O'Hara Ultimate

Radnor

2009-05-04T10:19:00.002-04:00

The last regular season scheduled game against Radnor found both teams coming out of tournaments. O'Hara playing very well off their tournament win at the O'Hara Invite, and from their admission, Radnor playing well off their performance at Born2Dive where they went 3 - 4. The Radnor/O'Hara game is always highly spirited and incredibly competitive, and definitely a game to look forward to.

The game started with both teams trading points, O'Hara coming out on man defense, and Radnor doing a good job moving the disc. For O'Hara, the first 4 points of the game were attributed to Sleeves, catching two and throwing 2 more. After keeping the score close for a while, O'Hara began to pull away, going up 7 - 4, before a brief Radnor comeback, leading to half at 8 - 6.

Fortunes would change at half, and Radnor came out strong, moving the disc methodically against the O'Hara zone, taking a 12 - 9 lead before Waste had enough. The zone tightened up, with Russell playing some solid mid and Whitey getting 2 or 3 hand blocks on the mark, and O'Hara tied the game, 13 - 13. Radnor took a 14 - 13 lead and O'Hara began to go to work. Moving the disc down the field, Whitey got in trouble against a wall zone run by Radnor, and tossed one up. Henkel played the deflection and made a sick layout grab. When he got up, our best handler had the disc more than halfway up the field, with nothing but O'Hara players in front of him. 14 - 14, win by two. O'Hara pulling, and it was a great pull, you could hear the sideline whispering, "Drop it, drop it...." And Radnor obliged. The pull squeaked off Wolf's hands and Henkel dropped a hammer into Squared's hands.

Radnor received the next pull in the back of their endzone, with O'Hara playing the best zone of the day. At one point, Whitey had Radnor trapped against the back line of their endzone. Thinking Callahan, the defense was stoic. Finally, Radnor found a few breaks and worked the disc down the field. As they neared the goalline, some miscommunication lead a throw directly into Squared's waiting hands. On our own goalline, he let loose a huge huck, thinking "Huck and play D." Sleeves had another thought as he turned on the speed and sprinted to the opposite endzone, past all Radnor defenders, and actually looked as if he had to slow down to make the catch. 16 - 14, O'Hara wins and secures the 2 seed for City Championships.

2nd Annual O'Hara Invite - Girls Division

2009-04-27T12:25:00.002-04:00

The second day of the O'Hara Invite was slated for the Girls Tournament. This year, expanded to 8 teams, 4 from Philly, 4 from VA, NJ, and NY. We hope to continue to build up this tournament to become a premier venue in the Girls HS Ultimate scene. The tournament featured 2 Eastern's teams, 2 Amherst Invite teams, and some growing and developing teams.

Columbia

O'Hara last matched up with Columbia at Eastern's, losing 9 - 5. Back then, GirlSquad was never really in the game. This time, O'Hara started out with a 3 - 1 lead before giving up a Callahan goal. O'Hara managed to hold it together, with Columbia eventually taking half, 7 - 6. Unfortunately, after half, it was all Columbia, as they took the game, 12 - 8. O'Hara's defense was not able to stay on Columbia's disc movement. The zone caused problems, but the confidence and experience of Sparkle Motion proved too much for GirlSquad.

Haverford

Having lost the first game, O'Hara was playing for 5th place and some pride. The second game brought Haverford, fresh off a 13 - 1 loss to YHB. The game featured some of the longest points in a game that I have ever witnessed. The score was 2 - 1 almost an hour into the game. GirlSquad would score a quick point, then proceed to have a very long point following that. It was a matter of getting tired, then trying to force the disc, or come up with a big huck. That would usually result in a turnover, followed by tough defense, which was immediately followed up by a hurried offense, a bad choice, or a huck. On a day as hot as Sunday, temperatures in the 90's, the long points wore down O'Hara, but GirlSquad held on for the 6 - 2 win.

Beacon

A rematch of the semi-final game from Green Eggs, both teams were tired, but Beacon had some left in the tank. A number of the O'Hara girls were suffering from dehydration, exhaustion, and the heat in general. That being said, adverse conditions bring out the best in competitors. For most of the beginning of the game, it seemed many of the girls had checked out, at one point, a pull hit one of the girls in the leg, resulting in a easy score, and Beacon took a 7 - 4 lead as the soft cap went on. With the pressure on, O'Hara started a comeback. O'Hara ran off a string of 3 solid points, to tie the game, just as the time cap sounded. Universe point, with O'Hara pulling upwind. This point would last 25 minutes. Both teams had a ton of chances, moving the disc back and forth, up and down the field. O'Hara had the disc on the goal line, at least once, and another time, was able to call a time out just 5 or 6 yards from the winning score. Both times, O'Hara failed to convert. It was at the end of the game, Beacon scoring the winning goal, 8 - 7.

It was obvious that O'Hara did not lose the games due to lack of skill. GirlSquad is playing extremely well and the skill level is there. The biggest problem is lack of experience playing together and working as a team. That is a major issue that needs to be addressed with more practice, and more games. Experience is the biggest factor, and this tournament added a ton of experience to a very young roster.

2nd Annual O'Hara Invite - Open Division

2009-04-27T09:23:00.003-04:00

The O'Hara Invite was originally slated to be a Mixed tournament, and early in April. The tournament was switched to the weekend after the Junior Prom, and being that most of the Girls team are juniors, the open division took shape. In attendance, aside from O'Hara, were Lower Merion, Cheltenham, Masterman, Methacton, Lancaster Country Day School, North Penn, and a new team, Germantown Academy.

Germantown Academy

The first game of the tournament for #1 seeded O'Hara was the brand new GA, sporting some pretty slick Breakmark jerseys. GA jumped out to a 1 - 0 lead, but after that, it was all O'Hara. It was helpful that earlier in the week, The Haverford School came in, and GA played a similiar style, no real offense, just lots of hucks. Once the mark took away the huck and Squared, Sleeves and Blattner started to dominate the long throws, O'Hara rolled, 13 - 4. The biggest dark spot of the entire day happened fairly early in this game. Brett, on a huge layout for a score, missed the disc off his fingers, but severely hurt his shoulder. We won't know the full extent for a few days, but early X-Rays were negative, so we are hopeful to not lose him for an extended period of time.

