October 18, 2013 by in Analysis, Recap with 0 comments
Pool C was one of the more surprising pools of Thursday, with the surging performance of Molly Brown and disappointing flop delivered by Brute Squad. Scandal came out of the gates slow, but by the end of the day, was humming with efficiency and looking primed for a deep run.
Round 1
Scandal and Molly Brown met up to open the day in the first round, a match up of the top seed in Pool C and the three seed. Molly Brown, however, was not concerned with anything but taking their shots. A 3-1 Denver lead turned into an 8-5 half time lead with a spectacular layout grab toeing the line. Molly was aggressive from the opening pull, playing hard, fast, and attacking when they had the disc. Their pedal to the medal approach caught Scandal on their heels. A late run was required of Scandal, riding the play of Opi Payne and Alicia White to keep them in it.
Payne’s presence was the type of heart and soul performance people remember. Scandal showed 100% trust as Opi motored around the field in the handler lanes, sapping the energy directly from Molly Brown and injecting it into her teammates.
Scandal recovered the lead at 13-12 after some great man defense, following that up with a zone that Molly Brown navigated effectively. However, a Denver hammer failed to convert in the red zone, and Scandal immediately launched a counterattack, quickly scoring to make it 14-12. DC wrapped it up, 15-13.
Meanwhile, Boston Brute Squad was taking on a challenge from Portland Schwa. A tough fight from Schwa combined with some poor execution from Boston to keep it closer than expected, Brute pulled out a 15-12 victory to start their tournament.
Round 2
Molly Brown would go into their game against Brute Squad searching for their first win, but both teams wanted to improve on their round one showings. The game was back and forth, with some big plays from both sides. Nhi Nguyen had a pretty aerial snag to make it 6-5, with Brute responding with a hammer from Amber Sinicrope to help solve their red zone struggles. Defenses began clamping down, but the offenses continued to punch through, and Molly took an 8-7 on serve halftime.
At half time, Molly Brown discussed ramping up the intensity. Captain Lindsey Cross said after the game, “We decided we needed to get hungry on the Ds, be really active on the marks, take away the open side, and our energy got super up at half time.”
The energy was readily apparent, frenzied defenses forcing difficult throws and long points. One after another, however, Molly captured key score after key score. After a hotly contested first half, Molly Brown took complete control in the second half, scoring seven of nine points to win 15-9.
Scandal cleaned up their game in the second round when facing off with Schwa. There would be little drama as DC collected a 15-4 W.
Round 3
The highly anticipated Scandal versus Brute Squad match up took on a different color with Boston’s second round loss. The game looked to be good when Brute broke in the game’s first point, but that was one of the last time’s Boston would hold the momentum in the game. Scandal put on a clinic against an increasingly rattled and mentally checked out Brute Squad team. Red zone miscues, missed connections on deep shots, and trouble fielding pulls plagued Boston while Scandal continually dominated their offensive points. Brute offered little resistance to Scandal on the way to a 15-7 win.
Molly Brown, coming off the high of their impressive start to the Club Championships, pulled out early on Schwa. Then, for a while, Portland settled in and kept from falling too far behind. Unfortunately for Schwa, they’d be unable to maintain that pace and Molly Brown took the second spot in Pool C after winning 15-8.
See more photos from the Club Championships on UltiPhotos.