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Today we played a trifling bit of ultimate at the Atlantic Coast Regionals. Tech came in seeded 11th, which was pretty much justified based on a few bad tournaments and crucial losses to teams just ahead of us. In any case, we got put in the A-pool with Florida, William and Mary, and James Madison. It was a flippin’ warm day, which resulted in some serious hydration and cramping issues. With Garrett, TK, and Zirbel missing and Maxwell still hobbled from DoG, Tech essentially played 15 guys all day.
SPOILER ALERT: Overall finish: 1-3, t-9th , no advancement to Sunday.
The Florida game, we came in expecting just to have a solid warmup, and that’s about what it was. Florida broke twice as Tech had the intimidation jitters and struggled with poaches off of the handlers. Spear started Tech’s scoring with a flick to Fish. Florida scored a couple more times, and didn’t really have to throw much zone—the only time they did, Victor got a blade from Spear, popped it to Hogan, and the point was finished with an easy flick for the score. Half was done 7-3, and the D-line got some opportunities to play O-points to warm up their flow. The game ended at 15-7, with nothing hugely spectacular happening. The deep game was clicking effectively, and it seemed we could work it under with no trouble. Major issues: poach and switch by opponents, reading discs instead of opponents, and occasional silly drops and throwaways. Our conclusions on Florida: Despite the negative publicity, they didn’t play dirty or really make bad calls. Maybe we’re just too far beneath them.
With that game ending early, Tech had half an hour to investigate bagels, other rounds, and get a scouting report on future opponents. William and Mary, the 8-seed, had a very patient offense that wasn’t afraid to swing the disc and isolate a single under at a time. When that started not working, due to great pressure by the marks, led by Aaron and Ramu, they opened it up and #27 and the guy who looked like a steroided Russian assassin #1 put shots at will. Tech stacked D-points to start, with Nick throwing two early hammers to Fish for scores. William and Mary fought back, though, as they scored and broke to tie it up. After a chilly O-point, Tech took the lead and got a turn. After working it down to the goal line, Ramu had a flick mark on the flick side. He saw Spear making an in-cut, but threw to the end zone too far inside. W&M thought it had an easy D, but Victor flew out of nowhere for a siiiiiick layout grab, 4-2 Tech. #27 had two run-through D’s on Hogan and Fish (with silent footsteps, who knew there was a man on?). Some effective isos by William and Mary kept working when we went man, and the trusty 2-3-2 was spread so well that it seemed like we had to man upfield, and they eventually took half, 8-6. With the O-point coming after half, GT resolved to play it smart. That failed quickly, as the wind had picked up and a Hogan huck went out the back downwind. From the initiation, Ethan’s man went deep on the backhand third, and the throw went up downline. Fish saw it the whole way and crashed, getting a clean sky and sprinting to the other end zone for the trigger-happy Spear, running down the bookends, 8-7 W&M. The downwind throws kept getting tougher, as we had trouble finding the right touch. Hogan had the opportunity to make the “best sky of [his] season” and did so in style. With a pretty upline throw from Hogan to Nick, Tech retook the lead 11-10. Both teams started struggling to get flow working, with EJ playing heads-up downfield D, twice bodying out to knock away scores. At 12-all, the cap blew, game to 14. This was a D-point for Tech, and Sean got the circus D in their end zone. With 70 yards to work and already a tired team, the cuts were struggling, as Nick and Aaron had to work it back and forth. Finally, Nick got pissed off that this wasn’t club, and demanded that Fish go deep. With a deep poach already back, he put a 70-yard downwind hanger. Fish had time to get position and ripped over two guys, striking a pose to celebrate. Panicked, William and Mary threw their ensuing O-point on a perfect grounder to shortstop at midfield. Tech patiently swung the disc to move it upfield, and Fish called a timely foul on his marker. With a nod to Noah, he planned to break upline, but Ramu got to the corner first to end the game, 14-12.
