The Recap: Mixed Playoffs

Editor: Hazard (he/him)

Distinguished readers, we've done it. We've finally reached the end of Mixed qualification. The Cup, the League, and now the Playoffs are all completed. Very well done to Cambridge, Oxford, SMOG 2, and Deep Space for joining Reading, SMOG 1, Lemmings and Thundering Herd at the National Championships.

Also, an additional well done to Lemmings for winning the National Cup! They beat Thundering Herd in the final to see themselves atop a pyramid of 17 teams that started facing off almost two months ago.

So, for the time before Nationals, here is the lowdown on all things Mixed.

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Other Coverage

The ShowGame are doing weekly podcasts every Friday/Saturday covering all the action

Hogi filmed some games this weekend. You can see his watchalong on Twitch, or watch the game footage on YouTube

Ulti.tv are trying to gather support to produce high quality footage at Nationals and other UK tournaments (released for free to the public). You can support them and find out more on Patreon

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Structure

The overall championship is the UK National Series. Within it, teams compete for 8 spots at the National Championships. 

6 National League teams played in a mini-league, with Reading (1st place) and SMOG 1 (2nd place) taking Nationals spots. Mighty Hucks (3rd place) declined their spot.

From 17 teams in the National Cup, Thundering Herd (cup finalist) and Lemmings (cup winner) claimed two more spots to Nationals.

The remaining 4 spots were claimed at the National Playoffs by Deep Space (league 4th place), SMOG 2 (cup 3rd place), Oxford (cup 4th place), and Cambridge (cup QF recovery winners). 

The Mixed Playoff bracket. A "W-L" result indicates a team forfeited.

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National Cup Final

Lemmings 11 - 4  Thundering Herd

Location: Milton Keynes

Nathan Sanders (Lemmings): We were very grateful that Herd had managed to find and book a gem of a venue in Milton Keynes. The game had a very strange start with neither team being able to control the elements and after what seemed like forever, Lemmings took the first point. The next two points weren’t much better, and after 25 minutes of playing some of the worse Ultimate you’d ever seen, the game was sitting at 2-1. 

The conditions calmed down as the game moved on but it seemed that both teams were slow to adapt to this; the strong winds and forecast of a thunderstorm was definitely still on everyone’s minds. Some unfortunate drops in and around the endzone from Herd saw Lemmings take a healthy lead at half time. Andy Partridge gave a fantastic first half performance from in his first game back from injury, before a bad collision meant he was back on the sideline for the home stretch. With most of the time gone we were able to close out a heated game with a comfortable hold against a Herd zone. 

We finished with a quick team photo before a sharpish departure to try and catch the end of the Lemmings Open vs EMO game. [SPOILERS] - it was a doozy!

Chung Leung (Thundering Herd): Both teams struggled to find their offensive rhythm early on in the game. Lemmings started picking up more of their offensive points and converting their turns with some expansive looks. Great play especially from their women who were incredibly consistent. Herd got into our own heads a little bit and didn't play our game until the second half by which point Lemmings were comfortably clear. Well done to Leamington on being Cup Winners. Thoroughly deserved. Rematch at Nats

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National Playoffs

SMOG 2  15 - 5  Oxford

Location: Manchester

Heather Williams (SMOG 2): The weather created some mildly challenging conditions due to some on-and-off rain and the occasional unexpected gust (Welcome to Manchester!), but thankfully the worst of it held off and cleared up early on in the game. Both teams were a little shaky at the beginning, which may have been down to a bit of nerves and Oxford not having as much time to warm up and settle on arrival thanks to some traffic disruption. The teams traded until fives, with Oxford taking an early lead before something seemed to click with SMOG 2, and we found our flow to take half. 

Oxford decided to mix up their defence and brought out a zone and some well-placed poaches to stifle some of SMOG 2’s flow, whereas SMOG 2 opted for hard match to generate turns, with a notable mention to Ed Simpson for a spectacular layout D. Both squads struggled to reach players at times by overthrowing some otherwise excellent deep cuts. However, SMOG 2 managed to connect a bit more often to take the game 15-5. 

Despite the score line, it was a much closer game than it reflects and Oxford’s unrelenting intensity and graft meant that SMOG 2 couldn’t afford to take their foot off the pedal. It was a fun and well-spirited game, and we hope that both teams have more like it at Nationals!

