2/11-2/13: Trouble in Vegas
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Loading ...Phew. Quite the weekend.
Two days of full ultimate–4 games on Saturday and Sunday–and then 1 last game to cap it off on Monday. Boy, are my dogs tired. Dartmouth went 4-5 on the weekend, 5-5 if you count our win by default over UChicago on Monday. We were 3-1 in universe point games (4-0, if you subtract a play by this guy, more on that later), which was a good sign, though we also lost a couple games by fair margins that we really shouldn’t have to UChicago on Saturday and Tufts on Monday.
But hey, that’s how it went down. Take what’s happened for what it’s worth and build on it. For a pretty well-depleted squad of Dartmouth players that was missing over half of its studs we certainly didn’t embarass ourselves.
I’ll go through the tourney game-by-game.
Saturday:
vs Colorado- My first point in (second point of the game, D point), we forced a turn from Colorado with our zone near the zone and were primed to get the break. I made the first cut, got open against Beau [EDIT: according to Crewser, game film was checked and it was, in fact, Colorado's Beau look-alike, and not Beau himself, I got open on. Meh well, I would've gotten open either way], and was poised to make the catch in the endzone, but the throw was a little long and out of bounds. Having committed to getting the disc, I was in accelerate-to-layout mode, but couldn’t slow in time as the disc went out and wound up making a sort of half-assed fall-layout-thing, bruising the palm of my left hand (which still hurts) and tearing my red plaid skirt I was planning to make a statement with. I feel like this is a pretty good analogy for the tourney as a whole–flashes of potential, but ultimately lacking in proper execution and ending up a bit worn down. We came out fairly strong for it being our first game of our first tourney in a good while (Williams Turf Invite notwithstanding), but were still pretty flat, and Col got several breaks on us while our first opportunity to break was probably our best. 13-5 or so, Colorado.
vs. UChicago- I don’t have too much to say about this game. Saturday in general was a very flat day for the team, and for me–I don’t know if it was the heat, the sun bearing down, the lack of sleep Thursday on the flight over, the 1 1/2 of practice in the sun on Friday, or what, but probably 80% of the tourney as a whole I was playing feeling like I had no juice, no fire to kick my game up to the next level. This would be an adequate way of summing up our game against Chicago, as they went up a couple breaks and never really looked back. I think the final score was 13-9 Chicago or something like that.
vs. UMass- Just what we wanted, a regional matchup early in a tourney we flew across the country to play in. While we had a bit more fire for this game, we still didn’t have enough to get ‘er done. No idea what the final score was, but we dropped this game and dropped out of the top-tier (top 32 team) bracket.
vs. San Diego State University (I think that’s what SDSU stands for)- This game was under the lights, as the sun had already set. We played better this game. I felt pretty strong throughout the game, due in part to the bye beforehand and also due to the cooler temperature, I think. Personal highlights include a very nearly disastrous play where I spiked the disc after milking a pass into the endzone that turned out to be a pass that was contestably on the line rather than past it. Worked out all right, thanks to sideline support from Pov and good persuasion from Seigs, and one would have hoped that I’d learn my lesson from that and start checking line more carefully. Not so. Anyways, we won this game on universe point, SDSU threw zone and a couple redonkulous hammers and cross-field floaters later we’d shredded the zone and salvaged a bit of dignity on the day. 11-10 or 12-11, Dart.
As an aside–Poverty called me out on “the cockiest spike I’ve seen since Seigs” after a (admittedly pretty sweet) sky against Cal on Sunday–I just want to say that when I spike the disc, it’s always the same upside-down, over-my-right-shoulder throw. It comes pretty naturally and has become my preferred method of getting rid of the disc after the score. The magnitude of the spike is not a reflection of cockiness as much as how pumped I am after making the play. I was real stoked about pre-emptively skying two guys who were closing behind me on a deep put, ergo, the force I put into the throw for the spike sent it really high. I was really surprised when I turned around after the play to find the disc was just on its way down. When I start busting out the curtsy spike (gonna have to put the skirt to use somehow), then you can call me cocky.
Sunday:
vs. Stanford B- we showed up flat to start this game, but fortunately Stanford was ill-equipped to take advantage of it. We rattled off a couple early breaks to give ourselves a nice cushion, but then we got lazy and Stanford gave us a wake-up call with a couple breaks. In the end we rolled them pretty hard though, coming out strong in the second half. 13-7, us, I think.
vs. Cornell- this was a tight game. Both teams did well to avoid getting broken for most of the game–I think we each got one break on the other, leading to a universe D point for Dartmouth. Highlights include lots of hucks to Elliott, mostly from Seigs, with a reversal of roles at one point where Ell put it to Seigs instead. In the end, Dart got it done on defense, taking universe point in a great game. 11-10, us, I think.
