Welcome to the Insect Insider, I’m your host, Jess! On today’s segment, myself and my wonderful co-host Nathan will be joining forces to bring you up-to-date (ish) coverage of the first Spwinter League double header.
After our nail biting win over the Dragonflies last week and going undefeated in the first three games, confidence was high going into week 4 of league and our first double header of season despite having a shallow pool of players to choose from (aka at 2:05 we barely had 7 players). We managed to get a defensive line on the field, 3FMP and 4MMP and fortunately, we were playing the BumbleDeez, notorious for having their FMP’s show up every week so they were able to match our gen-zone.
With low numbers this week, I stepped into the handling space with Coach and Steven, which quite honestly, was so much fun playing with these two! That said, we did miss the experienced hands of TK and Bradder’s who normally dominate that position on the field. As per usual, our team’s field awareness and spacing was on point, we had great speed from Alli-boo and Jiggins who were making phenomenal cuts in the middle, and Nathan and Chip held down the rails staying open and making great undercuts to help move the disk up the field. But alas, a few mistakes led to a few drops (*cough*Jess*cough*), paired with a few laser beam throws (*cough*Nathan*cough*), gave the ‘Deez the opportunity to capitalize and break us time after time.
Slowly but surely Spencer, Andrew and Will finally cleated up and gave us some subs to work into the lineup, but the BumbleDeez had a great team put together, that even fresh legs couldn’t keep up. Billy was all over the place, under cuts here, deep cuts there, handling, D’ing. He truly wanted the disk today, and when matched with his co-captain McFlurry who was also on his game and putting an incredible full field huck into Billy’s hands in stride, that even Nathan couldn’t get too despite his attempted layout D. Dave made bids, Fletch handled disks, Pat wanted D’s, Mills was always open, and Liz keeps getting better and better each week (or so I have heard)! But one person I want to gush over today was L-money. Larissa had an outstanding game! And for transparency and promise that I’m not being biased, she is also my roommate, so definite proud roomie moment despite her taking the W and wiping it on me! She had hands like glue and really imbedded her bumble stinger into our (wo)man defense, easily the MVP of today’s game from both teams.
Despite our team having a pair of Bees from B-unit (sectional winners 2022, Jenny and Steven) and a Bee researcher (Chris Coach Oster – he is saving the bees after all), we were unable to get these BumbleDeez under control this time around.
I always love playing Joe’s team, he drafts a solid bunch of players both in skill and spirit every season and the addition of Billy to the captains roster is a solid bonus as he brings experience and positivity to Gainesville Ultimate.
But take our first L of the season meant that it was Mighty (meta)morphin Power Rangers Time… as in these caterpillars needed to metamorphosize into something for the next game if we wanted to win it!
To regale you with that tale, I’ll pass the mic over to my trusty co-captain by day and co-host today, Nathan!
Thanks Jess! Coming off of a disappointing loss to the Bumble Deez (congrats to Joe and Billy for kicking the undefeated bucket out from under our feet), the Caterpillars crawled our way across the vast expanse of Field 2 to meet our fellow ground-bound brothers and sisters, the Dump Beetles, hoping for a shot at redemption. Knowing that half of their captain talent was in our great nation’s capital, I was briefly optimistic.
However, I remembered two things: First, a wise sage named Tommy Akin once told me through the unlikely medium of a Murder Hornets captain’s report (feel free to check it out right where you’re reading this!) to not underestimate the ability of the Dump Beetles to get their s*** together and turn it up. Second, I soon heard that the DBeetles had just beeten (haha) the Cutterflies, a no-slouch team for sure. So having been justly chastised for my lazy underestimations, we got ready to do bug business.
Having only one MMP and FMP sub, we prepared for a long hour (and some change) on the Ultimate grind. Both teams came out strong, with great handler movement and cuts on both sides (as well as our fair share of turns). My fearless co-captain Jess played very well in both the handler space and the cutting lanes, netting herself 2 scores and 2 assists while keeping momentum up and morale high. Andrew, Spencer, and Chip also played some consistent middles and rails. One of my favorite moments was watching Chip catch the disc on the endzone line and yell at the cutters to cut better like a veteran handler before tossing it to someone else (couldn’t tell you who to be honest) and taking the quick give and go to score his first point of Spring League!!! Very stylish, done with much poise, almost as an afterthought.
Eventually, the canny Catties managed to force some turns, get some breaks, and take half. It was then that both teams started to lose people, with Alek Fartzog leaving the Beetles and Spencer leaving the Caterpillars. Both teams felt the loss of fresh legs as the sun continued to beat down, threatening to burn us to a crisp like bugs under a magnifying glass. Though still sluggish after half, the DBeetles rallied with some amazing handler movement by Clyde, Sam, and Danny Greene, really making us work on defense. Nadia was cutting like a machine and had a great score on a cross endzone cut, snagging the disc just in front of Allison’s outstretched arms. And finally, Manny showed his flexibility around the field, regularly beating his marks on in-cuts and smoothly transitioning in and out of the handler space to keep momentum going.
However, the Caterpillars managed to pull away, scoring the winning point with a smooth sequence of passes that would have made TK proud. Final score of 11-5.
Even though we’ve rallied the Pick Em’s crowd to our side, alas we have failed you this time. Even a second game win doesn’t make up for the fact that you could only pick a Pick Em’s result for the first game. For anyone who had a streak going (sorry Jess), our deepest apologies, better guess better next time! No longer undefeated, but always indomitable, the Very Huckery Caterpillars will see you all next week for the second round of pool play!!!
This has been the Insect Insider*. Tune in March 19th for more special collab coverage of the next Spwinter 2023 double header!!
*Not sponsored by GNV Ultimate (maybe someday?) nor any of its affiliates (do we have affiliates??). Done purely for the lols and enjoyment of the Gainesville community/the entire Internet.