Thanks Five Ultimate for the nice team picture, this after our 2-1 finish on Thursday in Sarasota.
AMP finished the 2011 club season by representing Philadelphia at the 2011 Club Championships. With continued improvement from last year, the team returned to the National quarterfinals for the fifth time, and first since 2009. With a roster featuring just 6 players in common between the 09 and 2011 campaigns, the team has truly rebuilt its core, with greater depth and flexibility, to compete for a national championship in 2012 and beyond.
While our season-long emphasis on fitness and mental toughness fueled the team throughout the tournament, AMP’s offense struggled at times in Sarasota, feeling the absence of the top-level tests meant to be provided by the rained-out Chesapeake Open tournament. Some personnel shifts and strategic adjustments on the fly were required while the defense kept the team competitive with several big runs in key games. Down 8-4 at half to Minnesota’s Dragon Thrust, the D-line scored 6 breaks in the second half, including a 4 point run to turn an 8-10 deficit into a 12-10 lead. AMP added one more break to complete the 15-12 win, then came from behind once more in the final game on Thursday to record a win over Jacksonville and break seed, advancing into the Friday powerpools. Justin Illuzzi threw 4 scores in the Dragon game, Melissa Devlin scored twice, Aaron Caulfield had 3 goals and Alex Grintsvayg 2 Ds along with 2 assists and 1 score.
Some of the inconsistencies returned on Friday against the top overall seed Ghost and defending National Champion Polar Bears. Those two losses sent AMP into the pre-quarter game against Atlanta’s well-regarded Bucket, but the team refocused for its best performance of the season. AMP’s D immediately opened up a 4-1 lead with Brian Jin’s mark forcing Bucket away from their primary cutters and Grin again dominant in transition, scoring 2 and assisting on 4 more goals in addition to 1 D during the game. Krista Winalski scored 2 clutch goals while Raha Mozaffari and Aaron Caulfield were huge stretching the field deep, each scoring 3, often with spectacular grabs, and assisting on 2 more respectively. Raha added a layout takeaway flying high past Bucket’s best female receiver to D an underneath cut. Though the lead narrowed to 8-7 at half, AMP coolly pulled away in the second with superior fitness and great support from teammates, fans and Southpaw on the sideline, breaking on the game’s final 2 points for a 15-11 win.
Despite a 5-goal performance from Aaron Caulfield, AMP could not capitalize on their opportunities in the quarterfinals. The team’s mental toughness showed through in the placement bracket though with a 4-point run late in the second half to take a lead against World Club Champions CLX, before falling by one for a respectable 8th place finish.
AMP’s women featured in several big plays on the weekend including a catch D on the goal line by Preeti Nalavade against Dragon, a terrific D and Callahan score for Andrea DeSabato against Ghost, a diving score off a tipped disc for a big upwind break by Kim Streff against CLX, Kelly Nye’s torpedo layout D against Slow White, Jill Domanico’s persistent pressure in the Wolverine game and many more unnoticed plays with big impact by Melanie Berlin, Nichole Smith and Jessie Morris moving the disc to setup their teammates on O and denying their marks on D. The talent, intensity and consistency from the women’s side of the roster always sets AMP apart from its opponents.
AMP’s men were big contributors as well with Keith Torrey and Zach Weiss taking turns shadowing opposing deeps while bringing intense pressure on under cuts. Jesse Gormley, Andrew Baill and Bill Schrecker provided energy and clutch breaks for the D line as well as constant talk from the sideline. Ben Pelleg featuring on both the O and D lines, veterans Brian Lo, Harrison Treegoob and Alex Peters providing the handling foundation for the team while O cutters Dan Cavanaugh and Kevin McCormick produced several spectacular deep runs and grabs.