The gang makes their rather demure entrance onto the Ohio Valley Scene.
Steel City Shootout, Nov 4,5 2023
First of all, Fall is Fall. The long-term value of a fall tournament win has as much value, meaning, and importance for the critical Spring Ultimate season as a Fall 2023 political poll does in predicting Fall 2024 Presidential Elections.
Still, and all. Finger guns, mo fos. The mood of the room is 'Disco' after a nice outcome at the Steel City Showdown.
As you may be aware, weather's been a real burr in the saddle in this year's ride. The team has had some less-than-ideal conditions at tournaments, from the 30+ mph at the Phaal Phling alumni tourney to the Maine Lobster Pot rainout. But we've loved the process and that grind with putting up massive throwing minutes (props to rookie Hayes, who put up 1455 throwing minutes outside of practice in October alone) and solid practice attendance. In addition to our experience with the elements at the tournaments, the team has embraced Sunday scrimmages, which have provided an extra dose of wind each week. The goal was to space out the workouts and have consistent windy practices we just don't get at night at Bigler.
The weather interruptions had yet to allow us to measure our progress against other college programs. Going into the weekend at Steel City Showdown at Turner Fields in Huntingdon, PA, there were some unknowns. Our 12-6 win over NorthEastern at Lobster Pot was solid -- but we knew that while the spring 2023 iteration of Northeastern was a top 20 program, this version was missing key players, and they had a few unforced errors. The bottom line question was, was our stingy 10-turn performance on 12 goals real? Or was the sloppier play vs Buffalo or BC the accurate picture?
The weather would be cooperative for once, and we could get a full weekend in. With cool morning temperatures, highs nearing 60, and enough breeziness to make it a thrower's wind but not untenable, the conditions were near ideal for ultimate. There were some thoughts about the seeding - OSU, who finished as the 26th ranked team in the USA in 2023, was seeded 6th, and PSU, who finished 34th in 2023, was seeded 3rd and would face off in pool play. But, it's fall, and Cornell was rightfully rewarded for their Metro East regional triumph with the 2 seed. (If you think I spend my life looking for ways to treat trivial chance events as petty slights to turn into tackling fuel... well, you're 100% correct)
PSU vs Messiah. 15-6
Building on our 'D-out' plan from Lobster Pot, our plan was to work through a full 12 guys on offense and play 3 even D-lines with every player getting D-reps. Rather than a strict O1/D1/D2 set, the idea is to get holds at 80%-90% working through 12 different guys and consistently cross those guys over enough to get at least 20-30% breaks. Offensively, it's supposed to result in decently balanced playing time for 2-way players, help develop our O core to make us more resilient and give us a natural plan if we get broken (again, just do your job, get the 85% hold over the weekend and don't worry about anything else). And by having all our O players play some D, we maintain our identity as a D-first team and help give all our D-lines punch rather than just a D1. So far, so good; we increasingly try to play deeply through our 8 man d lines so our whole team plays in all games, and as a result, we're getting contributions across the roster, with O-line cutters becoming handlers and rookies getting layout blocks and contributing with goals and assists.
And it worked. But not without hiccups; we held at 85% vs a scrappy Messiah team and broke 64% en route to a 15-6 win. But the offense was broken once, and our defense averaged 1.1 turns per point, a number higher than our goal.
PSU vs. OSU 13-8
An EPIC (and team-only), pregame speech by captain Jeremy Long had the team ready to give the full dinner, dessert, and post-dinner coffee in service of this game. Again, running our full 3 d-lines and 12 guys on O, we continued to grow as a team, with an 89% hold rate and a 42% break rate. Our offense gave up 7 turns on 8 goals, and our D-line gave up 8 turns on 5 goals, but while we wanted better, it was enough to secure our first win over OSU in 10 or so years. Obviously, pool play games in November are lightweight, but...we paused to enjoy it. OSU would go on to finish 3rd in the tournament.
