Maryland Brodown

Short summary: From being last seed in our pool on Saturday, we went 3-0 in pool to win the pool and then also won our crossover game to go 4-0 on the day. On Sunday, we lost the quarterfinal game to George Washington and then beat Gettysburg and won a short (5-point) rookie game against Del-Y to finish 6-1 and get 5th in the tournament.

*Game 1: Penn State B*
Half: 7-4, Final: 13-8
They were short on people and we were able to dig them into a hole early that we never let them out of. We responded fairly well to a Z they through for a few points (except for when I splooged at the end on one point). Very solid on the intensity front in that we played like we wanted to kick their asses and not down to their level. We got broken way too much for the same reasons as usual: not getting a mark on fast enough / not sealing properly. But a good start to the day as we came out firing and not flat on our feet.

Also, we officially began implementing the tunnel system for calling lines before game and at half. Abooyah.

*Game 2: Delaware-Y*

Half: 7-3, Final: 12-9

The first half was, at the time, the best half of Ultimate in my time at Hopkins. Delaware came out piiiissed after losing to a Georgetown team that they thought was inferior. But we broke them right off the bat to build a 2-0 lead and never looked back. We earned turnovers with some hot D and generally capitalized on them. In the second half, we stumbled a bit, and they clawed back to 10-8 at which point they were fired up and thought they were back in the game. Then I threw a huck and LG absolutely posterized their 6'5" giant and completely took the wind out of their sails. We weren't supposed to win this game, but showed very good resiliency in not letting them back in this game. Granted it was a Y team, but they were still supposed to beat us on paper; we will need to win more games like this if we want to make regionals.

*Game 3: Georgetown-Y*
Half: 7-6, Final: 13-10

This was a battle of the 2-0 teams and was a tooth-and-nail battle. No lead for either team was bigger than 1 point until the very end of the game. The game was a bit scrappier than the others as fatigue began to set in; it was a matter of minimizing mistakes. During the first half, *in cutting was completely lacking*. We had to rely way too heavily on hucks which were answered with fantastic catches by Morgan, Rowley, Abnirmal, et al. This lack of cutting stems from a general lack of field awareness: cutters (we do this on D too) often fail to keep an eye on the disc and so are not ready to give swing/continue cuts. Our O stagnated for a few seconds everytime the disc moved as cutters were not ready to time their cuts off of disc movement. This is an area that we improved on in the 2nd half but will need to continue developing as the year goes on. Rookies will continue to improve greatly in field awareness with more playing experience. We also still gave up way too many breaks; marking and sealing is an area we need to improve greatly. They played slightly harder than us at times, with a sick layout in the end zone and another one for swill, but we never allowed them to build any momentum. Fighting off our hardest opponent so far down the stretch was huge. The fact that we were able to close out a game in which we ourselves never built a lot of momentum speaks volumes about the mental fortitude that we exhibited. This game was doubly important for its consequences: we got Rutgers in the crossover game (see below), while Gtown had to face Cornell who trounced them. We won our crossover game and earned a first-round bye on Sunday, while Georgetown had to be at the fields 1.5 hours earlier and play an extra game. But we earned the right to the bye.

