Riot undefeated at Virginia Fusion

Riot extended its 2011 winning streak to 21 games straight by going 6-0 at this past weekend's Virginia Fusion. It was a tournament full of building team chemistry and showcasing great play for the small, tight-knit roster that was able to make the trip out East.

Injuries and conflicts meant that we would only have 14 healthy players for the tournament, so in the interest of injury-prevention the tournament director, Michelle Ng, and the other Elite Club teams in attendance were accommodating enough to allow us to play 6 games to 13 instead of the 7-8 games to 15 that the other teams were playing. Thank you to everyone who made that possible! It did mean we were ineligible to play in the finals, even though we earned the number 1 spot after round robin play concluded on Sunday. Phoenix won the finals 15-8 over Molly Brown, giving Riot an official 3rd place finish. I've never had so few regrets coming in 3rd before! All the results are posted on the Score Reporter.

We had a first round bye thanks to our original game against Hot Metal being cancelled, so our opening game was against Nemesis who had just upset Phoenix 15-11. Riot needed two chances for our O line to score the first point, but then we went on a tear scoring the next 5 points in a row without a turn. A time-out and running sprints in between points didn't seem to help Nemesis stem the tide during this run. Nemesis scored their first point at 6-1 and then got one break back the next point when the rain turned the disc into a wet fish and we had two drops. We scored the subsequent O point with no turns and a Maddy to Kawai deep shot to take half 7-2. In the second half, Nemesis earned another break back at 9-5, but Riot was still racking up Ds and finished out the game with a 4-0 run to win 13-5.

Against Scandal it was Riot's turn to struggle out of the gates and we promptly gave up 3 breaks in a row to go down 0-3. Jinny found Calise in the endzone to finally get us on the board. Fast breaking after a Scandal turnover set up a defensive break with Kawai hucking to KK. Riot was still down two breaks while the teams traded points. Smalls was clutch after getting a lay-out D in the endzone and Riot scored to keep the game within one at 4-5. That was Riot's first D block of the game and was a turning point for the team's defensive pressure ratcheting up. The next point Gwen and Calise each earned lay-out Ds and Gwen caught the equalizing goal on a full extension grab. Two Ds and two efficient possessions later and Riot had taken half 7-5. Our defensive pressure didn't let up in the second half (epitomized by Calise's Callahan goal), but only one D was converted into a break. The game went into hard cap and Scandal scored the last point in the 10-8 Riot victory. A well-fought game on all sides and a great chance to see Scandal playing with their superstar addition, Manu Argilli.

Next up was Molly Brown, who had just lost a close game to Phoenix the round before. Riot started on O and then earned a break on the second point, giving us a two point cushion. We traded points to 4-2 before Riot earned two breaks in a row, one capitalizing on a fast-break transition and the other one with two shots at endzone offense after Bermi and Alyssa hand-blocks. We traded out to a half time score of 7-3. Molly Brown would only score one more point in the game as Riot earned 5 blocks and finished the game on a Western connection between Alyssa and Kreilkamp. 13-4.

The rest of the afternoon was what set Virginia Fusion apart from other club tournaments of the season. A fun Trade Show allowed the club teams to sell gear and feature their teams to the college players. Riot shorts were popular items for sale and Kreilkamp had fun modeling all 5 different colors of the shorts at once. People won Riot stickers by guessing the answers to trivia questions such as, "How many Junior Worlds players are on Riot's roster?" "What time is it?" and "When did the Seattle WTO riots happen that inspire our team's name?" [Answers below] Other teams had music and dancing, whiffle ball games, gear for sale, and disc golf challenges. The whole courtyard was abuzz with energy.

Then came the Skills Clinic. With a ton of options to choose from, college registrants got to participate in two sessions, each taught by club players from multiple teams. It was a great chance for club players to meet and get to know each other while running the clinics and by all accounts the college players benefited from the tips and drills, loving the opportunity to learn from some of their role models. It was amazing how much of a difference simple drills or concepts can make to young players and teams looking to improve. Hopefully teams have some new skills to take back to practice now! A huge thank you to all the instructors, participants, and organizers for pulling off such a massive undertaking.

On Sunday our first game started at 8:30 am--5:30 am back in Seattle. Playing in different time zones and after lengthy travel was one of our goals in attending an east coast tournament this year and we didn't quite meet the challenge as Bent jumped out to a 3-1 lead on us in round one. Bent wasn't able to get a second break with their zone D the next point and Gwen and Shannon quickly moved the disc past the cup to set up a Maddy huck to Calise. Then Keely got a block and KK unleashed a huge forehand to the back corner for Smalls to run down and grab at the last second for the goal to tie the game at 3 a piece. Riot scored the next four points on D to take half 7-3. Out of half time Bent earned a break back again with its zone D, but the Riot handlers made short work of it the next point and then played some zone and junk Ds of our own. Kreilkamp tipped a disc from within the cup to set up a great D by Jinny as the wing, allowing a Riot goal and an 11-4 lead. A collision on the play shook Jinny up a bit, but luckily she was able to return to play later that game. Bent scored one more point and the final was 13-5, Riot.

The match against Phoenix started out close as we traded points to a score of 3-2 for the first game-to-three. An Alyssa block earned Riot a break to go up 4-2. Our offense scored without turnovers against Phoenix's zones and then our junk D set up another Riot break to take half 7-4. Riot played a series of different junk and zone Ds in the second half, playing good containment D and allowing Phoenix to commit unforced errors which Riot converted into a 10-4 lead. Shannon got a great D by skying taller opponents in the goal to help hold on to our O point at 11-5. Phoenix scored one more point, but Riot finished it off with a three point run. The game was intended to only be to 13, but we played an extra point due to some sloppy record keeping on our part. 14-6 final score against the team that would eventually win the tournament.

Our last game was against Brute Squad. It took us awhile to remember how to play effective defense on the angles of a vertical stack offense and we let Brute score two in a row to keep the game within one at 3-2. Those would be the only points Brute would score with no turnovers, and we pushed ahead to a 7-3 half time score. Maddy and Kawai were on fire this game, each with 3 goals and an assist. Riot scored the last four points in a row without a turnover and the final point saw textbook team D setting up a Nora block on the dump reset before Kawai rushed to fast break with an outlet pass to Kreilkamp who hit Nora for the bookend score. 13-4 and the end to a great tournament.

A huge shout out is in order for Rohre and Drew who made the long trip and supported the team every moment despite being sidelined with injuries. Their voices and presence made a huge difference. With only 14 healthy players, playing time was a non-issue and the team used a very open rotation. Even so, it was amazing how evenly distributed the play was. Most games had between 9-11 different Riot players catching goals and the hucks were flying from all quarters. Our goal in attending this tournament was to challenge ourselves and everyone rose to the occasion tremendously! Great preparation for Regionals in two weeks...

Local media coverage: In addition to a number of newspaper articles in the Martinsville Bulletin (including this one with Riot pictures and quotes), a local news station also covered the event with video and a good overview of ultimate and the tournament:

[Answers to trivia questions from above: (a) 6 players: Drew, Shannon, Claire, Caitlin, Kawai, and Rohre, (b) It's time to RIOT!, and (c) 1999.]