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Coming off of the Club Championship victory in 2012, Doublewide came out this summer with a roster many of us weren’t familiar with. Gone were the Florida faces, and in were two players fresh off of a back-to-back College Nationals win in Alex Thorne and Tyler Degirolamo. The 2013 season is over now though, and the hopes of a repeat in Texas were dashed; here’s a look back on the season that was with captain Jeff Loskorn.
Skyd Magazine: Big start to the season with the roster moves that we all saw. Going into the season, how did leadership think this would affect the on the field product, with two key players commuting (so to speak) to Texas?
Jeff Loskorn: We’re used to having out of town players, so we were confident our system would work for Alex and Tyler. Good communication and their willingness to commit to coming to Austin for practices made things work well.
The games started with the US Open, and continued at the Colorado Cup and Pro Flight Finale. Did you approach this new regular season any differently than you had in the past?
Loskorn: We approached the early season somewhat differently because of the timing of US Open. Normally we would not even have completed our tryout process by early July. This season we had to have a team ready to play at a high level by early July. Ultimately though, we still had the same goal to be playing our best ultimate at Nationals.
What was it like seeing your regional rival, Johnny Bravo, so much during the season? Do you think that gave you an upper hand at Regionals, where you just barely beat them?
Loskorn: They are a great team to play and make us a better team each time we face off. I’m excited about the rivalry that’s developed between us.
It did help seeing them twice at Co Cup simply because we knew we were going to have to play our best game to beat them at Regionals. We knew we couldn’t underestimate them in the least.
What did you think about the first year of the Triple Crown Tour? Something you’re excited to be a large part of again next season?
Loskorn: The jury is still out on that one. We appreciated being able to play a lot of top competition, but didn’t particularly love the schedule or the additional required travel. Having Nationals in Texas made things significantly easier financially, but that probably won’t be the case in future years.
How did the team react when you saw Boston Ironside, a team that gave you some trouble early in the year, was in your pool – along with the another Elite flight team, Ring of Fire?
Loskorn: Regardless of the draw, we knew we’d have a tough 1v2 game and we weren’t shocked that it ended up being Boston. We knew they would be a better team than we saw at Pro Finale, so we went into it knowing it would be a battle. Unfortunately, they came out on top.
We didn’t overlook Ring at all. They are as dangerous as anyone when they’re clicking so we knew we had to be playing our best to start the tournament.
With that strong pool, how did the team plan on approaching the games, and the new format at Nationals?
Loskorn: We approached every game as a must win.
How much did losing Will Driscoll hurt the team?
Loskorn: It was a big loss for us. He’s a dominant player who does a lot for our offense. We made some personnel changes and other players stepped up into some bigger roles in that quarters game, which was great to see.
In pre-quarters, the luck of the draw had GOAT lining up across the field from you. Even with their lackluster Thursday play, was there any worry that they could play similarly to how they played in the Pro Flight Finale finals during this game? Any major strategic adjustments you made because of it?
Loskorn: They have some really talented players and are an athletic team from top to bottom. We had to play a much more consistent offense than we did at Pro Finale. We also made some defensive adjustments to try to slow down their primary offensive weapons.
And then in the quarterfinals, you once again got regional rival Johnny Bravo in what ended as another extremely close game. What do you think set this matchup between your two teams apart from previous matchups?
Loskorn: It honestly wasn’t very different than our previous games. We expected it to be close and a battle till the last point was scored.
On the Ultiworld broadcasts, they noted a lot that there was a large hometown crowd there for you guys. What was it like having the Club Championships in your backyard?
Loskorn: It was incredible. I can’t thank our fans enough for the support they’ve showed and especially the turnout in Frisco.
What’s next for Doublewide going into this offseason?
Loskorn: Jason Statham movies and Dairy Queen Blizzards.
Photo by Christina Scmidt of Ultiphotos.com
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