KCL Thrown Ultimate

im still buzzing from the highs of yesterday
not to mention aching all over (leading to a pretty poor performance
at winter league today…)
anyway,
this is probably one of my favourite parts of the tournament: the
match report…
so i hope you guys read it

GROUP STAGES

last year we sent down a beginner team to mixed indoor regionals
and this is where dan and louis in particular really started to
flourish (and i got my ankles injured…)
this is relevant because it explains why chichester 2 were seeded
above us
we were fortunate i guess that we werent stuck in a group with two
other first teams…

after struggling to get to the venue on time we were fortunate to
ease into the tournament with a second team.

vs CHI 2 (chichester)

not much to say about this match to be honest. this was a team full
of beginners. they threw away a lot and tried a lot of low percentage
throws probably in desperation. new to the team this year were jess,
jackie, millie and alex so it was great to see them integrate so
well. millie was scoring at will, alex and jackie were creating some
great flow and jess was the definition of reliable as a handler.
great start to the day without being tested too much.
final score 11 – 0

vs MOHAWKS 1 (sussex)

we have had little to no indoor practice this year so were not very
good at indoor throws, indoor zones or iso etc. mohawks are at the
other end of that spectrum and we really got taught a lesson in this
match. they had a great iso and quickly went 4 or 5 up. after the
match harry suggested that i should have taken a time out and he was
definitely right. our heads were down and though we got a consolation
point, mohawks were in complete control. the one positive to take
from this game was our efforts against their zone. we were cool and
composed and they didnt dare try it again.
final score 1 – 9

vs SCORPOIONS 2 (surrey)

after the last match this was quite nice to regain our confidence.
surrey 1 are very well drilled and i was worried about the second
team causing us some problems. for whatever reason that didnt turn
out to be the case. our offence and defence was back to its aggresive
best. a really nice and well spirited team finished our group games.
final score 11 – 1

the group results meant that we came second to mohawks 1 in our group
and took 7th seed, which is absolutely fine for us.

(SECOND TEAM MENTION

having played two 2nd teams and cheered on thrown 2 i have to say i
was massively impressed by how our beginners did. nick and the other
experienced players did an incredible job at getting the best out of
our freshers and getting them so involved. harry and i have tried
really hard to emphasise the importance of dumping at practices and
its so good to see proof that you guys listen. unlike chi 2 who threw
away recklessly at high stalls and scorpions 2 who kept getting
stalled out, thrown 2 rarely threw away. but ill leave the more in
depth match reporting to nick. needless to say it was great to watch
them play some great ultimate. thrown 1 could learn a thing or two
about dumping and swinging… )

QUARTER FINAL
7th seed vs 2nd seed
vs SCORPIONS 1 (surrey)

weve started to have some really heated matches with the scorpions in
recent times. (at outdoor div2 nationals and at indoor regionals) and
this turned out to be no different. pugh has drilled this team
incredibly well and i reckon many people would have considered them
to be favourites. our matches have meant though that we now know more
of what to expect from this team and after our loss to mohawks we
wanted to prove ourselves. id learnt from indoor nationals last
november not to be too fancy with tactics but rather to stick to what
we know – simple stack offence and hard defence.

thrown took the lead but surrey werent far behind. there were several
flash points to this match. dan was doing the most incredible job of
marking out pugh. there were several calls made in this match,
mostly, if i remember correctly by pugh. this used to get into our
heads before but not in this match. dan wasnt phased by the strip
call (and nor was i after he questioned the validity of my awesome
layout grab…) and if anything he seemed to be winding himself up…
at 4-4 we went into sudden death. we were on offence so the pressure
was on us to convert. i threw away a stupid hammer but our d which
had been phenomenal got us the disc back. this time i found louis in
the end zone with a much simpler sidearm cut.

final score 5 – 4
(took 2nd seed)

this result guaranteed us top 8 i think and made it difficult for us
to drop out of qualification.

