Sean Ryan 08 Recap

I didn't write this, our coach Will Griffin did. I don't have time to write/remember what happened, but he wrote this lovely recap which I'm going to post.

Saturday:

First game was at 11 which was nice as we were able to sleep in a bit and get a good breakfast. We got to the fields about 9:40 and started running before 10. We got a solid warm up in and were prepared for our first game against UC Santa Barbara who is a totally different team then a year ago. The Dogs came out fired up and with great down field D and aggresive D's on the marks as well as only turning the disc once in the first Half. We took a 7-1 lead going into half. Coming out of half we were looking to close out and after trading the first few points out of half we closed it out 7-4. A great start.

Next was LPC. We had a close game with them at Chico and this was no different. They went up a break early and I think they took half 7-6, (could be wrong.). We were able to keep battling and after a few long points the game was tied at 9's. This point seemed to take forever with both teams battling and throwing near misses. LPC kept throwing it out of the back of the end zone. Eventually they took the point to lead 10-9. We tied it up at 10's to force Universe. They worked it up patiently then threw a mid field huck that Tyler nearly D'd, but they ripped it down and we go down 11-10.

UC Santa Cruz B was a good game to get people lots of playing time and work on our zones. We won 13-5 or so.

Pre-Quarters against Cal. Again we came out fired up and quickly went up 3-0. Cal was fiesty and determined to come back. they got a few breaks back and we were able to take half 7-5. Coming out of half we traded points to lead 8-6. Cal then came out agressive determined to get back into the game. They were able to frustrate our cutters and play aggresive on the dumps to quickly change the game in our favor and go up 10-8. We gathered our selves and realized all we needed to do was finish our cuts and throws. We were able to stop the bleeding and put one in 10-9. Then we came down on D with the Box D and were able to get a D and put it in. tied at 10's. Again came down on D with a tough man to force another turn and put it in going up 11-10. As we started the next point the hard cap came on so we score we win, they score it forces Universe. We came down in Man and Robert Gromely got a huge lay out D catching the disc in the process, but we weren't able to capitalize and turned it back. They put it in and tied it at 11's to force Universe. We put our line in and we patiently worked it up breaking the mark and cutting where every we wanted. We got it about 10 yards out and taylor threw a blady flick to Ashlin who literally Tea Bags a guy in as he catches the game winning goal. Great game with contributions from everyone as well as big play from Taylor who threw 9 scores and Ashlin who caught 8.

Sunday:

Quarter final match up with Sant Cruz A. Good Game. They broke us to start but we traded for a bid so we were tied at 4's or so. Our box was giving them trouble while going up wind. we were able to get a few D's and we went up 6-5. Getting a turn and having a chance to take half we couldn't put it in and went they tied it. They came down on D and with a huge lay out and a quick look took half at 7-6. We pulled to them after half and and were able to get the D by forcing them to huck it on the down wind side so the disc tailed out of bounds. We put it in with patient O to tie it at 7's. We came down again and forced them to huck it on the down wind side so they threw it out of bounds once again. We put it in for another break going up 8-7 and the momentum switching in our favor. We traded a bit to tie it at 9's then came down in a box again and Robert Gromely again had a nice D on a Hammer attempt. We were able to get it about 5 yards out but called a time out on stall 7. We came in and Robert, Mertz, and Aslin worked our endzone O to put it in we lead 10-9. We come down with a hard Man and get another turn and quickly put it in to go up 11-9. Hard cap goes on and we have technically won, but had to finish the point. Instead of letting them score the last point we force another turn and work it up. Sky gets it and gives it to Roman, sky goes up line and Roman puts it and Sky makes a ridculous grab to end the game 12-9 we win. Off to the Semis.

Semi's againsnt again LPC. We come out well and throw what looks like an easy score but an unfortunate drop allows them to break us. Our throws were just a little off to start this game and they quickly capitalized as we went down 3-0. We called a time out to regroup and got a few breaks back to get the score back to 5-4. They were able to score then break us again to take half 7-4. We kept battling but it was clear that they had fresher legs since playing one less game then us (we had universe on Cal) as well as having a relatively easy quarter final game against Humboldt. We traded out the rest of the game to lose 13-8.

All in all we played well and turned some heads this weekend. We took down the number one seed, as well as a good Cal team that we will see again. Although we played well the Dogs are all still fired up for the next tourney will be working hard over the break.

Awards:
8th Man: Chris Bishop and Robbie (with the bad ankle)
Rookie of the Tourney: Ben Hubbard
Sickest Play(Catch of the Day): Sky with the game winner against Cruz
Tourney MVP: New Dog Robert Gormley


Ok. I'm really tired right now but I want to make an outline of this weekend so I can write about it later. This is just a bunch of bullet points that won't make sense until I describe them later.

-Who we played (UCSB, LPC, UCSC-B, CAL, UCSC, LPC)
- (13-4, 11-12, 13-5, 13-12, 13-10, 7-13)
-The House we stayed in
-Ping-pong
-My quadricep