Cheltenham

O'Hara has made a habit of jumping out to a big lead, then giving up a huge lead to Cheltenham. Playing on our home field, we hoped to reverse the trend. Once again, O'Hara jumped out to a decent lead, and took half 7 - 4, there was some disagreement as to the score, with O'Hara thinking we had 8, and Chelt thinking we had 7. In the end, Katz and Henkel agreed that we had 7, and the second half began. Chelt started one of their comebacks, and O'Hara began to fall apart. Eventually the score was tied up 8 - 8, when O'Hara took a timeout to regroup. The team had become frantic on offense, trying to force throws, then not getting back on D. The team mantra became, "Hard nose D, Chilly O." After the timeout, O'Hara ran off 3 quick scores, forcing Chelt to take a TO. After the TO, O'Hara finished off the game, with Chelt only grabbing one more score, 13 - 9. The end of game lineup was a first, instead of handshakes, both teams, traded hugs showing the camraderie between the teams. O'Hara finished the game well in advance of the time cap, and had some time to wait for the winner of the Lower Merion, Masterman game.

Masterman

Unexpectedly, Masteman put down LM 13 - 9, setting up the first matchup of Masterman and O'Hara this year. Masterman has a number of coaches working with them, and they are a growing team, sure to be dangerous in the next few years, today however, belonged to O'Hara. The team jumped out and never looked back, eventually winning 13 - 9, in a highly spirited affair, and again, ending in a hug line.

Overall the team played well, but does have some things to work on, holding a force, downfield D, and active cuts to name a few. The team did respond to adversity, held together, and put down a challenge. It should be clear that O'Hara is a legitimate City Championship contender.

HipHop - Girls

2009-04-20T09:08:00.000-04:00

I need to get on the ball with this. I am starting to slack with the updates, I apologize to those that follow O'Hara Ultimate. On to the games!

This year, HipHop was held on one of the most beautiful days of the year so far. It was also the first tournament that I helped run that did not have to get rescheduled, or rained out. GirlSquad was pumped for their games, the first chance to see all the PHUEL teams in action.

Radnor

This was the second time we had played Radnor this year, and the result would be the same, well, almost, Radnor scored a point. GirlSquad came out playing a zone, and it would not be long until the Radnor coach stopped to ask Cook, "Wait, what defense is this?" She was confused as to whether it was a man or zone D. Cook did let the coach know it was zone, but that didn't help much as O'Hara rolled, 13 - 1. Lots of playing time for everyone on the team, and a great start to the day. Just about everyone looked sharp, and with 17(!) girls on the team, plenty of subs to keep everyone fresh.

Haverford

Haverford has been getting better, and the team had thought this would be our first test of the day. It seems Haverford might have been worn down from their 7-6 loss to Lower Merion, as GirlSquad came out and smoked them 13 - 2. O'Hara was the only team in the Girls division to end the games at the point cap, and not the time cap. Jax showed up huge in this game, with a bunch of D's and a ton of points, in fact, Jax was huge all day. Blue was laying out as usual, except this time, they were actual layouts, and not throwing herself at the disc. It was an awesome thing to watch.

Lower Merion

After the Haverford game, Judy began to not feel well, she had been in the sun too long, and there were some dogs around, creeping her out. Since we had dispatched with Haverford so quickly, we also had a little bit of a layoff, about a half hour, before the LM game. To this point, layoffs have been a problem for the team, we have not been able to come out sharp after a break. Unfortunately, that would continue. LM jumped out to a 5 - 2 lead, and in the midst of that, Reg had to leve the game with a pretty serious concussion. That would foreshadow some of the events of the open game. With our best player, Reg, out of the game, and our team firestarter, Judy, sidelined as well, O'Hara was in for a fight. The biggest problem was that LM had finally figured out our zone. They were hucking happily over the zone, and comign up with some huge catches. GirlSquad thinks the combined team of BabaOhara from the fall gave LM the insight they needed to beat the zone. GirlSquad began switching the defense, and fought back. Once we switched to a standard cup, with Meag and Blue providing some stellar defense, the girls climbed back to 7 - 7 before the cap sounded. The game when to Universe point, with LM receiving. GirlSquad quickly got 3 D's and then had three chances from the goaline, to win the game, but grew impatient and could not swing the disc and punch it in. After the third chance, LM connected on 3 big hucks to win the game.

This marked the 2nd time in three years, GirlSquad has lost HipHop at Universe point. All in all, the girls played fantastic together, gutting out a huge comeback with our best player out of the game. This showed the grit, determination, and depth of the team. We know that with Reg back to full health for this weekend's O'Hara Invite, we are going to be dangerous.

Wissahickon

2009-04-16T12:42:00.005-04:00

Easter Monday, a great day off, the last of spring break, and O'Hara Ultimate was ready to play host to Wissahickon.

O'Hara came into the game after a disappointing loss to Conestoga, and in a bit of a tail spin. Sleeves was unable to make the game due to family issues, so O'Hara was going to be playing without one of our key players. The game started out with Wiss playing a zone, and O'Hara in a ho-stack, and playing man defense against Wiss' ho-stack. O'Hara got off to a rough start with a confused man/zone defense, and then played a dominating man defense for most of the first half, jumping out to a 6-3 lead. At that point the call was made on the field to switch to a zone, and that allowed Wiss to get back in teh game, actually takign half 8 - 7.

Due to some poor decision making, not only with the zone, but also with some ridiculous throws, the Tripod found themselves on the sideline to start the second half. Eric had some early jitters, allowing Wiss to build a 10 - 7 lead before the sophomore crew settled down and fought back. O'Hara played some very good defense, causing repeated turnovers, but then, making the same poor decisions and slow play against Wissahickon's cup that allowed Wiss to get back in and then eventually win the game, 15 - 12.

Henkel lead all scorers with 7 assists, and the scoring was well distributed. Eric had a pair of sick layout d's. The team showed a lot of effort, especially the second half sophomores who really started to pull it together toward the end of the game, playing killer defense, but the deficit was just too much to overcome.

Thursday Holy Ghost Prep comes down, in the last tune up before HipHop where O'Hara is the 6 seed. Hopefully we can work out the kinks and stir up the tournament.

