Nucci's Cup

Nucci's Cup was a 10-team tournament hosted by Roots of Rhythm at the Mercer County Ultimate Disc League (MCUDL) fields this past weekend. Teams in attendance ranged from Boston Invite surprise New Noise and WUCC Masters silver medalists OLDSAG to our NJ YCC team and the last-minute fill-ins Pennsbury Peyote 07-08 (after Gunslingers dropped). But, as is typical for a midseason club tournament, results were inconsistent and teams were still finding out what they were made of and how they would stack up in the series. There were two masters teams from the Mid Atlantic region, four mid-level open teams from the Mid Atlantic, two open teams from the Northeast, our YCC team, and Pennsbury. New Noise came in as the obvious favorite, having come within a single point of unseating Pike in Boston and dismantling HOV (the 3-seed) 15-3 after avenging a 12-13 loss.

Our day started with a game against OLDSAG, and most players on the team had never played against a Masters team. They're surprisingly fast and good in the air, and they move the disc extremely well on the break side. But with that being said, we struggled a lot in this game because it was our first game together as a team, not because we were overmatched. We traded with them when they played man defense, but their switch to zone, while not unexpected, caught us off-guard. It was our first exposure to zone as a team, and different experiences and strategies clashed as we had far too many silly drops and turnovers. But we worked on it, and by the end of the game we had forced them back into a man defense and reduced turnovers again. Unfortunately, the D line was only able to get one break on OLDSAG, as a lack of team cohesion betrayed us on that side of the disc as well. We ended the game down 15-9, but with the realization that we could beat this team given another couple days of practice or tournament play.

We followed up with a bye, and then a nice long Stanford warmup to get the muscles loose before our game against HOV. We came into this game strong as well, and I felt great. I threw the first two assists, and then again we fell victim to turnovers. A lot of these were just miscommunications between where throwers wanted cutters to cut and where they were actually cutting. We called a timeout down 5-2 and then picked it up again, trading out to half 8-5. The second half was very encouraging from a defensive perspective, as we finally started to get more D's. We still had problems working the disc as a D team, but as the game went on we started to convert a few breaks. The offense was also flowing well - we had several points where nobody held the disc for longer than 4 seconds. I had two completed hucks off of upline dump cuts that helped energize me and the team - after the first one I jumped up in the air, had a few fist pumps, and yelled "BAM! BAM! BAM!" Number 33 on HOV congratulated me after the throw and after each time I broke him that game - it was kind of weird but nice of him. Also, they had a guy who did not throw backhands. Scoobers and forehands only. It was kind of funny, but also frustrating when the mark didn't catch on. Unfortunately, our comeback was stifled by hard cap, and we were in the unenviable position of scoring the last point and still losing, 14-11.

We then faced DC Funk, a DC Masters team that was not as fast or athletic as OLDSAG, and we came out confident after our performance against HOV and proceeded to roast both them and their zone. Our D line was coming off of several breaks against HOV and used that momentum to help us go up 8-5 at the half. And to our credit, we were actually getting D's and forcing turnovers, not just waiting for the old people to drop the disc. We finished the game out capped, 13-9, after several injury timeouts for our tired and cramping players. It was over 95 degrees by this point, sweltering heat and we kept running low on gatorade and water. I think that I personally went through a gallon and a half of water during the game, and maybe half as much gatorade. One guy on their team even came over and handed us powerbar gel shots and electrolyte pills to help prevent cramping. Even Masters teams can be friendly!

Our last game of the day was against Roots of Rhythm, which was basically a Pennsbury alumni team with a few other players tacked on. Some of our team had experience playing (and beating) Pennsbury last year, and the game started off well for us. I felt confident and strong again, and I was getting open at will as a downfield cutter. But somewhere towards the middle of the first half, I just had a meltdown. I started throwing more and more lefty throws and push passes, held onto the disc too long, and even turfed a routine swing. That was right after I was about to be stalled and threw (and was fouled on) an IO lefty backhand that was caught for what would have been a callahan. I was a mess, and not until the last five or so points did I manage to pick my game up. The rest of the team was not much better, at least on offense. The D team did manage to continue to rack up D's and convert at a solid rate. We lost this game 13-7, and I was disgusted with myself and how I played. I was definitely feeling the effects of the heat, and I even cramped up on the field and refused to take an injury sub until one of our other players kept yelling at me to "come off if you're hurt!"

So after day one we were 1-3, with flashes of brilliance and smooth flow, and erratic play still lurking in the background. The D team was steadily improving, though, but still had to do a better job converting. We left the fields at 8 pm, and had to be back in 12 hours to warm up for our 9 am prequarters game against Pennsbury, the only the team in the tournament younger than us.

We started the game a little late, but we'd been at the fields warming up for long enough to be ready and pumped to play. We jumped out to an early lead, but then we took our foot off the gas. We found ourselves only up 6-5, and after working the disc the length of the field, we turned it over on the goal line, only to get the goal after a Callahan - our second of the game and my first ever in tournament play. Needless to say, I was excited, especially after just failing to catch my layout D in the endzone against DC Funk the day before. My exuberant punch spike was purely celebratory. I promise. We took half 8-6, then traded to 10-8 before we really turned it on. We started to get our offensive flow and our deep game going, and we went on a 5-1 run to close out the game 15-9. Next year's Pennsbury team will still be good, but I don't think they'll repeat as state or Easterns champions. They have their formidable deep game but a lot of inexperienced players. But they will have been strengthened by playing in this tournament against good club teams.

Our last game of the weekend was our quarterfinal matchup against #1 seed New Noise (sorry to ruin the suspense) and BUDA YCC coach Micah Flynn. Before the game, the players huddled together without the coaches to set goals for the game - on defense, take away their good huck looks and easy dumps, and on offense, move the disc quickly and get the handlers involved. New Noise came out firing, but we forced them into a turnover on the first point. We couldn't convert, however, and they came back with a huge hammer break us open and take the first point. Then they came down in a zone, and we worked the disc until a drop set us back, and then they scored on a hammer. We worked the zone better next time, and my own hammer into the wind was pulled down in the endzone as we clawed one back. But then New Noise kept pressing us, and we kept making silly mistakes. Down 5-2, we called a timeout and Zander addressed the team. "Stop respecting them!" was the message, and we came out firing.

We stopped holding onto the disc so long, moved the disc quickly, and started to shred their zone. They tried to stop us with man defense, but we broke the mark well and opened up the game with hucks and quick flow. And on defense, we forced more and more turnovers, including some layout D's and sky D's on hucks into the endzone. In the end, we fell 15-10, but we managed to get several breaks on them, force them out of their zone defense, and move the disc extremely well towards the end of the game. Things are looking up for YCC's - losing 15-10 and 14-11 to the two finalists is respectable, and I have no doubt that both games were winnable had we been playing together longer than two practices and a tournament. Plus, we were missing players both Saturday and Sunday, due to injury and work, and having them back for YCC's will have a big impact.

9:00 am. Field 3. We'll be there.