers in one program. It's like leaving college ball for the pros and then coming back to college again. It just feels too easy at first. Club ultimate is an different, more unforgiving beast.
For the rookies, teams where they will get a lot of playing time would be ideal. They just need time with the disc in their hands and the onus on them to make plays. For the older guys, get on the best team that will take you. Absorb as much as you can from the guys that have been to nationals before. Hopefully we can all come back with something new to contribute to the team.
These things should allow us to really open up our offense and build our athleticism in the fall. Of course, a lot of its success depends on whether the smauggies will be willing to commit themselves. This year we took a huge step in getting people to buy in to the team. Hopefully next year we can take another step further.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
SW Regionals '09
Our season is over. We finished officially tied for 5th, apparently the best that Smaug's ever finished. The results were, in case you live in a cave:
1. Colorado*
2. UCSD*
3. UCSB*
4. Arizona
T5. UCLA
T5. Colorado College
Not the results that we wanted, but I don't think anyone felt bad about how we played this weekend. In fact, I think we played awesome. We peaked at the right time, and lots of people stepped up in surprising and awesome ways. Just off the top of my head - Bishop, Attica, Avatar, Vonage, and Scarecrow really impressed me with their best play of the year, just to name a few. I saw our described as a faceless army in the SW all region rsd thread, and I think that's great. It's a shame we don't have any super ballers, but we are a deep team and I'm very excited for next year.
I guess I'll run through a quick recap of the tourney...
Irvine - 15-5
I love playing Irvine. They're fun guys. They all came out with blue and yellow Braveheart style facepaint which looked pretty sweet. Roeder's throws were on fire and were always threatening to shred our zone. Other people struggled, though, and our zone was pretty efficient, especially with everyone not very used to the mile high air. And it was ass cold. Why did we have to go to Colorado again?
SDSU - 12-11
Props to Splash and Corey. Those guys are awesome players and they make SDSU much better than they would otherwise be. They ran out to take half 8-3 on us. Fortunately, the games and rounds were really long. Their studs were playing almost every point and it was bound to take its toll in the thin air. Our legs got the better of them and we crept back to take the game on universe at hard cap. Our season almost ended during this game, but oddly enough, I was never worried that we wouldn't win. Still, our comeback was amazing. We felt like the team of destiny.
SLO - 15-11
This was the big game of the day. Winner took the pool and had a straighter path to qualifying. (SLO, as it turns out, ran into Colorado College who was super-underseeded. Ouch.) They had taken our last meeting as Sectionals, so we were really fired up for this one. As a side note, though, losing to SLO at sectionals may have been very lucky; we could have ended up in pool D, the clear "Pool of Death" with some combination of Claremont, SB and AZ. Anyway, we knew we had to shut down Bacon, which we did through a combination of straight up marks, physicality and great D by Bishop. He still toasted us deep a few times, our offense connected more consistantly than theirs. For once, a game went exactly to our plan and we came out with a drama free, quality win. And we broke seed to win our pool!
Colorado 9-14
I almost forgot about this game and moved on to Sunday morning. It wasn't very important for us to win, and we decided to really open up the lines and save our legs for Sunday morning. Still, it was freakin awesome to play Mamabird because none of us ever had. They were definitely at a higher level than anyone else at the tourney, and they didn't even have Mac on Saturday. With our nothing-to-lose mindset, we actually played really well. It's amazing what you can do when you don't feel any pressure. Linux told us to relax and challenge them. Avatar broke open for 3 consecutive offensive huck scores. BSOD also had about a 5 minute possession our their goal line because we kept stopping to argue. DaVinci also made a sick catch around his man's head, although it got called back. Finally SOD put up a swilly throw to break side and we brought it down. Attica also played some great dump D.
Anyway, I felt like we really gave them a tough time with our tight man D (and this was confirmed when one of their dudes told us that we had given them their toughest game of the weekend. This was after they beat Squids 15-2 in the finals. Really squids?). Anyway, I think 2 things really stood out to me about Mamabird: 1. They are fast as hell, and 2. They are all great throwers. I'll come back to this later.
Saturday night we ate some BBQ and marveled at Outdoor World near our hotel. It's as close to Disneyland as Commerce City has.
