Wild, wet and windy - welcome to day two featuring the final round of Swiss and the beginning of the bracket...
June 15, 2024 by Maya Israel and Felix Soedira in Recap with 0 comments
Thunderstorms and lightning kicked off the second day of Windmill, delaying the final round of the Swiss draw and leading to a decision to shorten morning games to 45 minutes and the later bracket games to 60 minutes. Blockbuster matchups were cut short and made even more frantic, and the crowds were ready.
Round 5
In a battle of the top two teams, the Tokay SuperTeam took on an undefeated France Mixed. France took a quick 2-0 lead using a zone to force drops and errors from the SuperTeam, optimizing the windy conditions to trap SuperTeam’s players on the sideline. The French stayed ahead for most of the shortened game and called a tactical timeout to slow the game early on. The SuperTeam, however, was not prepared to lose. As the wind picked up, the French handlers started to struggle breaking the mark and turfed a few discs which the SuperTeam capitalized on quickly. The pickup team punched in two breaks late in the game and held to win on universe, 6-5. Tom Tulett and Anouchka Beaudry quarterbacked the offense for the SuperTeam while Camille Blanc and Eva Bornot were key with Blanc often looking for Bornot deep.
Montréy’all beat The Legends (of Chang Chi) 7-4. The Legends struggled to break through Montrey’all’s zone throughout the game, and with such a short game they didn’t have a half or an extended break to make meaningful adjustments. Montréy’all, has had a wildly successful tournament following their first training, with captains, Nick, Lianne and Benno saying: “We weren’t taking this very seriously, but then we realized we were ranked ninth. We want to make quarters for sure, but we want to stick to our plan of having even game time… we’re not here to bench players, we’re here to have fun.” Montréy’all finished the Swiss draw ranked in eighth to make the quarters – a strong statement at the team’s first ever Windmill.
Quick hits:
- Grut Women ground out a universe win against jinX, 5-4, but there were enough turnovers for the game to go either way.
- USA Open beat Canada Open, 6-3, in a hotly anticipated matchup in front of a considerable crowd. The game was very physical with lots of calls, but that isn’t unexpected from these two sides.
- Germany Mixed took on Great Britain Mixed and won 7-4. Both teams experienced an flustered start with dropped clap catches from a number of tenured players.
Quarters
GB Mixed matched up against the Tokay SuperTeam in the final eight. GB’s offense struggled with poor throws in the wind and had trouble breaking the mark to reset the disc. They did, however, manage to apply some great defensive pressure with their zone which forced turns from the SuperTeam. Becky Thompson had some excellent handler defense on Valeria Cardenas, staying step for step with her and Nikita Kovshov got an emphatic layout block on a Jimmy Mickle under. On the SuperTeam, Angela Zhu’s hucks sat perfectly in the wind and allowed the SuperTeam to keep threatening deep.
On the field next door, Italy Mixed trumped Germany Mixed 11-5. In the strong wind, Italy’s handlers propelled them forwards with short, accurate passes. Whilst Germany didn’t look like they were struggling against their opponents, their offensive looks to big streaking cuts did not favor the blustery conditions. We witnessed some brilliant Ds from Riccardo Venturoli and Sebastian Rossi and some zippy passes from Alberto Girotto in particular.
In the women’s division, 3SB and JetSet Luv were very closely matched and both teams opted to use zone defenses to slow down the flow of their opposition. Jetset switched between a cup zone and FSU to try to confuse the 3SB handlers and while it did cause some turns, both teams had a lot of unforced throwaways. 3SB managed to gather more rhythm towards the final points of the game as their deep shots began to connect and they won 10-7 to close out their quarterfinal.
The rest of the women’s quarters were convincingly won. Grut Women beat FABulous (Bern) handily (15-6), jinX more than doubled Box’s score (11-5), and GB Women defeated East Block 13-4.
