A rematch of the best game of the tournament, a power pool comeback win for the US. Could they do it again?
July 31, 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.
Going into the tournament, many saw Women’s as the most likely division to prevent a USA sweep. The US roster wasformidable, including four returners from the gold medal squad at JJUC in Poland two years ago. It’s just that standing in their way was a France team that was beaten in that final, swept to victory at last year’s EYUC, and seems to have only got better since then. The thrilling comeback the USA pulled off in the power pool matchup, coming from 10-4 down to win 14-131 in what was arguably the game of the tournament, proved how closely matched the two opponents are, and going into the game there was a real sense that the gold medal was tantalizingly within reach for both teams. There could be no better way to bring WJUC to its conclusion.
In the first meeting between the teams this week, France raced into an early 4-1 lead, and while the USA eventually clawed things back they could scarcely afford to let the French get off to a hot start once again. Zone defense had been one of the dominant discussion points of the tournament, and France opted to employ it to stifle scripted plays and to dictate the pace of the opposition offense. It worked like a charm, generating a short-field turn, and their stars aligned as Camille Blanc slung a flick for Zoë Forget to score a break on the opening point of the game, just as they had a couple of days prior.
Things went from bad to worse as France’s system continued to coerce errors from their opponent, and Fantine Monnerat sent up a high-stall blade to Forget for 2-0, before Forget turned provider as she hooked up with Erell Perez to extended the lead to three, forcing the USA into a timeout to run some differential diagnostics.
It seemed the ability to take stock and regroup had done the trick. A gradual progression of the disc down the pitch on the next point put the USA on the board, backed up by the D line, chomping at the bit to get their first action of the game, generating a turn with a zone of their own, converting on a ZsaZsa Gelfand deep shot to Breesen Hoehne to reduce the deficit to just one, and make it clear the game was very much still all to play for – not that anyone was in any doubt.
France responded well, looking solid with a clean hold of their own, and earning the break back at the first possible opportunity, Camelia Chabaud catching the USA flat-footed to steal in front for a block which Monnerat would finish by squeezing a hammer into the hands of Lalie Maillard.
France continued to maintain their three break advantage, as the US began to look more comfortable against the zone without ever truly dissecting it, their next two holds taking 18, then 39 passes. With the score at 7-4 to France, there came a point which typified the rhythm of the game. Although the Americans did score to make it 7-5, the more drawn-out style they were forced into robbed them of dynamism, as the US threw 116 passes total across their three possessions of the point.
Clearly the USA felt that the time was now right to turn France’s own strategy against them, as they looked to pilfer some breaks before the half. Coming down in a zone of their own, they challenged the French to a taste of their own medicine, slowing the tempo and questioning their opponent’s patience and discipline as the pass count continued to tick up. To their credit, the French O line took in their stride, with the ever-impressive Swann Lacoste Lefèvre popping the 76th pass to Lisa Lechanoine for the 8-5 halftime lead.
After a hastily organized impromptu mascot race2, where perhaps ominously for hopes of a USA gold medal sweep Le Coq Sportif triumphed over an American Eagle, the French began the second half on offense with the opportunity to further extend their advantage, an opportunity they gleefully took at the second attempt after Erell Perez intercepted with the US in the redzone, threw to Lacoste Lefèvre, and charged off deep with her teammate measuring her backhand huck to absolute perfection to give Perez the double happiness on the coast-to-coast goal.
It was around this point in the power pool game where the USA had roared back with a six-point run to draw level going into the game’s final third, and after a clean hold, followed by a break, it seemed as though they were poised for another remarkable comeback, especially when they had the disc to make the score 8-9 after Caroleen DeWolf produced a layout block on her endzone line when France had seemed destined to score. A floated swing gave possession back, however, and Lacoste Lefèvre gunned a backhand break to Lucie Caron to ensure that France could arrest American momentum. 10-7 soon became 11-7, France avoiding the curse of the dreaded ‘turnout’ as they broke again, without crossing players over to boot, that put them four goals ahead and only requiring four more to win gold.