UCSB - 12-14
Tide had looked really shaky on Saturday. Azusa Pacific took them universe point. APU had the disc on the goal line and turned it. After about 4 more turns by both teams, Tide put in the winning point. It's amazing that APU even got that far, but seriously, they couldn't have just put it in? We could have played them in quarters! Anyway, we started throwing a trap zone in the light wind, and it was pretty effective at first. I picked off a few lazy deep passes and we went up a couple breaks to start the game. Tide crept back to take half 8-7. Boutcher absolutely killed us in the air. We didn't have anyone that could go up with him. He and Silverman are Tide. They're great players, but I don't think it will take them very far at nationals. Anyway, we basically traded for the rest of the game. Both our offenses were very efficient, but they broke us once more near the very end as the cap blew. I have to credit them for being tough as nails with the game on the line. They have the big game experience that we don't have yet. It was disappointing to lose this one, but both teams played great. Sometimes, you have to just tip your hat.
SDSU - 15-5
SDSU had just blown a 14-11 lead to the Squids in the quarters game (sound familiar?) although I'm glad they did because I would not have wanted to meet the Squids in this game. They're guys were tired and the wind really started kicking up. We basically had our way with our zone O and the game felt like more of a formality.
Arizona - 9-14
The wind got crazy in this game. We had never played AZ this year, but they have 2 guys that stand above the rest. Austin and Gaffney are amazing players. Austin absolutely killed us with his throws and his skies. We just had no answer. Anyway, it was basically an upwind/downwind game. We traded with them until they figured out that it was more effective for them to run man on our upwind offense and really pressure our dumps. With the deep game taken away by the wind and their athletes, there wasn't much we could do. Austin was throwing huge hammers all over the field downwind, and connnecting a very large number of them. Going upwind, Gaffney would rip it and a they brought down a fair amount of these shots. It was good for a few breaks on us, and that was all they needed.
When it became clear that we weren't going to take this game, we started playing senior lines. It was really emotional with everyone cheering on the old guys playing their last points of college ultimate. They played great, too. They scored up wind and then got a break. Kiosk scored 2 points and Sultan was playing pyscho D and got 2 huge layout D's in the last point. If we had to lose, I'm glad it came at the hands of Arizona because they are spirited and really nice guys. I was really bummed to hear that they lost on universe to Tide. I guess they threw one too many hammers in the wind and rain.
And thus ended our season.
1. Colorado*
2. UCSD*
3. UCSB*
4. Arizona
T5. UCLA
T5. Colorado College
Not the results that we wanted, but I don't think anyone felt bad about how we played this weekend. In fact, I think we played awesome. We peaked at the right time, and lots of people stepped up in surprising and awesome ways. Just off the top of my head - Bishop, Attica, Avatar, Vonage, and Scarecrow really impressed me with their best play of the year, just to name a few. I saw our described as a faceless army in the SW all region rsd thread, and I think that's great. It's a shame we don't have any super ballers, but we are a deep team and I'm very excited for next year.
I guess I'll run through a quick recap of the tourney...
Irvine - 15-5
I love playing Irvine. They're fun guys. They all came out with blue and yellow Braveheart style facepaint which looked pretty sweet. Roeder's throws were on fire and were always threatening to shred our zone. Other people struggled, though, and our zone was pretty efficient, especially with everyone not very used to the mile high air. And it was ass cold. Why did we have to go to Colorado again?
SDSU - 12-11
Props to Splash and Corey. Those guys are awesome players and they make SDSU much better than they would otherwise be. They ran out to take half 8-3 on us. Fortunately, the games and rounds were really long. Their studs were playing almost every point and it was bound to take its toll in the thin air. Our legs got the better of them and we crept back to take the game on universe at hard cap. Our season almost ended during this game, but oddly enough, I was never worried that we wouldn't win. Still, our comeback was amazing. We felt like the team of destiny.
SLO - 15-11
This was the big game of the day. Winner took the pool and had a straighter path to qualifying. (SLO, as it turns out, ran into Colorado College who was super-underseeded. Ouch.) They had taken our last meeting as Sectionals, so we were really fired up for this one. As a side note, though, losing to SLO at sectionals may have been very lucky; we could have ended up in pool D, the clear "Pool of Death" with some combination of Claremont, SB and AZ. Anyway, we knew we had to shut down Bacon, which we did through a combination of straight up marks, physicality and great D by Bishop. He still toasted us deep a few times, our offense connected more consistantly than theirs. For once, a game went exactly to our plan and we came out with a drama free, quality win. And we broke seed to win our pool!
