[TFDA] Marsupials Bag Sunny D in Winter League Finals

Christian Schwoerke schwoerkec at yahoo.com
Tue Feb 26 09:46:07 EST 2008


Sunny D Bagged by Marsupial Death Pouch Hit Squad in 2007-8 WL Tourney Finals

This was the Triangle’s 20th Winter Ultimate League.  The league was introduced to the area in
1988-89, when Brian Dobyns brought his knowledge of upstate NY’s Westchester County league play to
our neck of the woods.  

>From those humble beginnings when all four of the league’s teams played in a season-ending,
one-day tourney, we have arrived at this 20th year, when for the first time 12 teams (of 22 total)
advanced to the league’s two-day tourney.  And, history aside, this year’s finals were the best in
many a year, with a highly contested push-and-pull contest between two very strong teams, each
playing all out in an uncapped, win-by-2 game that went the distance, 18-16.  Robbie Minshall and
Lindsey Hack’s Marsupial Death Pouch Hit Squad pulled out a 3-point run at the end of the game to
catch up and overtake Troy Revell and Josh Berkowitz’s Sunny D squad at the conclusion of a game
that lasted more than 2 1/2 hours.

Saturday’s pool play was marked by a cold, wet, foggy start, which cleared by noon to produce a
sunny, temperate mid-50s day.  Some field scheduling snafus entailed one pool having to relocate
and another pool to wait for 45 minutes to watch as UNC’s dance marathon participants thronged two
of its three fields.

Some surprises emerged from Saturday’s pool play.  Notable was the tumble Brilliant! took, falling
as the league’s unbeaten #1 overall to become merely the 3rd team to emerge from Pool A, far
behind the Marsupials and Buckin’ Bronco.  Ginger Cream, another strong finisher overall, got only
a single win in pool play, and did not make it to Sunday’s elimination rounds.  Similar
fail-to-show performances prematurely kept odds-favored Woolly Mammoth, Orange Crush It, and Green
Flash Effect from advancing.

Two of the pre-quarters games did prove that sometimes a pool’s #3 is stronger than another’s #2:
third-place finisher in Pool B, Screech, beat injury-plagued Deep in the Meat (#2 from Pool C) and
Pool D’s #3 Wreckers played one of their strongest games of the season to beat Pool A’s #2 Buckin’
Blanco, 12-11.  However, in the process of proving their mettle, all winners in the pre-quarters
were then eliminated in the quarters by the #1s from each pool.  Screech fell to the Marsupials;
Sol succumbed to White Lightning; Wreckers lost to Sunny D; and Blue by You yielded to Zork.

There was none of this succumbing and “falling to” in the semis, as each pair of advancing #1s
gave spectators games with athletic fervor. Zork faced off against the Marsupials, with White
Lightning trying to take down Sunny D.  The White Lightning/Sunny D game, in particular, was a
nail biter from the outset, as each team fought to keep the game close.  After a 3-point run to
take the lead for the first time, 8-7, White Lightning fought to finish out the half, but Sunny D
was tenacious and scored the next two.  Both teams sent the disc deep, but the connections from
Stephen Poulos to Kenny Marcus didn’t succeed as often as hoped, with David Berendes of Sunny D
denying several receptions.  Sunny D ran off three points to make it 13-11 just as the cap
sounded, making it a game to 14.  White Lightning could only strike once, making it 12-13, and
then Sunny D got the final score for a 14-12 semis victory.  

The Zork-Marsupial match up had the evolutionary throwbacks ahead throughout the game, though the
score doesn’t begin to represent the intensity of the battle.  As is usual when Motts and Taylor
Pope are on the same squad, there are lots of long shots, many of them connecting, but many being
stuffed by the Marsupials’ strong D.  High schooler Thomas Sayre-McCord stood out prominently as a
defender for the Marsupials in this game, blocking shots sent to Zork’s Brad Trubey and others. 
Zork traded a bit early in the second half in what looked like the beginning of a resurgence, but
this yellow creature could never get sufficient traction, and the Marsupials got the upper hand
over and over at the end, taking four successive points to finish 17-10.

The finals were all that one could have hoped for: 2 1/2 hours of solid ultimate, with neither
team showing any discernible superiority.  In the first half, there were only two breaks, first by
the Marsupials, then by Sunny D to put them back on serve, with a 9-8 advantage at half.  Neither
team played any zone, and it was a tough man-to-man defense on both sides, with each team using
principally a force-flick mark, at least close to the red zone.  Despite the attempts to stop the
hucks, there were several, though only perhaps 40% were complete. The first notable, successful
huck was a second-point backhand launch from Marsupials’ Raj to Lindsey streaking deep, a
60-yarder uncontested for the score.  Troy sent a 50-yard flick to Kate Morrison deep into the
endzone, where, for only the second time I’m aware of, a photographer’s digital image helped
resolve an in/out call, in this case in favor of the Sunny D receiver.