Conestoga

2009-04-09T14:46:00.002-04:00

On Monday, O'Hara Ultimate welcomed another new team to the league, Conestoga. The weather was ominous all day, lots of rain, wind and potential thunderstorms, but the weather cleared just in time, and left a great day for Ultimate.

The game started with O'Hara scoring the first point, then Conestoga quickly answering. In just the first two points, it became obvious that Conestoga didn't have much, if any, game plan. They simply came to run around, throw the disc and play a glorified game of pick-up. They didn't have matching t-shirts, let alone jerseys, and they really had no idea about the rules of the game. On one occasion, Sleeves called their captain for a travel, upon which, the other team gave the disc to Sleeves and allowed O'Hara to score. O'Hara allowed Conestoga to replay the point, but this was just one example of how O'Hara should have beaten Conestoga. Notice the should. But, that is why the games are played.

O'Hara just played terrible. Look back in the archives to the game against The Haverford School last year. It was a similarly awful game. Henkel played his butt off, tossing 7 scores, but defensively, not a player on the team did anything worth noting. Conestoga played terrible defense, ran around on offense without a strategy, and O'Hara simply did less. There was no hustle, no passion, no effort. It was, in short, a disgusting example of terriblensss. The result, a 15 - 13 loss.

Next Monday bring Wissahickon, not nearly as good as they were last year, it is hard to replace the Stavingas and Ben, but they are still a very good team. If O'Hara doesn't show up to play, expect to read another scathing report.

Green Eggs and Spam

2009-04-03T10:20:00.002-04:00

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.

Holy Ghost Prep

2009-03-14T13:33:00.003-04:00

Ah, the spring, the snow is gone, the days are longer...finally, some time for Ultimate.

The first game of the spring for O'Hara Ultimate brought a brand new team, ready to test themselves against the experience of O'Hara. The coach, Tom Croskey, a former O'Hara teacher, wanted to give his team their first game experience and use it as a first step toward a successful first year. O'Hara wanted to get their game legs ready for more challenges to come. The game lasted all of 50 minutes with O'Hara dominating the entire way, on route to a 15 - 2 win.

Some highlights of the game included fantastic play from the Sophomore Boys, including very promising handling by Sean and Eric, spectacular catches form Russell and Brandon, steady leadership from Zak, and fantastic D from Frenchie. On the more experienced side, Squared recorded a slash, and added to that with an unbelievable point-block-layout-Callahan. Whitey and Henkel each had a slash on the assist side, and two new seniors, Harnish and Morrow each recorded a goal, with Morrow's goal being the game winner.

It was a great game, but not without some points to work on, cuts were looking sloppy, rounded off, or flat to the sideline, and some decisions from the handlers need to be worked on, but overall, a fantastic game. Next up, Radnor's Green Eggs and Spam tournament.

End of Season

2008-11-19T19:00:00.002-05:00

So with the fall season over, a quick reap of the team's record and future.

The Open team finished 3 - 4 and really put it together after KitKat in the Hat with a convincing win against Methacton and a huge beatdown of Radnor. The light attendance at KitKat allowed for much more playing time for the sophomores and some of the other less experienced players, it was a big growing moment, especially the loss to Stuyesant at KitKat. Overall, the open team finished 4 - 6 but showed a lot of potential for the spring, and definitely have the potential to make States and upset a few teams. While there is no doubt that Pennsbury is still the class of PHUEL, O'Hara Ultimate will make a push toward the top of the league if every player continues to grow and work hard.

The Girls team only had one game, crushing Radnor, but also had some players get major playing time at KitKat as part of BabaOhara Combo team. A number of players showed huge steps in playing ability and a ton of desire to continue to grow and get better. GirlSquad is still the best team in PHUEL and should be looked at as one of the elite programs in the state.

I had previously forgot to mention something about the Radnor game. Jax had the first ever Callahan for GirlSquad in that game. She was playing great defense and just wanted the disc more than any offensive player in the area, it was one of the highlights of the game.

The Alumni game will be Saturday November 29th at 12 noon. All former players are invited to come out and take on the current team. Depending on numbers, a male/female ratio will be enforced. See you then.

Radnor

2008-11-06T22:21:00.000-05:00

Radnor Girls

O'Hara was Radnor's first ever game, so it was fitting that GirlSquad would welcome their girls to PHUEL. GirlSquad graduated not only Katie, but also Monica, Savage, and Boylan. On top of those losses, a few other players transferred, and other were hurt, well, Becky was hurt...again. Even with all of those losses, GirlSquad has high expectations for the year, and this first chance to play together was welcomed.

Being a GirlSquad game, the weather was less than ideal, lots of wind, rain on and off most of the day, and a bit on the cold side. GirlSquad is used to the weather, honestly, I'm not sure how well they could play on a nice day. The weather would not affect the girls at all, at least, the O'Hara Girls.

GirlSquad started on offense with the wind to start the game, and jumped out to a quick lead. It was downhill for Radnor from there. GirlSquad poured on the points, both with and against the wind. Playing in the stack, Meag showed off here best Katie impersonation with 7 assists and a score, and even played a shut down role as the mark in the cup. Poncho played a great game as the reset handler, with Reg chipping in a slash in the endzone. Judy had four scores including a nice almost-layout. The cup worked to perfection and GirlSquad cruised to an easy 13 - 1 win. Meag was far and away the player of the game with an impressive performance.

The most telling part of the game was the absence of turnovers, even in the windy conditions. The team as a whole had very few drops and were constantly aware of the location of the disc and how they were being played defensively. It was truly a remarkable game.

Radnor (open)

Thinking redemption, the open team faced off against Radnor. The first game of the season was a disappointing loss to Radnor, our first ever, however, every game the team has looked better and better. The past few weeks of practice has featured a lot of cup defense and zone offense, and the introduction of a 2 handler zone offense, now known as rocketship (2 -2-2-1.)