Colorado 9-14
I almost forgot about this game and moved on to Sunday morning. It wasn't very important for us to win, and we decided to really open up the lines and save our legs for Sunday morning. Still, it was freakin awesome to play Mamabird because none of us ever had. They were definitely at a higher level than anyone else at the tourney, and they didn't even have Mac on Saturday. With our nothing-to-lose mindset, we actually played really well. It's amazing what you can do when you don't feel any pressure. Linux told us to relax and challenge them. Avatar broke open for 3 consecutive offensive huck scores. BSOD also had about a 5 minute possession our their goal line because we kept stopping to argue. DaVinci also made a sick catch around his man's head, although it got called back. Finally SOD put up a swilly throw to break side and we brought it down. Attica also played some great dump D.
Anyway, I felt like we really gave them a tough time with our tight man D (and this was confirmed when one of their dudes told us that we had given them their toughest game of the weekend. This was after they beat Squids 15-2 in the finals. Really squids?). Anyway, I think 2 things really stood out to me about Mamabird: 1. They are fast as hell, and 2. They are all great throwers. I'll come back to this later.
Saturday night we ate some BBQ and marveled at Outdoor World near our hotel. It's as close to Disneyland as Commerce City has.
UCSB - 12-14
Tide had looked really shaky on Saturday. Azusa Pacific took them universe point. APU had the disc on the goal line and turned it. After about 4 more turns by both teams, Tide put in the winning point. It's amazing that APU even got that far, but seriously, they couldn't have just put it in? We could have played them in quarters! Anyway, we started throwing a trap zone in the light wind, and it was pretty effective at first. I picked off a few lazy deep passes and we went up a couple breaks to start the game. Tide crept back to take half 8-7. Boutcher absolutely killed us in the air. We didn't have anyone that could go up with him. He and Silverman are Tide. They're great players, but I don't think it will take them very far at nationals. Anyway, we basically traded for the rest of the game. Both our offenses were very efficient, but they broke us once more near the very end as the cap blew. I have to credit them for being tough as nails with the game on the line. They have the big game experience that we don't have yet. It was disappointing to lose this one, but both teams played great. Sometimes, you have to just tip your hat.
SDSU - 15-5
SDSU had just blown a 14-11 lead to the Squids in the quarters game (sound familiar?) although I'm glad they did because I would not have wanted to meet the Squids in this game. They're guys were tired and the wind really started kicking up. We basically had our way with our zone O and the game felt like more of a formality.
Arizona - 9-14
The wind got crazy in this game. We had never played AZ this year, but they have 2 guys that stand above the rest. Austin and Gaffney are amazing players. Austin absolutely killed us with his throws and his skies. We just had no answer. Anyway, it was basically an upwind/downwind game. We traded with them until they figured out that it was more effective for them to run man on our upwind offense and really pressure our dumps. With the deep game taken away by the wind and their athletes, there wasn't much we could do. Austin was throwing huge hammers all over the field downwind, and connnecting a very large number of them. Going upwind, Gaffney would rip it and a they brought down a fair amount of these shots. It was good for a few breaks on us, and that was all they needed.
When it became clear that we weren't going to take this game, we started playing senior lines. It was really emotional with everyone cheering on the old guys playing their last points of college ultimate. They played great, too. They scored up wind and then got a break. Kiosk scored 2 points and Sultan was playing pyscho D and got 2 huge layout D's in the last point. If we had to lose, I'm glad it came at the hands of Arizona because they are spirited and really nice guys. I was really bummed to hear that they lost on universe to Tide. I guess they threw one too many hammers in the wind and rain.
And thus ended our season.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Pre-Regionals Thoughts
Everything that could be said about this weekend has probably been said twice already. I'm tired of talking about team goals, personal goals, strategy, and whatever else. It's time to go do or do not. I don't feel the nervousness that I felt before sectionals (not yet anyway). I have full confidence that Smaug has the talent to go to nationals; it's only a question of whether we have the grit and desire to grind it out against equally talented teams.
