2009 Event Recaps
Down With The Clown
This past weekend was our first tournament Down with the Clown (DWTC). Despite having a small squad and limited amount of women we played very well. We ended up taking 6th place with a hard fought loss to Prion on double game point.
On Saturday we started by having to rearrange the schedule so that we would not have a bye before we played The Abusement Park. Our first game was against Prion, we came out fast and took half 7-1. This was a great showing for our team. We ended up slowing down a bit and they scored a few in a row before the game was capped at 11-6 to give us our first win of the 2009 season.
The second game was against Clowns Inc. They had a lot of athletic players but being just a last minute addition to the tournament and had not really played coed much (or so I heard). We traded points for a few and then pulled ahead and never looking back winning with a score of 12-7.
After our bye we played Skyway (was Just Liquor) like the previous game they traded points with us for a while. Not much different than the previous game except they work better as a team. We won the game 13-9, our first win that was not capped.
This next game was the game we were waiting for, we were up against the home team The Abusement Park. We came out slow going down 4-1 with a few costly turns. Pulling together as a team we fought hard back to 4-4. The Abusement Park went up again and took half 8-5, I think. After a regroup at half we had a few great points and some not so great points. After a great intense game The Abusement Park won 13-8 in soft cap.
On to Sunday, we took 2nd place in our pool so therefore we had Hybrid, our sectional opponent for our first game. The wind was whipping and blowing a pretty steady gust between 15-20mph so this was going to be fun. We had some problems in the first 2 points and went down 0-2. We then got together to discuss our mistakes and fix them. It took us a few points but we ended up coming back but losing half at 8-7 in a very hard fought half. Out of half we traded more points and the points became longer and longer. A few upwind scores for both teams. Soft cap went on and we were tied 10-10 pulling to Hybrid. We had a few turns but just couldn't work it around and Hybrid ended up scoring an upwind point. Going up wind we had to score to have a chance. It was a tough and hard fought game and we ended up turning it and Hybrid scored for the win 12-10
At any tournament it is hard to pick up after a loss and be out of contention. We ended up playing Skyway again and in a loooooooong game with a point that lasted what seemed like forever finally scored the well after hard cap to win 11-9, I think. After that we ended up playing Prion again, starting and ending the tournament with the same team. We came out tough but so did they. They took half 7-6. It was a tough game seeming like the wind was getting worse. Soft cap went on when we were tied 11-11. They scored the down wind to make it 12-11 Prion. We then came back and scored as well and scored making it 12-12, next point wins. After a somewhat long point the wind prevailed and Prion won the game 13-12.
We learned many things and improved our play as a team as the tournament went on. Our first tournament is out of the way and I am glad to say I am pleased with the way we played and also excited about the future tournaments to come.
Hoosier Hoedown
Saturday we arrived to a cloudy and somewhat cool day. Having a first round bye allowed us to get a bit of a later start and made it easier on us to get to Bloomington without leaving super early.
We played Sauce, a women's team from Bloomington who picked up some men to play in the mixed division. With a some talented players they scored first. We scored some and started work the disc as a team and working well with each other. Not much happened with this game, we ended up winning 13-6 after a few long points. All in all we did well for our first game and we were looking forward to improve on defense as well as settling down our offense.
Next up we take on the Madtown Boozehounds. While they were a very skilled throwers they had some miscommunications and some drops which we capitalized on and did not let them into the game at all. We improved our D a bit more but still need more work. We won 13-3 despite having some work to be done.
Our next game was by far the most challenging of the day, we were up against our pool's #1 seed. This game from the start was hard fought and required us to give our all to win. We started on defense and traded offensive points till the end of the first half. Our defense having a few chances at a break while our offense scored on all of their opportunities. The score was 6-6 and we were on defense to start the point. A very hard point and we ended up getting the turn and punching it in for a break and take half 7-6. After half we end up letting one break for them to gain on us while we still held the lead. They took another break and we ended up getting to 12-12, universe point with us pulling to them. This was not what we wanted but it is what we were given. We were given a dropped pass about 20 yards out of the end zone and promptly scored to end the game 13-12. It was by far the best we have played to date and it showed.