vs. Cal- An interesting parallel with last year’s winter tourney where Dartmouth beat Cal (who were defending Nat’l runner-ups), making a statement about the team’s strentgh. The game actually went pretty similarly this time, too, as we were poised to take half on Cal 7-3 or 7-4 on a break, as Seigs put a short gainer to me in the endzone. But–me, being a) confused about the precise field position and ergo, the endzone position, b) always eager to generate some good flow with a quick upfield continuation, and c) not having learned my lesson to check feet, quickly spun around and fired a backhand to Sunshine, who, also influenced by a), milked the throw out of the back of the endzone instead of into it, resulting in a turn on the continuation. Cal went on to get a couple breaks on our O before we took half, and we more or less traded points leading up to universe, where Dartmouth struggled repeatedly to seal the deal in the zone, with something like 5 turns before Cal managed to pull off the break and the win. A real tough loss, especially for yours truly, though I don’t really kill myself over the play. Little point in getting myself down over something like that that was a result more of confusion and less of any particular fault in my execution or judgment (though of course, I’ll make damn sure to be more aware in the future). 11-10 or 12-11, Cal (meh…)
vs. UMass, again- tough rematch. Probably one of the last teams we wanted to play again at this point in the tourney. But we stepped it up and avenged our previous loss, with solid zone D forcing a lot of turns and the D line converting on enough to keep Dartmouth in the game. This one wound up going to universe point too, since for some reason we seem to be incapable of beating A-teams without a one-point catalyst to force our hand, and we got it done this time. 12-11, us, I think.
Monday:
vs. Tufts- Disappointing game. We showed up shortly before the game, with little time to warm up…I was playing flat, I don’t know about how the rest of the team felt, but generally everybody seemed too detached. While we didn’t play poorly, we just didn’t have any fire. Even when we had timeouts, halftime, trying to get pumped up, the motivational speeches were all pretty flatline, matter-of-fact, and I found myself trying to picture a more rage-tastic Seigs and Yi getting pissed to try and get my adrenaline flowing to little avail. Started to get some of the fire our very last point, but I couldn’t put touch on a dump pass to Socks (my second botched dump of the game, the former being an upline to Zargham that got layout D’d–should’ve looked for a better option), causing the final turn on the endline (we had too many of those on the D line that game) as Tufts took the game 12-9 or so, I think.
vs. UChicago, round II- Chicago had to catch a flight home, so we wound up winning this one by default and without a fight. Kinda a lame way to end the tourney, though we did get to watch a lot of swilly hucks with some nice highlight-reel plays to get the goals in the Fla-Carleton finals.
General notes: On a personal level, I made a few looks I was perhaps not ready to execute on properly. I had more than a few throwaways. While some of the turns were not necessarily 100% my fault–things like tiredness of the cutter going for the disc come into play–I definitely should be able to make better puts to make those discs less contestable or easier for a cutter to chase down. Certainly my forehand needs more polish at all ranges–I’ve definitely lost some of my feel for it over the winter. Backhand is pretty solid, been working on my reach and extension to get a good around/IO break with it, not that I’m often in position to have to make those sorts of breaks. As a cutter, I had a couple drops/Ds due to poor execution on cuts. Again, not all the turns were 100% my fault, but there’s still lots of room for improvement. I had more than one turn because I was adjusting a cut, either cutting off a deep cut for a gainer or an open cut to streak deep as the disc moved, only to find the one with the disc put it to me on the first cut because I was open on it. I feel like I have a pretty good sense for the temporal and spatial limits of my effectivness on cuts, but sometimes it’s more prudent to stick with the open cut I have, rather than trying to adjust and make for a more effective cut–because open is still open, period.
On that note, I have a pretty good feel for how I played this weekend. Not up to my standards in terms of success, though overall it was a great learning experience. I really was in a position to be a much bigger playmaker than I’d previously been on the A-team level, and while I didn’t exactly flourish in my efforts, I didn’t flounder either. Just another stepping stone on my way up–an assessment that I think applies to the whole team. Everybody elevated their game, and I think we all got to see where our ceilings are right now. I’m certainly not satisfied with what I’ve got right now, and I doubt the rest of the team is either. With any luck, we’ll elevate our games as the season progresses, be that much more capable and effective as a team when our usual studs come back and push us down on the depth chart, and similarly we’ll be that much better prepared to take on larger roles in years to come for the experience we had this weekend.
That’s my hope, at least. I’ve written far more than enough about this already. In terms of non-ultimate Vegas action, I slept. Lots. Watched the Olympics. Mostly slept, though…1-2 subs on D means I played close to half our points for the tourney. Lots of 50-80yrd runs…
Lots of 50-80yrd runs..
Or when the Plug pulled, lots of 20 yard sprints and 30-60 yard jogs to the brick.