Radnor came into the game undefeated in the fall, except for a loss in the final of KitKat in the Hat to a very good Watchung Hills team. This, however, proved to be the game where Waste put it all togehter. The team played flawlessly with just about everyone chipping in. The cup devastated Radnor's offense and Radnor's cup never had a chance to set up with Whitey and Henkel moving the disc quickly and efficiently. Henkel had a handler's slash and Squared was on the receiving end of a slash of his own, as O'Hara Ultimate annihilated Radnor, 15 - 4. Even with all of that scoring, player of the game honors went to Sleeves for his shut-down defense and all around fantastic play.

Once again the sophomore boys showed that they are continually stepping up their game. A great example of that is Eric's layout hand block from the top of the cup! The team as a whole has come along very well since the beginning of the fall and is now playing like cohesive unit that shows great promise for the future.

Cheltenham

2008-10-15T14:12:00.000-04:00

Game three, this time, with some excitement. O'Hara Ultimate traveled up to Cheltenham, on the team bus no less, and arrived well in advance of Cheltenham. The team prepared for a challenging game, while not having Whitey or Squared.
As the game started off, O'Hara Ultimate showed some life, playing very good defense, and actually moving the disc well on offense, with Henkel and Ben doing a fine job handling, and Zakk and Brett coming into their own with fantastic cuts. Just about every member of the team had some playing time, and was able to contribute.
The first half was a see saw match, going back and forth, with O'Hara takign the half. Coming out for the second half, a dominant defensive performance by Zakk, French, and Sleeves gave O'Hara a solid 4 point lead. Once the game went to 14 - 10 O'Hara, Cheltenham rolled out a zone, and began to torment the O'Hara offense. Cheltenham was able to score three quick points to bring the score up to 14 - 13. With desparation in the air and O'Hara Ultimate feeling the game slip from their gasp, the offense began to move deliberately and methodically down the field. The handlers, Henkel, Ben and Brett were able to walk the disc down the field, but kept stalling just shy of the goal line. After a turn, an amazing D would give O'Hara another chance, but 4 times in a row, the offense could not punch it in. The final attempt left Henkel stranded in the far corner of the field, mere feet from the endzone with too much clogging and lazy cuts to find a chance to score. When Cheltenham turned a huge huck into an immediate score, O'Hara had nothing left, losing 16 - 14.
Once again, on the brightside, lots of experience for the younger players. This team will have learned a lot by the time the spring rolls around, hopefully O'Hara Ultimate will have a chance to play a game with a full line-up sometime soon.

Wissahickon

2008-10-08T18:29:00.000-04:00

Game two of the fall, unfortunately, same result. The game, against friendly foe, Wissahickon, was an interesting game to be a part of, once again, good enough defense, but not enough offense. Squared highlighted his ability to completely shut down any and every deep throw and French made a big splash in his first game, showing off talents eerily similar to an early Magerr.

Wissahickon is a good team, but not nearly as talented as O'Hara made them look. Jumping out to a 7 - 0 lead, thanks to a healthy dose of uncalled travels (Wilcox, we miss you) O'Hara just could not get anything going. Wissahickon ran a cup defense that O'Hara was frequently out of position to defeat, created turn, after turn, after turn on the Wiss goal line. That close to the endzone, Squared could not cover enough of the field.

It was not until Frenchie and Zak got in the game that the offense showed any life. Zak's solid cuts, and French's desire for the disc became infectious. French scored the first two O'Hara goals, getting on the board, 7 - 2. After a halftime talk that highlighted on calling the travels and fouls, O'Hara started to put it together in the second half. Wiss moved to a man defense that Henkel, Squared and Whitey were able to run a three-man weave and move at ease. Unfortunately, a lack of patience made it difficult to score. After spotting Wiss a 7 point lead, O'Hara managed to score 6 to Wiss' 5, but it was not enough as O'Hara lost, 12 - 6.

Some bright points from the first two games, Zak has real talent and potential, ditto French. Squared is a major defensive force. Ben can be a solid handler. Whitey makes so few mistakes, his game is near perfect. The biggest surprise is Brett. Kid came to play this year and is showing some true potential, great things for this junior. Blue and the GirlSquad are getting mentally ready to play some tough games and make some waves in the spring. As the fall progresses, I am sure that things will start to fall in place and this team will pull together to make a good run at a City Championship, and have some real excitment at States.

Fall Season Opener - Radnor

2008-10-02T09:21:00.000-04:00

O'Hara Ultimate graduated a ton of great players last year. Handlers, cutters, incredible D, depth, all lost to college. Knowing full well the fall would be rough, the team decided to schedule just a handful of games and focus on rebuilding in the fall. The first game, against rival Radnor, a team that we had never lost to, would be the first test of the season.

Before the game, the team fought for transportation, and the school has granted the team busing to every away, a major milestone for the club. Now, on to the game recap.

The team split into A and B squads for the game, and had high hopes for both. First, A Team. The first teamers had a difficult time moving the disc early. The handlers, Henkel, White, and Squared, were not able to get good looks down field to move the disc, and would often have slight miscommunications that would cause a play to break down. Offensively, there were very few cuts available to make downfield throws. Overall, it was a rough first game. O'Hara fell behind early, and despite playing good defense, could not muster up enough offense to win, falling 15 - 7 for the first ever loss to Radnor.

The B team was a completely different story. The B game was played mixed, 5/2 ratio, and that worked right into O'Hara's favor. With Blue, Reg, Poncho, and Colleen getting playing time in the A game, Becky took charge. Recording the first slash of the season, Becky was the top handler and game manager for the B team's total domination of Radnor B. French showed his ability to become a defensive stopper and major threat on offense. The B team cruised to a 15 - 3 shellacking of Radnor.

All in all, many lessons were learned, mostly about timeliness of cutting. Hopefully, with more practice and experience, the team can begin to pull it together.

States - Girls

2008-06-06T10:24:00.002-04:00

GirlSquad had just come off their official crowning as City Championships, and was looking to States to avenge their Easterns losses. Last year, O'Hara fell just one point shy of winning, and this year, was determined to win every game.

Lower Merion

Of course the tournament would start out in a familiar way, against cross-town opponent, Lower Merion. O'Hara GirlSquad came out rather flat, owing that to a sluggish morning, and early start. The wind would become a crucial part of the game, as both teams decided to rely on the huck-and-play-D tactic. At some points, the game seemed to break down into a game of catch between Katie and Emily, the Lower Merion star. In the end, Reg in the endzone and Katie and Monica on D, once again proved too much for Lower Merion to handle, with O'Hara winning, 7 - 5, in what would prove to be the closest game of the day.