In the second half, Sunny D shifted to a straight-up to middle force, but the Marsupials continued
to send the disc deep, connecting out of the gate with a 55-yard shot from Ray to Thomas for the
tying score.  The longest Sunny D huck was a shot from Troy to Denice Cunningham, a near-70-yarder
caught in the back of the endzone.  Sunny D’s David Berendes was playing D on the Marsupials’ Ray
Parrish, keeping him happily in the driver’s seat as a handler, where he got to control the tempo
and movement of the disc.  Late in the game, before the 7-foot wide mark could be put on by
Berendes, Ray took a short pass and hucked full field to Robbie Minshall for their 14th point of
the game.

The ladies were running throughout the game, with Sunny D’s women (Kate and Sarah Morrison)
touching the disc frequently, both assisting and making scores.  Kate Morrison had a particularly
nice 40-yard flick to Berendes in the second half.  Likewise Sunny D’s Jen Coon had a great
40-yard backhand shot to Troy for a score.  On the Marsupial side of things, Lindsey Hack was both
handling and streaking, throwing the short passes then hurtling downfield for a long gain.  Kate
and Sarah took turns trying to cover these mad dashes, effectively keeping Lindsey from getting
the disc in the endzone.  Marsupials’ Kim Sulman and Leigh Babaian played supporting roles, though
Leigh had one point in the second half where she touched the disc at least five times, the last
time a score off a short pass from Raj.

Sunny D’s Josh Berkowitz did some outstanding offensive and defensive work throughout the game,
and he successfully defended long shots meant for Ray Parrish.  Josh was involved in five of Sunny
D’s scores, and, with Troy, he was the glue that held the team together, directing traffic and
keeping the disc alive.  Similarly, Ray Parrish was doing a lot of the quarterbacking for the
Marsupials, taking chances with longer shots, but ultimately keeping things going.  Similarly, the
Marsupials’ Raj and Robbie did the same, though Robbie more often stretched the field for some
long gainers.  At 16-15, with Sunny D at game point, Robbie stepped up his play, as did the
Marsupials’ Josh Nadel.  Each was responsible for controlling the disc and helped to score the
final three points.  At 16s, Sunny D got the disc into the red zone but were not able to convert,
a couple of quick passes put the disc in Robbie’s hands, and he hit a streaking Josh for a 55-yard
goal.  At 17-16, game point for the Marsupials, Sunny D pushed too hard and lost possession. 
Several passes later, the disc was 5 yards out from a Marsupial score.  Josh Nadel held the disc
and attempted a backhand.  The disc was tipped up by the marker Dusty Hoefer and Troy dove forward
to stuff the pass.  Foul was called on the mark, and the disc went back to Josh.  A quick dump to
Robbie led to short backhand pass back to Josh just within the goal for the game-ending score.

The Loretta Cup was handed down from last year’s winner (Ben Dieter’s PITS [People in the South])
to our current Winter League champs, the Marsupial Death Pouch Hit Squad.  All hail the strange
mammals!

Lots of Addenda (scores, more scores, spirit winners, season standings, etc.) 

There were three photographers at the games on Sunday: Sam Adams, Stefan Gottschalk, and Mark
Parris.  Sam and Stefan will announce their galleries’ availability shortly, but Mark Parris’ pix
can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maparris/sets/72157603985294272/

Spirit Award Winners for the finalists:

Marsupial Death Pouch Hit Squad -- Matt Babaian.  Matt was simply an awesome teammate. He was
always positive whether he was on the field making plays or on the sideline waiting for his turn
to shine. 

Sunny D -- Nate Baker.  On a Sunny D team that was noted for height, depth, and great attendance,
our Spirit disc went to the tallest, deepest, most attendingist 6'8" Nate Baker.  During the
regular season, he caught the winning goal on his 30th birthday, and even then he was the most
humble and collected person on the field.  Great playing with you, Nate.

Season-ending Standings

Brilliant! 12 0	        White Lightning 10 2
Ginger Cream 9 3         Sunny D 11 1
Zork 9 3                 Orange Crush It 7 5
Woolly Mammoth 8 4       marsupial death pouch hit squad 7 5
Buckin' Blanco 7 5       Green Flash Effect 6 5
Mean Joe Greene 5 7      Night Train 6 6
Sol 5 7                  Wampeters and Granfalloons 4 8
Screech 4 8              Grey Is Not A Color 3 9
Stack in Black 4 8       Blue By You 3 9
Wreckers 3 9             Deep in the Meat 3 9
Lobster Claw 4 8         Chainsaw 2 10

Tourney Pools
        
Pool A – Hooker     Pool B – Thompson Rd.   Pool C – Bethesda   Pool D – Herndon 
    (Chapel Hill)       (Garner)                (Durham)            (Durham)
Brilliant!          White Lightning         Sunny D             Ginger Cream  
marsupial           Woolly Mammoth          Orange Crush It     Zork  
Buckin' Blanco      Green Flash Effect      Night Train         Mean Joe Greene  
GNC                 Screech                 WAG                 Sol  
Stack in Black      Blue by You             Deep in the Meat    Wreckers  
Chainsaw            Lobster Claw

Saturday Pool Play

Pool A
Marsupial Death Pouch Hit Squad 5-0
Buckin’ Blanco 4-1
Brilliant! 2-3
GNC 2-3
Chainsaw 2-3

Point differentials in the 3-way tie had Brilliant! +3, GNC 0, and Chainsaw –3.

