Day 2 - More of the tough stuff

Day 2 at UPA championships was similar to the first. Two good games of ultimate, a little rain, and some real excitement.

Pictured Above: The Goat in the huddle. Photo taken by Lisa Di Diodato.

The day started off early in the morning with all teams arriving at least an hour before game time. We were treated to abbreviated versions of the National anthems on the harmonica and headed into our first game against Johny Bravo.

Instead of the early shell shock against Jam, we were now ready for the fast pace of elite ultimate. Goat started out trading points and had the potential, two times, to go up on the up wind break. Alas, fortune was not with us, and after the half in a matter of seconds we were down multiple up and down wind breaks. The break force was our enemy once again, and Bravo took the game as they deserved.

I had the opportunity to play the end of the Bravo game, but came out cold and was shell shocked on my first point. I watched a beauty D by one of the Bravo players that I, clearly, could have attacked if I was more focused on the game. Simple lesson - be ready at any point.

On the opposite field, Condors had gone up big during the half against Jam, but Jam came back and took the game from the Condors grasp. This meant it would be Goat vs. Condors for the ticket to the quarters avoiding the play in pre quarters.

Our game against Condors started off perfect. We went up a break early, but the Condors weren't going to let us run ahead, and they broke back twice to take the reigns of the game. We, however, didn't fall into a funk, and used our previous lessons from Jam and Bravo to fight our way back into the game. We broke back, and played tight defense to push forward and finally, command the game. We controlled the rest of the game and won it to push us into the quarters. Next on the list - Chain in the quarters.

Having won our key power pool game we had the rest of the day off. This time was spent watching the play ins. All over the complex the tournament raised it's feel to another notch. most of Goat watched the Capitals vs. Safari and Boston vs. Ring of Fire. I also wandered to watch a few points from a Masters quarters between Dog and Old Sag, and caught a few points from Truck Stop and Condors. In general, the games were true battles with applause and boos emerging from all over the complex. You just can't capture that on film.

Great job by the Capitals in recovering from a deficit to pull out a big win in the pre-quarters. We didn't stay for the glory due to a lightning break.

Day 2 was brilliant. Now on to day 3.

PJ