This time, I got a proper breakfast: egg and turkey sausage on a bagel with a Vitamin Water. Showed up at the field with plenty of time, watched a couple points of Pike vs Roots, and meandered over to field 6 to warm up. One lap, stretching, dynamics, and a go-to drill. Our first game was against UPenn White, and our offense was really clicking here. Few mishaps, few memories of the game, we played pretty well and won 12-5. I do remember getting a lot of contact from one defender, who used his arms to block my path. I fought through it each time, scored the point, and said "yo, by the way..." and he replied "yeah, I know, I fouled you." Nice.
Next up was Columbia HS. I really wanted to approach this game as we would any other game against any team, but I feel that both sides were more intense because of the familiarity with each other. I certainly got up for this game. We pulled to start, and I watched from the sideline as their pull play scored without even sweating--somebody put up a huge loopy backhand, and somebody else didn't cover his man deep. I put myself in the second point, and we came right back at them. I am fairly certain that I forehand hucked for a goal after only a couple throws here. Basically, the game was point for point--we went up a break or two, but let them back in each time. Most points were scored within 5 passes during the first half, and I remember throwing a bunch of completed hucks--all forehands, all flat, most of them "nice" (except for the one that was to Jay, not quite open, it floated just a bit, but he went up strong with two hands and pulled it down in the endzone). It felt great to complete those hucks, and in general I was moving the disc very well. I threw to an open Thales, and he seemed to slow down and get D'd, but other than that (and another drop that wasn't my fault) I think I was close to turnover-free.
During the game I had another successful offensive layout, saving possession on an upline dump cut while covered by Zander, and this time I caught it without question. I also cut the shit up out of my knees in the process, because the field was turning dry and I was still a little scabby from my pavement-layout two weeks ago. I was bleeding a nice bit by the time we scored and I walked off the field. Later, I missed another offensive layout opportunity--Paul threw to me in the endzone, it was low and barely catchable with my left hand, so no dice. But we got it back and I caught the goal later that point anyway, so no problem. The few points I played defense (the captain kept me fresh for O), I mostly matched up with Declan, once with BWalt. I did alright, nothing too spectacular (I may have gotten a D or two during the game, but not on them). On offense, Zander stuck it to me, and played the tightest dump-defense on me of anybody all weekend. Lots of contact, very physical, and I felt pretty pressured when close to the disc. So I started cutting, and got much more separatation at that point. I did get pissed when Zander fouled me on the mark, then contested it--then talked smack about lifting more weights than I, so clearly he was just much faster. Interesting, I thought. It was all good, though--lots of respect for the kid, and I loved the intensity even if I thought it was the wrong call.
So we traded, and the game ended on serve. We lost 9-10 or 10-11, some kind of universe point. I was upset that we pulled, got the turn, then threw it away and let them score for the game--especially because I wasn't on the field for that last point. It was a great game, though, as intense as I remember it being between WHRHS and CHS in '06 states. They'll go far this year, and I hope we do too.
That gave us the rematch against Shippensburg. It felt great to avenge the loss, and we pulled off a solid 9-5 victory. We had pretty good intensity for this game, but some players weren't getting in the game after the battle against Columbia. There was one dude with platinum-blonde hair that had crazy change-of-direction, and I found it tough to cover him. Nobody really could shut me down, though, and I did my thing on offense. Their marks were not very good, so I made ample use of my IO's. Not much else to recall. We won 12th place after the next team (Bucknell?) forfeited. High hopes for the season, but some trepidation for the home tournament--getting playing time to all these new guys will be a challenge.
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