Since that game had gone into cap, Tribe had no time to get a good rest or warmup in. 10 minutes after the previous game, we started against JMU on defense. They love the invert, whether it’s flick or backhand, and used the wind well to float stuff just enough. Even “covered” upline throws were viable, especially on the upwind, gaining 10 yards at a time. To be honest, I don’t remember much about this game, because we were all flippin’ exhausted. Sean and Hogan both scored on deep shots. They also loved to huck, and even late looks were possible. The offense looked really good, at times moving the disc like an easy flow drill, but got broken once in the first half, as JMU took half 8-6. Nick’s semi-magic heart started acting up, and he had to take a serious rest. Tech took the O-point, and then we traded O-points, 9-8 JMU. After they sent it deep for a help D from Koch, Spear threw a flick upwind to a streaking Fish to once again even the score. On the next D point, Victor had another layout score on a crummy, blady huck from Fish. With the score at 11s and Tech receiving, each team turned once and the offense took the second opportunity to go up one, with the cap making it hard to 13. All the offense came out to be sure about the last possible point, and JMU knew they needed it, and they worked the unders followed by a 40-yard out to get the tie and force universe. Hogan and Spear started in the middle, and Noah started a series of unders, from Spear to Hogan to Ethan, swinging to Bui, back to Spear on the goal line. He wanted a quick high release to Fish, but put it within only two fingers of stretching reach for the turn. Our exhausted line bid three times on their unders, but a flick got off for another medium out and the heartbreaking loss. Based on point diff between W&M, JMU, and Tribe, we still took third in the pool, meaning we had a crossover for a berth to Sunday.
UNC finished second in their pool with FSU, Georgia, and Clemson, while playing a very tight line of 8 or 9 guys. It seemed like they expected this to be an easy game, not playing any of their studs for the first few points, and it showed; Tribe took an early 3-2 lead. Dunbeck and E.J. both had killer deep cuts throughout the game, as Spear continued to put almost anything he saw. He and Hogan both put inverts out to space that Fish ran onto, with UNC twice laying out into his back for discs that had already been caught above his head. That happened no fewer than 5 times throughout the day, and Spear and Hogan both had the same thing happen to them in the four games. At this point, fatigue was really screwing us, as Fish and Koch both had shinsplints seriously catching up to them, Victor’s legs and back cramping completely, and Hogan's 8-month old swollen ankle. In any case, UNC scored three straight to make the score 7-5. Tech turned a deep shot, and UNC was working it up the flick side. A throw went up to UNC’s #24, and Nick went right by him for a layout catch D. He gave it to Spear and took off. Spear decided it was not a good time to throw unders,FIXED: and called for a time out. After setting, seeing a stagnant stack and a timely foul, Nick took off deep from the start, then Spear lasered what I thought was a terrible throw—with entire zip codes to throw to, he sends it flat and right at the front cone—but Nick decided otherwise, getting a waist-high layout with full extension just inside the sideline and in the end zone, begging that the Chain player/observer call this his tryout. Tech broke once more to tie at 7, but couldn’t get another for half. No one listened to Spear at halftime, because everyone was too tired to decipher his mumblings. In the second half, Ramu matched up on #22, one of their main guys. He got a sa-weet bid on a deep shot to him, but the observer upheld the Lebron charity foul call on another high layout, which they eventually scored. UNC started doing some serious poaches off of the handlers, and Bui and Ethan both caught hucks by abusing the poaches. Continuing the success with Spear and Hogan’s hucking, Nick, Hogan, Fish, EJ, and Dunbeck all caught scores or near-scores. The game went to 11s, but Tech was exhausted and couldn’t finish strongly, as cap went on and the game ended on a break, 14-11.
Despite going 1-3 on the day and not having any shot at advancing to Nationals, the team wasn’t terribly disappointed with our performance. Florida aside, every game was competitive, and the entire team played well, individually and collectively. It was rough dealing with injuries and only 15 players, particularly in hot and humid weather. Tech returns almost everyone for next year, in addition to picking up a freshman class, B-team studs, and returning injured players. We don’t have any video or pictures from this weekend, but if we see links posted, we’ll put them on the website.
Team summer goals are to improve our athleticism, disc skills, and comfort in timing good cuts.
Saturday Pool Play: GT 13, UGA-B 7; GT 13, Clemson-B 1; GT 13, Ga. Southern 5
Sunday Bracket Play: Emory 15, GT 11; GT 15, Kennesaw St. 7; GT 15, College of Charleston 5; GT 13, Emory 9
Tech takes second in the GA/SC section, moving on to Regionals in Charlotte on April 25-26.
