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.