BIG moves at nationals
NZ Mixed Nationals 2024
Game to eleven. Pull goes up, Jack picks up the disc and swings to Zoe - Joe - Jack - a 20 meter gainer to Tara. I get the disc under next and see Joe poached deep and throw a hammer... It helixed and floated for too long and the tallest opposition player Owen Sun gets the block. A tragedy. First throw after the turn, Zoe gets a run through block. Hype!! Joe calls for me to pick up the disc 5 meters out from the goal line. Tara and Jack are isolated in our static end zone play but get marked out. I swing the disc to Joe who sees me beat my guy up line, I pull out of my cut as I see Tara free on her slashing cut. Mis-queue time, turnover. TPU work up the disc to win the game on a messy universe point to close out a messy semi-final.
That was the tragic choke of our 10-7 lead in the semi final against Te Papapa Ultimate. But lets start at the beginning.
Pool play went as expected with a few blowout victories and then our game against MDC, seed three and reigning champs. Also from Wellington we had played them a few times already this season, winning each time, and knew their entire roster very well. The game started with them going up a few breaks and then holding on to that for the rest of the game. Their offensive line was impressively consistent and at one point we threw a zone that held them out for nearly 10 minutes but they still converted in the end. A great game but a match up that we half expected to see again in the final come Sunday afternoon
Our quarter final was up against Hammertron, a team that as I have said before has such a high peak but historically really relies on riding big energy to carry them the length of a game. That being said we knew we had to come out firing early to give ourselves the best shot at closing it out efficiently. We ended up doing just that and the game ended up with a 15-7 victory.
I have already done a play by play of the universe point of this game so you know how it ends. But how it starts is with two even teams (our only other pairing this year ended with a victory on universe point) battling very messily over the disc. Lots of turnovers but we manage to pull away and take a lead. We hold that lead through until the middle of the second half which is when things start going awry. Our mistakes continue to come but TPU has cleaned up their act and start coming out on top after the back and forth points. TPU fight all the way back to 10-10. Then 11-10; We are knocked out and have to get back up for the 3/4th playoff.
The 3/4 game was against OBSC, a team we have already played and beaten twice this year. However this is the first time this club has made the semi-finals so they are on a buzz and are carrying forward energy from their semi-final victory the day before. Throughout the game the field presence of Rory Hammond was something we needed to contend with alongside the handling threat of Emma Whitlock (not biased). We had a slow start to the game and OBSC really took it to us in the first half. We slowly ramped up from our low energy after only a 15 minute break since losing our drawn out semi. This energy that we found was enough to carry us through to the end and take out 3rd place for the second time in our second appearance at the NZMUC.
All in all the season was a blast. Personally I learnt so much as a coach working with the team and also as a player from all the talented individuals I got to surround myself with. Some wiser than I in the community say that our team was lacking experience and our maturity let us down in the end; it is a good thing then that experience is the one trait that will always be increasing. See you next year NZMUC, we will be back - BIGger than ever!
p.s. This closes out my Disc Diary for 2024, going forward I might make a event recap here or there but I want to focus on more tactical/strategical discussion in future so keep a look out for that!