Serendipity 1996

Tournament report by Mark Parris et al.

Straight to Individual highlights

Ah, the memories. A week later, and a look back at Serendipity, aka the Guilford tournament. The fields were sweet. The were soft and had this strange green stuff growing on them that felt really nice. Many folks had family members in attendance. Dan Parrish's, Cori's, and mine are the ones I recall. Perhaps I forget others.

We went 4-3 (one was a forfeit but we're counting it because we're pretty sure we would have won.) We played ECU first and we still psyche ourselves out against them (and, I think, against App. St.). Good mechanics, hard "D", and long points but bad throws and drops led to a 13-4 score.

Then we had a bye before facing Guilford. Our first play was a thing of beauty. We knew they would look for Carl after he rattled their cage at Ultimax so we left him out of it and did Mark to Alan to Albert. 2 passes and a score. We got pumped and went ahead 3-0. They rallied to tie but then we rallied again and won 9-6.

We played Davidson (fairly new team) and won 14-6. We were having a lot of success with zone, but we chose to focus on improving our man to man instead of continuing with zone. Then we played an exhausted SUNY - Purchase squad that had few subs. They said they would play to half time and see how the game was going by then. We were up 8-0 and they called it quits after the half.

We retired Saturday evening to a wonderful dinner at the Parrish household. Dan's mom spent most of the evening in the kitchen preparing spaghetti and we all enjoyed that while we watched basketball or played pool or Ms. Pacman. Then most of us returned to Chapel Hill, while a few stayed to enjoy the Violent Femmes concert and the party.

Needless to say we were pumped and looking forward to more pool play on Sunday (it was 7 teams with complete round robin and the top 4 playing an elim tournament at the end of the day). We had ASU and John's Hopkins left to play. John's Hopkins (who played close with Davidson and SUNY Purchase) bailed out though - the forfeit.

ASU played well and while we didn't play bad we didn't play with as much precision and intensity as I would have liked (or expected). Guilford had rallied from 8-4 to win 10-9 on them but we lost 11-6. Then we had to sit around for two rounds (bye and forfeit) before playing ASU again in the semis. This time was worse. Something to 4 or 5 I think. I think ASU is a solid team, but a team that we can beat if we are playing very well. Don't misunderstand, we had some solid moments against App. and generally played well.

Overall, it was a good weekend. We beat all of the teams I think we should have beat and managed to maintain our .500 record (even without the forfeit). I think we should aim at continuing to beat those teams, take aim at wins against App. St. and Duke, and scoring at least 8 against ECU as our goals for sectionals. I think it speaks well of us that every team we've lost to is currently ranked in the top 25. However, I would prefer to be able to talk about the teams we've BEAT in the top 25 or our own position there. :-) (BTW, Pleiades is 20th in the nation.)

Some overall highlights:

Our team offense looked solid. The mechanics of our plays were solid. Sometimes the other team would play good "D" and stop them but there were seldom (with the exception of the Rodning incident) any blown plays. Our intensity and precision against Guilford (sans their rally to tie it at 3) were great.

A toast to gymnastics. Breaking somewhat new ground and igniting the cheers of teammates and fans, Mark Parris and Alan Hoyle notched some amazing layout catches during the tournament weekend. Scoring the last dramatic point against Davidson, The Rookie (Alan) made a nice deep cut on a transition, continuing through to grab a long huck at the apex of a sweet dive towards the back of the end zone. Next afternoon, The Babe (Mark) made a nice handler cut and refused to let gravity prevent a catch, making a great layout for an exciting catch. Acrobatic police. Players more commonly seen horizontal, including Ryan Brown, Carl Erikson, and Dan Parrish, made some highlight dives themselves.


