Editor: Hazard (he/him)
We have a lot of updates this time, but below the National League stuff we have the Cup draw and a Challenge League game report (SCRAM vs LLLeeds)! We wont be seeking out these Challenge League games, but if someone sends us a paragraph from an interesting game we'll do our best to include it.
The Women's Cup is still around the corner, but the National League is already reaching it's peak. We've finally seen some games from every team in the league, and the competition is looking spicy. The story of this weekend definitely belonged to SMOG though, so I'll give them a little space to summarise their weekend:
Rachel Turton (SMOG): SMOG women had a brilliant start to the 2021 season beating Iceni, Bristol and SCRAM in our first outing of the year. We’re really happy to see UK Women's ultimate thriving, and we’re grateful for these hard fought games and tough match-ups before we go into our first mixed games of the year! Our women played fantastically and we’re incredibly proud of the depth that we have developed across our whole team. We’re excited to go back to Mixed and boss our men around this season!
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Other Coverage
The ShowGame are doing weekly podcasts every Friday covering all the action
Hogi filmed some games this weekend. You can see his watchalong on Twitch, or watch the game footage on YouTube
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Structure
The overall championship is the UK National Series. Within it, teams compete for 8 spots at the National Championships. An easy to read graphic is included below.
We have 6 National League teams (Bristol, Iceni, Red, SCRAM, SMOG, SYC). They will play in a mini-league for 3 spots at the National Championships.
We also have the National Cup, with 8 teams fighting for 2 spots at the National Championships. These spots go to the finalists of the cup.
The remaining 3 National League teams, the two Cup semi-finalists, and one intrepid qualify-the-hard-way Cup quarter finalist will enter the National Playoffs, seeking to be among the final 3 spots at the National Championships.
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| Taken from UKU's guide to 2020/21 Ultimate |
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National League
SMOG 13 - 12 ICENI
Location: Birmingham
Rachel Turton (SMOG): After such a long time off, we were very excited to play Iceni in our season opening game, and in the first half we traded breaks and holds until Iceni went on a bit of a run. SMOG came back firing with 3 points in a row to take half 8-7 with the whole team putting in the work.
Iceni used their overheads from Hannah Brew and Katie Flight to hit the break side really well after we worked hard to shut down open under cuts, but with a well-fought second half layout D in the endzone by Kim Marsh setting the tone, we were led us to an eventual sudden death victory!
Kathryn Elsby (Iceni): As of Friday evening, Iceni were 3 handlers down because of self-isolation notifications – gutted doesn’t cover it. We went into the weekend slightly handler-light but determined to bring focus and effort to the games in order to deliver results.
Our first game up was Iceni vs SMOG. Both teams started off fairly evenly and traded points for the first third of the game. Iceni went a break up and were able to take a 7-5 lead thanks to some chilly offense, slick handler movement and solid defensive pressure. Shoutout to Ellie Taylor for consistently roasting her defenders and Karen Kwok for some visionary endzone shots. SMOG held and then broke twice to take half. In the second half, Iceni took some time to refocus on endzone plays and switched up the defense to try and slow down SMOG’s Rachel Naden and Tessa Hunt. SMOG broke with a big layout score from Eri Leung to go up 10-11. Bids and layouts came thick and fast - the game seemed to turn on a few huge plays. Iceni got a break back and led 12-11, but we eventually got to universe point where SMOG got a break for the 13-12 win. The game was super exciting and the level of athleticism on display very impressive – well done SMOG!
SMOG 15 - 12 Bristol
Location: Birmingham
Rachel Turton (SMOG): Bristol had looked like the team to beat so far this season, and their defence did a great job to prevent our first looks and force us into lots of small passes involving every player on the field. SMOG win the first half 8-7 and with trust in our team, clutch plays from Eri Leung, and Rachel Naden taking names; we rallied with a 4 point D roll that Bristol couldn’t quite come back from to take the win 15-12.
Carla Link (Bristol): Both teams played a very clean first half with minimal unforced errors. Smog pulled away winning 2 breaks just before we paused for half. Bristol found it had to mark deep of SMOG and a stand out player was Rachel Naden who caught everything that she went up for.
Rachel Turton (SMOG): Bristol had looked like the team to beat so far this season, and their defence did a great job to prevent our first looks and force us into lots of small passes involving every player on the field. SMOG win the first half 8-7 and with trust in our team, clutch plays from Eri Leung, and Rachel Naden taking names; we rallied with a 4 point D roll that Bristol couldn’t quite come back from to take the win 15-12.
Carla Link (Bristol): Both teams played a very clean first half with minimal unforced errors. Smog pulled away winning 2 breaks just before we paused for half. Bristol found it had to mark deep of SMOG and a stand out player was Rachel Naden who caught everything that she went up for.
Iceni 14 - 13 Bristol
Location: Birmingham
Kathryn Elsby (Iceni): Game 2 for us was Iceni vs Bristol. What. A. Match. At the start of the game our offence was on fire. Bristol tried a few different things but we were able to keep the flow going and take advantage of creating big spaces on the open side. Defensively, we were putting pressure on Bristol's handler movement and making it very tough to move the disc with our hybrid D. Iceni took half 8-3 and continued that run to 10-3, making it a 6 consecutive point run overall. I was having a lovely time.
Bristol took a timeout which signalled a turning point in the game, following which they switched up their D, putting out a zone. This slowed us down sufficiently, pressuring catches and capitalising on mistakes. Bristol then switched it up a few times with match and zone but kept Iceni uncomfortable, while also going on a red hot offensive run of their own - every time Iceni turned it over Bristol took advantage. The score went from 12-6 to 12-12, and suddenly I wasn’t having a lovely time any more.
