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Team Good @ WWW2
Wild Wild West 2's runner up was Team Good, featuring the strongest ever roster of all-Zagreb ultimate players ultimate. We turned inward to develop a deeper team for a stronger program. We strengthened all parts of the roster. We defeated Budapest-based rival Hallod 11-6 in the semi, falling to the Slovenian neighbors Frizmi by a single goal in the finals.
Strong performances by our women stand out – Sticky, Mirna, Ines and Banana.
Day 1 Team 1: Pool play victory vs. Freebees. Their young, energetic team battled to three one-point losses on the weekend, including to us. We came out a bit sloppy, but recovered, powered by Živac's explosive deep cuts – just in time for a victory.
Day 1 Team 2: Pool play victory vs. FDKZ Team Bad. We know and love these guys, who were led by the very naughty Marta Mrak. A spirited game with tight defense and a number of good 'drive the bike' cone cuts for goals. Congratulations to them on their later victory in The Bad and The Ugly grudge match.
Day 1 Team 3: Pool play loss vs. Frizmi. We stuck to our gameplan, substituting more evenly than usual in such a tight matchup, and we kept the game close until halftime. The opponents ran a smooth rotation focusing on their starters and shying away from the women's matchups. By the end of the game they ran away with it, taking a victory. Major highlight was Jan throwing deep to Sticky for a key deep goal. We seem to be strengthening our spirit reputation further. There were, on the other hand, some questionable calls on the other side, very similar to last year. We discussed it in the spirit circle afterward.
Day 1 Team 4: Pool play victory vs. Beary Bears. These guys are real up-and-comers. You look at their athleticism and their level of energy and commitment to improvement and just feel a sense of excitement at the great potential. They came out with the strongest game plan possible against us – a slow, sagging zone to minimize our speed advantage. Nevertheless, our chilly offense prevailed.
Party: I fell asleep at dinner. Missed the party. You'll have to ask someone else.
Day 2 Team 1: Quarterfinal victory vs. Catchup. The pool play loss dropped us into second place in the pool, thus missing the opportunity for a bye straight into the semis. Against Catchup, I have to say we were a bit surprised at (1) how hard they were still running after a full day of playing with no subs and (2) at the effective cutting of both relative beginners and grizzled veterans. They played a zone against us as well, and though they could not contain our break mark throws, they were highly efficient and effective on offense, even going deep a number of times against our strongest deep defenders. It took until the second half for us to pull away, with Ines the goal-scoring machine.
Day 2 Team 2: Semifinal victory vs. Hallod. This was probably our best match, in the sense that we were nearly mistake-free, in a game against a legitimately strong club. Powered by our sometime teammate, Pikaču, and a wily American handler, Daniel Glasscock, the Hallod offense breaks the mark with inside-out throws and waits for those breaks...then, it's off to the races, tossing it to their big guy like Akos. Banana came out in this game with what was almost a spectacular block against Pikaču, but which in fact was more of a tackle. Oops! Regardless, her defense set the tone and we took off, shutting down their inside-out throws and running a smooth split-stack offense.
Day 2 Team 3: Final loss vs. Frizmi. Defensive intensity was the name of the game. Vid started the game with a similar play as Banana's earlier play against Pikaču. Damian, from Frizmi, responded very well, taking advantage of the play and moving the disc down the field with no bother to call a foul. Both teams made uncharacteristic unforced turnovers in this game, exposing some lack of fitness down the stretch. Still, a battle. Despite the pressure to run a tight rotation of starters, we consistently brought everyone into the game, and our younger players began to get a taste for the big-game atmosphere. Mirna especially stands out in winning her matchups. It has to be said that there was one very questionable spirit play, in which the other side held onto a stalled disc, preventing us from going deep for a goal. We hope this sort of thing never happens again, and we demand better behavior from our players. Regardless, the game came down to a stall-7 heave downfield, and after a strong team defensive shutdown, a great catch sealed the deal for our opponents. This brought our total Wild Wild West championship totals even at one.
Now it's time for some well-deserved rest.
Frki, Davor, Darija, and all the other organizers of the tournament did an awesome job. Wild Wild West is the best. Our experience on Team Good was awesome – good fields, good tournament format, etc. We walked away with a strong performance and a deeper roster. And, I hope, a renewed understanding of what we want to do with the leading edge of our program. We got to the finals of WWW2, within one point of winning – imagine the excellence that could be just around the corner.
The question for this group of 10-12 people is whether we will throw together teams at the last minute, and hope to be good enough, or on the other hand if we will dig deeper and come together early and often to truly prepare for competition. We are capable of great things, if we choose to be.
Josh
Post je objavljen 17.06.2009. u 22:47 sati.