Mt. Lebanon

The Mt. Lebo Girls came into the tournament as one of only two teams from Pittsburgh and the team with the best record, going 9 - 1, the only loss was in the semi-finals of the Pittsburgh Championship. They happened to catch the GirlSquad in a game that would prove to be the most dominant performance by an O'Hara team ever. With the wind gusting hard, O'Hara GirlSquad moved the disc as if it were a perfect still day. On defense, the girls were dominating, on offense, the movement and flow of the disc was pure artistry. GirlSquad cruised to a 12 - 3 victory and had finally looked like the championship-caliber team they are.

Haverford

Once again, a familiar opponent from nearby. Haverford, in their first year, has progressed quite far, but this day belonged to O'Hara. The game was close, 9 - 3, and had a few scares, Reg hurt her leg and Blue's injury from Eastern's was acting up again, when this game closed, the stage was set for a showdown with the PHUL champion, North Hills.

North Hills

The North Hills Girls were an athletic bunch, pretty much cheerleaders with a flick. What they had in talent, they lacked in sportsmanship. The game was close, back and forth, with the North Hills Girls showing why they were the PHUL champions with very good hucks, luckily O'Hara had Katie shutting down the deep game. A scary moment came when Monica caught an apparent goal and called herself in, a NH player was right with her, and violently grabbed Monica's arm during an argument about whether Monica was in or not. Monica kept her cool, and eventually relented that she was not in and immediately threw a goal to Katie. With O'Hara firmly in control, the second half was a mockery, with NH hucking deep, not playing D and generally unspirited, O'Hara easily won, 10 - 5.

Second Day

Lower Merion

The semi-finals featured the top two teams from Philly, and O'Hara dominated. Blue and Reg played limited points to rest their injuries and GirlSquad did not miss a beat on a picture perfect morning. The wind had calmed down and Katie lead the girls to complete control of the over-matched opponent. Even with the limited playing time, Reg managed to score 3 goals on 4 catches, and blue played key D and added a few of her own. GirlSquad cruised to a 12 - 3 victory and completed a season sweep of Lower Merion with a combined scoring of 57 - 20.

North Hills

After Day One, everyone knew the PHUEL Champs would meet the PHUL Champs to decide States. The game was close, with O'Hara falling behind for the first time all tournament 4 - 2. The North Hills sideline was overheard during a time out saying "Ok, now we just do what we do, blow them out." Apparently, they did not respect the ability and tenacity of GirlSquad. O'Hara quickly answered back, taking half 7 - 5. After half, with all the other teams, Haverford, Lower Merion and Mt. Lebo cheering for O'Hara, GirlSquad had the extra boost to carry them to take an 8 - 7 lead. While the point was being played, the hard cap went on, O'Hara was firmly in control of the disc, near the NH endzone, but couldn't punch it in. The whole sideline was aware that if GirlSquad scored, the game was over, if not, a universe point would ensue, memories of the previous year's universe point loss in the title game flooded through the sidelines memories. The players on the field had no idea about the critical nature of the point, and just played hard. When Reg scored the winning goal, and the sideline rushed the field, it took a few seconds for reality to hit the team, GirlSquad had captured their first Pennsylvania State Championship and the State title in O'Hara Ultimate history.

States - Open

2008-06-06T09:09:00.002-04:00

The lead up to States was rather crazy. Originally scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh, a last minute field cancellation forced the venue switch to just outside Allentown, in the shadows of Dorney Park. The change also lead to a number of Pitt. teams dropping out, leaving only 12 teams to compete for the State title. The Open team had played well enough in the spring to earn a 5th seed at States, and hoped to play well enough to prove it was well earned.

Radnor

First game of the tournament, familiar opponent. Having played Radnor already several times in the season, O'Hara was well versed in how to go about beating the Griffins. The first game proved to follow suit exactly as the entire season has, with O'Hara Ultimate defeating Radnor 13 - 7. No real surprises, simply good Ultimate.

Wissahickon

Having come off a loss to Wiss at City Championships due to Curran breaking Ben's nose, O'Hara was ready for a rematch. O'Hara and Wissahickon had proven all year to be very evenly matched, save a 15 - 1 blowout by Wiss earlier in the spring. The game was hotly contested with points being traded back and forth. A few key turnovers in and around the endzone, Szkuds and Curran not quite finding their groove, and once again, too much from the Stavingas, proved to be O'Hara's undoing, falling 12 - 8.

Pennsbury

The City Champs and defending State Champs once again proved why they are such a good team. Pennsbury came to States on a mission, and showed it, defeating O'Hara 13 - 6. O'Hara played Pennsbury as good as any team in the pool, but just could not match the depth of the Falcons.

Mt. Lebanon

In the final game of the day, and O'Hara looking for a .500 finish, the only Pitt. team in the pool arrived with their A game. This would prove to be the most exciting and dramatic game of the tournament for O'Hara. The teams traded points to 3, then Mt. Lebo was able to get a few breaks, and took a halftime lead of 7 - 4, including an incredible, double happiness play that featured a layout at both ends from a Mt. Lebo player. O'Hara Ultimate would not be denied this game however, as they fought back to tie the game at 8. With O'Hara driving, Mt. Lebo came up with a huge D in the endzone and started to work the disc up field, as they approached midfield, they floated a pass over the middle, and playing a masterful deep position as usual, Squared flew in for a huge D. Unfortunately, Henkel made a similiar run at the D and a thunderous collision ensued. Both key players were down and out at a crucial time, Henkel with a bloody nose, Squared with a severely hurting leg. Still, O'Hara drove on after the injuries, determined to win the games last two points savage. O'Hara took a 9 - 8 lead just after the cap went on and forced Mt. Lebo to play conservative, but intelligent. The safe play of Mt. Lebo lead to a 9 - 9 tie, forcing a universe point, with O'Hara receiving the pull going down wind. The play was intense, both teams forcing several turnovers before an exhausted O'Hara scored the winning point, finding Sleeves in the endzone for the win. Both teams collapsed on the field, Mt. Lebo in exasperation, O'Hara in jubilation.