Pool B
White Lightning 4-1
Blue by You 4-1
Screech 3-2
Woolly Mammoth 3-2
Green Flash Effect 1-4
Lobster Claw 0-5

Screech beat Woolly Mammoth head to head, overtaking them with a 7-0 run to win 9-6.

Pool C
Sunny D 4-0
Deep in the Meat 2-2
Night Train 2-2
Orange Crush It 1-3
WAG 1-3

Deep in the Meat beat Night Train head to head, 13-11.  Orange Crush It beat WAG head to head,
11-10.

Pool D
Zork 4-0
Sol 2-2
Wreckers 2-2
Ginger Cream 1-3
Mean Joe Greene 1-3

Head-to-head victories went to Sol (over Wreckers) and Ginger Cream (over Mean Joe Greene), 14-11
and 9-7, respectively.

Prequarters

Sunday’s prequarter matchups, with #2 and #3 from each pool contending for advancement to
quarters, had the following results:

Screech over Deep in the Meat, 11-7
Sol over Brilliant! 12-9
Wreckers over Blanco 12-11
Blue by You over Night Train 13-6

Quarters

The quarters matchups pitted prequarters winners with the #1s from each pool, with the following
results:

Marsupials over Screech 11-5
White Lightning over Sol 15-9
Sunny D over Wreckers 14-7
Zork over Blue by You 15-8

Semis

Marsupials over Zork, 17-10
Sunny D over Lightning 14-12

Finals

Marsupials over Sunny D 18-16

Addenda

Line scores for semis:

Marsupials 1   2 3 4   5 6   7   8 9  10      11  12  13   14 15 16 17
Zork         1       2     3   4     5    6 7   8   9   10

Sunny D          1 2    3  4 5   6   7       8 9     10   11 12 13    14
White Lightning     1 2  3     4   5   6 7 8    9 10    11         12

Line score for finals:

Sunny D     1  2  3  4    5   6  7 8  9  10 11   12   13     14 15      16  
Marsupials    1  2  3  4 5  6  7    8   9     10   11   12 13      14 15   16 17 18


            Marsupials (pulling)                   Sunny D
                                              1  Jesse/Josh (40y, b, crossfield)
     Raj/Lindsey (60y, b, crossfield)  1
                                              2  Zack/Berendes (10y, f)
 Robbie/Ray (20y, hammer, crossfield)  2
                                              3  Sarah/Nate (15y, f)
               Thomas/Robbie (10y, f)  3
                                              4  Troy/Kate (50y, f)
                 Robbie/Matt (40y, f)  4
                   Josh/Raj  (25y, f)  5
                                              5  Josh/Sarah (20y, f)
                  Ray/Thomas  (7y, f)  6
                                              6  Kate/Berendes (40y, f)
                      Ray/Raj (2y, f)  7
                                              7  Berendes/Troy  (6y, f)
                                              8  Troy/Kate (35y, f)
                  Ray/Robbie (30y, b)  8
                                              9  Josh/Troy (45y, f)
                  Raj/Thomas (55y, f)  9
                                              10  Josh/Kevin (20y, b)
                                              11  Berendes/Sarah (23y, f)
      Lindsey/Thomas (35y, b, break)  10
                                              12  Berendes/Sarah (12y, f)
              Robbie/Thomas (12y, b)  11
                                              13  Jen/Troy (12y, b)
                   Raj/Leigh (5y, b)  12
                  Robbie/Raj (10, b)  13
                                              14  Troy/Denise (68y, b)
                                              15  Josh/John (10y, b)
                 Ray/Robbie (70y, b)  14
               Lindsey/Matt (43y, b)  15
                                              16  Jen/Troy (45y, b)
                 Robbie/Ray (15y, f)  16
                Robbie/Josh (55y, b)  17
                 Robbie/Josh (8y, b)  18

Rosters

Marsupials                  Sunny D

Leigh Babaian               Jennifer Coon 
Lindsey Hack                Denice Cunningham 
Emma Johnson                Kate Morrison 
Brooke Steele               sarah morrison 
Shannon Stevenson           Heidi Porter 
Kim Sulman                  Nate Baker 
Matthew Babaian             David Berendes 
Jeff Brenman                Josh Berkowitz 
Mark Debenedette            Kevin Calcagno 
Michael Fraenkel            Devin Connelly 
Tom Herndon                 Dusty Hoefer 
Robbie Minshall             John Kenline 
Joshua Nadel                jesse lieberman 
Jake Palmer                 zack mondry 
ray parrish                 Timothy Murray 
Tim Pflaum                  ben pagano 
Raju Prasad                 Josh Parshall 
Paul Reder                  Troy Revell 
Thomas Sayre-Mccord         Allen Riddell 
yerik Tlekin                David Weisberg 
Joel Wilson 




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