This past weekend, Tribe played in the UPA's 2009 Georgia/South Carolina college sectionals, finishing second and qualifying for regionals. Unfortunately, we didn't get any video or pictures of the team, and no one kept scoresheets, so anything here is from memory and is only mostly accurate.
Saturday pool play started against Georgia-B. Tech started on offense and promptly scored. With a mixture of force-middle man and 2-3-2 zones, the turns kept coming and Tribe took half 7-2. After half, things got a little sloppy and the intensity dropped. Even though we "won" the half 6-5, that didn't exactly help the goal of allowing fewer than 13 goals for the day. Everyone got some playing time against UGA-B and Clemson-B, our next game. It wasn't a very pretty matchup, and the O-line went in for only the last two points of the game. Despite Hogan and Fish begging to handle or play a sit-down point, defense definitely took care of business, happily declining to play down to Clemson-B's level, winning 13-1. After that it was bagels and honeypot to stay loose during the rest of the round.
With the weather staying hot and breezy, Tech started against Georgia Southern on defense, but couldn't get a stop; 1-0 GSU. As an aside, Spear commented that their entire line was "jacked" and "intimidating." Literally, they could field 10 players over 6 feet. In any case, they broke to go up 2-0 and we had to try to score upwind. With patient cutting and handlers swinging effectively, a hanging backhand was put to the corner of the end zone for Ethan, who had a clean rip on his defender. His teammates urged him to call an egregiously late foul, on the basis that he had been hit in the face by an elbow, obviously interfering with his ability to jump through Ethan's position. It was, of course, contested with good reason (see attached photo "Ethan Sky"), and sent back to begin a series of three turns for each team. Later in the point, Ethan was kneed in the face and had to come out (ultimate evidently is a contact sport) for the rest of the weekend. Tech scored to bring it to 2-1. Somehow, GSU got to 5-3 (don't exactly remember how), and we put in the O-point. Then defense started rolling. Despite seeing 2-3-2 for 6 of the next 9 points, the Eagles couldn't solve the mystery of athleticism (see attached photos "Ramu Layout", "Nick Layout", and "Nick Sky") that is Tribe's defense. The defensive offense was moving easily, as Aaron and Nick got upline with no trouble, and Koch, Sean, and Victor were open anytime they felt like it downfield (see attached photo "Sean Catch"). With some help from awkward drops and throwaways by GSU, Tech went on a 10-0 run to end the game, 13-5, punctuated by two highlight catches by Sean, one to the corner with a defender all over him, and the other a miraculous sky for Hogan's hammer to end it.
Sunday started rough for Tech. Emory's shallow line kept working through Arvil and Sam Gainer, and they were rested enough to give Tribe a serious run. The wind certainly helped Emory, as Tech threw at least five hucks out the back of the end zone, and they finally learned to be patient in the 2-3-2, which had worked effectively in three previous meetings. A very timely travel call negated Victor's huck to Spear that would have taken half, and Emory scored their O-point after half to go up 8-6, and never looked back. After it was about 11-8, the lines started opening up as Tech prepared to take the backdoor to get to the second-place game, and most everyone got pissed that a matchup with Jojah would have to wait two weeks.
Kennesaw State was the next matchup, a game Tribe would have to win to guarantee a bid to Regionals. With a fast start, excellent handler motion by Bui, Noah, and Nick, and big-time defense in the zone by EJ Layne and Michael Pribble to negate Kennesaw's 6'7" 'Tree', we took half 8-3 and never looked back. Rookies TK and Jacob got into the action, both playing mistake-free ultimate as D-line handlers and dominating Kennesaw's tired lines. That one ended 15-7 and we were able to look ahead to College of Charleston, who had just finished a tough one against Clemson. It was obvious from the start that they were happy just to have earned the fourth-place spot, and their small team was just going through the motions. With a hard backhand force and Victor winning his matchup against their best player, Tech advanced, 15-5, the long way to play for second.
