Danse Macabre

Well Danse came and went and it was certainly an interesting time. We all had fun hanging out on Friday, probably too much fun as we stayed up far too late for a tournament night. Poor directions led to us being forty minutes late to the fields on Saturday, missing the captain's meeting and more importantly, breakfast. On the bright side, sort of, a lot of the games were pushed back until around ten anyway so we were somehow still early for our first match. Conditions were rainy and windy, just the way I like it?

First match was against Ramapo. Their costume was Mexicans? Sombreros, maracas, sharpie mustaches. That sort of thing. First half was terrible. I think we scored three points. Second half we brought GAME and proceeded to score something like seven points in a row, at one point. Unfortunately, since games had already started late we ended up getting hard capped at 12 - 14. I'm fairly confident we could have pulled a win together if we had not gotten capped. They scored the last point but with the cap on they knew they had already won so that probably subconsciously affected our motivation. Also, our defense was bringing it hard so three points in a row would not have been too difficult. Anyway, lesson learned. From now on we will have clear directions for every tournament so we can bloody well get there on time.

Second game was against Hamilton, in Celtic garb a la kilts and woad paint. Mitch is far more Celtic than any of them, but they will never know as he was dressed in a business suit for the game. Anyway, they ran a pretty smooth offense and were consistently able to get open. Their defense was sort of lackluster (good cup but the rest of the zone was higgledy piggledy) but fortunately for them the lack of breakfast had completely sapped the morale of the Gunx and we folded easily. It was sort of depressing but we can learn from our mistakes. I don't meant to imply that we would have necessarily beaten them otherwise, they were a solid team, but we certainly could match them man to man and we would have liked to give them a fight at least.

Fortunately we had a bye after Hamilton so the team could eat. Most everyone went to get "real" food. I had bagels, and stayed at the fields to hang out and watch games, a dubious decision as it was cold and I was soaked. Oh well, it was fun anyway. Watched Ramapo beat RIT b and heckled both sides with constant calls to "huck it huck it lololol". The team got back and sat in our cars as we waited to hear if games would be cancelled due to the fields being torn apart. The other coed pool's games did get cancelled as their fields had been reduced to muddy pits. TD Creepy had to break the news of the cancellation to them, and the U of Rochester alums took it so hard that they tabletopped him into the mud.

Glorious.

In the end, our games were on and we got amped to face Oneonta. As for that game, what can I say? Both teams played hard but Oneonta's height and experience predictably won out. However, the game was much closer than the score (6 - 15 or something like that) would suggest. We fought hard for every point and our defense was on fire. When our offense did convert it looked amazing and when they did not our d still made Oneonta take three or four possessions per point to score. We were supposed to play RIT b as our final game but they went home because of the wet and cold, even though by that point in the day it was far less cold and the rain had mostly stopped. Personally, I like playing on rainy days as long as it is not too cold or windy.

Day two games were cancelled except for quarterfinals and up, so we did not get to play, going home with a 0 - 3 record and a disappointing lack of games.
Looking back, Danse was good for the team socially. Everyone seemed to bond a lot hanging out at Bridget's house, at the fields, in the car and at the Saturday night party and ihop trip. On the field we saw our strengths and weaknesses highlighted clearly. Decision making will come with experience, and the sloppy throwing was largely due to the wet disc. Our zone offense is good while we are swinging the disc between handlers but a lot of our new players do not yet understand how to get open downfield. Zone offense will be a focus this week so that we will be ready for RPI, and we will be practicing rain or shine.

On the positive side, our defense was pretty furious most of the time, and our conditioning definitely came in to play. Everyone ran hard day one and yet I did not hear anyone complaining about soreness or excessive fatigue. We were certainly tired but noone was wiped out, and we would have been ready to run our asses off, had Sunday games not been cancelled. The irony is that last year our zone offense was our greatest strength, while our defense lacked intensity. It is evident that we have changed our focus from offense to defense this year to a large extent.

Thus far, our man defense is strong. Our zone defense is good sometimes but not consistent. We need to work on communication, and certain lanky fellows who blog too much need to get more aggressive in the deep position. Our offense in general needs a spark to get it going. Sometimes we roll through any defense and sometimes we turn it on a swing ten yards out of our own endzone. I don't think our offense can be solved with a quick fix strategy wise, so we will have to practice our asses off as we have been doing all season. Soon the winter will drive us inside. Winter conditioning will shore up our man defense even more, but methinks a lot of offense technique and zone strategy will have to wait until spring. Oh well, at least we'll be in great shape.

On a personal note, as much as I am ashamed to say it, a lot of what went wrong for the team this past weekend comes down to poor leadership. There is no excuse for us not getting the team breakfast before the games, or for not having adequate directions to the fields. Although things worked out in the end, it reflects poorly on me and I absolutely resolve to do better in the future. Enough said. Sometime I am going to write a piece about my thoughts the difficulty of balancing practicing as a player with being a team leader, but that is something for another day.

So our fall season record is now 1 - 5 with two tournaments to go. All in all, things are going well. I am very excited about the team and the progress we have made. By the time the series rolls around, we are going to be one hell of a team. Our team identity and friendship is growing by the day, and the players who are working hard are seeing a real payoff. RPI this weekend. Amped.