August 6, 2012 by Charlie Eisenhood in News, Video with 5 comments
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A windy, but pleasant and sunny Sunday made for some sloppy offense and some exciting plays in the Chesapeake Open, just outside of Washington, D.C. The top two seeds — Garuda (Cambridge) and Cash Crop (Raleigh) — each cruised through the weekend, rarely facing a challenge before finals, both undefeated and hungry for a bid to the prestigious Chesapeake Invite later this month.
The persistence of Cash Crop’s defense and quick attacks on turnovers wore down the Garuda side as Cash Crop came away victorious in the hard-fought game with a final score of 13-10.
Garuda struck first in the game, jumping out to a 2-0 lead after lots of turnovers and drops by both sides eventually gave way to an upwind and downwind break.
Cash Crop answered back quickly, scoring the downwind point and then, after a big D on a floaty backhand and a patient attack up the sideline, punching in the upwind score to tie it up. They would take the lead on the next downwind point.
Each side would break again, but Cash Crop would take control with a bailout upwind sky to take halftime 7-5.
Garuda kept it close in the second half, but the North Carolina squad that lost in the game to go to Nationals last year would show their poise with another upwind break to make it 10-7. Garuda — the Northeast region’s fifth place finisher last year — would score upwind again, but couldn’t complete the downwind double up; Ben Dieter, Cash Crop’s captain, skied two defenders to close out the game.
“Our D team — after we went down two breaks — picked us up,” said Dieter after the game. “They never played intimidated…It was a true team effort.” The defensive line scored six breaks in the game.
Garuda’s Greg Olson gave them credit for that defense. “They were a great team,” he said. “They really capitalized on the turnovers we gave them.” But he added that his squad “made some uncharacteristic mistakes,” saying that the “decision making at times didn’t take into account the wind.”
On Saturday, both captains said they were really fighting for the bid to the Chesapeake Invite granted to the tournament’s winning team. After winning Finals, Dieter expressed his excitement about the chance to face the country’s top teams.
“[We want] the chance to play against the best, to know that we’re gonna have to play with fundamentals,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
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Despite thunderstorms in the forecast all weekend, the Chesapeake Open never faced a lightning delay until immediately after the Open finals game.
Stay tuned for more from the Chesapeake Open all this week on Ultiworld.