PSU vs UMD 10-8
A talented UMD team was coming off a first-round loss to OSU (10-8) and had found their stride vs Messiah (15-8). They were no slouches, with a solid core (and one superstar who scored 14 goals at club nationals for Vault). And we certainly gave them their chances. Our 12 o-line players continued to be efficient with an 89% hold rate and 5 turns on 9 offensive holds; however, the 3 breaks we secured were hard fought. Clean possessions were few and far between for our D lines that struggled to a 22% break rate. Props to UMD - they went on to drop their 3-2 pre-quarter crossover vs. Cornell in the next round, but I honestly think they were a top 5 team there - down 9-4 to Cornell after the tough loss to us, they lost 11-10 at the cap, but went on to run the table in the ninals with minimal opposition.
Still, our D-line sloppiness vs their O-line was of concern and gave us food for thought as we prepped for Sunday.
________________-
Saturday Night: The team headed out to stay with local teammates', and catch the PSU game. The team watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. I camped (more glamped), ate a fat meal, and watched the PSU and UGA football games.
__________________
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
"Where you'll pay for the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge.'
Quarters: PSU vs SUNY Binghamton 12-4
The outcome was the desired one, and the holds (4/5) and breaks (8/12) are what we like to see. Our play continued to rise, but there was still some issues with execution so the turns continued, and we felt we left something on the table.
Semis: PSU vs Virginia Tech 12-6
Again, the scoreboard had the numbers we liked, with our offense broken only once and our defense lines converting in bunches as they scored 5/11 times they took the field. Our completion rate, generally in the mid (93% for O, 87% for D on the weekend) dipped slightly, however, and that, combined with some structural issues to make things more exciting than we'd like as we turned a total of 19 times in scoring our 12 goals. Virginia Tech is a solid, deep team, and we knew we'd need to turn it up in the finals.
Finals: PSU vs. Pitt, 12-10.
It was the first win over Pitt in over a decade. There are plenty of yah butts, with Henry Ing on the sideline, teams playing depth, etc. But this was a good one for the guys, and you could have made some solid money on a PSU>OSU & Pitt parlay, especially as Pitt was still fielding multiple name brand all-region players. And we definitely played up. Everyone on the team got some playing time, and our offense was certainly tested with a 70% hold rate despite a high completion percentage - that's what happens when teams don't give you the disc back. In the past, giving up 3 breaks in the first half would have put us in a bad space; however, this year was different, and we got two of them back in the first half. Thanks to the flip of the disc, we went into halftime down two, but if you didn't know the score and saw only the focus, the team-wide support, and the boisterous involved sideline, you might not know who was up on the scoreboard.
And that D-out vibe was what we rode. With every player on the team having an assigned D-line, this team has no heads hanging and no shuffling back to play O after a turn. If we turn, we swap 4 guys out, do the job, and then trot out one of 3 balanced d-lines again. The system is working, and the results are solid. In the second half, the fresh legs and constant pressure started to lead to blocks, and team defense led to further turns on long points, forcing lots of Pitt throws. And in a real team moment, we began to play to our potential. In the second half, the offense DID THEIR JOB, going 3 for 3 with zero turns. And with each holdout came 7 fresh defenders.
And then the defense took over, breaking on 5 out of 11 chances for the game and 4/6 in the second half, with only 3 total turnovers for the game. Further, the D lines had 3 'clean' possessions (see also, that's what happens when teams don't give the ball back). Down 2 at halftime, 8-6, the team maintained steady heads and executed down the stretch to outscore Pitt 6-2 to win the game.
We know we have a long way to go. The trophy for the weekend is nice, but the goal is to open the doors to play up consistently up against perennial powers like Pitt and to become more consistent against teams that we have played even with or below in the past (Virginia Tech, Maryland). The effort is increasingly there. The individual practice of skills is showing. And the knowledge of how to possess the disc and score both by balancing our attack to score efficiently with a mix of smart long looks, savvy breaks, easy orders, and a clean endzone is starting to pay dividends.
Sco' Spank
Tying it up at 6 apiece.
 |
| Moment of victory |
Comments
Post a Comment