Wednesday 25 June 2008
Well the 2008 Mixed Season finally arrived with the first event taking place in Brighton on weekend of 7th & 8th June. Following on from our success last year a lot was expected of the Chevron Mixed team by ourselves and we were awarded with the 1st seeds at this tournament. A lot of faces from last year returned but a few debuts were made by Isla Grayson, Abbie Iggulden, Rachael Kelly, Ian Bogal and Peter Wright. We also had guest appearances from Steve Kelly and Angela Caulfield.
Game 1: Bristol Plastic Factory
First game of the season and a lot of cobwebs and hangovers needed to be blown away if we were to succeed. A scrappy first half saw us take a small lead into half thanks to some pressure man defence and gritty offence. In the second half we started to swing the disc and move it quickly and our offence was more assured. Final score 13-8(ish)
Courtesy of Roland Tomlinson - Roland's Ultimate photos
Game 2: Brighton 2
The early points of this game were traded before we started to pull away... we had learned a lesson in the first game and saw that swinging the disc and moving it quickly really paid off. Our women as ever we solid, providing the back bone to the team on the majority of points due to teams using 4 women a lot more. We dominated the hucking game with our powerful deeps and had a secure victory of 13-7(ish) thus securing our place in the semi finals.
Game 3: BAF
During this match we didn't stick to our rules and we didn't have the mental concentration. Silly mistakes allowed BAF to stay in the game during the early exchanges and BAF started to dominate and get turns on us which other teams had failed to do. We managed to stay close but lost in sudden death 13-12. A hard loss to finish a good first day.
Semi Final: Thundering Herd
So to a rematch of the semi final of mixed tour 3 last year. We went into this game still annoyed from the defeat to BAF and wanted to stamp our authority early on. The first couple of points were traded until we got the first D. It quickly became apparent our women were the key. They totally locked down Herd's women with strong forces and big bids. This set the stall for the entire game. We played our offence well and did all the basics correctly. Our defence forced turns and we ran away with the game. A spirited fight back from Herd came at the end but it was too late. We'd made the final. Final score: 13-7
Final: Brighton 1
Just like the Open team the first Tour of the season saw Chevron in the final. After a long break filled with boules, cribbage and jumping around on a trampoline we started to get our focus. Somehow though we seemed to lose it the moment the first pull went up. The first point consisted of some sweet offence until a turn on the endzone line which Brighton then converted at the other end. On the second point another turn (this time at our own endzone line) allowed Brighton to go 2-0 up. Something then changed. Each individual stepped up their game and regained focus. We came out stuck in an quick score and then didn't go back out on offence again for a while. As with the semi our women dominated. Numerous blocks from both men and women allowed us to go into half 7-3 up. After half it was much the same. We played smartly, swung the disc quickly and hit our shots. Final score 13-6
Highlights:
Johannah's many, many layout bids
Bogals hammer to Beavan in first point of his first game for Chevron
Bogals drop for the win!
Rodders standout blocks and inability to pick up a dead disc ;o)
Dyno being 4 foot taller than anyone else in an endzone
Angelas catch against Herd off Johannahs huck (who needs men!)
The girls simply awesome D work all day Sunday
MVP = Dyno (again!)
MVP of Finals = Rodders and Rachael
Matt McAWoogaAwooga