South East Open Regionals happened last weekend, Captain Sam Bonsor reports on the results:
The GU team that took the field at Regionals in Reading saw a significant amount of change from the team that made the trip down to Cardiff the previous week; having been seeded fourth and placed in a very tough group there was little time for introductions.
The first game of the day was against a Reading team fresh off an 8 th place finish at OT3, and 5 th place in the overall tour standings. GU opened the game up on D and the experienced Reading team did not take long to put in the first point. Undeterred Guildford came out on the ensuing O point calmly moved the disc upfield and punched it in for an easy no-turnover score. The rest of the game would not prove so easy, with a combination of drops and poor decision making handing Reading the disc regularly. The Guildford defence did not give up easily however and made Reading work for each and every score. Final score 13-1 Reading.
Next up GU took on top seed Brighton City; once again the team showed promise throughout the game, moving the disc well for periods of time until an errant throw or drop would halt the momentum. Once the disc was turned over City did not have as much trouble with the Guildford D as Reading did, using their superior athleticism and throwing skills to slice through for easy scores.
Despite the relative ease of many of Brighton’s scores the game was a good showing for Guildford, matching the score from the previous game against Reading, final score 13-1 Brighton.
The final pool game was against Brighton Legends, and knowing that they had beaten Reading a win could have guaranteed Guildford a spot at nationals via a three way tie. Legends looked to quell any notions of victory early and used a strong deep game to seize opportunities handed to them to jump out to a large 7-2 lead at half. The second half was anything but one way traffic, GU pulling out all the stops, even scoring a break or two! In the end the comeback fell short but a strong second half showing provided hope that a win in the crossover and a rematch of one of the pool games in the game to go. Final score 12-6?
The 4v5 crossover to get into the game to go was against Hampshire 1, who had held seed with two victories in their pool earlier in the day. Special mention goes out to Ben Wainhouse for showing up before this game and instantly making his presence felt by throwing a big OI forehand huck on the first point for a score. Despite the roster boost the advantage of having played one fewer game showed for Hampshire at the start of the game as they came out to a strong 4-1 lead after starting the game on D. Guildford were not phased however, and put in several breaks on the back of a stifling defence that shut down Hampshire’s downfield cutters and forced bad throws, bringing the game back on serve and taking half 7-6. The second half once again showed which team had played one game fewer with Hampshire coming out and seizing momentum that they never handed back.
With the game level at 8-8 when the whistle sounded Hampshire put in their O point then hounded the Guildford O line, finally putting in the break to finish the game 10-8 and send them into the game to go.
The final game proved to be a test of attrition, with one player already side-lined from the start we faced a tough battle against a Reading 2 nd team hungry to not go winless for the day. From starting the game one player down, several more were forced out of the game through injury or fatigue during the game, with Jack Chapman coming on for the injured Dan White only to leave the pitch and not return on the same point! While this game was certainly not the prettiest of the game it was certainly the grittiest performance of the day for Guildford. Who managed to keep their heads after Reading started to mount a comeback from about 7-3 down to come within one point just before the cap finally went off. In the end it was an accomplished performance in the cap scoring with relative ease to put the game to bed and end the day on a winning note.
Sam