Individual highlights

(with contributions from Chris (most of this actually), Dave, and Carl):

Alan Hoyle:

His game-winning catch against Davidson, where Chris threw that nice forehand fake followed by a sweet inside-out that just sailed down the line. It was out of range, but Alan just put his head down and churned, diving at the last possible second, catching the disk at full horizontal extension about three inches off the ground, and holding it up for us to see as he slid to a stop on his tummy. (Afterwards, I (Alan) commented to Andrew Ross about this catch being the only thing people were going to remember about my play that weekend.)

Albert Monroe:

Big plays are highlight plays. Another way to play great defense is to completely close the throwing lane, making sure nobody throws it to the player being covered. Keeping close through cuts this way and that, like Albert Monroe. Usually never very far away from his man, meaning he needs make no layout blocks because the throws are never made anyway.

Albert Monroe kept his concentration to catch a pass that must have traveled right through the hand of a diving defender. Cheers for concentration and looking the disc into the hand.

His beautiful cut on the opening point against Guilford was key.

Andrew Ross:

Height helps, and height and smarts are deadly. Good to watch andrew ross developing skills and reading the flow of disc and players on offense so that he can knock down throws on defense. At one point on the sideline against appstate a few of us watched him hang back, somewhat aloof, from a flock of players gathering near a hovering disc. Admittedly, wondered what he was doing. Then watched him take a step and a leap above everybody else to knock the disc away. An impressive play, all seemingly in the bat of an eye. Great speed and quickness in andrew ross.

Aron Hall:

Elvis lives! In addition to his beautiful cut for Chris's inside out backhand (see Chris's highlight) I liked his play against SUNY Purchase. On the first point he had a beautiful cut to catch the disc just outside the endzone and then he followed it with a demonstration of pivoting to get off an easy throw for the assist. 1 point later he gave us an instant replay. Wish I had a video camera.

Bill Mark:

Nice to have some fresh legs. Good to have Bill Mark for the second day, as he added speed to offense and defense. Always makes his presence known with his running. Once again, a case of no defensive highlights because no one threw it to his man.

A good example was his hard sprint after one of Alan's hucks. The disc was WAY out in front of him, but he heard our screams from the sideline and gave it everything he had. If that disc had been catchable he would have had it.

Brian "Billy" Warshaw:

Cheers for the team concierge. Always a thinking man with a knack for visualizing movement on the field. Always energetic. Earl of Warshaw, Brian Warshaw. Smart positioning on defense, and good cutting on offense. Generally never gets in the way of other cuts, which sounds simple and essential but sometimes seems an elusive skill nowadays on our team.

Carl Erikson:

In the second App State game they threw it to Carl's guy in the endzone. Carl jumped up and got a piece of it, but the guy still caught it for a score. Carl shouted "Fuck Me!" so loud that none of us on the sideline could quite believe it was Carl. I have certainly never heard Carl's voice reach that decibel level. Carl responds to this remark.

You probably shouldn't put this in the highlights, (well, I am anyway!) but you might mention that in addition to his usual role as our primary scorer, Carl is really starting to get verbally and emotionally involved on the team. I love it when he starts yelling things on the field because he's always, always right.

Early in the 1st game against App State we threw him a score. As I (Dave) ran up to the line I heard his defender panting to his App State teammate, "That motherfucker is fast!"

Swift of foot. Carl Erikson continued to run like a gazelle, making great cuts on offense and gritty efforts on defense. Top highlight came while playing the irates, when a handler of theirs kept yelling for a dump throw. When the player with the disc relented and opted for that throw, Carl blocked the pass, prompting the first handler to yell at his teammate for daring to take that throw. Really rattled their cage.

His cuts make the Mark to Carl to Mark to Carl look so easy.

Chris Rodning:

A bit of self applause. Among my favorite offensive sequences was a standard boston flow down the field. Chris Rodning caught his pass, faked a forehand down the sideline, pivoted back and throw an inside out backhand upfield. The key, however, was that Aron Hall had positioned himself perfectly to leave his defender behind him to catch it for a nice score.

