October 18, 2013 by Sean Childers and Charlie Eisenhood in Preview with 4 comments
Ultiworld is excited to bring you in-depth livestream coverage of a pivotal Round of 16 game between New York PoNY and Chicago Machine at 11:45 CDT.
Machine could be feeling a bit nervous heading into the Friday morning game, as their Thursday pool play results saw them drop two spots, from the #1 seed in pool D, to their eventual finish in the #3 spot. The most important of those games was a 15-13 Machine loss to Chain Lightning, which effectively meant that Machine would be the finishing third in the Pool D “Pool of Death.”
For PoNY, the game is a symbolic culmination of their rise into the top tier of elite Ultimate. Few people around the Division think that the New Yorkers have any real shot to make a Championship or even Finals run. But PoNY’s regular season ability to take good teams down, such as Chain Lightning at Terminus, will give them confidence going into the matchup.
More importantly, they know they have something to play for: A prequarters win against Machine, ranked #2 in the regular season rankings, would be a highpoint for their season and, frankly, PoNY’s history.
Machine is a steady and resilient team – they’ve shown great consistency and a tough mental game throughout 2013. And, because of the upsets in Pool B, Machine and PoNY may see a victory in the morning round as a potential path into the semifinals. The likely quarterfinal opponent for the winner of Machine-PoNY is Seattle Sockeye; interestingly enough, Sockeye is 1-3 on the season against Machine and PoNY. They’ll probably be hoping that neither PoNY nor Machine gets into an offensive groove or picks up defensive energy en route to a win in this key game.
Players to Watch: Jack Marsh, Chris Mazur, Robbie Gillies (PoNY); Bob Liu, Goose Helton (Machine).
Join us prior to the 11:45 AM broadcast for select statistical insights into those key players and other team trends from both teams.