The season up until now has been great. We've had huge highs (beating Cal) and devastating low (losing to the Squids). We've seen beautiful conditions (Stanford) and also the most miserable conditions I've ever played in (Vegas, beating out Denver last October and Edinburgh in January.) We've been in pretty much every situation that a team can be in, and it's time to put all the chips on the table.
Saturday, our must win game is SLO. They are very talented and experienced this year, and we had a tough loss to them at sectionals. However, I don't think that result was necessarily representative of our capabilities. We got the better of them at Pres Day, but this game will be a battle. Assuming that the winner of this game wins the pool, the winner will play Colorado in a cross over game.
We would likely rest our starters in this (relatively meaningless) game so we could be fresher going into the important ones Sunday. If we fall to SLO, every game becomes "must win" as we try to fight our way through the back door.
It's kind of surprising to think that this is my first college regionals ever. I've still never won a game at the regionals level, either. Just at the worst time, I came down with a very annoying cold and, of course, there's a good chance of rain in Colorado. Why would we ever play regionals outside of California, anyway? It's the most efficient in terms of travel for most teams, and it's basically guaranteed good weather at this time of year.
Anyway, gripes aside, it's time to either do or do not. The results of this weekend have already been decided by the months of preparation we've invested. If we can remember why we play this game that we've sacrificed so much for, we can relax and play unconsciously.
The season up until now has been great. We've had huge highs (beating Cal) and devastating low (losing to the Squids). We've seen beautiful conditions (Stanford) and also the most miserable conditions I've ever played in (Vegas, beating out Denver last October and Edinburgh in January.) We've been in pretty much every situation that a team can be in, and it's time to put all the chips on the table.
Saturday, our must win game is SLO. They are very talented and experienced this year, and we had a tough loss to them at sectionals. However, I don't think that result was necessarily representative of our capabilities. We got the better of them at Pres Day, but this game will be a battle. Assuming that the winner of this game wins the pool, the winner will play Colorado in a cross over game.
We would likely rest our starters in this (relatively meaningless) game so we could be fresher going into the important ones Sunday. If we fall to SLO, every game becomes "must win" as we try to fight our way through the back door.
It's kind of surprising to think that this is my first college regionals ever. I've still never won a game at the regionals level, either. Just at the worst time, I came down with a very annoying cold and, of course, there's a good chance of rain in Colorado. Why would we ever play regionals outside of California, anyway? It's the most efficient in terms of travel for most teams, and it's basically guaranteed good weather at this time of year.
Anyway, gripes aside, it's time to either do or do not. The results of this weekend have already been decided by the months of preparation we've invested. If we can remember why we play this game that we've sacrificed so much for, we can relax and play unconsciously.
Follow us on Twitter!
We just set up a Smaug twitter account so people can follow our results at regionals.
Check us out at:
http://twitter.com/smaugultimate
Check us out at:
http://twitter.com/smaugultimate
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
SoCal Sectionals
This weekend had one of the most soul crushing losses I've ever had playing ultimate. But I'll get to that later.
Saturday-
SLO-B 11-0
Chumps. Bageled.
USC 11-1
I was really looking forward to this game, because I haven't gotten to play against the 'birds since WTOYL last semester. That wasn't with actual Smaug, though. I felt fairly sure we could bagel them and we came really close. Kenny D scored on an upline throw at 10-0. They were just coming off a tough loss on universe point against Long Beach, and to be fair, they weren't playing the game to win it. I think ATM and Parrell wanted to make it as quick and painless as possible so they could rest for more important games. Unfortunately, Ghetto finished 14th (losing to Redlands in the process), 3 spots away from qualifying for regionals. Next year will hopefully be a big step for them, though. It was fun playing against my old teammates, even though it seems like half the team is new. I'm pretty sure at one point they tried to iso me deep with Grant so he could sky the balls off me and they could have some revenge, but the throw was bladey and short and it didn't work out. Maybe next year.
Long Beach 11-7
I think we kind of assumed after USC took them to universe and Smeltzer was hurt that the Stalkers would roll over. I did, anyway. Instead they jumped us and went out to a 4-1 lead. They really, really wanted that game, because winner took the pool and would go to semis Sunday morning. They played super tight lines with Marcos and the handler dude with glasses playing almost every point. We finally got our heads on straight and started playing tight D. I think we took half, but I really don't remember this game that well. (I know some people have suggested that my blog is a little too self centric, but a.) I remember the things I did the most and b.) this is MY blog, not Smaug's blog.) It started getting windy and we both were running zones with a strong cross wind, I think. Anyway, we showed some grit and pulled out a nice come from behind win.
