Author: revolver

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Labor Day Sunday

Revolver – Labor Day Championships – Day 2 (Sunday, September 4, 2011)

An 8:00a game time today invited an even thicker fog so that we lost track of coverage assignments a couple of times in the first game. Of course, by late morning the sun appeared and summoned a light to medium breeze over the proceedings. After suffering a migraine during the night, Russell Wynne took the day off to recover.

Game 4 – 8:00a v. Voodoo (Seattle)
Ben Wiggins, a figurehead of three-time national champion Seattle Sockeye, now coaches the young Voodoo squad, a leadership change that has already translated into improved poise and new strategic approaches. Revolver, on the other hand, was upset about unmet expectations from Saturday — unfortunately the yellow and black crew from Seattle would be the first team of the field to receive the backlash. Up 8-2 at the turn (Sam Kanner insisted on playing every D point of the half, before taking the entire second half off), we mostly traded the rest of the way for a sound 15-7 win, ending with a defensive break from Ryo Kawaoka to Taylor Cascino. Top performers: Devon Anderson (3 goals), Bart Watson (4 assists), and several players with a block each.

Game 5 – 9:45a v. Southpaw (Philadelphia)
The first half of this game featured only one break by each team, but we led 8-7 by virtue of receiving to start the game. Robbie Cahill caught a particularly nice sky goal on a floating throw from Cassidy Rasmussen. Kanner earned a nice layout point block for himself. Jake Rainwater of Southpaw also came up with a great high grab over Mac Taylor for one of their goals. After halftime, we pulled and broke Southpaw three consecutive times with some zone defense and a clean-up-the-trash reception by Jon Levy after Mac’s huck eluded a cluster of players in the end zone. Taylor Cascino helped generate another break with a horizontal layout block on a pass attempt through the cup. We won 15-10 on the strength of our efficient O-line (only one turnover in the game), and our D-line in the second half. Top performers: Beau Kittredge (3 goals), Bart Watson (4 assists), Sam Kanner (2 blocks).

Downtime
A three-way tie atop Pool A between Revolver, Chain Lightning, and Furious George resolved on point differential with Chain on top and Revolver in the other semifinal. We watched two pool play games from Pool B in our four-hour bye to determine our opponent, as a lot hung in the balance for several teams: Sockeye vs. Rhino on one field and Doublewide vs. PoNY next door. Sockeye would advance to semis for sure, but if they lost to Rhino they’d come in second in their pool; if they won, they’d go undefeated in the pool and take first (and meet Revolver). Last-seeded Rhino would take the top spot (and meet Revolver) if they defeated Sockeye (head-to-head tiebreaker) but fall out of semis with a loss and a Doublewide victory. Doublewide needed to beat PoNY and hope for a Rhino loss, as they held the head-to-head tiebreaker over Rhino. So… Doublewide won their game convincingly and then came over to watch the time-capped finish on the adjacent field. Rhino had been down 9-7, scored on offense, then broke to knot it at 9-9. They pulled to Sockeye, who worked it downwind until a turnover led to Dylan Freechild putting away the thrilling double-game point win for Rhino, meaning they would be our semifinal opponent.

Game 6 – 3:00p v. Rhino (Portland, OR) – Semifinal
Rhino has improved a lot over the past couple of years spent revamping the program. Old Revolver teammate Seth Wiggins is back and in fine form plus they have several young studs (including a couple of NexGen characters) to lead the team into the future. But why wait for the future when they can come back today from the sixth seed in their pool to win the top spot in the bracket?! We pulled to start, but Rhino turned it over upwind after a few throws. Then Martin Cochran threw a turnover before quickly redeeming himself with a Callahan goal to open the scoring! His mark cut underneath but couldn’t handle a high throw, then the disc basically fell into Martin’s chest. After that we traded and added a couple of extra breaks by our D-line, until at 7-5 Rhino broke back. We earned the halftime lead of 8-6 and cruised the rest of the way for a 15-8 victory and a berth in the finals. Ashlin Joye, Beau, and Patrick Baylis all stood out for memorable sky Ds. Top performers: Devon Anderson (3 goals), Cassidy Rasmussen (4 assists), and several players with a block each.

