Strange Blue Tournament Report

University Mixed Indoor Regionals - SB2

This weekend SB sent 2 teams to Uni Mixed Indoor Regionals in Norwich, this is the tale of the (notional) second team.

Team: Mike, Pedro, Natman, Snodge, Laura, Jassy, Heather and Me.

By the way, I have a terrible memory for placing things at specific times, so some things might be in the wrong game

Pool Match 1: SB2 v SB1

So, with a remarkably civilised 11:53 start, the SB teams prepared for their first match of the weekend - against each other. Last night appears to have killed enough brain cells to make this match a little hazy, but both teams clearly wanted the win, and fought intensely for it, with Laura catching a tricky buzzer score to close the game at 5-4 to SB 1.

Pool Match 2: SB2 v Aye Aye 2

Now fully woken up, we came into our second game with mixed feelings - we fancied our chances against a second team, but Aye Aye play plenty more indoors than we do. The match was tight, and we started to experiment with our Zone D, eventually claiming the win, something like 7-5 to SB2.

Pool Match 3: SB2 v Lincoln 1

I don't remember a lot of this game either, I think we won it by something like 6-3.

Pool Match 4: SB2 v Bears 2

Our perennial rivals the Bears had also fielded a strong second team, so this was always going to be a tough match. Both teams worked hard, and our zone forced them to switch away from their strange iso + deep stack offense. They started to read it in the end though, and the scoreline was fitting, if a little disappointing: 5-5.

Saturday Night

We were led on a merry dance through Norwich by our hosts, the majority in a house with a rather spooky tunnel, and the rest above a hairdressers. We sampled a selection of fast food establishments, to discover a chippy that would serve you a battered and deep fried pizza. Verdict: Not as bad as it sounds. Casual drinking, tickling and suchlike ensued at the University bar, before wandering home.

Pool Match 5: SB2 v UBU 1

Despite being slain by SB 1 in their second game, UBU were an athletic team that had been looking strong all Saturday, and clearly had something to prove. We struggled in this game, and Natman, ever our deep man in the zone, couldn't keep their best receivers out, though he did pick up the buzzer score to end it at roughly 7-4 to UBU (maybe).

Crossover: SB2 v Fling

Though we lost the previous game, playing it worked to our advantage for this one. We played confidently against a sleepy Fling, who gave away the first 5 points to unfortunate drops, which were then quickly converted into scores as Snodge always seemed to be free in the endzone at just the right moment. They rallied a little towards the end, but the deficit was too much to make up. Final Score 7-3 ish to SB 2.

Quarter Final (1v8): SB2 v Bears 1

This Bears team was remarkably different to the seconds - their offense was flowing and unpredictable, the only team at the tournament that seemed comfortable playing against our zone. We tried man, but a few quick scores from big discs to Smiles/Smiley put paid to that. Their D was good too. We lost something like 8-2, and they wouldn't even play a call to cheer us up :(

Semi (5v8): SB2 v Haze

We had something of a scare at the start of this game, as Haze went 4-1 up by patiently walking it through our zone. I'm not sure what tipped the match, but it might have been the discovery that there was nothing their girls could do to stop Laura bringing down the high stuff, and we brought the game level with 3 points on the trot. The next few points were a bit edgy, but SB 2 came out on top at 6-5.

Final (5v6): SB2 v Bears

A rematch of our only pool draw. Both teams were keen to go one point better than our last meeting, and the tension showed in a first point which lasted 7 minutes (in a 17 minute game!), in part thanks to Pedro throwing an around-the-back-over-the-shoulder scoober into the wall near the endzone. The tiredness was also become evident, with our zone lacking some of the sharpness it had earlier in the weekend, the game finished 6-5 to Bears 2, with Natman collecting another consolation buzzer score.

All in all, a great fun weekend, we came 6th (A Div. 2 Nationals spot if we want it), try reading Anna's account of SB 1's escapades if fancy.

Sandy