Going 4-0 on Saturday gave us a first round bye into Semi's on Sunday. We were going to play the winner of Madtown Boozehounds and Skyway. It ended up being Skyway. Starting a bit slow on defense they scored first. We started off very slow and cold, over throwing a few open scores and forcing some throws we didn't need. We took half 8-4 and didn't look back after half. A short talk about what we need to do and to pick ourselves up we started the second half. We didn't give up much and took the game 15-6.
We made it to the finals! Gambit made it through Scoober Snacks and Blah Still Loaded (part The Abusement Park) to meet us again for the finals. We came out flat and made way too many mistakes and it showed as we went into half down 2-8. Some inspirational words and knowing that we are better than that we took the field as a completely different team. Another very hard game down to the end. We won the half 11-7 but unfortunately for us we didn't play well in the first half so we lost the game 13-15. If only we played the same great way and with the same intensity that we did for the 2nd half for the whole game.
Congrats on a job well done for the tournament, Steamboat takes 2nd place!
Cooler Classic 21
After a long drive up to Delafield, WI we came into the weekend seeded 7th and were put into Pool A in the gold division. It was going to be 3-4 hard games today and we were looking forward to it.
Our first game was against Oh Boy! They came out ready to play. Luckily we came out to play as well. They scored first and we never let them get too far ahead. A few times we went down by 2 or more but fought back into competition. Oh Boy took half at 7-6. After half was more of the same up until the score was 9-11. We decided to throw our zone on them and got a score. The next point we decided to throw it again and it worked even better as we scored on a Callahan. The next point we threw it one last time for double game point. Oh Boy! worked it around and eventually turned it near their end zone which we promptly picked up and scored. We came from behind to win 12-11.
After a bye we drew Drag'n Thrust. They were a very good team who played our handlers very tight and close. This caused us some problems in the beginning. It was a hard fought game but it just seemed that they would always win out the long points. We gave them some problems but they won 13-4.
Next up we were to play Hybrid, both our sectional rival and the game to allow us a last round bye. The first half was back and forth trading points most of the time. Towards the end of the half we were able to get a break and score up-wind to secure the lead and half. After half we went up again with many chances at an up wind point. We went up 2 breaks but allowed Hybrid to come back within 1 point at 12-11. We were able to score the last down wind point by moving the disc across the field and score for the win.
We went 2-1 for the day securing 2nd place in our pool and allowed us not to have to play another game on Saturday.
On Sunday we were to play Gambit for our first game. We came out slow and allowed them to get into our heads during the game. A bunch of calls and discussions during the game and we just never got going dropping down 7-2 at half. More of the same for the second half and we were only able to get a few more points. We lost 13-5, we need to be ready to play on a Sunday morning.
After that loss we played the loser of the other quarter finals; Plowed. They came out fast and ready to play. We came out a bit slow again but were able to pull out half 7-6. We then started to flow almost as good as we were the day before. Plowed put a zone on us which we were able to break and abuse most of the time. We won the game 13-9.
Our last game of the weekend was the same way we went into the weekend, against Oh Boy! This time we were in the game the whole time. We never let them get too far ahead and sometimes jumped out ahead. In the second half we were able to pull away thanks to our tough D, despite our O not clicking too well. We won 12-9 to secure 5th place at the tourney, 2 spots up from where we came into the weekend.
Chicago Heavyweights
It was a nice an cool morning when we started our first game of the weekend against B.O.I. It was pretty foggy but other than that it was nice weather. We came out strong against B.O.I and went up 2-0 then they came back and it was a fight to half. They took half 8-6. We came out in the second half a bit slower but still working our offense really well. We came back 13-14 but finally fell to B.O.I 13-15.
Our next game was against One Trick Pony, they are very good but we didn't care. We scored first and then they scored to even it up. We scored again going up again with our spirits high. We had some mental mistakes and started to give up the disc. OTP took all the chances and ran away with the game and it ended 15-5. There was a lot of hard points in this game but OTP seemed to always get the point. On a good note we we only failed one end zone score up till now.
More info to come...