For the 2/3 rematch against Emory, Garrett admonished everyone to come out knowing that we had something to play for. Emory had begged for a midweek match in Atlanta, or for a mercy rule, or a shortened game. We negotiated a game to 13, and started out 3-0, aided by the adjustment of matching up tightly on their handlers. Ramu solemnly swore to allow nothing deep from Arvil, and Sean and Nick continued to wreak havoc in the zone, which we threw about half the time. Koch pretty much never stopped cutting deep and under, as he should, and effectively tired out half of their team. Tribe and Emory both knew this one was over early, and we continued against their rookies, winning 13-7 (officially, 15-9, so as not to piss off the UPA's series mandates).
Freshman Chris Purvis had the following to say about the B-Team's performance:
GT-B Sectionals Weekend
Clemson
Our first game on Saturday morning was against the Clemson A-team. Throughout the season the team has been plagued by terrible first games which we could never get over. This game was no different. We only ended up scoring 2 point against Clemson. The bottom line for this game was that they simply out ran and out threw us. They had height, speed, and better cuts than the team did and we just couldn’t keep up. So GT-B started out the day 0-1.
Emory
Our second game of the day started out a bit better than our first one. We traded points with Emory and ended up winning a long point at the beginning of the game to go up 2-1 forcing them to call a timeout and regroup. After this timeout Emory came out strong and showed GT-B why they were the 2nd seeded team going into this tournament. The rest of the game we only scored one more point because of their superior defense and a plethora of mistakes on our offense. This game ended 11-3, with Emory shutting us down. I felt like we hung with them point after point, but we had trouble punching it into the end zone once we got down the field.
Georgia Southern B
Now that we had somewhat “warmed up,” our offense finally found some sense of flow in our third game against Georgia Southern B. Although our first half was bit shaky when we were simply trading points, we finally got a break before half and started on offense after the half. GSU-B came out with an impressive D after the half and ended up breaking us, tying the game at 6-6. GT-B finally figured out how to play some form of defense after this and we ended up going on a 5-1 run, showing that we really do know how to play ultimate, not the sweet “blob” offense we had used in the first half. We won this game 11-7.
Georgia State
Our last game of the day was the easiest of them all. Georgia State, being a newly formed team this year, had improved greatly over the season since we first played them in the fall of 2008. But even with their improvements we still ran a superior offense and shut them down on defense. Because we were up so much we decided to run a defense that we hadn’t practiced much with, the 2-3-2. This gave the team some much needed experience with this new defense and gave a lot of the newer people insight to a different zone. This game was easily won 11-4.
Sunday
Georgia B
GT-B finished 3rd seed in the B pool which placed us in the 5th place bracket. Our first game was against UGA-B. In the past we had only played UGA-D and were evenly matched with them. So now that we were going up against UGA-B the whole team was a tad bit apprehensive. We came out strong in this game and hung with them for the first 6 points. Our cup was very efficient at shutting down their handlers and the wings and short deep stopped a lot of throws. After this it seemed that UGA-B found its flow and used its superior height and athleticism to stop us. Again, we had trouble converting on the line and had 3 or 4 turns in their end zone. UGA-B only allowed us to score 2 more points the rest of the game and kicked us out of the bracket winning 13-5.
Georgia D
Our last game of the weekend was just a consolation game against UGA-D since we both wanted to play another game. The game was just a chill game where we ended up just losing 13-8. I think I need to mention that the B team needs to learn to lay out and quit being such pussies (namely Dan Gempesaw).
Overall I think that the B-team kicked ass this season. We had a lot of new people to organized ultimate come out and we all learned a lot, both from the A team and our fearless leader, Papa Bear (Trevor). But with that being said we still have a lot to learn. Many of the B-teamers need to get a lot more intensity and play more physically overall. And we all need to be in better shape for next season. I think that with only one or two spots opening up on the A team the B-team will have a lot of returning players who can only get better with one season under their belts. I encourage everyone on the B-team to play summer league if you’re staying in the ATL because you will definitely see some very good players out there. Maybe even drink a little too. Or a lot. But I for one look forward to the next ultimate season and namely tryouts to burn some of the A-team and show them up.
