Wolfpack Invite 10/25-10/26

First tournament of the year with my new team. Saw a lot of good things and a lot of things that can be improved. Was kind of shocked at how few rookies I saw playing on many of the teams we played/saw. I honestly believe that of the eight teams that were playing in quarters, three or four of them were playing 10-15 man rotations with no recognizable rookies.

Saturday

Kent State: 13-7



We came out really sloppy and gave up a break on offense. KState's offense pretty much ran through Doc, a shorter player with a nasty-looking beard (could be good or bad, your choice). After turning up the pressure on defense a little (including a couple points of zone defense), we got the break back and earned one of our own to take half 7-5. Second half was much crisper and the defense continued to earn breaks leading to a final O-line score to end the game.


NC State: 11-7

We had a bye prior to this game and when we came in State had already lost to the pool's 3rd and 4th seeds, ECU and Wake Forest. They had almost pulled off a ridiculous comeback against ECU, coming back from 12-5 to lose 13-12, so they would either come out flat or really fired up. Turned out it would be flat.



We got 2 straight breaks to start. I had a decent poach layout D and a layout huck catch for a score. Kept breaking to take half 7-2. Second half saw State get a break or two back, but the outcome wasn't really in doubt. Scored two straight when cap went on at 9-7 to win.

ECU: 9-13

First part of the game saw ECU playing a little better than us. We couldn't really control them on D (maybe one turn in first four or five points, didn't convert it) and they got a break or two on D to lead at half 7-4 or 7-5. We picked it up on defense in the second half and managed to tie it up at 9s. Unfortunately, our O-line proceeded to get broken multiple times and the game ended before we really knew it.

ECU looked pretty good this early in the season, though they seemed to be playing almost exclusively returners. They ended up making the finals against UVA. #6 (Joey), who I guarded for a large portion of the game, was probably the best player I marked up against all weekend.

Wake Forest: 9-13

Terrible game on our part. Started on D and I proceeded to dink a wide-open catch in the endzone. This would be an omen. After going down 2-1 (on serve), we proceeded to give up three straight breaks to Wake's zone, which featured a very aggresive and tight cup. Once we started going over the top with hammers to downfield players, we managed to fix our O (I think we gave up two more breaks, one more in the first half and only one in the second). Unfortunately, our D never picked up. We forced lots of near stall-outs which led to blady 50-50 hucks that always seemed to go their way.

At the end of pool play, we had gone 2-2 and placed 3rd in our pool, which thankfully gave us 8th place in the seedings and a spot in quarters.



Sunday

Elon: 15-12

They had upset UNC to take the top seed. They played a very tight rotation and we decided to take advantage of it. We played straight up marks and locked down on the hucks forcing them to run a lot. They broke once or twice to take a two point lead into half.



In the second half at 10-7, we put in an all-star line with the ultimatum that if we didn't score we were all being benched. After putting the O point in, we stayed on and rolled off three straight breaks. Normal D-line grabbed another one. Ended up getting another break near the end and closed it out to win by three.



UVA: 12-15

Best game of the tournament in terms of how we played. Night train played very physical and very clean. They got a couple early breaks to take half 4-8, receiving the disc to start the half.



After half, we came out wanting to make it a game, but stumbled a bit and went down further, 10-5. Then we turned it on. Ran off a string of points to close to 10-12, traded out from there to lose 12-15. Had we turned it on earlier, played more consistently we could have given them a game. Luckily, we get to play them again at CCC this weekend, so we'll get that chance.

I played decently. Had a sweet layout D on a huck that left me with a bloody lip. First time I've ever had to invoke the Magic Johnson rule.

Overall: 3-3, 3rd place

Kind of weird to be playing with a team not clockwork, but I'm getting used to it. We were missing our two Ring players, so getting them back will definitely help. Overall, I'm cautiously optimistic about the potential for this team. Next up, CCC.

Photos courtesy of Jim Ashcraft.