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2009 Olympia Co-Ed Traveling Team |
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Santana, Rich, Will, Corey, Liam, Spencer Todd, Beth, Andrew, Erica, Ian, Clint Andrea, Molly, Jon, Kathy, Lisa Sara |
Hey y’all. Remember when we went to Spawnfest? The recap fairy does! She also remembers that we took third place in the A pool. That’s “A” as in “awesome.” If you’ll recall, O was second in “C” as in “catfish” one short year ago. You may say that we didn’t actually play the third/fourth-place game. R.f. doesn’t remember that. All she remembers is that we beat Breaker’s Mark, Pleistocene Supernova (by a mile), and Moonshine/Possum (our would-be bronze medal opponents).
We started things off against a random collection of BC folks whose name we never committed to memory. They thought they’d try out a four-person cup, and Rich Coker (joining us now that he no longer resides in Thurston County) said “no, thank you” with a looping backhand swing to Ian, who hit Todd in the middle, to Liam, to Kathy for the first sugar-coated score of the day. Ian had a sweet little no-look pass to Corey. Jon laid out for a delinquent-throw rescue in the middle. Lisa doled out a handblock (the fairy has a newfound appreciation for that drill in which Lisa handblocks her at least a dozen times a practice). Liam had a big endzone D on 10-8 at the softcap horn, and we marched on to a 13-8 win.
Next we met Moonshine/Possum, a combo from two perennial Seattle A-league contenders. We came out with guns blazing as Corey skied a guy on the endzone sideline and landed on him for good measure. We put together moment of L-stack zen when Corey gave Andrew a little swing off the line, and Andrew, unnoticed by the fairy, or apparently any defender, absconded. Corey made a 40-yard swing to Ian, who fired off a huck to Mr. SLO himself. Corey caught up with the action for a little dish from Andrew and a put to Molly for the score.
At 3’s we battled out an eternal point that Todd finally put to rest, connecting for the score with Sarah, our Seattle sub-o-rama. The fairy would give Sarah bookends credit for her D on the same point (about 10 minutes before her score), but Liam kindly reminds the fairy that he had two “monster D’s” in between, and also that the fairy “didn’t even mention his handblock.” Thank god somebody’s taking notes.
Shortly thereafter, Liam also made friends with a Todd hammer, hugging it like his teddy bear, to make it 6-5. Jon continued his midfield bid series, catching the same throw three times until he finally had it on a layout. Will came down with a death-wish floater on the goal line—the only green in a pile of white jerseys—and dished it to the fairy for a score before they knew he had it.
Rich had a great long run for a Corey huck to make it 9-7, and another one two points later from Andrew. Then Rich launched one in Beth’s direction, and she snagged it with one hand to tie it at 11’s. Will worked his give-n-go mojo to set up a put to Liam for 13-11, and Molly put it to Corey for the win in softcap at 14-11.
O was rolling--playing strong and looking hot (as always). Who could slow us down? A bunch of doe-eyed kids with an adorable blowfish on their jerseys, as it turns out. These kids were Smallfryz, the bunch of middle school students who scored one point on us (and also skied Gordon) in the C pool last summer. They are now one year taller, smarter, and more fired up about ultimate, and they ran us to within an inch of defeat.
The game was a blur of frenetic activity that made r.f. feel thirty-one years old at all times. Corey started us out with a diving grab for a score. The small people scored back. Rich put a long one to Lisa for a one-handed grab in the back of the endzone to make it 3’s. Jon sent one to Molly to tie it at 6’s. Rich hit Andrew to make it 9’s. It was 11’s at softcap, and somehow 13-11 O at the end. Phew. The fairy managed to drop an f-bomb (in a positive context) to a large group of children during the cheer, and then she counted the number of years to masters eligibility. She has seen the future, and it involves getting smacked by some Smallfryz at Spawnfest 2010.
