Results will be posted here
Pool A
- Revolver (Bay Area CA)
- GOAT (Toronto/Ottawa ON)
- Truck Stop (Washington DC)
- Pike (Princeton NJ)
this year as an elite team. This team has been around since 2006 and is based on players from the Stanford University program, but took a big step this year with the addition of Colorado Mammbird legend Beau Kittredge and Mac Taylor. In 41 tournament games, they are an impressive 36-5. By no means is this team a runaway favorite (dropping semi final matchups in tourneys this year against Sockeye and Ring of Fire) but they do serve as strong contender deserving of the hype they have received all season.GOAT of Toronto comes into the tourney on the heels of a Regionals final loss to rival Ironside. It was less a loss and more of a (slap the taste out of your mouth) defeat. In a very good season where they have won the Boston Invite and have a 39-8 season record, a wake up call so close to finals might be a necessary evil.
There is lots to like about this team outside of their passports. My yankee viewers will recognize John Hassell (yes he's great) but there is many more players to like on this team. Joel Hogberg (Sverige Klub Skogs) and Derek Alexander (Team Canada/Furious/Phoenix) have been added to give the team handler weapons with big game experience. GOAT boasts a glut of home grown talent like Taylor Martin, Adrian Yearwood, Lowell Heppner who are just entering their prime. Mark Lloyd serves the role of Kid wonder who'll steal the show if given the opportunity. Inian Moorthy has been noted by 'insiders' as playing particularly hot this fall.
Here's the paradox for GOAT- They have to talent to try and win now, but they also have the vast majority of the roster on the right side of 30, even 26. There will be no talk of the future this week though.. it's time to hunt.
Truck Stop won their regional tourney with a big one point win over Ring of Fire. Trying to build on that, DC's finest (The area has 3-4 touring open clubs) will be looking to show teams that their disappointing 2008 finals showing was a fluke. 25-11 in 36 games this year, they defeated GOAT 13-9 at Chesapeake in their latest head to head.
Pike of New Jersey played Mid Atlantic regionals (I thought they were a North East team) and were 29-14 during the season. Their team is described by captain Duty Rhodes as follows.
Our team expectations are the same as they are for every tournament:
- Put the team first
- Trust the play of your teammates and earn their trust through your play.
- Work and fight for everything because no one will give it us.
Pike is looking forward to facing every team. Especially since we have not had the opportunity to play any of them in well over a year. They each provide unique challenges for our personnel, strategies and mental/intestinal fortitude. The differentiation of the challenges is one of the best aspects of team sports-- Ultimate is no exception. That a high-level challenge exists every round rather than which challenge exists every round is the glory of The Show.
I mean, wait... this is a Canadian site? We're particularly excited to play GOAT!
On Offense, Nick Malinowski, CJ Kozarski and Art Shull anchor our downfield play while Ian McClellan is a handler with every throw in the book as well as a number that aren't.
Defensively, J Dono (attending his 10th Open Nationals), Jon Fink and Jake "The Jake" Rainwater lead the charge. All three are extraordinarily versatile defenders and devastating offensive players on the turn.
11 comments:
steve, where did you get your info about the age of our team?
i think we have 5-7 players out of 27+ that are over 30 even. most people are 24-27 and we even had a couple teenagers this year.
the GOAT may be surly but it is not old by any means
did i misinterpret what you meant by on the right side of 30?
He meant under the age of 30; that you guys still have many more years in your prime.
I don't think any of you will be taking my spot on Fossil just yet :)
hahah someday we will join the fossill folks, but by the sounds of it that time wont come for awhile for most of us
as soon as i replied i figured that out. i just like to tell steve where he made his mistakes. most of the time im wrong
also steve just to continue the trend (and this time i know im right) its ben wiggins not ben higgins
Yeah Mooney, you totally blew it this time.
However, you're usually right pointing out any typos errors or lies I make in haste.
If that is the Revolver jersey logo, it is sweet!
what happened against Truck Stop? the score doesn't tell much apart from 15-10
Forget Truck Stop, GOAT just lost to the San Diego team Streetgang. Wow! That would be the upset of the tournament if Streetgang hadn't already beat Ironside on the first day.
From my experience against Streetgang, I would call them a team that invites overconfidence from their opponents. At first glance, they look unremarkably like dozens of higher-end regionals teams. They don't have any big names, and they look young and excitable. That's the sort of team (like Voodoo and Rhino) you need to be wary of if you want to win a tournament.
They'll take some risks and they play some less conventional throws. When I played them, they used a number of high-release hucks at unexpected moments, and managed to float them down to their receivers at the back of the endzone. They'll toss a few discs over the mark's head. And when they're enjoying a good run of luck, it's surprisingly difficult to break their O-line. And like lots of teams with a sense of nothing to lose, they'll ride a wave of momentum if you let them into the game.
Furthermore, San Diego is probably enjoying similar weather to Sarasota at this time of year, to which GOAT and Ironside have had to adjust. Ironside also has a nasty habit of letting their opponents gain early leads.
GOAT are out ... blargh. choked against Bravo I guess ... they were up 13-10 .. darn
Worse than that, they were up 13-9 and lost.
Kudos to Streetgang for their 2 upsets, but it didn't prevent either Ironside or GOAT from advancing from their pools.
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