SEMI FINAL
2nd seed vs 3rd seed
vs DISC DOCTORS 1 (imperial)

dd had been awesome at indoor open regionals and nationals and i
reckon thats to do with their good tactical awareness. they have an
effective zone and a great iso so i was quite worried to be honest.
we talked about iso defence and considered our female advantage.
unlike the previous match which we won through sheer effort and
aggression this would be more of a tactical encounter.

we started on offence and opted for 3 girls on the line. dd used a
zone and we worked the disc up between all of us really nicely:
confident and composed. when we got to the endzone we were all a bit
clueless, but it was great to see all of us trying different ideas.
jackie and i tried to jump it in a few times, jess was constantly
looking for some break throws to spilt the zone and tim and kaleigh
were stretching the defence. in the end i reluctantly threw a blade
to tim who was towering over rosie. (i know he was expecting that
much earlier) our d was sharp and i think we took quite a comfortable
lead. the score was 4 – 2 at some point but i never felt like our
lead was in the bag at all. finally dd used their dreaded iso on
magnet… we put in place our d and though it didnt work perfectly at
first we were much improved compared to the mohawks game. louis even
managed to get a huge high d on magnet and the subsequent zones meant
that dd couldnt catch up. bit of a tactical error on their part i
feel but a win against dd is always sweet.

final score 5 – 3?
(kept 2nd seed)

this guaranteed us qualification and the 2nd seed and put us in the
grand final against mohawks…

GRAND FINAL
2nd seed vs 1st seed
vs MOHAWKS 1 (sussex) again

all day we had been talking about playing good ultimate and trusting
that the results would follow. we had qualified for nationals and
were happy with that. we wanted to redeem ourselves more than
actually take the 1st spot i think. after our powerful win vs surrey
and our tactical win vs imperial we had given ourselves the perfect
lessons to combat mohawks the second time round.
we had a massively intimidating crowd watching us from above,
including a rawkus mohawk contingent. thanks to the thrown 2 team
then for cheering us on, and for ham as well, who had made the trip
down to support us. we had kept our heads in our previous matches but
with the entire southeast watching this was different.

we actually took the lead in this match which really helped calm my
nerves. mohawks pulled out their iso early which made sense on their
part. much like against dd it took us a little while to truly shut it
down. but we did so convincingly, which meant that they had to
abandon that tactic. 4-2 down at least we could play them on our
terms of stack offence and defence. unlike many of the teams at the
tournament we didnt rely on one person, we had great cuts and throws
from everyone. i think i threw away the most to be honest so
apologies for that. i remember harry threw a really nice curving
backhand to kaleigh after a series of beautiful give and go passes.
everyone upped their game. millie had only really made herself known
in the endzone in previous games but got involved in the final, which
is great. we had a couple of chances to bring it level, the best of
which came to alex, who had made another great run towards the
endzone and managed to sky a mohawk with ease. unfortunately mohawks
called a foul and so the contested call was sent back. the buzzer
went during this point, which for the final meant that we had to
finish the point and play to a one point cap… jess was dominant.
she had been throwing some great discs for everyone and sent yet
another one towards harry who sprinted to the endzone to catch the
disc high and crash through the hall doors. again mohawks called a
foul but after a lot of discussion the point stood, meaning another
sudden death situation. with mohawks on o though, we needed to force
a turnover. we did just that. we moved the disc with some crisp
passing and jackie pulled out a great hammer cross pitch towards the
endzone. im sure everyone saw this in slow motion. i expected to see
tim on the receiving end, but was shocked to see dan instead… his
defender was caught out of position and dan actually went for the
disc high with one hand.

the crowd erupted as we thrown won its first ever tournament and
finished seumir champions…

well played everyone. we all earned and deserved that trophy
which is why i cant really think of an mvp or bag winner…

anyway,
sorry for the length of the report
thanks for reading this far
i really cant tell you how proud i am of the team and the club this
weekend.

i really enjoyed watching the second team play and watch everyone
improve.

the season isnt over though. keep coming to practices so that we can
carry this momentum to climax the university season in style.

see you guys wednesday.

adnan
thrown first team captain 08/09