The end of Day 1 found O'Hara 2 - 2, needing a win in the final pool game on Day 2 verse an unknown, and underrated State College.

State College

O'Hara arrived at Day 2 with a savage team, having lost Henkel to injury and team captain Szkud to a family emergency. O'Hara Ultimate was still determined to send the seniors out on a high note. The game began with O'Hara turning the disc over 3 times in the endzone and giving up huge scoring drives to State College, instead of being up, O'Hara found themselves in an insurmountable 3 - 0 deficit. The team fought back, finding weaknesses in the SC zone, but was unable to find enough defense to cause the breaks, and lost 13 - 10, the early lead proving the difference.

J. R. Mastermann

Having been eliminated from the Championship bracket, O'Hara sought to dominate the Chumpionship division. O'Hara had a recent string of games against Mastermann, and once again, even savage, proved too much for the fledgling team to handle, winning the game, 13 - 7.

Radnor

The final game of the tournament, ending just the same as it started, with Radnor. The differences in this game from the first however, made for a much more interesting set-up, O'Hara, playing in their third savage game of the day, was looking to continue their winning streak against Radnor, and finish States with a winning record. Since the Championship game was starting at about the same time, the teams agreed to play to 9, in order to watch the event. Once again, O'Hara proved too much for Radnor. O'Hara took a 5 - 3 halftime lead, and on the ensuing pull, bolstered that to 6 - 3. From there, the team was content to trade points to the end, when Wilcox found tournament MVP Curran in the endzone with a trademark layout for the game winning goal, 9 - 6.

When the dust settled, O'Hara finished the tournament with a 4 - 3 record, and the season with a 16 - 15 record and overall, scored 5 more goals than they allowed. A successful season, filled with wins, losses, and incredibly fun season. The graduating seniors will be missed, but they have set the stage for more growth and plenty of success. Good luck to the graduates, most of whom will be playing for Penn State in the fall.

Devon Prep

2008-05-22T11:29:00.002-04:00

Senior Day brought in Devon Prep, a new team to the league. This would be set to be the Seniors last home game, and last regular season game. A windy, cold day, would be the perfect setting to play.

The game started off much closer than O'Hara had anticipated with Devon actually taking a 3 - 1 lead. O'Hara had been running its zone defense, but it was not as dominate as in the past. O'Hara quickly switched to man defense, and the rout was on. Gunther recorded his first slash, Monica her first Open score of the year, and Savage played some solid D. The team now preps for States.

City Championships

2008-05-22T10:10:00.002-04:00

The City Championships were slated to be hosted at Edgely, but some last second revisions were necessary and brought the tournament home to O'Hara. The home field advantage may have helped, but only slightly.

GirlSquad

Off their Easterns' fallout, the Girls came home to their dominance. The first game against Lower Merion started off slow, and ended early. The game had to be time capped in order to start the rest of the tournament. O'Hara was not playing particularly well, with many throws hitting the turf early or simply not being caught. Luckily, the girls were able to turn it on when they needed it, and walked away with a 6 - 2 win.

The Haverford game was much more the style that O'Hara is familiar with. In a 15 - 0 rout, O'Hara regained its form with Reg nearly collected two slashes and Katie tossing most of them. The game even featured a Callahan goal! The GirlSquad had claimed the official title of City Champions and had begun to look forward to States.

Open

The Open team had drawn the 5 seed and had to face Lower Merion in the first round. The game would prove to be hard fought, but a testament to how far the team has come this year. In the only other match-up with LM, O'Hara won a nail-biter 13 - 12, this time, there would be no doubt.
O'Hara stumbled a bit to start the game, falling down 6 - 4 before taking their play up a notch, taking half 8 - 7. The zone began to gel and put pressure on LM players and force bad decisions, upon which, the offense quickly capitalized. Squared was as dominate as ever, but once again took a hard shot to the groin during a collision with Sleeves. The second half was all O'Hara, the team could sense the life draining from the LM players and quickly closed the game, winning 15 - 9. This was a game of wills, with O'Hara proving it wanted the win, just a little more.
After beating Lower Merion, O'Hara had the dubious distinction of playing Pennsbury. Earlier this season, at Born 2 Dive, O'Hara gave Pennsbury a little scare, and had confidence that the team could hang with them. Pennsbury quickly put that idea to rest. Showing just how dominate they really are, the defending State Champions never let O'Hara into the game, dominating from start to finish with a 15 - 6 win. Unlike B2D, Pennsbury took O'Hara seriously, and was not looking past to a match up with anyone else.
The final game for the A Team had them matched up with Wissahickon. Both teams had limited subs, and were debating before the game about seedings at States. It was clear once the game start, that both wanted to win and claim 3rd place in the city. The game wore on as a slug fest, with both teams going on runs of points, and several players, including both Stavingas, needing to leave for a point or two with cramps or other injuries. With the score 10 - 6, Curran let a huge huck fly, but on the follow-through, he caught Ben in the nose, and opened the floodgates. With as much blood as Ben had pouring out of his face, it was obvious he had to go to the hospital. O'Hara decided to forfeit the game, and give Wiss. the win. It was later determined that Ben had a small break in his nose, but would not miss any game time.

O'Hara finished the day in 4th place in the city, meeting our team goal of a top 5 finish. The next goal is a top ten finish for the open team, a State Championship for the girls.

Cheltenham

2008-05-16T09:57:00.000-04:00

After a downer of a trip to Easterns, the O'Hara Ultimate A team had a few days to get themselves ready for City Championships. On the day before playing Cheltenham, the team scrimmaged against several seniors from Cook's marketing class. The game, of course, was a debacle, with the Ultimate team winning 15 - 2. The bigger story was that we were supposed to play Cheltenham on that day, and the brilliant coach that I am, I screwed up the schedule. Cheltenham was gracious enough to reschedule for the next day.

O'Hara Ultimate met Cheltenham on their home field and was able to field a savage team. No subs, no problem. O'Hara Ultimate thumped Cheltenham 15 - 6 on the strength of the zone defense. Squared had plenty of D's and took a shot to the groin when he went up to sky a Cheltenham player and collided with Sleeves. He did not get the D. Szkud chipped in a slash, as did Curran and Wilcox on the assist side. Always a good spirited game, the teams decided to shake hands on the way to the ice cream truck which had waited patiently for the game to end.