*Game 4 (Crossover): Rutgers*

Half: 7-5, Final: 13-9

I mentioned that our first half against Del-Y was our best at the time; that's because this first half outshined that one. Note that this is not in the execution department: both teams were tired at the end of the day and so our throws and catches suffered. Where we really shined this first half was in desire. We gave up a break on the very first point, kept on serve to 2-2, then let them build a 4-2 lead on a break. We responded strong, scoring on our O-point and following up with two breaks to give us a 5-4 lead. After trading points, we responded with one more break to take half 7-5. Coming through while tired and refusing to let them steal the first half from us was HUGE. The second half was sloppier on both ends as their 3 key players began to get tired (and the same happened on our end). Once again, Rutgers thought they were back in the game at 10-8 and 11-9, but we scored and broke them to take the game 13-9, finishing the day strong and establishing ourselves as the best state school in New Jersey. We were able to run them into the ground at the end of the game as we refused to let the fatigue set in like it did for them. Let me say, this was far and away *the best Saturday* that we've had a tournament in a long, long time. The delicious Five Guys was hard earned and well deserved (although it might have contributed to our slowness on Sunday :p). I cannot stress enough how proud I am of the entire team and especially our rookies, who have progressed IMMENSELY since the rookie tournament last weekend. The fact that we were able to accomplish this without some key players (Derka, MG, Rubash, Sheldon, Nirmal, to name just a few who were unable to make it) speaks volumes to the places that we can go this year. We still have a lot of work to do on the execution front if we want to make it to regionals, but we exhibited the kind of mental toughness that will be absolutely essential going down the road. In these close games, especially when we're tired, it can be easy to fold and let the other team run over us. But we absolutely REFUSED to let this happen on Saturday and so we went from being bottom seed in our pool to running the table and learning a first-round bye on Sunday.

Game 1: TJHSUoP&NJ vs. GW

Half: 4-6 Final: 8-11

Coming off a ridiculous performance on Day 1 (which I coincidentally was unable to witness), I know we had high hopes for this game. We came out running - much better than any game in which we started with a bye versus a team that already played a game in recent memory. One real problem, though - *breaks and up-the-line dumps*. They pretty much went up-the-line at will, which is the *single most important *cut to stop when playing handler defense. In the future, everyone needs to line up diagonally IN FRONT of a handler with very tight coverage (na' mean?) in order to stop these cuts. Eventually we our marks got savvy and struck when necessary, which led to their being able to break them quickly. When striking, stop the the pass then jump back immediately. We played better after being down 4-8 after half, but the early deficit was too much to overcome. Notable plays include Shelly's multiple sick skying D's and Abnirmal's veteran-esque read of a huck missed by a dude like 6 inches taller.

Game 2: TJHSUoP&NJ vs. Gettysburg

Half: 8-5 Final: 13-9

TJHSUoP&NJ was hungry for a win after the disappointing loss to GW, and it was evident from the first 2 points. Going up 2-0 after starting on D was certainly nothing to scoff at. Unfortunately, that's when we started playing down to our opponents. These guys seriously threw up CRAP on a consistent basis, yet we never really put our feet on the accelerator. We should have won this game 13-4, and I expect to next time. Our zone D looked pretty good, especially given that we didn't practice it very much. Handlers need to move the disc more on zone O - lateral movement to tire out the cup. I don't care if you have to swing it 50 times a point, eventually it will take its toll. Forcing shit through the cup is *exactly* what they want you to do. Take a cue from Big Bro and chill out, yo'. All players - but especially the rooks, need to keep their heads up; a lot of stuff went by peoples' faces undeterred. Frank tried to huck it to Shane, but failed miserably. Then he blamed it on the sideline, as if that were some sort of active defender. Shelly burned a few people. K Dox and Rowley were consistent (go figure). Shane hucked it a lot. Derka heckled a bunch of girls...some twice. We really need to learn how to close games, this one took way too long.

Game 3: TJHSUoP&NJ vs. Delaware-Y*

Half: 3-1 Final: 5-2

The star is because this was a game to 5 featuring a 5 rookie - 2 returner ratio. We came out pretty strong, with our rookies showing their rookies who's boss. Again, we sputtered out at the end, with Kev having to come in to clean shit up. Abnirmal threw some stuff away, but eventually redeemed it with the huck to Kev ftw. Derka put in K Dox and Poopcan to handle, but neither of them threw any hucks and instead got scored on - Poopcan in particular light up the scoreboard in the wrong sense - so Derka took them out afterward. Sheldon is usually open when he cuts in, so he should do that more often, especially when he decides he wants to do so while running full speed. Overall, pretty much a game to get the rooks some more playing time. Final Thoughts: We *have *to learn to close games. It's really a mental thing - the ability to elevate your level of play when you really need to. It's about confidence and desire. Honestly, some of us have more of those things than others, and all of us don't always have them consistently. All of us have our fantastic moments in practice - it's time to bring those to the game, and do it consistently. All it takes is the belief that you can do what you know you can.