I spent the second round doing a live audio broadcast of Fury-Scandal on UStream. Fury led from start to finish, but Scandal put together several runs with pairs of breaks. Fury played very even lines, without regard to the upwind/downwind or offense/defense situation. Scandal went with pretty consistent O and D lines, although down several breaks they started to play several O points with their D line.
Fury consistently got the disc off of their front cone going upwind by running the same play: a cutter runs hard at the force sideline, then straight back towards the middle of the field and Alex Snyder would hit them with an IO throw. Fury played a lot of zone and junk looks, as did Scandal. Fury shredded Scandal’s zone, generally with big throws from Alex Snyder through the cup, and then their poppers would jailbreak and continue downfield before the zone could reset. The wind really did a number on both offenses, generally disrupting Fury’s IO breaks going upwind, and really disrupting Scandal’s swings.
There were some huge plays in this game: Lauren Sadler’s great catch in the endzone after Crystal Davis tipped the disc, Davis herself laying out for a deep downwind huck from Sasha Bugler, toeing the back line, and Alex Snyder ripping an IO flick huck upwind to Manisha Daryani with Davis in great coverage – Daryani and Davis both laying out and Daryani catching the disc for an upwind break. It looks like a three horse race in the Women’s division, with Scandal and Riot looking to meet in the finals and challenge Fury.
Scandal was the only team able to trouble Fury this weekend, making them work in both directions. Nancy Sun and Alex Snyder were both able to get the disc upwind, but Carolyn Finney and Anna Nazarov didn’t have as much success. Sun and Snyder never played on the same line, but that option is there for coach Matty Tsang. Scandal received limited PT from Opi Payne and Sarah Itoh, but both made an impact when they played. Payne played great D on Snyder, and Itoh scored an upwind break and got a D on Claire Desmond.
The two teams could meet Sunday in Finals, provided Scandal can get past Riot in the semifinals.
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