Girls' High School Easterns

2008-05-12T08:13:00.000-04:00

The GirlSquad had qualified for Easterns based on their finish at States last year. O'Hara Ultimate had finished second, falling to Fox Chapel at universe point. With high expectations and a 8 seed overall, GirlSquad stepped onto the fields in Pittsburgh. The fields were a swamp and the weather foreboding, but the experience of playing at the highest level was all the motivation needed.
Amherst

The first game of the tournament was against perennial powerhouse, Amherst. The Amherst team boasts an incredible record, several Eastern Championships, and several very good players. Even with all of that, O'Hara Ultimate came out strong, scoring the first 2 points, and showing everyone that they were not a team to be taken lightly. As the game approached half, several spectators were heard grumbling about a possible upset as the zone defense was causing problems and Katie was not allowing any long passes. However, the experience and depth of Amherst became evident in the second half and the youth and vulnerabilities of the GirlSquad was exposed. This would be the best game of the tournament for the girls, playing together as a cohesive unit and giving a giant a strong match, but unfortunately, the girls fell 12 - 5.

University School of Nashville

The team from Tennessee was seeded second in our Pool and was every bit as good as Amherst. During a second round bye, O'Hara watched as USN and Amherst battled out a monumental game, with Amherst pulling away in the end to make USN hungry for their battle against O'Hara. USN came out strong, scoring 3 quick goals on the GirlSquad. The second round layover had taken something out of the GirlSquad as they were playing very flat. The team took a time-out to talk about playing intelligently and with passion. After that, O'Hara Ultimate ripped off 5 unanswered goals to take a 5 - 3 lead, and swing the momentum in our favor. USN was able to weather the storm, and scored 5 in a row of their own to take halftime 8 - 5. In the second half, USN was content to trade points with O'Hara, the final, 12 - 8.

LC Bird

At some point in the USN game, Blue had hurt her foot, she was able to play a few points in the LC Bird game, enough to help O'Hara build a 3 - 0 lead, but once she had to come out, the team began to slip. With obvious exhaustion, GirlSquad began making poor decisions, trying to press the disc up-field and forgetting about the tried-and-true dump/swing to beat the cup. A frustrated Katie removed herself from the game for her only rest of the tournament. After playing a hard, promising game against Amherst, O'Hara Ultimate was unable to muster up the same determination and hard fought playing, and lost to LC Bird in their worst defeat of the year, 11 - 6.

Day one ended with an 0 - 3 record, exhausted girls, an injured Blue, an upset, but hopeful team.

Columbia

The second day brought cold temperatures and the constant threat of rain. It also brought Sparkle Motion. The game was very competitive, but O'Hara fell 9 - 5. One of the core reason for this loss were the 27 endzone turnovers. O'Hara was able to repeated get the disc down to the goal line, but could not seal the deal. Turnovers in the endzone had been a repetitive theme throughout the weekend.

Stuyvesant

The last game of the tournament found Cook wearing a trashbag to stay dry on the sidelines, and Katie wearing on to play in. This game also held the most dramatic, frightening moment of the entire tournament. On a seemingly innocent play, Becky laid out for a catch with a defender going for a D and Becky did not get up. A fiery player, Becky had been knocked unconscious while trying to make a catch in the middle of the field. She had to be taken away to the hospital, but not before making sure everyone knew she made the catch and to pancake the disc. With the loss of a second player, Blue had been injured beforehand, and a sick Reg, O'Hara Ultimate went on fighting, but could not muster up enough for a win, falling 7 - 4 in our final game at Easterns.

Overall, a 0 - 5 record is not very pleasant to look at, but, with a very young team, and many more years to practice and perfect gameplay, look for O'Hara Ultimate to be a fixture at Easterns for many years to come.

Masterman - Playoffs

2008-05-07T20:47:00.002-04:00

O'Hara Ultimate was seeded 5th in the City Playoff Series, a win qualifies the team for Division 1 City Championships and State Championships. Masterman, who O'Hara had earlier defeated at the O'Hara Invite.

Masterman was able to keep the score close early, but, the experience and skill of O'Hara dominated the opponent. The zone defense was infuriating, causing many turnovers, just when Masterman thought they were through. The offense quickly capitalized on mistakes and made very few of their own. O'Hara took half with the score 8-2, increased the lead to 10-2, and won by a final of 15-7, settling to trade points at the end of the game.

Squared and Szkud chipped in a slash in the endzone, with Katie and Curran racking up a slash each tossing past Masterman defenders with ease. O'Hara Ultimate advances to the City Championships where they will face Lower Merion in a rematch of the second game of the season. O'Hara has lost 6 of the last 7 to Lower Merion, but has improved tremendously this season. We should be a force at the City Championships.

Next up, the GirlSquad at Easterns.

Radnor

2008-05-02T12:05:00.002-04:00

On another very windy day O'Hara once again was in action, this time against Radnor. In the second match-up of the season, O'Hara once again was victorious, dealing Radnor a crushing 15-3 loss.

In windy conditions, O'Hara's version of a cup zone once again proved to be a formidable defense and completely shut down any offense from Radnor. With Szkud, Curran and Gunther consistently around the disc, giving the handlers no breathing room, and Squared playing lights out deep, Radnor simply had nowhere to go. Before Radnor could react it was 10-0. Only then were they able to put together a fast break offense to capitalize a few times.

As great as the defense was, the offense was spectacular. O'Hara was able to move the disc incredibly well on Radnor's cup defense by playing with 4 handlers in an inverted ho-stack. The invert opened up all kinds of room underneath for Szkud and Gunther to cut through and allowed Curran to rack up a double slash for assists. Szkud and Squared each finished with four goals, and just about every member of the team contributed to the rout.

Crushing defense and intelligent, patient offense were the keys to this victory. Those and the fact that O'Hara may very well be the best bad weather team in the Philly.