Game 7 – 4:45p v. Chain Lightning (Atlanta) – Final
Chain beat Sockeye on double-game point when Alex Nord dropped a tipped disc in the endzone that he couldn’t adjust for in time. Chain launched a huck deep into the wind and came down with it, yielding a pool play rematch in the finals and chance for us to avenge the dispiriting loss from Saturday. Chain broke first after a turnover by Cassidy, but we then scored and forced two breaks in our favor. At one point, Chain swung to the upwind sideline and Greg Swanson (?) turned to rip a backhand upwind, but our own Jon Levy charged and dove full-extension with both hands and knocked it twenty yards out of bounds, leading to another break. We took half 8-4 after Ashlin came down with another 50/50 block in the endzone then threw the goal to Martin Cochran the other direction. We traded a couple of points and after scoring to take a 9-6 lead the Revolver D-line decided to wrap it up with 5 breaks in a row to seal the title and successfully defend our Labor Day championship from last season. On the last two points Eric Halverson swiped an anticlimactic Callahan goal (perhaps making up for the one he threw against Rhino) on a flat dump pass after a nice forehand pull, then threw an upwind hammer to Baylis on the next point for the 15-6 win. Top performers: Robbie Cahill (4 goals), Bart Watson (3 assists).

Just like last year’s Labor Day experience, Revolver elevated its performance after a tough Saturday afternoon loss. We know that we still have not played our best game, though, and watching Chain Lightning run wind sprints after the finals demonstrated that they are already working to get better. As Coach Dutchy reminded us in the post-game huddle, “Championships are won by the team that improves the most in September and October.” Everyone starts fresh in the playoffs.

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Labor Day Saturday

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.

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Labor Day preview

Last year at this final regular season tournament we had an exacting Saturday, including a loss to Johnny Bravo, but pulled it together on Sunday for a couple of strong victories in the bracket. We hope to defend our 2010 Labor Day title against a very tough field of teams from across the country.

Saturday

9:45a v. Furious George (Vancouver)

Fresh off their Canadian national title, qualifying them for Worlds next year in Japan and boosting their championship pedigree, we’ll find out if they’re a morning team right away.

11:30a v. Great Britain Ultimate

We’re not sure who this will be… but we love playing the international teams.

1:15p v. Chain Lightning (Atlanta, GA)

2009 UPA championship final rematch! We have some bitter memories of several meetings with the Atlantans in Sarasota over the years, but finally got the better of them last season. This one should be a doozy and may preview another meeting in Florida if we’re fortunate enough to advance that far.

Sunday

8:00a v. Voodoo (Seattle, WA)

It’s been a while since we’ve encountered Voodoo. Some years we have trouble with them and some years we don’t. Either way, every year they are young, athletic, and unafraid.

9:45a v. Southpaw (Philadelphia, PA)

The lefties gave us a scare last year in Santa Cruz, taking half against us before we scrabbled back to win on Saturday. Hopefully we come out stronger against this scrappy squad.

3:00p – semifinals and placement games

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ECC Sunday

Revolver – Emerald City Classic – Day 3 (Sunday, July 14, 2011)

Game 6 – 8:00a v. Urutau (Colombia) – Pool Play

It was an early start so we rolled to the fields at a leisurely pace, but still started warming up before our opponents from South America. The first half went quickly as we led 8-1 on the backs of the D-line. Nick Chapman and Jon Levy both caught two goals and Martin Cochran and Mac Taylor each served two assists. Nick Schlag showed his skill with an ¡imposible! 40 yard around beak-mark flick to his wingman Josh Wiseman (9-2). Joel Schlachet hit Devon Anderson for the 15-5 win. The inter-squad post-game circle was great as we exchanged compliments and the Colombians invited us to their country for a tournament this fall. Maybe we can make it happen!

