Revolver – Labor Day Championships – Day 1 (Saturday, September 3, 2011)
The regular fog layer hung above the upstairs field on UC Santa Cruz campus, at times thick enough that we couldn’t recognize the opposing line, but the warm sun burned through by late morning. Wind wasn’t much of a factor in the first two games, before making it a somewhat upwind/downwind affair in the third round.
Out for the weekend:
Mark Sherwood (family)
Zach Travis (wedding)
Josh Wiseman (wedding)
Tom James (injury)
Game 1 – 9:45a v. Furious George (Vancouver)
We didn’t seem to realize that we were playing at a tournament this morning because Furious slapped us around a few times. We trailed 2-4, 6-8 at half, and 8-10. We finally raised the energy level enough in the second half to knot it at 10 apiece on a sky high catch by Mac Taylor over Oscar Pottinger on a Sam Kanner backhand huck. We tied it again at 11 apiece before reeling off four breaks to win 15-11. On game point Nick Chapman hand-blocked Morgan Hibbert, playing left-handed for Furious, before cutting away for a mid-range forehand from Eric Halverson for the goal. Welcome back to Eric, playing in his first tournament of the season! Beau Kittredge and Cassidy Rasmussen had 3 goals each, Robbie Cahill notched 4 assists and 2 blocks. Once again Vancouver showed grit and determination against us. The Northwest region will be tough this season with two bids to Florida.
Game 2 – 11:30a v. Great Britain
We held light control of the game to a 10-7 lead, on the strength of consistent offense and a few breaks. Russell Wynne had an especially exciting layout D in the cup, propelling the disc ten yards backward, that led to a break from Mac Taylor to Patrick Baylis. At 10-7, Great Britain scored on offense and then strung three consecutive breaks with inspired defense and a momentary lapse by our O-line. Our offense finally scored to tie it back up at 11, then we broke back on a D by Ashlin Joye, then a tremendous play by Halverson, circling behind his defender to grab it over him on a hanging huck by Mac. Chapman had a fly-by catch D on a cross-field inside out pass on the next point and we eked out the 14-12 victory. Top performers: Joel Schlachet (3 goals), Robbie Cahill (3 assists), Ashlin Joye (2 blocks). Great Britain played more physically than most other European teams we’ve faced, but this spirited team brought an excellent international flavor to Santa Cruz.
Game 3 – 1:15p v. Chain Lightning (Atlanta)
For the majority of this game we traded downwind goals, with occasional pairs of breaks by the D-lines. Revolver struck first to take a 5-2 lead on a back-of-the-endzone barrel roll layout by Jon Levy off a poach-beating forehand by Ryo Kawaoka. Chain earned their first break after a horrendous point of Ultimate featuring five turnovers by our O-line. So we took half 8-7, on serve, but Chain scored three in a row, including a break on which Atlanta’s Nicky Spiva jumped way over our defenders for the vital upwind goal. We erased one break point on a block by Beau, but Chain added another on game point for a 14-11 final score.
Pool A remains interesting as Furious George defeated Chain Lightning in the next round, creating a potential three-way tie if none of us lose any games tomorrow (certainly no foregone conclusion). Follow results on Twitter and at Score Reporter.