Labor Day Recap

The Labor Day Ultimate Championships is the last west coast tournament before the USA Ultimate Fall Series begins and is always an important test for teams.  This year, Riot went into the tournament missing a few key players due to work conflicts (Jinny and Erin) and injuries (Surge and Maddy), but we gained Caitlin, Smalls and KK back after missing ECC and the entire team stepped up to generate the fire and intensity that Riot thrives on during play.

Our first game (against Further) started in the fog at 8 am and it took losing the first game-to-three 0-3 before our team finally started to wake up.  Adjusting to defend the deep game of the run-and-gun team from Oregon, Riot took half 8-5.  Riot earned three breaks right out of halftime to go up 12-5 before the teams traded to 14-8.  At that point, Further earned a break back, but Riot went on to finish the game off, 15-9.  In this game, Riot's hucks were dialed in, completing 8 of 9 of the team's deep looks.  Further's game relied a lot on their own deep shots, with hucks flying from the University of Oregon champions Bailey Zahniser and Shannon McDowell.

Next up was Slackjaw, another team of younger players--mostly from Bay Area colleges.  Riot ratcheted up its defensive pressure in this game, generating numerous blocks all game.  Lisa in particular helped run our D team's offense after a turn and we took half 8-1 before pushing our lead to 14-2.  With their backs against our game point, Slackjaw was able to score two in a row but Riot ended the game with a Smalls to KK pass for a 15-4 win.  Notably, Slackjaw's handlers were able to use aggressive up-line cuts to keep their offense moving and captain Caitlin Rugg definitely ran the show for her team.

We then faced Lotus, the second seeded team in our pool.  This Canadian team usually competes as Lotus for Canadian Nationals and then combines with some additional players to compete as the Capitals during the Fall Series in the Northeast.  We were playing the fall version of the team and we knew that we would have to raise our level of play.  Jumping out of the gates with a bang, Riot took a 3-0 lead.  After a dropped Riot huck, Lotus brought the game to 6-5 but two points later Riot earned the break back when Gwen bookended the point with a handblock and goal off of a fast-break backhand from Bermi.  Halftime: 8-5.  Lotus earned a break to close the gap to two points at 10-8, but the teams traded out the rest of the game to a Riot victory, 14-11.

After a bye, Riot matched up against Underground.  Despite both being from Seattle, this was the first time our two teams had played at a tournament this season.  A Riot O line gave up one point early, but our D was energized by a spectacular lay-out block by Shannon [pictured, courtesy of Freeheel Images] and Riot went on a three point run.  We took half, 8-4, on another D point break.  In the second half, both teams looked deep a bit more often.  Wynne came up with some great deep D against speedster Daniella Walsh and Jenn put in the final pass to Smalls, 15-7.  We will see Underground again in just two weeks at Sectionals and look forward to another well-fought, spirited game.

One sushi dinner later and we were ready for bed to prepare for another day of ultimate.

Our Sunday morning game started at 9 am against Knockout, but the fog was so thick it was difficult to see our opponents raise their hands to signal the pull, 70 yards away.  With an Ambler sister on each team during this game, super-fans Aunt Tracey and Uncle Craig split their sideline catering service between both camps, trying to stay neutral.  Unfortunately, we were missing Al this game due to an ankle injury.  Riot earned a break in the first game-to-three and then pushed ahead to 6-3 after Duffy made a spectacular grab in traffic.  Taking half 8-5, Riot surged ahead to go up 12-6 on the strength of a beautiful Alyssa huck.  The two teams traded out the rest of the game, finishing at 15-9.  

After a four hour break, we saw Zeitgeist in the semifinals.  Despite numerous chances for Riot to earn a break, the teams traded points until ZG earned a break after a drop to go up 3-5.  The halftime score was 6-8 with Claire, Ebae, and RV playing pivotal roles in moving the disc on O.  The teams traded until Gwen got a layout block to help earn a break and tie the game at 9s.  The entire team stepped up our defensive game and earned multiple turnovers in the next few points.  HM caught the goal to tie it 10-10 and Calise helped convert two of our D possessions in a row to go up 12-10.  The hard cap went off during the next point, so the game was over in Riot's favor despite ZG scoring the last point.  This game was a great gut-check for the team as we were pushed to raise our intensity and level of play.  Earning our breaks with the cap looming was a great example of desire and focus across the board.

We had to turn around and play Fury in the finals right away.  This is the 8th time our teams have played each other this season thus far, so it's safe to say we know each other pretty well by now.  Unfortunately, this time around a few uncharacteristic errors early in the game helped Fury gain a 7-2 lead.  Riot earned one break back, but the halftime score was 4-8.  In the first half, three of Riot's scores came from Drew's pin-point hucks and half of Fury's goals were also from looking deep.  Unfortunately, we lost Smalls after a great lay-out D deep where she hit her knee and burst her bursa.  The second half saw the two teams trading, as Ebae and Mir connected with Val for two of Riot's goals.  Another deep look to Val was off-target on Riot's next O point and we gave up a break, 6-12.  Stepping up the defensive pressure, mixing in some zone, and relying on Rohre's ridiculous pulls, Riot rattled off three points in a row (two on beautiful Bermi backhands) to bring the game to 9-12.  Fury worked it in against Riot's three person cup and capitalized on a Riot execution error the next point.  Riot answered with no turns, but couldn't convert the next D point after getting the disc multiple times.  Fury won 10-15.  Fuel for the big flame...

The Labor Day party is sometimes even more memorable than the tournament itself.  This year, Riot went to the party as Glam Pop, a perfect compliment to the other Seattle teams' themes (Sockeye = Hair Metal, ECU = Boy Bands, Underground = Rock Stars).  Al had one of the best outfits [pictured], although Caitlin and HM's face painting skills were also hot commodities.