Game 7 – 10:05a v. Rhino (Portland) – Quarterfinal

Our offense scored first and we broke right away after Mac notched a deep D against the super-athletic Timmy Perston (orange beanie) off a backhand by Revolver alumnus Seth Wiggins. Mac turned and went the other way, so Ashlin Joye connected with a big backhand; a quick blade over to Russell Wynne made it 2-0. Other first half highlights include Devon with awesome acceleration to run past speedy Breeze Strout for a huck D and Beau Kittredge tallying a D, a goal, and two assists, including a nice backhand huck to Wiseman in stride. 8-6 at half as Rhino kept it close, breaking our O-line once. Mac later outran Seth, no simple feat, to block an away throw, which brought the lead to 13-7. The offense closed out the game and a strong second half 15-8 on a two-throw point, the long ball from Adam “Chicken” Simon to Bart Watson.

Game 8 – 12:10p v. Ironside (Boston) – Semifinal

This was the first rematch of last year’s national championship game, so both sides were eager to hit the ground running. Boston received to start and soon broke first to take a 1-3 lead, but we broke right back to tie it at three apiece after an overthrown huck. At 5-4 Ashlin marked primary thrower Matt Rebholz so well that he was forced to chuck a stall nine blade that fell incomplete. We worked it back and Mark Sherwood threw a break-mark hammer to Martin for the 6-4 lead. Ironside’s Muffin later sent a forehand bomb off a pull play to young gun George Stubbs (who otherwise had an impressive game), but Chapman knocked it out of the air; several throws later Ryo Kawaoka ripped a low backhand huck that Dan Forseter nicely defended, but the disc popped up in the air long enough for Levy to run under with the help goal (7-4). We took half 8-5 after a gorgeous inside-out backhand huck up the break side from Schlag to Bart. Later, Robbie Cahill shot a flick over the stack, where Wiseman made an amazing trailing edge layout grab but landed hard on his knee (11-7). Somebody nicknamed “Kibs” experienced double happiness when he foot-blocked Bart’s backhand then beat him to the spot in the endzone to close the score to 12-10. We traded out, including a couple of great deep plays by Ironside to Peter Prial, as the O-line steadily held on game point for the 15-12 victory.

Some may wonder about our D-line’s unusual approach to the pull this year. Those curious should check out the UltiVillage footage. We’ll let Cassidy do the talking, here:

“The Boston coach came over and asked me about the D team’s huddle. He said, ‘How does that work? How do you know who you’re covering?’ I told him, ‘I have no idea. I had one point with them and screwed it up and now they won’t let me play on the D-line anymore.'”

Game 9 – 2:20p v. Ring of Fire (North Carolina) – Final

A rematch of our first game–the alpha and the omega! After a grade A pull by Jonathan Hester, Russell caught a deep shot for the block; a few passes ensued and Mac threw a blade forehand up the line to wide-open Ashlin for the first break of the game (2-0). We took two consecutive breaks for a 6-2 lead and they broke back once before we won half 8-5. After a successful offensive point out of half we broke three times in a row to 12-5. Hester laced another great grade A- pull and Chapman climbed the ladder for the deep D; then Chapman sprinted the other way and Hester snapped a long forehand to him for the break (10-5). On the next point both Zach Travis and Pat Baylis had highlight-reel layout blocks. Bart subbed in for Baylis after his man rolled over him and immediately bladed a flick to Mac (11-5). On the next point Devon easily blocked a hanging deep throw before Ashlin shot a perfectly placed backhand to Russell (12-5). We pushed it to 13-6 as Hester made up for a turnover by forcing a throwaway and calmly throwing through a nasty multiple-foul mark for the goal to Bart. On game point the O-line swung to Bart, who put a forehand onto Beau, in stride, to win 15-8.

ECC champions! Full results here. It’s a good start, but worth noting that the last two winners in Burlington went on to lose in the finals at Sarasota…