Nationals Review

Riot came into the Club Championships as the number one seed after decisively winning NW Regionals over Fury.  The team was feeling good.  Even Maddy, who had been out of commission with a torn plantar fascia, was cleared to play for part of the weekend.  We were ready.

And we started off the tournament by showcasing our full potential.  Day 1 we played Showdown, RevoLOUtion, and Molly Brown in pool play.  The Thursday tournament write-up didn't have much to say about us because we ran away with each match.  Of course, that doesn't mean there weren't some incredibly exciting plays unfolding on Field 27.

Showdown features one of the top women's players in the country, Cara Crouch, but the Texas team couldn't hold a candle to the Seattle depth.  The round's highlight film [Riot footage starting at minute 1:58] caught Al bidding on D and Alyssa finding Claire in the endzone.  Erin in particular blew up, getting two blocks in our special teams D and catching three goals.  Still, the play of the game went to Miranda for her chest high lay-out D on a come-back cut to take the game to 13-6.  As Drew said after the game, "That's why I want to play ultimate."  Fittingly, Mir caught the final goal on a pass from Heidi Marie to cap the game 15-7.  

Our next opponents, RevoLOUtion, were seeded 16th on their first trip to the Club Championships.  Showing no mercy, Riot jumped out to a 8-0 lead at half time after testing the St. Louis women with our full arsenal of defensive looks.  Wynne was the fantasy stats leader in this game: hucking for one score, punching in another after getting a block that point, and then catching a goal to go up 11-1.  Riot closed it out 15-1.

The last game of the day would determine the pool winner and we faced a very athletic team from Colorado: Molly Brown.  In fact, Molly Brown jumped out to a 2-1 lead.  The Unsinkables kept it close through 5-4, Riot.  However, Molly Brown didn't have an answer for Riot's deep game, and going 5 for 5 on huck attempts helped Riot take half 8-4.  Alyssa caught the first goal out of half, and then the two teams traded through 12-7 when Riot earned a break after the twins, Bermi and Duffy, generated two Ds in the point.  The video cameras caught the penultimate point [Riot footage starting at minute 0:29] with a flawless offensive point with Drew to Mir to Gwen to Calise.  Riot finished it out 15-9 with Duffy earning her sixth fantasy point of the game with an assist to Jenn.

Day 2 put us in a power pool with Traffic and Brute Squad.  We first squared off against our familiar regional rival, Traffic.  On the strength of our transition Ds, we won the first game to three 3-1.  Traffic adjusted and was stingy enough with the disc to trade scores for the next five points until the Canadians earned a break with a junk D of their own.  Tie game, 5-5.  The next few points had their fair share of turnovers, but Riot prevailed and took half 8-5.  After halftime, Riot had another three point run in store.  Traffic threw a zone again, but this time our handlers patiently worked it and we scored with no turnovers, 22 passes later, with a Miranda to Smalls shot that made the round's highlight film [Riot footage starting at minute 2:29]. Heidi Marie earned her second hand block of the game to help finish out the game 15-6.

Next up was Brute Squad and unfortunately, we had lost RV to a calf strain before this game.  The Boston women came out firing on all cylinders and went up 1-3.  A Claire to Surge connection answered on Riot's O point and then the D team took over, scoring 6 breaks in a row by pairing aggressive deep looks with smothering D.  One of those goals was captured on the day's highlight reel with Al breaking the mark to Gwen for a goal.  Brute Squad was not deterred by the 8-3 halftime score and earned a break back right out of half, even despite an amazing double D by Smalls (skying mac followed up by a layout catch block).  Unfazed, Riot continued to push ahead, playing loose while still taking care of the disc.  A visionary throw from KK to Caitlin was also caught on film at 13-6 [Riot footage at minute 3:30].  Jinny earned the final D block of the game, setting up a Riot victory, 15-7.

After watching Riot play, Carolyn Matthews said in the USAU Friday write-up, "Like Brazilian soccer, Riot plays the beautiful game.  They use the whole field, break marks effortlessly and huck with precision."  After two days of great ultimate and a team meeting full of scouting reports and inspiration, the team was ready for elimination play.

Our quarterfinals opponent, Nemesis, is a young, athletic team that loves the long bomb.  Generating D blocks deep and with pressure defense on handlers, Riot surged ahead to a 6-3 cushion, aided by goal-scoring cuts by Lisa and Alyssa.  The scrappy team from Chicago was not ready to call it quits and scored two in a row to narrow the gap to one point.  After a time-out in which Angry Jenn made an appearance, Riot closed out the half 8-5.  Nemesis earned another break back to keep things interesting at 9-7, but a three point run for Riot kept the game out of reach.  In her first game since August, Maddy earned her keep with a goal and a D.  Ebae sealed the deal, 15-9 [Video footage from the game starting at minute 0:55].

On to semifinals against the Capitals.  The game is recapped in detail in the tournament's Saturday write-up, which also includes a highlight reel better known as The Surge Show.  Riot went up 3-1 with some great defensive plays by Smalls, Calise, and Drew.  But then a string of unfortunate turnovers let the Caps go on their own 3-1 run, tying the game at 4's.  Riot gave up one more offensive break and was not able to convert the chances Duffy gave us with two great blocks.  At 7-8, it was the first time at the tournament that Riot was down at half.  A special teams D helped earn a break back and Val connected with Maddy to bring the game to 10 all.  The next point saw another Duffy D go to waste and the Capitals got a break of its own with an uncharacteristic throw-away against their loose zone.  The next point Capitals tried their zone again, but patient handling by Bermi, Claire, and Jenn allowed for an easy score.  On the next pont, Shannon "Poster Girl" O'Malley made a spectacular diving catch block to prevent a goal, then threw a perfect backhand huck to a streaking Surge.  The game was tied at 12's, or rather, it was 0-0, game to 3.  Riot had two chances to get a break the next point and take the lead, but impatient endzone offense coughed the disc up both times and Capitals scored.  Drew Johnson had an amazing layout D to prevent an O-line break, and Riot scored to keep the game within one.  Capitals responded with no-turns, bringing it to their game point.  With the soft cap on, it was a game to 15, so if Riot scored it would then be double-game point.  Unfortunately, a zone-breaking pass skimmed the turf and Riot made a valiant endzone stand before Capitals punched it in for the game.  13-15.  

Capitals played a tremendous game and our dreams of beating Fury in the finals were dashed.  Our season was over.  Calise summed it up in her blog entry after Nationals: "It's easy to be disappointed.  But it's also very easy to be in love with this team.  We are messy.  We are inconsistent.  We have the sickest roster.  We make the biggest plays.  We have the weirdest drops.  We are fun.  We are loud and probably off-putting.  We will learn from this, for sure.  We are exciting as shit."  

Despite losing that game, this team had an amazing season and played phenomenal ultimate along the way.  In our post-game huddle, Surge said it best when she explained she wasn't crying because we couldn't win Nationals, she was crying because we didn't have the chance to play one last game together.  This team was fueled by an internal fire that will never be extinguished.  Big Flame!  R-I-O-Team!

[Photos courtesy of Heidi Marie Clemens]