O was happy to meet Pleistocene Supernova, a group of people as old and tired as we were, in game 4. O made it 3-0 quickly on Rich’s crazy one-handed grab of Kathy’s up-the-line put. Lisa had a tiptoe snag to make it 4-0. Corey launched a museum-quality huck to Molly for the score. Clint put on the afterburners and denied a Pleistocene huck that looked like a sure thing. Ian read the mind of Mr. Beard-n-Beer-Belly and interrupted his give-n-go. Ian was all over the offense hilight reel in this game, too, shredding the zone in his singular style and going long for scores on two other points.
Lots of girl power in the second half, as Beth gave the handlers a well-timed long wing cut against the zone and ended up with it again in the endzone. Lisa put on her “oops” face as she let go of an endzone toss to Sarah, but Sarah snagged it to put us up 11-9. Molly and Jon connected for the game winner, and we dragged our butts toward the Skagit River Bathhouse.
We woke up Sunday to find ourselves in the A pool, where we met Portland’s Breaker’s Mark for an epic game. Corey cemented his role as spark plug with a long bomb to Jon for our first score. Sarah fed it to r.f. in the middle, then called for an endzone forehand in a tone that reached even the fairy’s delicate ears. Breaker’s tried a zone, and O stomped on it. At 3-4, Rich hit Corey with a wide forehand to tie it up. Andrew got fired up and took off deep for a score again. Erica, in her first point back from the Food Poisoning Incident, interrupted a Breaker’s dish to the endzone with a little slap that said “um, no.” Corey connected with Beth for a post-timeout score, and O took half. Calm and experienced, Breaker’s Mark was having no more of this “trailing by two” business.
They came back to 8-10, and it looked as though O had just had an extra-special first half. Then Molly put on her displeased face and let her forehand rip for a long score to Rich. Will went long to Liam, who held on despite a foul, didn’t bother to call it, and fed Clint to make it 10’s. Rich had a layout rescue and a put to Jon for 11’s. We kept our cool for an all-touch and a Rich-to-Molly score for 12’s. On the next point, Sarah came out of nowhere for the D, we held on through another few sets of turnovers, and Will found Todd on a characteristic sneaky cut for the score. Breaker’s answered to make it 13’s, and it was universe point with hard cap in effect. Andrew had a bulldog grab in traffic on the far sideline to keep the O possession alive, and he sent to Corey for the score. 14-13 O. “O” yes.
So, here’s the scoop on Dogfight, our next opponents. They’re the new Portland A-league team with elite aspirations. They had tryouts. They have 287 players on their roster, including several amazon women, a fighter plane, and Jeremy Clark. O was undaunted. . . for the first pair of points. We scored first, on a Corey-Molly connection if the fairy’s memory serves her. Jeremy went long for Dogfight’s retort. The third point was a battle, in which Corey was fouled by the belligerent guy’s face, and we made about half a dozen nice around throws to Andrew. Molly finally put it to rest with a wide forehand to Clint. It was 8-2 at half.
The second-half O mentions are these: Jon had another rescue, followed by a huge (flat!) backhand to Clint for a score.
Jeremy pulled a reach-around on Santana while guarding him.
Spencer put his 12th-grade reading level to use on a very long, very loopy throw. And Will got rid of a long backhand to Molly about a second after a turnover--O’s last score of the day. That was okay. Dogfight can have their “talent” and their “plays”; O will gladly take it’s share of the bronze and some Mexican food, thank you.
Captain’s awards went to Beth and Corey, not because they (sometimes) live with Captain Kathy, and not even because they are rumored to be dating each other, but because they are okay at ultimate.
Speaking of which, O as a unit becomes delightfully okay-er at ultimate all the time! This is in large part due to a string of dedicated leaders and strategizers in our community over the last few years, including, of course Jon and Kathy, our fearless 2009 cat herders. Thanks to them for another great summer, and on to Hanford Howl!
"Put your entire team in the spotlight. Thanks to them, you're able to experience a level of success that you wouldn't have been able to achieve on your own. Remember that when it's your turn to help one of them out."