Revolver – USA Ultimate Club Championships – Day 2 (Friday, October 28, 2011)
Rain sprinkled on and off throughout the day, but the air remained warm and low on wind (not like what we’re used to in Northern California). We set up two big tents over the Insta-bench and three coolers of food, drinks, and ice, and set to work.
Game 4 – 9:30a v. Machine (Chicago, IL) – Power Pool E
Machine pulled to start but Robbie Cahill turned it over on a deep throw. Machine’s D-line took the opportunity to work the disc all the way back to our endzone before we forced a high-stall throw that hung up for Beau Kittredge to outjump the pack and swat it down. Shortly thereafter Cassidy Rasmussen sent a beautiful backhand huck to a wide-open Josh Wiseman for the goal. We traded a break each early on and then earned two toward the end of the half for an 8-5 lead. At 9-6 Revolver’s D-line went on a run with five straight break points, which included a forced stall by Jon Levy’s mark. Final score: 15-7.
Game 5 – 12:15p v. Ring of Fire (Raleigh, NC) – Power Pool E
The winner of this game would take the top seed into the quarterfinal bracket. Noticeably, super-athlete Ken Porter of Ring took the day off (torn rotator cuff from their Thursday game against Furious George). One of our main goals was to limit Brett Matzuka’s effectiveness as a many-tooled handler by forcing him away from the disc, which we generally accomplished, though he’s too good and fast to be shut down all the time. Ashlin Joye fired up our team early with a huck handblock, yielding the first break and a 3-1 lead. It didn’t take long for Ring to get that back, though, tying the score at 4-4. A few more breaks resulted in an 8-6 halftime lead. Ring evened the score at 9-9 with yet another break to keep the game close, but at 10-10 Ring pulled out of bounds, allowing a one-throw goal from Bart Watson to Robbie Cahill. On the ensuing point Patrick Baylis leaped to knock away a deep hammer shot in the endzone; thankfully, the observer overturned the intended receiver’s foul call on the play. A long slog back the other way exhibited the D-line’s capacity for patience, including two more observer-overturned calls by Ring. We finished with yet another late-game run to win 15-11. Taylor Pope displayed impressive pulls and forehand hucks, leading to a couple of important breaks for Ring’s D-line.
After catching the last several entertaining points in the Ironside-Doublewide match, most of the team headed back to the beach house as the sprinkle fledged into a rain. We’ve got barbeque for dinner, over which we’ll prepare to meet Southpaw in a quarterfinal tomorrow morning. Until then, board games and World Series game 7 will keep our attention, at least until we turn in around the 7th or 8th inning.