Pepperdine 11-0
I feel like Pepperdine goes to one tournament a year: Sectionals. I don't remember seeing them anywhere else, ever. They were surprisingly bad, actually. After a few points of playing zone on them in the wind, we stopped because it just seemed bad-spirited. The young guys got lots of playing time and the vets got to relax and cheer from the sidelines. Lots of guys had a chance to shine. Falco got like 4 D's by being faster than everyone, and Scarecrow completed the first huck of his competitive college career.
UCSB-B 11-1
They played a lot of Box zone on us. They weren't that bad at running it, but they didn't really have the athletes to do it succesfully. It was interesting because they didn't go to man on the endzone line like most teams but instead clamped down the zone harder. We stayed super patient to calmly put it in again and again. I feel personally responsible for allowing the 1 point that they scored, but I'll just decline to talk about that point.
Overall, a very succesful Saturday. 5-0, won our pool and we were going to semis at a luxious 11AM the next day. We had some Roscoes for dinner and I passed out immediately for a good 10 hours as soon as I got home.
Sunday
UCSD - 14-15
This game was the defining game of the weekend, and up to this point, the most memorable game of the season. We came out of the gate smoking hot. I hit Sultan and Concord early for quick scores and we were playing some psycho D. The sidelines were going crazy with Bro!!! cheers and we were on a motherfucking boat. It was real. The Box that had killed us last time we played them didn't seem imposing anymore, and they stopped running it after a couple points. We were playing super tight lines, and everyone was fired up because we felt like we the Squids in the bag finally. Avatar made a couple of huge layout blocks on in cuts. DaVinci made a huge layout catch on a huck for us to take it to half. People were playing out of their minds. After giving up a break or two, we got some breaks of our own back to go up 13-8. Then things went to hell.
We got a false confidence in our lead and Concord, Chotchkie and I all up terrible hucks which the Squids promptly marched up the field for scores. The wind had picked up by this point, mostly cross wind with a slight downwind. We put another score in to make it 14-11. I remember that guy Biel catching some crazy bladey hucks. That guy is pretty baller. They put up a desperation floater to the tall guy I was on and I went up early and tipped it back to him in the wind. We were receiving going upwind and they pulled a huge bladey flick pull...which we dropped in our own endzone. Quick score for them. Soft cap had already blown, and things were happening really fast. Our starters were pretty tired by this point because we had been playing pretty much every point. We received and worked it down the sideline and DaVinci put up upline throw to Linux but the wind pushed it down and Linux was about a foot short from catching the winning score. They worked it back up the field and scored on some not-very-pretty throws, but they put it in right after the hard cap blew, 15-14.
The next half hour or so I wandered around the field like a stunned survivor after a nuclear bomb, looking at the fallout. There was no outlet that I could find to express how I felt. I wanted to quit ultimate then and there and go home and just be a law student. It wasn't that I was angry or frustrated. I was just in shock and felt like I was suffocating and wanted to throw up all at once. It was one of the most emotional experiences I've had playing ultimate (the remaining list of which would be an interesting blog post).
I think there were 3 things that we could have done to change the outcome of this game:
1. Use the upwind side of the field. During the Squids' run, we forced it down the downwind sideline throw after throw. If we had swung the disc more effectively, we would have had better looks and opened up the field for our cutters and throwers more.
2. Opened up the lines a little. At 13-8 we had a little bit of leeway to get some younger, fresh legs in. Instead, we kept the same guys in and tired us out for the end of the game when we needed to close.
3. Not changing our offense. When we get up in a game, we tighten up too much. We changed the mindset of our offense from "attack" to "don't give up the lead," and this just doesn't work. The problem was exacerbated by problems 1 and 2. This more conservative mindset leads to more bad hucks because we're not getting the same open looks and flow that we're used to, so people are more apt to force a huck under these conditions, too. I think the saying is "ride the horse that brung ya." They way we were playing had put us up by 5 at that point in the game, and then was not the time to change it. People still need to play responsibly, but the looseness and fun needs to stay a part of it.
