I got to catch some Open, Women and Masters’ games down in Sarasota today, and wanted to give a brief synopsis of how teams came out.
West coast day 1
There are always close games on the first day with West coast teams making the trip to the east coast to play games at 930 AM. This year was no different with Machine coming out to take down Furious. It seemed as if Furious’ offensive success was based on the flicks of Oscar Pottinger, complemented with Furious veteran Morgan Hibbert and newcomer Gabe Saunkeah. The turning point of this game came at 13-13, with an Andrew Sheehan catch D on a dump pass and subsequent break for Machine. A floaty Machine throw was macked by a Furious defender and caught by a trailing Machine player.
On the women’s side, Riot had a close game with Atlanta’s Ozone in the first round as well (some of Riot’s players took the red eye to get into town Thursday at 715 AM), but were able to pull it out.
Wheelchair?
The west coast masters team went 0-3 today, losing to Surly, Beyondors, and Tejas. I still believe they will start putting it together tomorrow and will qualify for a quarters matchup, potentially with Boneyard from Pool B.
Doublewide-Chain
The result of this game was pretty shocking, and it seemed that DW had it all going right for them. Greg Swanson is extremely important to Chain’s offensive success as the main hub of their O team. The boys from Austin just look confident, not to mention very tall and fast.
Three way ties
Pool C in the women’s division saw a three-way tie. Ozone seemed to be a little gassed towards the end of their 90-100 points played today. Revoloution took advantage in a very back and forth game 17-16, which allowed Phoenix to make the power pool, and dropped the girls from ATL down to 4th in their pool. In mixed, The Ghosts overcame a first round loss to win their pool after defeating Polar Bears in the next round.
Looking forward:
Open Power Pools
Revolver seemed to bring it in the second half of every game and separate from their opponents. An extra day of sleep and acclimating to the time difference will only help them. Ring and Machine will have to put together a great day to pull off an upset of the defending champs. However, you never know when the 1 windy Sarasota day will come and even the playing field. I predict to see Machine and Madison club battling it out in one prequarter.
Ironside looked strong in pool play today, beating Truck stop soundly in the 1-2 matchup. For as much talk as some of the West coast big men get, Colin Mahoney is definitely at the top of his game. Along with Rusty Ingold-Smith, George Stubbs, and some solid coaching, Ironside put aside all doubts about not playing since ECC today. I predict to see Truck Stop and Johnny Bravo in the other pre-quarter.
Women’s Power Pools
Riot’s mid-range deep game is very impressive-their throws are put to space when the cutters are almost even with their defenders. Fury looked methodical in going 3-0 today, although some missing/injured players may play a role going forward. Phoenix looks to be able to hang athletically with any team. However, they have to start figuring out how to convert with fewer turnovers to make a run. I predict a Brute Squad-Capitals prequarter.
Scandal was able to pull out a tough 1-2 matchup with Molly Brown, while Traffic looked pretty solid all day in dismantling all three opponents. It seems that AJ Tiarsmith has been a great coaching addition to Showdown, and could have them moving on without the prequarters tomorrow. I predict to see Nemesis-Molly Brown in the other prequarter.
Comments Policy: At Skyd, we value all legitimate contributions to the discussion of ultimate. However, please ensure your input is respectful. Hateful, slanderous, or disrespectful comments will be deleted. For grammatical, factual, and typographic errors, instead of leaving a comment, please e-mail our editors directly at editors [at] skydmagazine.com.