Radnor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.