SLO 13-9
There was no way we were going to win this game. I think everyone, to one degree or another, was feeling the same way I was. They came out fired up after a close game with Tide and they were fired up. We wanted to crawl under a rock. Our sidelines were quiet. I have to give them credit. Bacon is a phenomenal thrower and that guy Paul (#1) in the short shorts deserves to be all-region. They got multiple lay-out D's on in cuts, something that usually doesn't happen to us. They wanted it more and they got it. Props to them for going and beating Tide immediately after the Squids rolled all over Tide in the finals.
APU 15-7
I was really surprised to see APU in the 4/5 game, ahead of Claremont, Long Beach, SDSU, etc. They really don't have much talent, and but they run a pretty effective zone. They asked us if we would agree to tie for 4th because they were tired. They only had something like 12-14 guys on the team. There was no way we were going to agree to that, though. It became clear pretty quickly that they were just going to huck and zone every time they were on O. They're zone was super porous, and by this time we were over the trauma of the Squids game and ready to nut on someone a little bit. I went a little bit crazy in this game, probably as a release some of the emotion from the earlier. In a trap zone on the sideline, I nutmegged my mark to Chotchkie on the dump and the whole B team on the sideline went crazy. I'd like to think that this was when they basically gave up and we rolled through the rest of the game. I threw whatever I freakin felt like and it was a pretty good way to end a terrible day. And we threw in an "Azusa Pacific, that was terrific!" cheer to boot.
So in the end, we finished 4th. As heartbreaking as Sunday was for us, I think there are still some positives that we can take from it. The number one thing is that we are that much saltier. I don't think that it we will ever let that happen again. The that we are lacking is big game experience, and that was about as much experience as I can handle at once.
I'm thankful that our meltdown, if it had to happen, happened at sectionals and not at regionals. Instead of going into regionals as a top seed with lots of expectations, were still the underdog and I think we like it that way. We have the memory of the squids game to remind us how good we can be, and how much focus we need to maintain. What can kill us is if we let that game affect our confidence, but I don't think that it will. We know that we can play with the big boys at regionals.
I want to thank everyone that came out to watch us this weekend, especially the Blu girls, Fei, and the Death Fist guys that were super energetic on the sidelines. It was exciting and helpful to have lots of people talking and cheering on the sidelines. I have a terrible taste in my mouth after this weekend, and I sure could use some of that sweet, sweet beer from Shifter's to wash it out.
Saturday-
SLO-B 11-0
Chumps. Bageled.
USC 11-1
I was really looking forward to this game, because I haven't gotten to play against the 'birds since WTOYL last semester. That wasn't with actual Smaug, though. I felt fairly sure we could bagel them and we came really close. Kenny D scored on an upline throw at 10-0. They were just coming off a tough loss on universe point against Long Beach, and to be fair, they weren't playing the game to win it. I think ATM and Parrell wanted to make it as quick and painless as possible so they could rest for more important games. Unfortunately, Ghetto finished 14th (losing to Redlands in the process), 3 spots away from qualifying for regionals. Next year will hopefully be a big step for them, though. It was fun playing against my old teammates, even though it seems like half the team is new. I'm pretty sure at one point they tried to iso me deep with Grant so he could sky the balls off me and they could have some revenge, but the throw was bladey and short and it didn't work out. Maybe next year.
Long Beach 11-7
I think we kind of assumed after USC took them to universe and Smeltzer was hurt that the Stalkers would roll over. I did, anyway. Instead they jumped us and went out to a 4-1 lead. They really, really wanted that game, because winner took the pool and would go to semis Sunday morning. They played super tight lines with Marcos and the handler dude with glasses playing almost every point. We finally got our heads on straight and started playing tight D. I think we took half, but I really don't remember this game that well. (I know some people have suggested that my blog is a little too self centric, but a.) I remember the things I did the most and b.) this is MY blog, not Smaug's blog.) It started getting windy and we both were running zones with a strong cross wind, I think. Anyway, we showed some grit and pulled out a nice come from behind win.
Pepperdine 11-0
I feel like Pepperdine goes to one tournament a year: Sectionals. I don't remember seeing them anywhere else, ever. They were surprisingly bad, actually. After a few points of playing zone on them in the wind, we stopped because it just seemed bad-spirited. The young guys got lots of playing time and the vets got to relax and cheer from the sidelines. Lots of guys had a chance to shine. Falco got like 4 D's by being faster than everyone, and Scarecrow completed the first huck of his competitive college career.