Harry Mason (Oxford, he/him): Oxford came out hard for this SMOG 2 game, or as hard as you can with a dramatically reduced warm-up due to traffic on the M6 (thank you SMOG 2 for agreeing to the 15 minute delay). Some bad weather cleared up just as the game started, but it was clear both teams were still shaking off a few rain drops.

SMOG 2 took an early couple of points, but Oxford fought back to take the lead themselves. From there it traded a little, with Oxford up 5-4. Then, SMOG 2 won 15-5.

There were a few drops from both sides, but it was clear SMOG 2's endzone play was a lot more clinical - Oxford spent a lot of energy working up to the end but not quite converting. Turns were still happening throughout the game, but Oxford weren't able to capitalise - perhaps with one eye on saving energy for the game ahead. 

SMOG 2's women were as athletic as you might expect, and Harry Glasspool had some excellent heads up defence throughout the game. Very well played, and good luck at Nationals!

Oxford  15 - 12  Glasgow

Location: Manchester

Harry Mason (Oxford, he/him): Fresh off the loss against Glasgow and facing the prospect of losing three "game-to-go"s in a row, Oxford quickly went down again in what would turn out to be a very fiercely fought game. The first half featured a lot of lead-changes with both teams utilising a variety of throw lengths, making defence have to play more honest. Well, in theory, but a lot of poach-D still happened from both sides. Oxford rallied to break for half 8-6, in what would turn out to be a crucial point.

The second half featured a lot of two-point runs, as 10-6, 10-8, 12-8, and 12-10 all showed the teams gathering energy for a break and then not able to convert the subsequent offence. The rain had started to drizzle in the lovely way northern rain does, and this did seem to put a dampener on Glasgow a little more than Oxford. Oxford ended up pulling away slightly to make a final score of 15-12.

Full credit to Glasgow for an amazing game! Audrey Melançon-Fournier had some amazing grabs to save dying discs for Glasgow, and Ben Cornelius bested me personally with a cut deep on at least one occasion. For Oxford, I'm going to shout out my first half performance and how I did on that first half only. Phili Kent came in with some amazing grabs as she always does, and Luka Nedic integrated quickly to become part of our team backbone.

Ben Cornelius (Glasgow): Glasgow and Oxford both came out fighting hard with us both trading for the first couple of points. Oxford put up a zone which slowed our offence down but we still managed to be calm and collected and work our way through it. 

After a few unfortunate turns on our behalf, Oxford took half 8-6. Oxford had a plan and that plan was to shoot it deep, which they did very well, particularly to Harry Mason. A plan which I was a personal victim of... 

The score was pulling away in Oxford's favour and Glasgow created some momentum towards the end, getting some breaks but sadly not enough to close out the game with Oxford taking the win at 15-12. Congrats to Oxford for the win! 

Thank you to everyone we played against in the League. It was an interesting change in format this season and it will be exciting to come fighting next year! Good luck at Nationals. No Scotland. No party (specifically mixed).

Cambridge  15 - 8  Birmingham

Location: Tipton

Elva Preston (Birmingham): Birmingham started slow and with a lack of intent on defence which set the tone for the start of the game. This allowed Cambridge to get some points on the board with some great endzone shots, taking the score at 6-1 before Birmingham woke up. Once they got going, Birmingham started to look like themselves again with some patient offense working through the Cambridge zone and intense defence, with the score at half 8-5 to Cambridge.

In the second half, both teams struggled in the wet and windy conditions and plenty of turns were generated on both sides. However, Cambridge were able to bring the disc down more often with some sick layout grabs to retain possession. Final score was 15-8 to Cambridge with a well deserved win to take them to nationals.

Hannah Smith (Cambridge): I’d echo everything that Elva has said above - it was a close game between two evenly matched teams. We realised early on in the game that Birmingham had great handler movement and so used our zone to try to counter this. Whilst Cambridge were able to get some points on the board early on, Birmingham gained some momentum just before half, working their way through our zone with confidence. This lead to a couple of modifications in our zone which worked well for us in the second half. 

There were impressive bids on either side (shoutouts to Hannah Boddy from Cambridge and one of the Birmingham women for an amazing possession saving grab- sorry I don’t know your name!). There were a few calls on either side which were communicated well and resolved without much issue. Many thanks to Birmingham for hosting us for the game!

Due to Leeds forfeiting both games, Deep Space qualified automatically.