Windier conditions meant longer points and more time caps today, here's what else went on.
July 22, 2024 by Benjamin Rees in Recap with 0 comments
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2024 World Junior Ultimate Championships is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
Another day of this year’s WJUC is now in the books, and while the conditions were more challenging than yesterday1, having those opening day jitters firmly in the rear-view mirror takes a weight off your shoulders. Which teams were able to kick on after hot starts, and who was able to rewrite the narrative after early disappointment? Here’s how day two shook out.
Mixed Division
The Mixed division wrapped up the initial pools, with the power pool lineups now set. Italy took the top seed in pool A, backing up yesterday’s victory with big wins over the Netherlands and Switzerland, both 15-4. Their zone defense allowed them to dictate the tempo in games, and they were generally clinical in short field situations, isolating matchups really well. The Dutch bounced back from the morning loss to seal second spot with a 15-10 victory over Panama.
Canada emerged at the top of pool B, seeing off Singapore 15-10 before a one-sided 15-3 win over reigning champions Hungary in the afternoon. The Singaporeans did take second by dispatching China 15-4 in the afternoon session, giving themselves a place in an even-looking power pool.
Pool C was the only group to go to chalk; Colombia and Poland both won their morning encounters, against Hong Kong, China and Mexico respectively, to set up a tantalizing tie in the afternoon with top spot on the line. Poland built themselves an 8-6 advantage going into half, but Colombia came out of the interval with an intensity their opponents could not match, closing the game on a 9-2 run to seal a 15-11 triumph with an Angie Quiroga Callahan punctuating the win.
USA were made to work for their 15-8 victory over Austria, who have outplayed their initial seeding so far. France gave themselves a chance at a power pool place if Austria slipped up, beating Latvia 15-6, but the Austrians took care of business against the same opponent with a 15-7 win while the Americans made it three wins from three by beating the French 15-4.
Power Pool E has the winners of pools A and C, Italy and Colombia, taking on the runners-up from pools B and D, Singapore and Austria, in a group where every side will fancy their chances of sealing a bye into the quarter-finals. Power Pool F has the North American heavyweights, Canada and USA, alongside the Netherlands and Poland.
Women’s Division
Pool A seems like it has its power pool finishers set in stone. USA continued to show their strength and depth with a consummate 15-0 performance against Germany in both sides’ only game of the day. With goals and assists well distributed throughout the American stat sheet, opposition sides have an unenviable task in working out how to slow them down. Italy and Great Britain both recorded strong victories over Australia in the group’s other two games, with 15-8 and 15-7 scorelines respectively. USA take both on tomorrow, and with results carrying forward into the power pool how close each team is able to play them could have long-standing ramifications.
Pool B is much more up for grabs. While Singapore and Ireland are essentially out of contention, and France and Canada have their power pool places all but secured, who advances alongside them, and in what order, is still in question. Both Canada and France are undefeated, and they face off at 16:30 BST tomorrow2 in a game that will likely decide the pool winner. New Zealand, however, have the chance to play spoiler to that. France were able to withstand an early New Zealand challenge to win 15-7 this afternoon, but the morning matchup of Canada against the Kāhu3 could yet shake up the order of the top three. Whatever happens, New Zealand face a crucial encounter against Japan after lunch, with the winner keeping their medal hopes alive while the loser has to settle for consolation play.
Open Division
USA and France lead the pack in pool A with unblemished 3-0 records. The Americans swept Singapore aside 15-3 in their only game of the day, while France were very impressive in a pair of victories against potential quarter-finalists. After taking galaxy point for an 8-7 halftime lead on Switzerland, they accelerated away in the second stanza for a comfortable 15-9 victory, before producing a commanding performance from start to finish to wash away Australia 15-6, which capped a disappointing day for the Thunder after they succumbed to Colombia 14-11 in the morning, letting an 8-6 lead at half slip away.
Great Britain and Switzerland had a slobberknocker in the late afternoon sun to finish the day. After an early Swiss break for a 2-0 lead, GB scored four of the next five points to seize the advantage, and a well-judged timeout at 7-6 allowed them to load up a D line to break into half up 8-6. Switzerland would not meekly surrender, and began to chip away and accumulate breaks back to tie it at 11-11. With players leaving their feet at every opportunity, speculative deep shots, and some typical Junior flair, a crowd began to conglomerate around field 6 for the game’s conclusion. With the game tied at 13s, Sam Hill threw his sixth assist of the game to put the Brits in the driving seat, and just like at the end of the first half their coaches took advantage of a remaining timeout to stack the defense, and they slowed the Swiss down with a zone that coaxed a short field turn, with Josh King picking up quickly to deliver a dagger to Ben Dewar for a 15-13 final score. GB, Switzerland, Colombia and Australia are all still alive in the battle for quarter-final places.
Pool B has no shortage of spice either. Canada and Italy are in the driving seat, undefeated through three games, though Japan posed Canada some problems in their 15-8 afternoon matchup, while Belgium really threatened the Italians before going down 13-10. The game of the tournament so far saw New Zealand take on Japan in a hotly anticipated matchup, given their epic encounter at U24s last summer. You’d be hard pushed to find more physically different teams, with New Zealand bringing a team of skyscrapers against Japan’s smaller, zippier athletes, making for a wonderful clash of styles.
The game swung back and forth like a finely-tuned pendulum, with neither side ever able to get more than two points ahead. Japan set up to neutralize the size disparity with a zone defense designed to shut down big shots, with New Zealand able to time their overheads well, but both sides were able to capitalize on any offensive miscues with defenders buzzing through at every opportunity. Jacob Woodward ran the show with eight assists for the Katipō, and was crucial in taking his side to Universe Point at 13-13. New Zealand pulled to Japan and threw a zone of their own, using their length and wingspan to cloud Japan’s throwing lanes and force a patient, lateral game. To their credit, Japan appeared unflustered, trying to hit the swings to create space, but it felt as if a roll of the dice was due, and it was Tatsuki Hirao who took the chance, curving a deep shot to Shoma Ando that grazed the fingertips of the deep defender before Ando was able to clutch the disc gratefully against his face to seal victory in the exhilarating manner the game deserved for Japan’s first win of the week. Both sides still have a shot at the quarter-finals, as do Belgium and Germany.
With more connectivity in results now that we’ve seen every team play multiple games, players and spectators have already started the mental math about potential matchups later in the week and calculated their internal rankings. With Mixed power pools starting tomorrow, Women’s wrapping up their initial pool play, and the quest for the Open quarter-finals continuing, day three promises to be even tastier than today.
Reflected in the increased number of games going to time cap. ↩
Live on Ultiworld. ↩
The New Zealand teams across the age groups and divisions are all named after native animals – the U20 Women are named after the Kāhu, a bird of prey, while the U20 Open are the Katipō, a venomous species of spider. ↩
