It was a BEAUTIFUL day for ultimate, yesterday, and I arrived at the fields with some cupcakes (for our teammate, Jacoby Hine’s birthday, in the hopes that it would encourage him to show up – he didn’t) and a heart full of excitement and optimism for our upcoming games. Sadly, as I looked around at our squad, it was clear we’d be shorthanded yet again.
The performance of House of Dragonflies (YES, we have an official name, and YES, it’s LIT, thanks, Jiggins) was perfectly mirrored by the box of cupcakes I accidentally left in the sun during our games. We were bright, beautiful, and, dare I say, delicious. But after 2 games of playing with virtually no subs, we were puddles of sweetness, barely reminiscent of our former pre-game glory.
In Game 1 against Max and Tommy’s team, we decided to match up 5 on 5 (they were also short-handed) in the interest of spirit and giving us some semblance of subs in the first game. This did NOT go as expected. We were neck and neck the whole game, but, in the end, Tommy and his ragtag squad of 5 broke us a couple of times and took the W. I shudder to think what your team might be like at full strength, but all it took was Clea, Tommy, Munir, Jake, and Andrew to topple the House of Dragons in Game 1. Bravo, y’all! I’m giving the Bennifer’s Fabulous Game Award to Jake – mostly because he ran my old ass into the ground, and that’s worth celebrating.
Game 2 we stacked up against a VERY deep Schimmel and Danny squad. I was at the point where I was fighting tunnel vision, so most of it was a blur, but it actually turned into a pretty good game. We kept it close and finished out 10/9? 11/10? I’m not really sure, but I was super psyched with how our team held up. In the end, we simply couldn’t stop the endless onslaught of talent and fresh legs. Great game, Schanny! The Bennifer’s Fabulous game award goes to Summer Brown for absolutely SICK hands, and ALWAYS getting open in the end zone.
Shout outs for our team go to LITERALLY everyone. Jiggins was the friggin’ energizer bunny (again) and just never stopped cutting and making plays. Manny had several sick run-through Ds in the second game, and, as usual, was an essential part of keeping our disc moving on offense. The three-headed hydra that is the Diehl-Depaul Squad was a welcome addition back to our team this week. Dan’s sick throws and Kellie’s sure hands helped bail us out of many a high stall count, and Timmy “Too Tall” DePaul was a WALL of a mark and an unrelenting deep threat for both opponents. Tomas and Steve are newer to GNV Ulty, but these cats can FLATBALL. They were working hard, getting open, making sick throws, and kept the team scoring when we had nothing left in the tank.
We may not have a great record so far, but, when our team is at full strength, ya’ll best prepare, because you do NOT want to anger the Dragon. See you next week (if we’re still here after Ian).