- Pawel Janas
Note: The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the WUL.
Meh.
I hope everyone enjoyed the raccoons last week because we are back in full talking-head mode today. We have a few things to talk about! Our sunkissed “experts” have returned from their skinny-dipping trip to Ibiza, and they seem eager to dispense their newly acquired Iberian spice. (No, I don’t mean the big C, though I hear Ibiza is craaaaaazy this time of year.)
Aproveite o tempero, meus amigos!
Question for April 28th, 2023:
There is so much to talk about this week. There was so much drama. Every single game was competitive until the very end. (Yes, including the CO/LA game that was way tighter than the final score indicates.) There have never been even two 1-point games in a weekend in the history of the WUL, and we got three in Utah. Feel free to be more open-ended this week (there are so many hot directions you can go in), but some questions to get the brain liquids flowing: is Utah the most clutch team in the league? Is home-field advantage a real thing? More tragic: CO unable to force OT v. Falcons or LA starting on O and losing in 2OT? UT with the home-and-home series with SEA/OR - how many games will the Wild win? AZ vs. SF next week to decide the second and final seed in the Southwest - who you got?
CLUTCH
Lexi: I said this a couple of weeks ago, and I’ll say it again: when Wild has Songer on the field, they are a significantly better team. The trio of Songer, Kercher, and Stanislawski in the backfield is a menace. Each of these handlers breaks the mark with ease, and Kercher’s forehand hucks were nasty this weekend. I don’t know if I can call Utah “clutch” when they seemingly put themselves in peril (emphasis added by the Editor) by losing a 4 goal lead in the 4th quarter, but I love the ability to dig deep and pull it out. There has been so much chatter about home-field advantage. We get it, consistent exposure to the wind, rain, elevation, etc all add up. Plus, who doesn’t love playing for the fans?
Michael: There's a discussion to be had about whether or not relinquishing commanding leads only to gut the game out in the most dramatic fashion imaginable is "clutch" or not, but one thing that the Wild proved is that they are not a rollover group. There are, certainly, changes to be made in order for Utah to reach its full potential, but anyone who is looking at the Wild as an "easy out" should be reevaluating after this weekend. (Editor’s note: literally no one is saying this)
I acknowledged this in our last West Perspective regarding Colorado's rowdy home crowd, and I'd be remiss not to acknowledge the same for the folks who made it to Salt Lake City this weekend. While the Wild is still working on building out the numbers that Colorado showed, as Utah's coach, I have no doubt that the guts displayed in the two games this weekend for Utah are reflective, in no small part, of the will of a collective even greater than those players just on the roster. The Wild are excited to test their mettle on the road for the remainder of the season and fight against those home-field advantages.
Ange: Utah turned it over with 2 seconds left in regulation time, gave up their one-point lead, and let LA score to tie the game and force overtime. LA has more losses than anyone in the league, and they were playing without their best player...so, kudos to Utah for pulling out a double overtime win, but you won't catch me using the word "clutch" to describe it.
Home-field advantage is definitely real, and Utah will be feeling it when they lose to Seattle and Oregon (emphasis added by the Editor) on May 5 and 6. For the record, I'd love to see Utah beat Oregon and think they are capable of it, I just don't trust them to maintain possession of the disc...it's too soon for me.
Nicole: As heartbroken as I am about LA's loss in 2OT (like, come on, they had five breaks in a row and only allowed UT to score once in the 4th quarter), Pawel said this was the time to be more open-ended, so I'll keep this short so we can move on to what really matters. To answer the prompts: No. Yes.
Pawel: I want to take this opportunity to spend some time talking about the CO/LA game, and to showcase my skills as a master mathematician. The 19-12 score is stupidly misleading. The graph below is a simple goal line plot for LA and CO, with the red lines denoting all LA squandered break opportunities. I don’t know whether to be impressed with CO’s O-line defense or to be frustrated with LA’s conversion. Either way, this felt like and should have been, by all accounts, the 4th 1-point game of the weekend..