Germany Open took on Canada in a windy and gray quarterfinal. Canada took a 2-0 lead after capitalizing on a drop early on and Conrad’s Schlör’s mistimed a jump in the following point. Canada looked confident all game but Germany refused to let them run away with it. Despite Canada managing to maintain a three-point lead for most of the game, Germany put immense pressure on the Canadian handlers and it began to take effect; Germany punched in breaks and just when they had a chance to win and advance to the semis, an unforced drop crushed their chances and Canada popped the score in to win, 9-8. Schlör seemed to be nursing a leg injury but Germany utilized him during crucial points to help with the comeback. On the Canadian’s side, Mark Llyod and Hugh Knapp were standouts as they kept the disc in flow.
Quick hits:
- France Mixed narrowly beat Montréy’all 10-9 in what might have been a great upset, the Canadians coming within a hair of extending a dream Windmill run.
- USA thumped Austria Open, 15-6, in a rematch from the first round of Swiss.
- Mooncatchers took care of business with a 13-7 win over France Open.
Semis
Clapham changed the tune following their quarterfinal game against Mooncatchers and arrived a far cleaner team. Mooncatchers suffered an absurd amount of miscommunications and seemingly could not complete a pass in the turbulent winds. Clapham was not perfect by any means but put some relentless defense and were clinical once they had hold of the disc. As they began to stretch out the lead, the Bullfrogs opted for a slightly more small-ball based offense and the breaks followed. Conrad Wilson continued to be a menace on defense and a huge driver for the D-line offense. Clapham won 11-4progressing to yet another Windmill final tomorrow, against the USA in a rematch that many observers called beforehand.
In the women’s division, both semis were won decisively. JinX dominated GB from the outset with a slick, quick offense. The Germans found it easy to capitalize on a number of GB skyballs and drops, putting in clinical scores off the back of the turns. The outcome was a 13-4 win for jinX, a surprising margin of victory against a team generally expected to really push for the final here. During this semi1, Levke Walczak switched out her SuperTeam top for a jinX white, gladly supporting her teammates’ quest to the final.
In the mixed division, Italy took on Tokay Superteam in a tight semi-final. After losing to the SuperTeam yesterday, the Italians were gunning for revenge. This game had everything; Rossi sky blocked a hammer thrown by Cardenas to stop the SuperTeam’s second score, Cardenas scored with a huge layout off a throw from Joe White and Andrea Pagano and Jimmy Mickle took time off the pitch to express their adoration of each other. The SuperTeam broke away a number of times throughout the game, but Italy relentlessly clawed back every time. In the end, Italy couldn’t quite keep up and the game finished 9-7.
On the other side of the semis bracket, France rematched against XIST, and rolled the Americans in the second half to win 9-4. France’s defense won the game. When XIST’s offense became even remotely static, France locked down immediately and stifled every option. Nasser Mbae Vogel controlled France’s endzone set and Eva Bornot continued to showcase her athletic talents with her speed and layouts, contributing to several of France’s scores. XIST ran its offense through Callahan award winner Jolie Krebs, who continued to shred through defenses. Every blade, break or huck is meticulously consistent and when her players were looking for a reset, they were looking only for her. She couldn’t save XIST, though and with Ella Jeungst out for the game, she was also missing one of her favorite downfield targets. The SuperTeam will try to repeat its win from earlier today against the French in the final, while XIST will play Italy for bronze. Walczak, meanwhile, becomes only the second player to qualify for two finals at the same Windmill with her teams jinX and the SuperTeam progressing to the showcase games.
Champagne moments:
Felix: France Mixed taking Tokay SuperTeam to universe bodes well for their hopes at WUC in September. The whole game was fantastic and the French look to be in great form.
Maya: Alice Hanton’s layout in the GB Mixed v Tokay SuperTeam game was incredible. The disc was called back on a travel, but it didn’t take away from the immense effort from Hanton.
And in other games throughout the tournament. ↩
