Clapham at Chesapeake Invite (August 30, 2013)

Post date: Aug 31, 2013 7:29:11 PM

CU left the UK 18 strong, looking to take on some teams in the US and cruise around in some big cars and eat big meals. The trip could be considered a success in each of these. We showed we're at the level of the top US teams, I believe this is certainly a first for the club and hasn't been done by any European team recently.

Truck Stop L 9-15

After checking out NY and Washington or just flying in for the weekend we had a show game against Truck Stop, in which we/they raised more than $1,800 that will be donated to Robin and Molly Poullath Be the Match fund. It was at an incredible high school facility with stands, floodlights and several hundred spectators. Certainly not what we expected initially when we were talking about a "pre-tournament scrimmage", but absolutely awesome!

We started slow, getting broken !4! times in a row to go down 4-0. They were running rings around us, the pressure they put on our O was unlike anything we'd seen this year, and on their O they were cutting a lot harder than we were used to. I can remember the lefty number 99 in particular being very hard to shut down. They made some great plays in the air, the crowd was loving it. We slowly got ourselves into the game and made a few plays, but the lead was too much. We traded out the second half (maybe got broken once), but had now started adapting to the much faster pace, which would help us for the weekend.

Note: This game was also played with observers. Many of our team hadn't played with observers before, and I for myself can say I'm all in favour of it when there are people watching. Time between points is so much shorter, discussions and foul calls dealt with quickly. It makes you realize how long you usually take...

Oakland W 15-5

Not much to say about this game except we came out harder than they thought we would and they gave up after we went up by a lot early. They looked better later in the tournament, so could certainly have put a few more points on us. Our first win this year in the US!

Pony L 12-15

New York seemed like a team where no-one really stands out, but no-one really makes any mistakes. The disk was very hard to get off this team, and their defence solid. In the end a few too many mistakes by us cost us the game. They seemed like a fun bunch of guys who enjoyed making a variety of pony based calls to fire themselves up. Seemed to work for them!

Ring of Fire W 15-12

This game had plenty of back and forth. We started strong on defence, and were up 7-5 looking to take the half with a break 8-5. We failed to punch it in, and instead Ring took the half 7-8. Normally this would have been the point for the US team to take the game away, but instead we fought back, everyone knowing we had what it takes to win this game. At half, we adapted to what they were doing on defence. We broke them repeatedly, and at some point around 12-10 also broke their spirit. Their heads were down and they had lost the will to win this game. This game was the moment we broke the usual pattern of going to the US. Instead of the US team figuring us out at half time, we had them figured out!

Madcow W 15-8

I cannot remember much about this game, except we went up early, but somehow they never quite gave up and we had to keep pushing all the way to the end. Winning this game would set up what would be essentially a quarter final against Chain Lightning in the morning. We knew we had to win, and took the win, but not without a fight.

Chain Lightning W 15-14

Chain had playing for them GB-open vet JD, so they had some insider knowledge about player preferences... but not enough banter really... In this game Chain took the first half, but we knew where we had seen this before. We knew that they would throw some risky shots that we'd have to keep pressuring and the D's would come. And with the D's came the breaks, we found ourselves up 2 with only a few points to go. Chain ramped up the pressure, JD was spotted increasingly often both on O and D, and they fought it back to universe point. We'd played enough universe points at practice...to calmly work it to the sideline and throw a huck down a narrow channel to Justin. Not ideal, far from it, but it worked this time. And with that we took a 4-1 pool and a spot in the semi finals!

Ironside L 12-14

Our offence had some real issues starting off the game, I think in the first or second O point we had about 8 turnovers. We ended up scoring it, which either speaks for the O-line D or the inability of Ironside to work it in. Possibly a bit of both. This certainly takes the pressure off a lot though, knowing you can get it back relatively easily. Our D-line was again using the first half to find out matchups and what defensive look we should use to slow them down. We worked out quite late what to do, and by this point we were down a couple. We clawed back a few breaks to tie it at 12-12. They put in their O-point to make it 13-12, and then we got broken to lose 14-12. Certainly a game we could have won, having had the disc at 12-12. Both teams could have cleaned up their offence a bit and taken the game away, but this way it was certainly a very watchable game. Many great plays... Download it here:

http://ultiworld.com/2013/08/23/clapham-v-ironside-2013-chesapeake-invite-semifinals/

Pony L 7-15

Don't tournaments finish after you get knocked out? Apparently not... A show game on Friday, four back to back games on Saturday, another pool game in the morning and an overtime semi final... you see where I'm headed? That's not an excuse. They ran us into the ground, they wanted it more and we had nothing left. Next time... This year New York cost some of us a ton of money and half our losses this weekend. Ouch. I won't go into detail in this game as there isn't any...

Wrap Up

At the tournament we went 4-3, with a close semi final. That's just about OK... for now. We've still got a way to go until Italy next year, but this is the first milestone on the way there. Plenty of new players will have time to integrate better and we have 12 more months of training ahead of us. Know that you have it in you, and what it takes to bring it, and bring that to every practice. Make CU practice the best game in Europe.

Author: Rob Schumacher