TRAGEDY
Lexi: Both of these final points had multiple turns with different chances for either team to make that critical score. Colorado feels the most tragic to me because of the amount of time spent on the final point. The fighting-valiantly-over-a-multi-minute span to lose is heartbreaking. Meeri Chang is wrecking people in the backfield with her crafty lefty throws and is more than comfortable breaking the mark or throwing a dime high-release. The loose handler switching as a last-ditch effort by Colorado in front of the endzone was the final nail in the coffin once Chang had the disc.
Michael: Being on the sideline for the 2OT game has me leaning in that direction (since I can imagine how I would feel had the Wild managed to drop that game), but these two have to be tied since they both made the road to championship weekend either impossible or *very* difficult for both teams. No matter what the process, seeing your season's hopes dwindle is about as tragic as it gets.
Ange: There have been three double overtime games in the history of the WUL. LA has lost every one of them...and that's tragic (emphasis added by the Editor). There are so many wonderful humans and good players on that team, and one day they'll be a force to be reckoned with. Just maybe not this season. *knocks on wood as Super Bloom approaches a trap game against LA on May 6*
Nicole: The second one.
Pawel: It’s a tragedy whenever LA loses. But starting on O in double OT and promptly hucking it away is tragic.
WILD IN THE PNW
Lexi: Wild will beat Oregon because they are fired up and confident off of the weekend with a humming O-line and tenacious defense. This game is exciting because it is a must-win game for Oregon. Oregon is a talented team, but just can’t seem to put it together against harder opponents. The back against the wall, do or die, might be the push they need to figure it out. I think the Wild will get an in-conference loss from Seattle to go 1-1 on their road trip. Seattle will be able to throw fresh defense on the Wild O line handler trio at every offensive point. By the 3rd quarter, this will start to wear on Wild’s O-line and create a few breaks for Seattle.
Michael: The Wild will go 4-0.
Nicole: Maybe 1.
Pawel: The Wild will go 1-3. Coach Michael will soon eat some humble pie when his team loses to Seattle by a combined 16 points across two games. If they’re lucky, I can see Utah squeaking out a home victory against Onyx. God speed.
AZ VS SF
Lexi: I can’t wait for this game. It’s a win-or-go-home for the last remaining playoff spot in the Southwest Conference, and both teams seem to be approaching it with upward-swinging momentum. SF will be playing at home, and the Bay will show up to cheer. Can this momentum and atmosphere push SF into the playoffs, or will the Snakes stay alive? Chip Chang has been racking up the stats and leading a strong snake squad to on-the-road wins. Meeri Chang, Broome, and Schumacher have all been impressive, along with other well-known names from the Bay Area. My money is on the Sidewinders to pull it out with some wild plays and acrobatics. I also wouldn't be surprised if SF won. (Wishy-washiness emphasized by the Editor.) This game has an all-caps spot on my weekend calendar and feels like a win-win for the viewers.
Michael: This is a very difficult question. San Francisco may be the stingiest offense with the disc in the league, and I imagine they will be at full strength next weekend. Meanwhile, Arizona may be the most athletic and the team most ready to ride a wave of momentum. It's hard to call this anything but a toss-up and I can see the route for both teams to take the win. However, Pawel will chastise me if I don't make a choice (Editor’s note: this is true), so, for two reasons, I'm going with San Francisco: 1. Home field advantage! and 2. Seeing the Falcons battle out a one-point win the day after losing by one, with both games on the road and without its full complement of players, gives me a lot of confidence in the team's mental toughness and overall approach. I've got all the respect in the world for the Snakes, but not having seen them in person this season may be biasing me toward the Bay Area's favorites going on to Championship Weekend.
Ange: Oof, this is a tough one, but I think Arizona pulls out a nail-biter of a win over SF. The Sidewinders are playing better now than when the Falcons beat them in San Diego, and they have nothing to lose (and everything to gain). The Falcons are hanging on by a thread to that second SW playoff spot, and that's a dangerous position to be in. Slap and her crew won't make it easy for AZ, but I have the snakes by 2.
Nicole: AZ.
Pawel: I’ve said this once, but I will say it again. I hope both teams lose.
