Game Mirrors Last Week, Dark Pulls off Comeback Victory

South Jersey Event Special:
Game Mirrors Last Week, Dark Pulls off Comeback Victory
Friday, July 9, 2004

By Doug Wasko
SJSports Special Ultimate Correspondent

Ultimate Frisbee took place again yesterday with a record number of people participating in this week’s competition. Here’s what happened. The team jumping out to an early lead, then losing it, along with a strong wind factor in goal scoring were predominant themes in each of the last 2 weeks of play. This week saw Dark take an early 3-0 lead, only to watch White come back, tie it at 4 and promptly take the lead at 5-4. That's where the wind started to factor into play as 7 straight goals would be scored with the wind at the players' backs. The plays leading to and immediately after halftime looked to be key plays of the game, and possibly back breakers for the Dark squad.

After a hard-fought point to tie the game at 7 (12 turnovers), Dark wanted to take the lead back for the first time since they were up 4-3 and move into halftime with the edge. As White began to grow impatient at Dark's pre-throwoff delay and strategizing, Dark finally sent the disc off into the wind and started play. The pull managed to cross half-field, but not much more. Determined to stop the downwind goal, the Dark squad hurried to meet the White team as the disc was being picked up. But despite all of Dark's pre-point preparation, someone inadvertently failed to cover MarkM and he streaked past the oncoming Dark squad down the right side. With shouts of "Who's got Mark" echoing across the field, RonM was quick to take advantage and hit the streaking Mark for one of the quickest and seemingly easiest points I've ever seen. Dejected, but well rested, Dark would head to halftime trailing by one.

Still determined, Dark came out from half ready to play, or did they? They managed to turnover the disc on the first throw of the half and White again capitalized with a quick score from Glenn to Travis, the first upwind score in 8 points. With the wind in their face, Dark failed on their next attempt as well and saw White go up by 3, the largest lead of the game since Dark's 3-0 start. Undaunted, Dark fought hard on their next point (another 12 turnover point) and Doug managed his first point of the game with a long goal to Bob. A quick mistake on White's next possession allowed Dark to score upwind and take the lead down to 2, with the wind favoring them on the next point.

Just like last week though, an upwind score to possibly turn the momentum was followed by an immediate upwind score by White to keep the lead at 2. Convinced that the wind was playing a smaller factor, Dark fought hard and scored the next 4 points, 2 of which came against the wind. With the strong surge Dark moved from a 12-10 deficit to facing game point to win it with the score 14-12. White wasn't through yet and took the next point with a toss from Glenn to Travis. With game point on the line still, Dark coughed their next possession up, but managed to get it back before any damage was done. Squeezing into the right corner, Jon managed a pass to FrankV to seal the comeback victory for Dark.

This week saw the addition of 2 more newcomers, Chris and Joanis, who both scored assists in their debuts. Ron was a big factor in his first game of the season, after only playing one game last year, as he managed 5 points for White. Travis continued his strong play with another 7 point week in only his 3rd week of play. Mark and Glenn were also strong contributing scorers for White and Marci added her first score of the season. BobC led Dark with 7 points, 4 in a row to get Dark started off in the 2nd half. And Bret followed up last week's 7 point outing with another 6, 3 of which coming on Dark's 4-0 run late in the 2nd. Doug scored all 4 of his points in the 2nd half, while Jon scored 3 of his 4 in the first, with his lone 2nd half point coming on the game winner. Frank added 4 scores for Dark, in addition to one for White in the early play, while Art added 2 in limited action and Pete scored his first points of the season with a goal and an assist.

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Photos by Art Redd