Pike vs PoNY

Woken up at 5am by the thunderstorm, had lucid dreams until 8am. Watched a few highlight videos, showered, had a pear and two slices of bread (all I had in the dorm).

At the fields around 10:20am, throwing around and cleating up, then warming up and getting ready for my first tryout experience. We played three or four scrimmages as X/Y teams, then one Pike vs PoNY scrimmage (lost 9-15). I made a couple poor throwing choices--one, in particular, where I tried to rush a huck after boasting that I have hucks (stupid)--and a few execution errors. Mostly, though, the difficulties I ran into came from not knowing the team very well. I did feel strong as a handler behind a zone, and I definitely made some strong deep cuts (and even caught a few huck goals, one after a good box-out in the big game). I didn't always know what spaces were open, but I cut hard and often got open, after finding open space. I put in a lot of effort when I was on the field, but my tendonities came back by the third scrimmage and limited my playing. I definitely favored offense after my knee started to hurt, but still got in some D points. I think my downfield D was pretty good, and I definitely stayed tight when I was on handlers, but this is one area where I'd like to put some extra focus--playing shut-down defense on club players is a skill that will directly translate to my play with Machine. So I'm learning. I was somewhat hazy on whether I should be taking away the io or oi break at any given time, and thereby let off a few around backhands--but in general kept a low, active mark. I didn't feel 100% but I felt good working hard.

For the next two weeks, it's rest and rehab again--except for the alumni game.