Iceni took a time out where we regrouped and fought to maintain mental focus through a metaphor of taking one’s head out of one’s arse. It worked. The game went to sudden death where Iceni managed to overcome two high stall situations and score with Ellie Taylor backing up a drop in the endzone for the 14-13 win. It was an admirable masterclass in mental resilience from the Bristol side – overall a very enjoyable game with great spirit all round.
Carla Link (Bristol): Iceni played a quick game and it was clear they were a very well drilled team. We traded for the first 6 points before Bristol made it extremely hard for ourselves. Iceni capitalised on every throwing error we made and had a very strong long game. Bristol showed exactly what it means to play for this team and made an incredible come back. Regardless of the loss we came away happy with our performance and can't wait for the rematch!
Kathryn Elsby (Iceni): Game 2 for us was Iceni vs Bristol. What. A. Match. At the start of the game our offence was on fire. Bristol tried a few different things but we were able to keep the flow going and take advantage of creating big spaces on the open side. Defensively, we were putting pressure on Bristol's handler movement and making it very tough to move the disc with our hybrid D. Iceni took half 8-3 and continued that run to 10-3, making it a 6 consecutive point run overall. I was having a lovely time.
Bristol took a timeout which signalled a turning point in the game, following which they switched up their D, putting out a zone. This slowed us down sufficiently, pressuring catches and capitalising on mistakes. Bristol then switched it up a few times with match and zone but kept Iceni uncomfortable, while also going on a red hot offensive run of their own - every time Iceni turned it over Bristol took advantage. The score went from 12-6 to 12-12, and suddenly I wasn’t having a lovely time any more.
Iceni took a time out where we regrouped and fought to maintain mental focus through a metaphor of taking one’s head out of one’s arse. It worked. The game went to sudden death where Iceni managed to overcome two high stall situations and score with Ellie Taylor backing up a drop in the endzone for the 14-13 win. It was an admirable masterclass in mental resilience from the Bristol side – overall a very enjoyable game with great spirit all round.
Carla Link (Bristol): Iceni played a quick game and it was clear they were a very well drilled team. We traded for the first 6 points before Bristol made it extremely hard for ourselves. Iceni capitalised on every throwing error we made and had a very strong long game. Bristol showed exactly what it means to play for this team and made an incredible come back. Regardless of the loss we came away happy with our performance and can't wait for the rematch!
SYC 15 - 3 SCRAM
Location: York
Rhona Gordon (SCRAM, she/her): We were welcomed back to competitive ultimate with a downpour of rain and some very slick SYC offense. We tried to slow them down a bit with the occasional zone but SYC obviously have some key players that are very comfortable on disc that made it look very easy. Despite a fiery start for us on offense, some first game nerves combined with slippy discs made it difficult for us to connect the way we had hoped throughout the game. Looking forward to hopefully playing SYC again later this season when we’re a bit more practised with this new(ish) squad, where we’ll be aiming to give them a closer game!
Rupal Ghelani (SYC): The rain was torrential you can't ignore how wet it was. SYC got to the venue pretty early thanks to a cancelled game. This meant we were able to get a lot of reps in and get used to the weather beforehand, which was a lucky coincidence!
SCRAM went 2-0 up and we definitely had to regroup! Their zone made us think and work really hard to gain yards, and we always felt the pressure of their match D. Given it was SCRAM's first game there is so much potential there. They have some fantastic new handlers coming through who are very quick and excellent athletic receivers. Unfortunately on the day the connections between the two didn't always come off, BUT I am fully confident they will come the playoff/nationals because you can see the passion SCRAM have on pitch!
We are lucky to have already played a few games, had SCRAM have had a few more games under their belt the result could have been very different. After the first 2 results from our national league games we have really worked hard at training to work on our mentality and grit which showed on the weekend. Looking forward to seeing how much more we can build and grow as a team for the rest of the season! Special mention to Kirsten Wells and Dianne Lopez who both had great games.
SCRAM have had it rough with COVID so it was their first game. But I truly believe they will be stronger come playoff/nationals. Hopefully they are able to get some more game time under their belt even against mixed or open teams. They have some really talented players coming through - especially some very good cutters - so very excited to see what they do when it comes to later on in the season! Couple of shout outs for SCRAM to for Aina Shahira and Yu Wei Chua. Both handlers who were very quick at moving the disc and generating flow from behind the disc. Yu Wei had some nice quick release break shots and Aina also got some great blocks for SCRAM!
SMOG 15 - 3 SCRAM
Location: Leeds
Rhona Gordon (SCRAM, she/her): Knowing the results from SMOG’s games on Saturday (vs Iceni and Bristol), we were keen to just go out and have some fun. We felt like we’d shaken off the first game nerves and wanted to build confidence in our connections. SMOG are clearly a team that are well drilled and their offense is incredibly smooth. We were happy with the defensive pressure that we were able to put on them, and the turns we were able to generate. All in all a great game and congratulations to SMOG on the win.
Rachel Turton (SMOG): After a tough first game SCRAM came out excited to show us the talent that Scotland has been cultivating and we threw a lot of different defences against them to prevent their first options. Their athleticism and talent shone through on D, creating run throughs, layout Ds and point-saving grabs, special mentions to Alex Hiley and Katie Trim. SCRAM will be a force to be reckoned with one they’ve had more time to play together and I can’t wait to watch it unfold.
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National Cup
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Challenge League
SCRAM 13 - 7 LLLeeds
Location: Leeds
Think that Women's table is missing the RED result: they forfeited their games, giving 15-0 wins to both SYC and SCRAM, meaning bottom three looks like:
ReplyDeleteSYC, played 4, won 2, lost 2, +10 GD
SCRAM, played 3, won 1, lost 2, -9 GD
RED, played 4, won 0, lost 4, -55 GD