With a sizable cushion, France could afford to manage minutes for some of their big stars, something that may have been their undoing in the previous meeting of the two sides as key players ran out of steam towards the end of the game. It was an adjustment they put into place early, with Forget and Blanc operating mostly on D with Lacoste Lefèvre, Margot Nissen, and Carolina Mabekondiasson predominantly playing on the O line. Lacoste Lefèvre and Forget were the players who played both ways most frequently, and even then they were still rested and given breaks to allow them some recovery time.
The two sides exchanged clean holds up to 13-9, with hopes of a USA comeback fast fading as France had the finish line in sight. It was going to have to be now or never if they were to break French hearts again, and they could not afford to concede a break themselves that would have put the outcome of the game almost beyond doubt. Their worst fears would be realized when Chloe Hakimi’s inside endzone shot flew past the bidding body of Violet Yap, giving France the break chance if they could work the full length of the central zone. Lacoste Lefèvre chose to utilize France’s second timeout upon bringing the disc into play, recognizing the magnitude of the situation. As they had earlier in the half, the French looked composed on the resumption of play, advancing smoothly downfield to the precipice of the endzone, where Forget found Lechanoine, whose diving snag confirmed the break and gave France game point.
It meant that the USA would need six on the spin to win. Improbable? Of course, given how good the French had been not just in the game but all week long. Impossible? Of course not, with the USA roster full of quality and having already scored six in a row against France just a couple of days ago. The stakes were, however, significantly higher second time around. They completed the first part of the bargain, producing a clean offensive hold to get their D line on the field with two of their returners linking up, Rachel Chang finding Grace Maroon. All they had to do now was to get five breaks.
France received knowing they would have five chances to claim the huge upset and win gold. The first looked like it would be enough, as they advanced unfazed into the redzone, but Lacoste Lefèvre slipped up for the first time all game as she was unable to secure a high Forget forehand, giving the USA a welcome lifeline. Rachel Chang tried to make the most of it by opening up the offense with a forehand huck intended for Madoka Uo, who couldn’t make the catch but received heavy contact from Lacoste Lefèvre striving to get the block. After a discussion and Simone Pierotti looking at external footage, Uo spiritedly retracted her foul call to give the disc back to the French. It was to be the game’s final turn. Romane Delaire rolled the dice from midfield on a huck to Forget, who answered with aplomb, reaching high the grab the gold medal and come down with a 15-10 victory.
If you’d told me before the game that Mabekondiasson, Blanc, and Nissen would have one goal and three assists between them and a total plus/minus of zero, I would have been sure that it meant that the USA had run out comfortable winners. Where France succeeded was in getting important contributions and big production from right the way down the roster, allowing their big names to stay fresher, and arguably their two brightest stars flourished as a result. Zoë Forget finished with three goals, two assists, one block and just one turn, while Swann Lacoste Lefèvre’s statline was scarcely believable in a performance for the ages, finishing with two goals, five assists, and a block for good measure.
As always happens whenever the USA miss out on a gold medal, questions will invariably asked back across the Atlantic from Birmingham about precisely where things went awry. Deep looks will be taken about whether the team had enough training time to build chemistry3, how each player’s workload was managed during each game and over the week as a whole, and if the coaching staff could have developed a more effective game plan. Some, or all, of that may be true. What should not be looked over is precisely how talented this France team is, and sometimes, you come up against an opponent who is simply better than you on the day, and there should be absolutely no shame in that. Silver is not the medal the USA came for, but I hope that when the dust has settled the players involved can look back fondly on a week where they gave it everything, and made new friends on and off the field.
For France, after coming so close at JJUC, winning gold delivers on all the promise an extremely talented generation of players are capable of achieving. With many on this roster already playing at an elite level in both the club and international game, the sky is the limit for many of the players who have captured the championship this week. With consecutive finals in both the Women’s and Open divisions, a fifth-placed finish in the Mixed division, and the crowning achievement of the title to close the weekend, the future of French youth ultimate, and French ultimate as a whole, is in a very enviable spot.