UCSB-B 11-1
They played a lot of Box zone on us. They weren't that bad at running it, but they didn't really have the athletes to do it succesfully. It was interesting because they didn't go to man on the endzone line like most teams but instead clamped down the zone harder. We stayed super patient to calmly put it in again and again. I feel personally responsible for allowing the 1 point that they scored, but I'll just decline to talk about that point.
Overall, a very succesful Saturday. 5-0, won our pool and we were going to semis at a luxious 11AM the next day. We had some Roscoes for dinner and I passed out immediately for a good 10 hours as soon as I got home.
Sunday
UCSD - 14-15
This game was the defining game of the weekend, and up to this point, the most memorable game of the season. We came out of the gate smoking hot. I hit Sultan and Concord early for quick scores and we were playing some psycho D. The sidelines were going crazy with Bro!!! cheers and we were on a motherfucking boat. It was real. The Box that had killed us last time we played them didn't seem imposing anymore, and they stopped running it after a couple points. We were playing super tight lines, and everyone was fired up because we felt like we the Squids in the bag finally. Avatar made a couple of huge layout blocks on in cuts. DaVinci made a huge layout catch on a huck for us to take it to half. People were playing out of their minds. After giving up a break or two, we got some breaks of our own back to go up 13-8. Then things went to hell.
We got a false confidence in our lead and Concord, Chotchkie and I all up terrible hucks which the Squids promptly marched up the field for scores. The wind had picked up by this point, mostly cross wind with a slight downwind. We put another score in to make it 14-11. I remember that guy Biel catching some crazy bladey hucks. That guy is pretty baller. They put up a desperation floater to the tall guy I was on and I went up early and tipped it back to him in the wind. We were receiving going upwind and they pulled a huge bladey flick pull...which we dropped in our own endzone. Quick score for them. Soft cap had already blown, and things were happening really fast. Our starters were pretty tired by this point because we had been playing pretty much every point. We received and worked it down the sideline and DaVinci put up upline throw to Linux but the wind pushed it down and Linux was about a foot short from catching the winning score. They worked it back up the field and scored on some not-very-pretty throws, but they put it in right after the hard cap blew, 15-14.
The next half hour or so I wandered around the field like a stunned survivor after a nuclear bomb, looking at the fallout. There was no outlet that I could find to express how I felt. I wanted to quit ultimate then and there and go home and just be a law student. It wasn't that I was angry or frustrated. I was just in shock and felt like I was suffocating and wanted to throw up all at once. It was one of the most emotional experiences I've had playing ultimate (the remaining list of which would be an interesting blog post).
I think there were 3 things that we could have done to change the outcome of this game:
1. Use the upwind side of the field. During the Squids' run, we forced it down the downwind sideline throw after throw. If we had swung the disc more effectively, we would have had better looks and opened up the field for our cutters and throwers more.
2. Opened up the lines a little. At 13-8 we had a little bit of leeway to get some younger, fresh legs in. Instead, we kept the same guys in and tired us out for the end of the game when we needed to close.
3. Not changing our offense. When we get up in a game, we tighten up too much. We changed the mindset of our offense from "attack" to "don't give up the lead," and this just doesn't work. The problem was exacerbated by problems 1 and 2. This more conservative mindset leads to more bad hucks because we're not getting the same open looks and flow that we're used to, so people are more apt to force a huck under these conditions, too. I think the saying is "ride the horse that brung ya." They way we were playing had put us up by 5 at that point in the game, and then was not the time to change it. People still need to play responsibly, but the looseness and fun needs to stay a part of it.
SLO 13-9
There was no way we were going to win this game. I think everyone, to one degree or another, was feeling the same way I was. They came out fired up after a close game with Tide and they were fired up. We wanted to crawl under a rock. Our sidelines were quiet. I have to give them credit. Bacon is a phenomenal thrower and that guy Paul (#1) in the short shorts deserves to be all-region. They got multiple lay-out D's on in cuts, something that usually doesn't happen to us. They wanted it more and they got it. Props to them for going and beating Tide immediately after the Squids rolled all over Tide in the finals.