Until next time boys,
“Nervous” Purvis
ACC Ultimate Championships (Jan. 24-25, Chapel Hill, NC)
GT 13, Maryland 7
GT 8, UNC 13
GT 11, Duke 13
GT 9, FSU 10
Mudbowl (Feb. 7-8, Talladega, AL)
GT 13, Alabama 9
GT 9, Georgia-X 13
GT 13, LSU 7
GT 12, Emory 8
GT 11, Auburn 10 (quarters)
GT 8, Georgia-Y 15 (semis)
Discs over Georgia (Feb. 14-15, Atlanta, GA)
GT 15, Kennesaw State 14
GT 15, Alabama 7
GT 15, North Greenville 5
GT 13, FSU 15
GT 15, GT-B 3 (quarters)
GT 15, Emory 12 (semis)
GT 17, Kennesaw State 16 (finals)
Mardi Gras (Feb. 21-22, Baton Rouge, LA)
GT 7, Texas 13
GT 10, Notre Dame-X 11
GT 7, UCF 13
GT 13, Illinois 7
GT 13, Oklahoma 11 (pre-quarter play-in)
GT 13, Dartmouth 9 (pre-quarters)
GT 13, Arkansas 9 (quarters)
GT 10, Wisconsin 15 (semis)
Writeups coming as soon as I get scoresheets and video, or decide that I'm sick of this and make stuff up.
Tribe’s 2009 season kicked off last weekend with a new tournament, held in Chapel Hill, NC. UNC proposed the idea of hosting the inaugural ACC Championship tournament, with a set of experimental rules, including observers calling stall counts, ruling immediately on up/down and travel calls, and making a determination on contested fouls. All things considered, the rules didn’t hugely affect the outcome of games, but did make some situations turn out differently, and slightly sped up gameplay.
After driving in from three rooms and a surplus of bedspots in Durham for reasons known only to Hogan, the team opened on the turf against Maryland for the first game of pool play. Offense and defense both played efficiently in the first half, getting out to a quick 3-1 score by way of quick throws and handler movement. Defense stayed in a 2-3-2 zone most of the first half, as Maryland had trouble swinging the disc and being patient. Nick Lance easily picked off three deep lasers, and Tech was able to take half 7-3. Even when Maryland scored to open the second half, it seemed clear that the game was firmly in hand for Tech. Offense continued to dominate their matchups, with Spear hooking up with Hogan and Garrett on deep shots. Victor Lesniewski had a highlight reel catch for a score, getting his feet taken out from under him. Even now, he says that his knee is feeling “dinky-doinky,” whatever that means. Defense benefited from Maryland dropping a pull, and broke twice to end the game, including a ridiculous sky by E.J. Layne, going through the roof to pull down the final score. Game over at 13-7.
With that game over, Tribe started preparing for UNC. As the number one overall seed in the pool and tournament, it was clear that the game was going to be a tough one. Starting on defense, Tech came down in a zone to try to slow down their aggressive game. UNC worked it downfield, but turned it in the end zone. After both teams traded hanging hucks that were D’d, Hogan sent a flick to Victor and rookie Jacob Zirbel scored the first point of the game. We came down man for the second point. After a near miss on a poach D by Nick, UNC swung it back and forth until a man came open in the endzone for the goal. 1-1. UNC got the goal-line turn and had to work to put it in 10 yards. Tech’s offense turned it and after again forcing several throws, UNC found a wide-open receiver for the score, 2-1 UNC. On the next point, Spear found Nick wide-open deep to tie it up at 2s. After trading turns again, Darkside hucked for the score, 3-2 UNC. I have no idea what happened after that until Victor put a pretty backhand to Michael “Pribble” Pribble to tie the game up at 4. After a sweet backhand and OB sky over Victor (seriously, he got tooled upon), a huck into a poach resulted in another GT turn. UNC worked the breakside fairly well, and then hit a flick into the back corner, 5-4 UNC. Back on offense, Tech got hit by a zone. A freaky zone. A zone I’ve never seen before, in which they essentially ran a 5-man cup. Throughout the rest of the game, Tech had trouble getting over, under, around, through, or [preposition] the cup. After a ‘Really? Really?’ hammer, UNC was up 6-4, and broke to end the half, 7-4. Spear opened the second half with a huck to Garrett, on which Tech eventually scored to bring it back to 7-5. A zone to man transition forced UNC to work through some short, risky throws, but they went up 8-5. More absurd 5-man cup finally proved effective, as Ethan got it to Garrett through the cup twice, Tech worked it up the field and Spear found Hogan for the score. Noah thanked him profusely. Some tough man D forced the Darkside turn. A botched flick at midfield caused a turn, and UNC's Lucas Darden skied for trash, then threw it away in the end zone. After some effective swinging from the straight stack, Nick couldn’t find Pribble on a tough look. UNC scored the O-point to go up 9-6. Spear quickly lasered a backhand to Garrett to bring the score back to 9-7, UNC. Similarly, UNC again employed the aggressive deep game and went up 10-7. Tech worked it around well and Spear found Fish on a blady flick in the end zone to continue the