Green Eggs and Spam
The first tournament of the spring, and what is quickly becoming the official beginning of the season. Radnor hosted their annual tournament, with 6 girls teams, 8 open and several other teams in a B division. The day was a little on the soggy side, but winds were not too crazy, and the rain help off during the tournament. Overall a good day for Ultimate.
Girls Division
For GirlSquad, the tournament marked the first time playing together with a number of new players, and a great deal of confidence for the tournament. The first game, against Radnor Girls, proved a great warm up, as GirlSquad easily won, 11 - 0. Reg recorded a slash, and overall the girls just dominated a weaker opponent. Radnor had great turnout, but just could not match up with the speed, handling, and experience that O'Hara has.
The second game was a rematch of an Eastern's battle, Stuyvesant, the same team that knocked Becky out. Stuy had a very large team, luckily this time, O'Hara had numbers as well. 14 girls attended the tournament, giving plenty of subs and lots of chance to rest after long points. GirlSquad fell behind 5 - 3 to start the game, after switching to a cup defense, with Meag on point getting loud on the mark, the tide began to turn. With the addition of Peaches and Christine, Reg was able to move into the cup providing a formidible defense right around the handlers and causing several D's right at the point of attack. With this stellar defense, the offense kicked into high gear, GirlSquad scored 6 in a row to win the game, 9 - 5.
After a break, GirlSquad met Beacon in the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the break, coupled with a few injuries and overly-cautious play, added up to a disappointing loss, 4 - 3. Beacon played a wall, and while the handlers were able to easily swing the disc, the downfield cuts were not there when needed, or the handlers were too timid to look upfield for the throws.
Overall, the girls played well in their first tournament since last spring, finishing 3rd, especially considering the fact they had no practice the week before the tourney. With several more tournament coming before Easterns, notably the O'Hara Invite, GirlSquad is confident that they will be able to surprise some teams at the big show.
Open Division
The guys had hopes for a great day of Ultimate, and felt pumped and ready to show off the new look, two handler offense. The first game, against, Lower Merion, proved a solid match up, in which O'Hara just dominated LM winning 9 - 4. The second game, against eventual tournament winner, Watchung Hills, proved there is still a lot of room for growth, as O'Hara lost 13 - 4. After the game, the team agreed that they were handliy beaten, but felt they played well. The third game of the day brought Cheltenham, and once again, a great game. The first half featured a dominant performance by O'Hara, but hinted at some more luck than skill, for example, French catching a pass thrown by Henkel, tipped by Sleeves and a defender, before falling into French's hands. Or maybe the ill-advised hammer to Squared. Or the constant charging downfield by White when he was supposed to be a handler. In all, the 7 - 5 halftime lead seemed secure, but eventually lead to a 9-8 universe point loss, again, to Cheltenham. A carbon copy of the fall game, in which Chelt overcame a bigger deficit to win.
Due to how the pool fell, with point differential, O'Hara had won the right to play Radnor for third place. Fitting how so many tournaments end with O'Hara playing Radnor. This time, Radnor looked more than ready. Playing at the only place where Radnor has beated O'Hara, the Red Raiders were pumped and jumped out to a convincing 3 - 0 lead. Then O'Hara switched over the the Wheel Defense and began to frustrate Radnor. On the idea that it would take "100 passes to score" the offense began to come out of the defense. The defense would allow Radnor to make a mistake, a poor read, or come up with a huge D and then immediately take advantage of the turn and score, often in 5 or less passes. In one monumental turn, Radnor completed nearly 50 passes before turning the disc over, upon which, O'Hara scored in two throws, decimating the spirit of Radnor. O'Hara scored 10 in a row leading to an eventual 13 - 6 victory, further avenging the loss from the fall.
At the end of the day, O'Hara Ultimate was named the Spirit Award winners, and walked off with a satisfying 3rd place finish, and started preparing for the Methacton tournament in a few weeks.
Girls Division
For GirlSquad, the tournament marked the first time playing together with a number of new players, and a great deal of confidence for the tournament. The first game, against Radnor Girls, proved a great warm up, as GirlSquad easily won, 11 - 0. Reg recorded a slash, and overall the girls just dominated a weaker opponent. Radnor had great turnout, but just could not match up with the speed, handling, and experience that O'Hara has.
The second game was a rematch of an Eastern's battle, Stuyvesant, the same team that knocked Becky out. Stuy had a very large team, luckily this time, O'Hara had numbers as well. 14 girls attended the tournament, giving plenty of subs and lots of chance to rest after long points. GirlSquad fell behind 5 - 3 to start the game, after switching to a cup defense, with Meag on point getting loud on the mark, the tide began to turn. With the addition of Peaches and Christine, Reg was able to move into the cup providing a formidible defense right around the handlers and causing several D's right at the point of attack. With this stellar defense, the offense kicked into high gear, GirlSquad scored 6 in a row to win the game, 9 - 5.
After a break, GirlSquad met Beacon in the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the break, coupled with a few injuries and overly-cautious play, added up to a disappointing loss, 4 - 3. Beacon played a wall, and while the handlers were able to easily swing the disc, the downfield cuts were not there when needed, or the handlers were too timid to look upfield for the throws.
Overall, the girls played well in their first tournament since last spring, finishing 3rd, especially considering the fact they had no practice the week before the tourney. With several more tournament coming before Easterns, notably the O'Hara Invite, GirlSquad is confident that they will be able to surprise some teams at the big show.
Open Division
The guys had hopes for a great day of Ultimate, and felt pumped and ready to show off the new look, two handler offense. The first game, against, Lower Merion, proved a solid match up, in which O'Hara just dominated LM winning 9 - 4. The second game, against eventual tournament winner, Watchung Hills, proved there is still a lot of room for growth, as O'Hara lost 13 - 4. After the game, the team agreed that they were handliy beaten, but felt they played well. The third game of the day brought Cheltenham, and once again, a great game. The first half featured a dominant performance by O'Hara, but hinted at some more luck than skill, for example, French catching a pass thrown by Henkel, tipped by Sleeves and a defender, before falling into French's hands. Or maybe the ill-advised hammer to Squared. Or the constant charging downfield by White when he was supposed to be a handler. In all, the 7 - 5 halftime lead seemed secure, but eventually lead to a 9-8 universe point loss, again, to Cheltenham. A carbon copy of the fall game, in which Chelt overcame a bigger deficit to win.
Due to how the pool fell, with point differential, O'Hara had won the right to play Radnor for third place. Fitting how so many tournaments end with O'Hara playing Radnor. This time, Radnor looked more than ready. Playing at the only place where Radnor has beated O'Hara, the Red Raiders were pumped and jumped out to a convincing 3 - 0 lead. Then O'Hara switched over the the Wheel Defense and began to frustrate Radnor. On the idea that it would take "100 passes to score" the offense began to come out of the defense. The defense would allow Radnor to make a mistake, a poor read, or come up with a huge D and then immediately take advantage of the turn and score, often in 5 or less passes. In one monumental turn, Radnor completed nearly 50 passes before turning the disc over, upon which, O'Hara scored in two throws, decimating the spirit of Radnor. O'Hara scored 10 in a row leading to an eventual 13 - 6 victory, further avenging the loss from the fall.
At the end of the day, O'Hara Ultimate was named the Spirit Award winners, and walked off with a satisfying 3rd place finish, and started preparing for the Methacton tournament in a few weeks.
posted by Tom Cook at
10:20 AM
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