By Shaun Webb (coach) Great weekend everyone, well played. I was asked to write a report so here goes: Last weekend Far Flung traveled to Aberdeen to take on the best Scottish teams with the aim of qualifying for the UK university indoor mixed national championships. Saturday started well for the first team, bageling St Andrews second team 10-0. After a few turnovers in the first point the team soon settled in to the smooth offensive style we see every Wednesday night and individually we were too good to let Flatball 2 put in a point. The second game against Dark Horses had been earmarked as a potential slip up and the first real test of the day. However, the game was eventually abandoned after an endzone collision resulted in a broken neck with Far Flung 1-0 up. After the ambulance had given the all clear it was agreed to replay the game at the end of the day. Next up were Dundee, one of the pre-tournament favourites to qualify. Once again we produced clinical offense with very few turnovers against man and zone offense. It was our own defense that got us the early breaks and we constantly forced Shooting Stars to throw away by putting on good forces and staying close to our marks. We went 3 up early in the game then traded points to win 7-4. This was the first big victory of the day and we followed it up by routinely dispatching Ro Sham Bo 2 (9-4) and Ro Sham Bo 3 (7-1) and the news started to spread that Far Flung were serious contenders, some people were actually scared. We had used the Ro Sham Bo games to sharpen our offense and use the large pitch more efficiently. Mojo 1 posed a different challenge, playing a well drilled zone that had worked against every other team in the group. A win here would launch Far Flung from 5th seeds at the start of the day up to the top spot. We spent a little time talking about how to adapt our offense and the results were evident from the start. Through a combination of short sharp passes through the zone, well timed discs over the top, cutters occupying free space and some very patient endzone play, we were able to score every time we took possession. Girls put on a lot of pressure on the force and boys took everything down in the air, limiting Aberdeen to only 2 points. The game finished 7-2. The final game was the replay of the Strathclyde game, with the team full of confidence we came out strong from the start and scored a lot of points in only a 15 minute game, 9-2 Far Flung and top seeds at the end of day 1! Far Flung 2 suffered converse fortunes opening up with 2 heavy defeats to Stirling and Edinburghs first teams. Despite the score lines FF put in a brave performance against Ro Sham Bo, the reigning champs. They managed to force turnovers on just about every point, Murry in particular made sure he bled with some good poach D on the Iso. However, they found it hard to get to grips with the large pitch and struggled to get the disc moving. In the next match they concentrated on giving themselves more room to cut in to and get the first pass away. They managed to put the points away and edged out a crucial win against Mojo 2 (5-4). Other tough games followed Flatball (9-1), Shooting Stars (8-3) and FF2 were unlucky not to claim another win against Mojo 3, losing out by 1 in the end. Saturday nights entertainment included laughing at fat people on Total Wipeout, 15-inch pizzas, wearing trainers and showing up at the party to let everyone else know who the number 1 team were. Saturdays heroics earned the first team a long lie in. Meanwhile the second team were up early to battle it out in the crossovers. After a good nights rest the team looked transformed and put in a big performance against Dundee 1. Anja and Nigel kept the disc moving at the back and Greg and Martha were constantly available for first cuts. We stopped throwing the disc through the middle of the pitch and used the long option to good effect. Dundee defended well in the endzone and constantly thwarted Far Flungs final attack, Dundee win 10-2. The second game of the day pitted FF2 up against RSB3 in the knockout stages. Far Flung had now found a style of play that worked for them with Martin showing his athletic prowess cutting the length of the pitch to intercept stray passes and Hadassah racking up points in the endzone (10 -2 win!). The first team showed up some time in the afternoon for another showdown with Dark Horses in the quarter finals. It was a typical scrappy game to begin Sundays play, Strathclyde showed a lot more fight after winning their early crossover and always looked likely of pulling off a shock win. In the end we were able to shut down the Horses long game by leaving a man deep to eat up any high discs. Far Flung pulled away towards the end and took the game 6-3 to make the semi finals. This match was immediately followed by FF2s semi final against the Stirling 1st team and the team kept on getting better. This was one of the most exciting games all weekend. Far Flung took an early two point lead and no matter how hard Stirling fought back team fling always found the pass to stay 1 point up. Marou kept the team in it with a huge layout and a great scoring pass to Martin as he left his marker behind. Far Flung took the lead with 30 seconds to go and held out for the win. We carried momentum in to the next game and looked unstoppable aginst the Flatball second team, destroying them 7-2 to earn a final game against Dark Horses with the plate and a place at Division 2 Nationals the stake. Far Flung 1 went in to the semi final one win away from Division 1 qualification. So far they had been convincing victors but St Andrews had already proved they were a step above after narrowly losing to RSB1 in an epic game the previous day. It was time to bring out the big plays and the team looked fired up from the start. We took an early lead and never looked back, offensive was smooth and controlled, defense was thriving on adrenalin and the crowd were constantly entertained by some epic 1 on 1 battles going on all over the pitch. We took the game convincingly (9-6), qualified for Nationals and showed the crowd why we were still the team to beat. Far Fung 2 had a final game against Strathclyde who had battled hard all weekend with an injury hit small squad. Horses were one battle too far and got their game together to win 7-2. Nevertheless, Far Flung showed they could compete against first teams and wound up the weekend in 9th place. An incredible performance and result and the team showed a lot of spirit to improve all weekend. They may still have a chance to compete at National level after finishing in one of the reserve places. After a hot chocolate and a dancing warmup in the Sky Studio Far Flung were keen to take home some silverware. However, we started the game looking sluggish and the old nemesis, Ro Sham Bo, were able to capitalise on our slow start, racking up a 4-1 lead. They played a more intense, closed defense, that we were yet to come across. We managed to get it together, got a few turnovers and put in some points. Just when it looked as if we could claw our way back, Ro Sham grabbed a calahan score and stole the momentum. Ro Sham Bo went on to take the title 8-4. For Far Flung the tournament was a massive success, qualifying for Nationals and many players competing in their first final. The final match has shown us exactly what we need to do to step up and win Nationals in one month time! 1st team highlights: Joe - Joe led the team from the front line, managed to shutdown both of Flatball and Ro Shams main endzone players with some huge grabs and layout Ds and apparently threw one amazing disc. Great Weekend! |
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