trading game. Another aggressive man D finally (and I mean finally) led to a refserver calling a travel. Darkside eventually turned it over, and Tech worked it up the field. Aaron put a flick juuuust out of Nick’s reach on a layout bid in the end zone, and once again, UNC hucked for the score, 11-8. A costly drop on Tech’s next possession put UNC with the disc, and they broke for the score, 12-8. Back on offense, Tech got it to Spear over UNC’s cup for a backhand look to Hogan, which turned into a contested strip call. Refserver was asked to rule, and called no strip, causing Hogan to stare balefully in disbelief and Fish to bound about in simian leaps of rage. UNC calmly worked it downfield and finished the game, 13-8 on a blady flick. Overall, it wasn’t a very bad performance on either O or D. Tech’s injury-related lack of depth got a little exposed by UNC’s deep game, and the 5-man cup was, as stated, strange.
After a bye, Tech faced Duke, which had earlier been beaten by FSU, in the third of four pool play games. Tech started on offense, and efficiently worked it to Hogan, who found Nick upline for an easy score. On their first offensive point, Duke quickly found an open-side cutter for the tie. After a cutter-cutter-cutter series, Noah found Nick on a high release to the break side, and Nick got the assist to Hogan with a sweet inside backhand for the 2-1 score. Throughout the game, Duke wanted to use the same few guys exclusively on offense. Those hot matchups really started on their second O-point, but Tech was able to get the break to go up 3-1. A sweet bid by Sean was unfruitful, and Duke hucked to bring it back to 3-2. Spear hurt his back on that point, and was slow getting up, the first of in-game injury problems for Tech. Poachy D by Duke caused a little bit of trouble getting it upfield, and Tech threw away two hucks on this point. This may have made Hogan pissy, because both were to him on a defender a head shorter. Duke’s strange-ish offense finally scored, aided by the receiver being 8’6” tall and possibly wearing heels. Duke started throwing zone, and Garrett decided to be awesome. On just this one point, he broke out the much-anticipated lefty hammer, got a sick layout D in the end zone, and had a circus layout for the score to end it and put Tech up 4-3. The teams traded to 7-6, with Tech taking the half. Opening after half, Duke got the score to tie it at 7, and threw zone on the next possession. Tech had no trouble working through to poppers to midfield, and then swung Duke into oblivion, ending the point with Spear finding Fish for a hammer to go up 8-7. At this point in the day, Bui was getting cabin fever from not playing, and started filming girls, trees, and occasionally the game. It was sketchy. Duke threw 3 hanging hucks for turns, and Tech also had two turns on this point. The defensive offense was having trouble getting open and working the disc upfield, so Nick decided he’d make something happen, but Spear threw a backhand that can best be described as “silly, and to the other side of the end zone.” Turn, oops. Tech ended the marathon point after a timeout, Nick to Spear, to go up 9-7. It was about this time that Duke decided that their regular offense wasn’t goofy enough, so they threw high releases that #21 would pick up just off the ground after going over someone else’s head. Defense couldn’t get the stop on a huck, and then Duke managed a break to tie it at 9-9. No one knows what on Earth Bui was filming, but the video reports that Fish picked up a pull about 5 yards off the end zone line, and some magical swinging among handlers found Spear for the score, which Duke got back shortly after. Again, offense was able to put in a score to go up by 1, 11-10. Duke found their man in the back of the end zone after some space-clearing isos, and Tech was put back on offense with the game tied at 11 and soft cap to 13. After a turn, Graduate rookie Andrew “Maxwell” Maxwell had a well-positioned D that Duke called a foul on—here’s an instance where refservers started to matter, because they had to rule. Maxwell didn’t think it was a foul, but couldn’t risk Duke getting the disc on the goal line, knowing that this refserver crew didn’t include Mike G, and had upheld most foul calls in the game to this point. Contested but not sent to the refserver, Maxwell sent the disc back to Duke behind midfield. More isolations, and Duke went up 12-11. A tough turn by the offense resulted in Duke breaking the mark twice and finding an upline for the score to win the game, 13-11. One of Duke’s players blogged the following:
“Tech apparently had a great regionals last year and they played like a good team that hasn't yet found itself in the new season. I don't know how many players they lost to graduation, but they didn't look as polished as I might have expected. Their offense relied almost entirely on quick handler movement and throws to the break side. We gave them a break early, took it back a couple points later and essentially traded to 11-11.