APU 15-7
I was really surprised to see APU in the 4/5 game, ahead of Claremont, Long Beach, SDSU, etc. They really don't have much talent, and but they run a pretty effective zone. They asked us if we would agree to tie for 4th because they were tired. They only had something like 12-14 guys on the team. There was no way we were going to agree to that, though. It became clear pretty quickly that they were just going to huck and zone every time they were on O. They're zone was super porous, and by this time we were over the trauma of the Squids game and ready to nut on someone a little bit. I went a little bit crazy in this game, probably as a release some of the emotion from the earlier. In a trap zone on the sideline, I nutmegged my mark to Chotchkie on the dump and the whole B team on the sideline went crazy. I'd like to think that this was when they basically gave up and we rolled through the rest of the game. I threw whatever I freakin felt like and it was a pretty good way to end a terrible day. And we threw in an "Azusa Pacific, that was terrific!" cheer to boot.
So in the end, we finished 4th. As heartbreaking as Sunday was for us, I think there are still some positives that we can take from it. The number one thing is that we are that much saltier. I don't think that it we will ever let that happen again. The that we are lacking is big game experience, and that was about as much experience as I can handle at once.
I'm thankful that our meltdown, if it had to happen, happened at sectionals and not at regionals. Instead of going into regionals as a top seed with lots of expectations, were still the underdog and I think we like it that way. We have the memory of the squids game to remind us how good we can be, and how much focus we need to maintain. What can kill us is if we let that game affect our confidence, but I don't think that it will. We know that we can play with the big boys at regionals.
I want to thank everyone that came out to watch us this weekend, especially the Blu girls, Fei, and the Death Fist guys that were super energetic on the sidelines. It was exciting and helpful to have lots of people talking and cheering on the sidelines. I have a terrible taste in my mouth after this weekend, and I sure could use some of that sweet, sweet beer from Shifter's to wash it out.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Showtime
http://upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=127&id=5879
It's sectionals week. Things feel different at practice. People have a sense of urgency that may or may not be a good thing. It's kind of funny how the series is the only important tournament we play in all year. Stanford, SB Invite, Pres Day - those were practice for the big show.
I think we have a really good draw for sectionals. We play 5 games on Saturday. The toughest one will be Long Beach, who we haven't played yet this year. They have some talent but I have no idea what to expect from them. I also don't know how healthy Smeltzer is right now, which will be important to their success.
I'm glad we're in the same pool as USC, because otherwise Smaug wouldn't have gotten a chance to play the 'Birds all year. USC played Smaug last year in pool play, and it was a pretty good beat down, 13-3. It should be something similar this year, although USC was looking surprisingly good last week when I went to their scrimmage. They're the 11 seed, so if they can hold seed they'll be going to regionals for the first time since 2004. That's something that I never got to experience when I was there, so I hope they can pull it out.
If we can hold seed and win our pool, we'll face Squids in Semis. If we can pull that one out, we'll face Tide in the finals. We'll have to play better than we have all season to win those games, but it's definitely possible. They're both formidable teams, but we need to get over the logos on their jerseys and realize that we can ball with anyone.
It's sectionals week. Things feel different at practice. People have a sense of urgency that may or may not be a good thing. It's kind of funny how the series is the only important tournament we play in all year. Stanford, SB Invite, Pres Day - those were practice for the big show.
I think we have a really good draw for sectionals. We play 5 games on Saturday. The toughest one will be Long Beach, who we haven't played yet this year. They have some talent but I have no idea what to expect from them. I also don't know how healthy Smeltzer is right now, which will be important to their success.
I'm glad we're in the same pool as USC, because otherwise Smaug wouldn't have gotten a chance to play the 'Birds all year. USC played Smaug last year in pool play, and it was a pretty good beat down, 13-3. It should be something similar this year, although USC was looking surprisingly good last week when I went to their scrimmage. They're the 11 seed, so if they can hold seed they'll be going to regionals for the first time since 2004. That's something that I never got to experience when I was there, so I hope they can pull it out.
If we can hold seed and win our pool, we'll face Squids in Semis. If we can pull that one out, we'll face Tide in the finals. We'll have to play better than we have all season to win those games, but it's definitely possible. They're both formidable teams, but we need to get over the logos on their jerseys and realize that we can ball with anyone.
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