Head in the clouds. After a play call, Chris Rodning calculated his move and cut smack through the middle of the passing lane on the strong side, demonstrating amazing powers of concentration and clear thinking. Almost paralleled by that odd habit of continually calling eight players on the line instead of a Magnificent Seven. At least he can sing now and then. Symptomatic.

Not necessarily a highlight but credit where credit belongs: calling subs is not easy and I think Chris does a fine job of getting good PT for everyone and keeping a balanced squad on the field. Wine and cheese applause please.

He also had lots of nice inside outs to keep our flow going.

Cori & Dan:

(because Chris wrote it this way)

Movement represents the essence of the game. Noticed Dan Parrish and Cory Barlow making lots of well timed and well placed cuts, sometimes looked off because other offensive players were in the way, but generally very solid. Cory had some very nice downfield cuts against davidson. Dan made a sweet layout catch for a score on a called and choreographed an end zone play from Chris to Alan to Dan. Good stuff.

Dan also had a beautiful block right in front of our sideline against Guilford followed by full-field sprint (I think we activated his "fight or flight" instinct with our screaming) to receive a huck from Alan.

Dave Luebke:

Good my liege stands tall. Some nice defensive plays by David Luebke, especially in hauling down or challenging attempted throws through our zone defense. And cannot remember which games but distinctly remember some of the Luebke trademark singlehanded leaping catches on offense.

Also, several trademark, "oh, is this disc behind my ankle for me? why, thank you" catches.

JJ:

The Juggling Joker. That is what JJ stands for. Nice catches on deflected discs, just like that old tip drill.

John Eyles:

Call him Professor. Comparing him to their own professorial character, the guilford team initiated the notion for a nickname for our erstwhile faculty sponsor, John Eyles. Then the Professor himself came through with many forceful words of inspiration during games this past weekend, although the exact words now escape my memory. Good stuff, though. And as always, many good forehand throws.

Mark Parris:

Matched up on Mike G in the ECU game, Mark went to throw a hammer to Dave Luebke. Mike G point blocked it but his joy was short lived as Mark reached around him to grab it before it hit the ground.

Also, in the App St. game. he was running another give and go with Carl but Carl's lead pass was high and went over his head. But a quick turn around and layout he got the reversal of fortune. It was also the first time THE HAT has ever come off (and that my glasses got bent.) Carl agreed this was payment in full for the gravelly path incident with the rarity of a Parris layout balancing the gravel.

Ryan Brown:

Amazing catches. Ryan Brown catches just about everything. While a Davidson player made a great bid to block a pass to Ryan in the end zone, Ryan somehow dove in front of him to catch a bullet pass with one hand while diving towards it. He also had a beautiful layout for a throw that was behind him where his feet continued on while his upper body reversed direction to leave him hanging horizontal a foot or two in the air. He leads by example.

Yet another player who can be underestimated based on appearances. Before the Guilford game, my dad asked, "besides yourself (haha!), who would you say your top players are?" I started pointing out folks (there were lots) and when I got to Ryan my dad was quick to comment, "You know when I watched you warming up I saw him and he didn't really impress me. But then when you started playing he was ALWAYS open and he caught everything and every single throw looked good!"

Shane Greene:

Smart defense. Shane Greene shone, especially during the last couple games, by holding his position in zone defenses and smacking down several upfield throws to the middle, where he held forth with a strong defensive presence.

He also threw a hammer for a score, worked wonderfully in the homey's we ran, and played all day Sunday while he was sick.

Tom Evans (coach):

Certainly homage must be paid to our current presiding mentor, whose wisdom has guided many of our offensive and defensive strategies this season. To my mind, suggestions and pointers from Tom Evans have added a great deal to the Darkside arsenal, and have to credit him for that. Meanwhile am in wholehearted support of morning workouts, intense training, and meat eating. Since we are all evolving primates, we could add cooperative hunting, food caching, meat sharing, and dominance sprints to the regimen.


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Last modified: 8 April, 1996 back to Sunsite