PARITY, FLOWERS, SHORT PULLS
Michael: For the second year in a row, the teams playing in Championship Weekend will most likely come down to the very last weekend of the season for multiple teams. UT will have to go 2-0 on its PNW road trip (which we will) in order for the NW bid to not still be up in the air come the last weekend of Northwest play while AZ and SF are playing for a championship bid next weekend in a head to head matchup of loser-goes-home-for-good. The parity between and within the divisions of the WUL puts essentially every other ultimate competition league to shame (emphasis added by the Editor). If you aren't watching the WUL, you're missing the best run and most exciting league in ultimate right now.
Call it clutch, call it grit, call it mental toughness, but if you didn't catch the internal battle that UT's Maddy Hunter went through to finish the 2OT game against Astra, then you need to go back and watch it. After Utah's defense got the block needed to protect a one-goal lead at the end of regulation, Hunter had an unfortunate mental lapse and threw an unnecessary turnover that allowed LA a final possession with 0:01 left that Astra capitalized on to force overtime. Utah's offense promptly gave up a break to start overtime, and Hunter was called on to help tie the game with less than 2:00 left. After trading turns, Hunter touched the disc two times on Utah's final overtime possession (for ~20 receiving yards) and threw for another 40, including launching a 45-yard flick to a streaking Carly Atwell deep into the Wild's endzone to score the game-tying goal with 0:23 left. Hunter deserves all the flowers for staying in the game and being an essential impact player. These are the moments within the larger moment that make sports amazing.
Nicole: Let's talk about the short pull play that SD tried a few weeks ago vs. AZ, and now we've seen it again by UT in UT vs. SF. This tactic wasn't talked about a ton when SD tried it against AZ, but it made the Reddit pages of r/ultimate this time around. If you're not familiar with what I'm referring to, UT intentionally rolled the pull out of bounds near their endzone. In this case, the pull rolled very far out of bounds, and the observer started the 20-second pre-stall as soon as the pull went up. The SF players had to run down all 80 yards of field and get a pass off well into their normal 7-second stall, which resulted in SF immediately throwing a hammer and resulting in a turn at the end of the 3rd quarter (and a UT break/score.)
This is well within the WUL rulebook, but many feel it is highly unspirited. In AZ's case, it seemed like the roller pull went up well before AZ was ready for it, and in both cases, there was a ton of confusion between the teams, players, coaches, observers, and even the commentators. On one hand, I love to see teams testing the limits of the rulebook. On the other hand, it's very boring to watch rule discussions on the field for 5+ minutes. I'm sure AZ and SF wish the observers had granted some sort of time extension on the pre-stall or an extra game disc nearby, and I'm sure SD and UT are happy with the outcome, no matter how sneaky they had to be to score.
Will this result in a rule change for seasons to come? (I'm sure it will if Manisha Daryani and Helen Eifert have anything to say about it.) Will "Spirit of the Game" be left behind in pro settings? (I sure hope so.) As a fan watching from home or the stands, this is the kind of thing I love to watch teams get away with, and clearly, if r/ultimate has taught us anything (it hasn't), people love talking about it. I'd love to see more teams testing the limits of the rulebook without it feeling like they're taking advantage of each other. But ultimately, I'm sure there will be some minor adjustments to the rules, but only time will tell.
This Week’s Contributors:.
Michael Aguilar (he/him) is a co-head coach of the Utah Wild. He owes all his success in life to his wife Kendall. You can find him on Twitter @aguilar_eua and Instagram @justfathering.
Nicole Garnes (she/her) has played Ultimate frisbee since 2016, playing Club in both the Women's and Mixed Divisions in Arizona, and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. Follow Nicole on Twitter @bring_snaaacks.
Lexi Garrity (she/her) had a great time contributing to this week's coverage. Lexi plays for Seattle Tempest and Seattle Mixtape. You can find her on Twitter @lexigarrity10.
Pawel Janas (he/him) is the curator of West Perspective, so send your complaints his way. He plays for the Los Angeles Aviators in the AUDL and Chicago Machine in the USAU Men's Club Division. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram at @secondarypotato.
Angela Wells (she/her) is the head coach of San Diego Super Bloom and San Diego Wildfire. For nearly two decades, she has coached and played for women's teams in San Diego. She is unapologetically loud and bossy, and endlessly supportive of providing opportunities for female, trans, and non-binary athletes of all ages to play sports together in her community.