The All-Stars brought their A game to Brooklyn.
August 12, 2015 by Guest Author in News with 0 comments
This recap was written by Mike Ogren.
The lights of the Verrazano Bridge provided a beautiful backdrop for the ladies of New York Bent to host the All-Star Tour on Monday night. Comfortable temperatures and a moderate upwind-downwind breeze greeted the players as they stepped onto the field before the All Stars blew past Bent easily, 15-3.
Bent received the pull going downwind to open the game. They had a chance to get on the board first but a shot to the endzone sailed over the head of the intended receiver. Hannah Leathers eventually scored the first assist of the game after recording two blocks in a turnover-heavy first point. Bent answered back with an upwind hold to tie the game at 1-1 after Lauren Doyle found Alexi Zalk in the end zone.
After a third upwind score for a 2-1 All-Stars lead, Margot “Radar” Stert intercepted the Bent centering pass that floated over the head of the center handler. Stevie Miller found Rebecca Brereton for a second break and a 3-1 lead.
The All-Stars then rolled the upwind pull out the side to show off a cup zone. They pressured Bent into a drop near midfield and patiently worked the disc upwind for a 4-1 lead. The same cup look on the ensuing downwind point yielded another turnover. Carolyn Normile opened things up with a smooth high-release flick to get the disc into the red zone before Leathers found Steph Lim in the end zone for a 5-1 lead.
Bent answered back with another assist from Doyle to reach 5-2, but that would be their last score before halftime. Bent generated a few turns by rolling out a zone of their own on the next point, but Lisa Pitcaithley eventually found Haley Wahlroos with a well-placed flick blade to the goal-line. Wahlroos wanted an easy flip to Megan Cousins in the end zone but Cousins looked to clear as the disc left Wahlroos’ hand. An aware Kate Scarth made a big layout grab to clean up the potentially errant throw and a four point lead was on the board. The All-Stars cruised into half 8-2 with the help of some Bent drops and miscommunications.
Bent tried their zone again out of half but a quick one-possession hold for the All-Stars made it 9-2. Bent clearly made field position a priority in their halftime huddle and came out looking to shoot on the next point. Katherine Cole found Allison Kahn for Kahn’s second of Bent’s three scores after a long point.
The All-Stars closed the game on a 6-0 run to win 15-3. They put the game away methodically, with a sweet Jesse Shofner layout score on the penultimate point providing the most excitement of the second half.
Takeaways
– Despite a few flashy layouts and some impressive throws, the All-Stars won this game by virtue of their outstanding fundamentals. Bent was undone by unforced errors in the form of drops, turfs, and throws popping up in the wind. The All-Stars showed tremendous poise for a college-aged squad and made Bent work for most of their blocks. Even the best base their skills on outstanding fundamentals, kids.
– The All-Star team was able to lock in early and put this game away before halftime. From the time the score was 2-1 to the time it was 5-1, the All-Stars didn’t turn the disc over once.
– The ladies of the Tour were selfless when it came to the stat sheet. The amount of talent on the roster makes that pretty easy, but the entire roster registered either a goal or an assist vs. Bent.
– The quality of the livestream has gotten better and better. Good visuals that weren’t present early in the tour looked nice and greatly enhanced the viewing experience (I’m mostly appreciative of the scoreboard). The commentary team was very good. Topher Davis was solid as usual and the local addition, Becca Tucker, contributed positively to the broadcast as well. The two teamed up to provide some NYNY knowledge and a Kenny Dobyns name-drop. Tucker also provided the understatement of the day after Lisa Pitcaithley chased down a huck from Alika Johnston. On Lisa P: “She looks hard to guard.”
