Cal States 2009 Wrap-Up

Ahh Cal-states. The forecast had called for 30% for rain/isolated thunderstorms but when we arrived at the fields at 7:00am on Saturday, we all knew that we were in for a partly-cloudy, 65 degree day. Perfect weather for Ultimate.

For LA Metro, this tournament was the first "official" tournament where we would finish up our rounds of tryouts and also gauge where our team stood against the best from Southern Cal and NorCal. As stated in the preview, we were seeded 4th out of a field of 12, with games against Brown Chicken Brown Cow, TWSS, two byes, then wrapping up the day against GNT and CTR. 

Keegan's keys to the tournament:

-Start strong, offense needs to score the first 3

-Minimize turns to x<10

-Boring red-zone offense

-Disc movement near the end-zone 

-AMP it up on D

----SATURDAY----

  Last year we had to wait until the finals of the So-Cal Sectional to play our rivals Brown Chicken Brown Cow. This year, the TD's wasted no time and scheduled us with a first round, 8:00am game against our rivals from the city of angels. The game started out in our favor, with BCBC making several early mistakes and calling a time out with us up about 4-1 or so. It was a good time-out as they went on a run of their own, tying the game at 4's. From there it was very close with our team gutting out the victory 10-8 on hard cap. Our offense was pretty sloppy all game, and our defense was sluggish, but it was a feel-good win and we knew that if we wanted to play well this tournament, we would have to step up our energy. We suffered a big loss this game when our captain, Keegan, went down with an injury catching the game-winning goal. We knew that with him out, we would have to play even better and that huge hucks would be more evenly matched. LA Metro wins 10-8 hard cap.

       We then played TWSS n a relatively close game that featured breaks back and forth as well as some sloppy zone play. At this point, most of us had our legs under us so we were running well, but we were not taking care of the disc. We were definitely winning the battle of the sexes as our women were dominating and showed great poise in zone as well as in cutting for the disc. It was a quick round, LA Metro wins 12-9. 

(insert two round bye here + lunch, Strike-Slip vs. Street Gang, quick nap)

Next up in round 5 was GNT. We had been soundly beaten by this team last year in Chico 13-6 and 

we were looking for redemption. GNT ran a quick offense with their movement based solely on handler movement with the disc. This movement definitely gave our defensive line trouble as both men and women alike were constantly being beat up the line and/or letting of easy resets off the dump. It was frustrating trying to stop this, but we knew that although they were effective in the beginning, their handlers would eventually tire out and their strategy would not be as effective; which proved to be true. We began to wear down their offense, forcing up difficult throws, or long hucks at high stall counts. It was still a closely contested game but the defense did its job and got several key breaks. LA Metro was sitting pretty at 3-0 on the day with a 12-9 win over GNT. 

Last round of the day was the battle of the unbeatens. CTR vs. LA Metro. CTR had cruised through their rounds and was looking good. CTR ran a very effective verti cal stack, using their women very well and also had the deep hucks to stretch out the defense. Their defensive zone also stiffled our offense as we would work it up 3/4 of the field very easily and then get stuffed or be forced into a bad decision whereupon CTR would jack a huge 70+yard huck for the score. It was a frustrating game for us as we could not figure out a way to break through. We did get our scores in however the game was not as close as the final score dictated. The offense frequently stalled and there was very little flow through our horizontal stack and even so in our vert. Barrs did make a spectacular lay out callahan snag to keep it close but CTR proved to be too fundamentally sound for us this time. CTR wins the pool with a 12-9 win over LA Metro. 

Turns killed us the first day. We turned it atleast 20+ times in the first 4 games that we played. Although it was an early tournement, even that stat was unacceptable. We were lucky to be sitting at 3-1 going into Sunday. We knew that if we wanted a shot at playing against Mischief or at CTR again, we would need to clean up our offense. It was really frustrating watching our offensive lines struggle, just sitting there with Scott, Barrs, and d-liners... just anxious to get in and earn that break. Our defense was the highlight of the day, with great all around play from our ladies and our men after generating turns. We had a lot to work on and think about but we knew that we could turn it around. 