O'Hara Invite - Sunday

2008-04-28T12:35:00.005-04:00

Saturday was for the A and B teams, Sunday brought GirlSquad into action in a prep for Eastern's in two weeks. YHB made the drive up from Virginia, and although O'Hara tried to find another high level girls' team, none could make the commitment. The first ever O'Hara Invite Girls' Division featured YHB (A & B), Lower Merion, and O'Hara.

O'Hara first played a warmup game against a combined LM and Haverford team. Haverford only had three players available, and they rolled into a rather large LM/Haverford team. The combined group scored 2 quick points on GirlSquad, and seemed poised to finally end O'Hara's domination of Philly teams. However, GirlSquad had no intention of allowing that. The girls ran off 7 quick unanswered points, to win the game in a lightning fast 35 minutes. The game ended at half in order to get YHB involved in the action.

In the second game of the day, GirlSquad would get a preview of YHB, a team that will also be competing at Easterns', and who had defeated GirlSquad in the fall at KitKat. YHB jumped out to a 2 - 0 lead, just as LM had, and GirlSquad answered back with 4 of their own. The game continued in this way, streaks of points, for both teams. In the game, Monica recorded a slash, and Katie finished once assist shy, but unfortunately, the team fell 13-10. While the team was not able to beat YHB this time around, the team should feel confident about their chances at Easterns.

The closing round pitted O'Hara against YHB's B team, a collection of young players, with one starter from their A team. Katie and Monica sat out most of the game, and allowed the younger players to gain some experience and some playing time. Without their captain and star player, GirlSquad was still able to roll over their opponent 13-1. YHB's B team did show a lot of heart and played well, but the experience and chemistry of the GirlSquad was just a little too much.

Next up for GirlSquad...Easterns.

O'Hara Invite - Saturday

2008-04-28T12:35:00.002-04:00

The first ever O'Hara invite was not quite a major spectacle. Originally slated to have a 3 team A and 3 team B division, only 5 teams showed up, and one had to leave early. Sadly, both of those were the other A teams. Cheltenham could not get enough players and Wissahickon had only 7, most of which had to be on the road shortly after noon. It didn't matter, as there was still plenty of ultimate to play.

First, O'Hara A. The A team took on Wissahickon in a reversal of fortunes game from an earlier match-up. Last time, it was O'Hara would played savage, accounting for only 4 points. This time, Wissahickon had a savage team, but the Stavinga's still managed to make it close. O'Hara won 15-14 with the twin brothers from Wiss accounting for 90% of the Wiss points. Other than that, O'Hara did win, even if it was in ugly fashion.

While O'Hara A was battling with Wiss, O'Hara B was fighting with J.R. Masterman, a new team from Philly. Mastermann played well, and was able to defeat B7, but not without some great play. Back to having fun, B7, for the first time ever, ran a stack in game. Playing in the new offense, Russ showed off his athleticism and instinct for the game. It didn't take long for the team to be able to put the concept for the offense into action and was able to run the stack with surprising effectiveness. Mastermann did come away with a 13-5 victory, but O'Hara B showed some hope for the future.

In back-to-back action, O'Hara B took a short break, and then took the field for a game against Lenape, a team form New Jersey. The Jersey kids showed great athleticism, but not much in the way of actual Ultimate knowledge and skill. Their ability to outrun and outlast O'Hara B proved to be enough. In the last game of the day for the B team, the squad simply could not match up with a much bigger, faster group. The team fell into some bad habits, not running to the disc, dropping easy passes, not looking up field to advance the disc, and simply making bad throws. Lenape easily won the game, 13-3.

O'Hara A looked to redeem their younger, more inexperienced B team by defeating Lenape. The game was one of the easiest of the year for O'Hara. The team, without having much difficulty, was able to quickly dispatch with the team from Jersey playing savage. Lenape did show heart, but the experience of O'Hara was simply too much for them.

O'Hara A finished out the day by taking on Masterman. Masterman has played many games in their first season, and their experience and coaching was on display. Unfortunately for them, O'Hara once again, had too much experience and skill. Handlers repeatedly found Albaugh in the endzone, in what was probably Albaugh's best game ever. The junior shows some promise for next year.

Overall, the B team had a fun day, and O'Hara A raised their record to 8-5 in league, and 8-10 overall. With 4 regular season games, and City Championships still to be played, O'Hara is currently tied with Wiss for the PHUEL regular season lead.

Abington Friends

2008-04-28T12:28:00.000-04:00

Off a hard fought loss to HUDA B, O'Hara B team traveled up to Abington to take on the Friends. The drive up brought some wrong turns, Mr. Cook getting really lost, and some general confusion, set the tone for the game.

O'Hara B showed real promise and passion on Tuesday, but could not carry that over into this game. AbFS, with a roster full of players with height and way too much facial hair simply cruised by O'Hara, 15-4. The team was unable to put together any offense, only showing momentary flashes of the brilliance from Tuesday. The zone proved ineffective, and players who can typically be relied on for consistent play, were not delivering.

After the game, the team discussion centered on passion and desire to play. It seems the day off lead most of the B team to leave their love and passion of the game at home in bed. Hopefully it is a lesson they will not forget soon.

HUDA B

2008-04-22T12:16:00.000-04:00

With the A team having the week off, their only time off this season, the B team was in full gear. The first of 4 games this week, B7 traveled to Haverford to take on HUDA B. Haverford's B team is not a true B team, it is about half A team players playing down, and some younger players. HUDA and O'Hara did agree to play the game with a 4:3 ratio, evening the odds a little for O'Hara.

The first half of the game was quite a debacle, O'Hara not being able to string together any offense and being decimated on defense, quickly falling behind, 7-0. On the sidelines at halftime, the team decided to switch to a zone. On the first offensive series of the half, O'Hara quickly turned the disc over, and HUDA scored amongst the confusion of setting up the zone. That was to be the last time the zone fell apart. B7 quickly put together how to play the zone and was absolutely devastating in the second half. The B squad forced turnover after turnover, playing lights out D and unstoppable offense to score 9 points in the second half. The team, led by new captains Eric and Sean, and stellar play by rising GirlSquad star, Becky, showed tremendous grit and determination. HUDA "B" may have won the game 13-9, but the second half showed B7, that with the right attitude, hard-nosed defense and team play, they can find a way to put points on the board.