A strong start for the USA National Team.
June 19, 2016 by Charlie Eisenhood in News, Recap with 0 comments
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ST. ALBANS — The USA National Teams flexed their muscles on day one of the 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championships, finishing 6-0 with an astonishing +78 point differential.1
In the three major divisions — Men’s, Mixed, and Women’s — the teams combined to outscore their opponents 60-5.
Big wins were certainly expected today for the consensus favorites in all three divisions. The US teams are not likely to face a challenging game until power pools or even the bracket.
There was little to glean from today’s contests. The Mixed delegation defeated Slovakia 15-2, overwhelming the team by taking advantage of frequent miscues, often unforced. The USA offensive lines were a bit bumpy at the start of the game, turning the disc over a bit more than they might like, but were very capable of earning the disc back on defense.
Walking around the other Mixed Division fields, it is already quite apparent that the US team is well above the level of every other team here. Canada’s mixed team struggled early with Austria; Japan needed a good second half to put away Singapore. With most other powerhouse countries stacking their single-gender teams (and lacking the depth of the United States’ talent pool), it is clear that the US team should be considered the overwhelming favorite in the division.
The Women’s team was punishing today, blanking South Africa 15-0 in about 45 minutes in the first round of the day and keeping it going against India with a 15-1 win. The team played good defense all day, but it was clear that they were playing against the two bottom seeds in the pool. There was little to learn from watching USA cutters simply run away from defenders to the open side. Speedster Kami Groom was a day one standout, finishing with four goals and an assist.
The Men’s team opened their tournament with a 15-2 win over Mexico. Impressively, Beau Kittredge played in the game and finished with two assists, despite tearing his MCL and damaging his meniscus six weeks ago in an AUDL game. Late roster addition John Stubbs played well in his first game, notching a pair of assists and a goal.
The Men’s and Women’s Masters teams both defeated France, 15-7 and 15-0, respectively.
Tomorrow
– The Men’s team plays Singapore (1:30 PM) in their final pool play game.
– The Women’s team continue pool play against the Netherlands (9:30 AM) and France (1:30 PM).
– The Mixed team finishes pool play with games against Belgium (9:30 AM) and the United Arab Emirates (3:30 PM).
– The Men’s Masters team plays Finland (1:30 PM) in pool play.
– The Women’s Masters team plays New Zealand (11:30 AM) in pool play.
Even the Guts teams went undefeated, finishing 4-0! ↩
