Div 2 Open Outdoor Nationals

Seeded 9th

So after a disappointing finish at regionals we managed to qualify for div 2. We headed up in great spirits in the unseasonably warm weather, had a good night in a travelodge and headed to Sheffield in the biting wind for, what would be for many, our last student tournament.

Saturday

Game 1 vs. Brunel (Skunks won 9-8)
The first game of the day was against top seeds in our group. We took a gigantic 8-1 lead really utilising our very strong team and then, from somewhere, errors crept into our game. We really took our foot off the pedal (a problem we’ve had for a while) and let them get back into this game. We won in the end after they brought it back to 8-8. But it went deep into extra time and it required a layout block from Smatt on their endzone line to win it. We had a game straight on afterwards after Oxford which we went into tired when we should have been fresh.

Game 2 vs. Oxford (Skunks lost 7-4)
Our inefficiency in the first game really cost us and we looked tired despite it only being the second game of the weekend and we lost against a team we really should have beaten.

Game 3 vs. Stirling (Skunks lost 7-6)
By this time, the northern winds were howling from one end of the pitch to the other, making it almost impossible to score one way and almost inevitable that you were going to score the other way. We had many more chances to score upwind than stirling, we just didn’t convert and in the talk afterwards they admitted that we were the better team and that if the toss had gone the other way we would have won.

I would like to say that’s what it came down to, a flip of the disc between top of the group and bottom which is where we did finish, but in hindsight our wasteful and frankly lazy attitude in the brunel game which should have been a dead cert. We didn’t have a crossover so we headed back to the travelodge for a shower and then headed into Sheffield for a meal and the free ice hockey which was good fun.

Sunday

Game 1 vs. Imperial (Skunks won ?-?)
With a disappointing start to the weekend we came into Sunday seeded last overall. We came into the Sunday wanting to finish as high as possible and with the pressure of making top 8 gone we played some of the best ultimate I’ve seen this year from the skunks, only equalled by our game against Uriel against regionals. I don’t really remember this game but I remember our D was on fire and our offense (after having a few troubles with hucks coming out of the sun at first) converted a lot of our chances and in the end this was a comfortable win.

Game 2 vs. Kings (Skunks won ?-?)
This game was a lot of fun and everyone came into it in good spirits. Everyone’s D was on fire in this game though special mention goes to Chester who had so many layout D’s in this game and Smatt who got a huge layout D to stop a point score. We took this game fairly comfortably against a very good team.

Game 3 vs. Trinity (Skunks won ?-?)

This game was a truly great way to end the weekend. We took a brilliant lead and everyone played their socks off. An absolutely incredible pitch length run from Brendan for the layout score (which unfortunately had a travel called on it) really summed up this game and it was a brilliant way to finish the weekend. They brought it back a little at the end but we were never in danger of losing this one. And so, we came as highly as we could on the second day (9th) and played great. A good end to the open season, and with just mixed outdoors to come I’d like to thank the skunks for making this a great year to be captain.