At 11-11, we broke to take the lead and then broke again to win the game. Tommy had one of the sickest grabs I've ever seen in this game where he seemed to hang in the air for about 10 seconds before ripping the disc down. Supposedly, it's on film. I'm interested in checking out the video that UNC is supposedly making of the tournament, if only for this grab.
This game featured an interesting result with the new rules. I made a foul call on a huck from Trahey that was immediately contested. I didn't want to go to the observer because I thought the contact was just on the border of a foul and I expected to get overruled. Was pretty surprised when the Tech player didn't ask him to intervene. Ended up scoring the point anyway to force game point.
Footage of the game from the GT perspective can be found here. Note that Tommy's sick grab is missing.”
He’s pretty much right. Another tight game that Tech just needed a healthy team and a couple of inches one way or the other. That was the last pool play game of the day, so Tech watched part of the Duke-UNC showcase beatdown and headed back to the hotel to chill.
Sunday morning featured several possibilities for the results of pool play. Tech needed to beat FSU in the quirkily-scheduled fourth pool play game to have a shot at playing in the championship bracket, but would need some help, too. Knowing that FSU would probably be focused on two or three primary guys, we wanted to put a tight lock on those guys and force everyone else to beat us. This game wasn’t on film, and perhaps that’s a good thing. Tech went up 4-2 by playing physical, in-their-stenciled-v-necks defense and took a break on an FSU timeout. The teams traded points to 6-4, and Tech eventually took half 7-6, aided by two second-chance scores by speedy Sean Lee. It was clear, at least on our admittedly biased sideline, that the Tribe was more skilled and athletic than the DUFfers, but again, costly drops and trouble setting up swings killed our best chances. Early in the first half, Spear put a deep flick to Nick Lance, who had to try to bid over a defender, and then reinjured something on a layout recovery attempt. That, as well as Spear pulling a hamstring in the second half, contributed to even thinner lines. Freshmen Trironk Kiatkunglangwai and Jacob Zirbel both played well on both sides of the disc, matching up well against Florida State’s guys. Aaron Kane also played some solid defense to help shut down FSU’s offensive attack centered around #2. Up 10-9 in a game to 11, Tech couldn’t seal the deal, and it went to universe point. Again, it was trouble finding the open man, and FSU worked some tight passes up the sideline, eventually scoring to end the heartbreaker, 11-10. With three hours to go before a consolation match against Clemson, Spear and Slade mutually agreed to go home early, ending our weekend on the turf.
On the whole, we really enjoyed the ACC Championships—both the concept of having the “conference rivalry” from other sports and as an exposition of quality ultimate to the public. With a couple hundred people watching the Duke-UNC showcase, maybe Ultimate doesn’t look so much like a hippie, play-with-your dog sport. Mike G’s orange shirt thinks so. In any case, the weekend record doesn’t look that good on paper, but in none of the games did we get truly beaten. The early season just showed what we need to work on, and it’s a reasonable conclusion that this isn’t the last time we’ll play any of those four teams again before we’re done.
Upcoming Tournaments:
February 7-8, Mudbowl, Talladega, AL
February 14-15, Discs over Georgia, Polo Fields, Cumming, GA
February 21-22, Mardi Gras, Baton Rouge, LA
Come see us play if you’re in town.
Please refer to the following resources and create your own alumni page on the team website.
GT Ultimate Website (navigate to TEAM tab for roster and bios): http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/ultimate/mens/
If you want to create your alumni page, send Nick Lance an e-mail (ndlance@gatech.edu