LA Metro goes 3-1 on Saturday. Currently 2nd in the pool. 

 ---- SUNDAY ---- 

First round bye, so our game started round 2 against S.F. Rush. You think we would clean up the offense for this game, but it was not the case. Rush ran a pretty good zone defense that we managed to break through several times. But we frequently turned it about 5-10 yards from the end zone while the zone was still in effect. This game became a battle of the defenses. Both team's defenses were completely owning the opposition's offense. At one stretch, defenses scored 3 straight for each side. It was kindof of hilarious... but also sad knowing that our offensive lines, which are designed with scoring in mind were finding themselves playing defense most of the time while the defense did the bulk of the scoring. It came down to 8's, game to 10 but at 9's, hard-cap blew and universe point. Both teams had multiple posessions on universe before our ladies finally worked it through the zone for the goal. 10-9 Metro. Yay us! It was a good game for the defense, but continued to demostrate the flaws in our offensive execution. With the win, we advanced into semi's against Mischief.

At games end, Mischief had scored two callahan goals on us. That's the type of game it was. It was very high intensity, very well played game despite the score being 7-15 in favor of arguably the top co-ed team in the n

ation. We didn't have answers for their guys who were schooling us but our ladies held more than their own and were very effective. We went 3-4 at several points and it worked. We did have the help of Matt Welsh, who picked up with us for the last two rounds. He proved to be not only an asset on the field, but also aided in calming the team down and making plays when needed. With the loss, we headed to the 3rd place game against Classy, who got shalacked by CTR in the other semi-final.

Our captains had been awesome all week in terms of leadership, pep-talk, and implementing strategies that proved to be successful, an

d if unsuccessful, adjusting according. We had a lot of great frisbee minds with plenty of "strategery" up their sleeves. For this game, we decided to practice a zone we had been talking about. 3-2-2 zone with just handler sags and poachy defense from the mids. The point was to get the handlers to swing to their hearts delight, and to channel throws through the gut of the defense (to the mids), rather than allow the throws up the sideline. Our women proved to be awesome on their handler marks, with some of our women even fouling male handlers (lolz). We went on a big run again, with our defense proving to be solid and at this point, more impactful than the offensive lines. We played very well, great movement, and although we failed in our bid to get our turn count under ten, we ended up with a tournament-low 

12 turns.

LA Metro wraps up the tournament with a 3rd place finish and a 15-7 bounceback win over Classy.

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What now?

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After this tournament, Metro will be making a first series of cuts to gradually trim our roster down to it's final size. Every single person who was trying out with us played well and I know that the captains will have a very difficult time deciding who makes the roster and who doesn't. We have a lot to fix, but with a 3rd place finish at cal-states after only one practice, things are looking good. We finished 2nd last year, but the field had definitely gotten better and the level higher.

Being the top Southern California team there was a good thought, but I know every single one of us want to be one of the top in the Region if not the Nation. We have natties on our mind and what's gonna take us there is adjusting to our bad tendencies, working hard, and playing as one team with a common goal. I always tell younger players. Don't think you should be the superstar. If the team plays boring ultimate with sound fundamentals and low risk throws. You will win. Every single time. On the defensive side of the disc , if you don't like contact, then you will not win. You have to sacrifice your body for the disc. Leave your feet and get in the offense's grill. Most offensive players don't like being harassed. They're the clean-shirted "wine and dine" crowd. Defense should be there to crash the party, make them feel awkward, take that disc away and then show them how it's done. That's what our LA Metro defense strives to be.

Next up is a series of practices, and then P-Town throwdown (if it happens), and then Discos up in Chico. But yes, till then, rest up, keep on striving for more.

-hammie #10

(all photos courtesy of Simon Margolis)

moments after my lay-out callahan against Cla$$y

barrs skying for the disc

Matt Welsh goes up against Haegen(sp?) for the disc