NYU Matchup!

Tonight's summer league game was a must-win for Navy.

That's in large part because of the number of NYU alums that play for both teams. On my team, we've got Julie, Jimmy, JP and myself. Red has Zac Roy and Matt Leventhal. For added incentive, Red also had Iana, the infamous Canadian passenger from a couple of weeks ago and the other Pike player in WSL, Heng-Scheng.

It was a fun game, for sure. I opened the game throwing a handful of flicks for deep goals. We then had some turnovers throwing into poaches. Some were definitely my errors. I'm so used to not really looking too hard for poachers with Pike because the cutters are encouraged to cut in such a manner that any poaching is completely obvious. Also, the person being poached is encouraged to get open immediately and let the thrower know. this doesn't always happen at Summer League. By not checking for the poach because I assume that no one could be in such a bad offensive position, I end up throwing into the poacher without seeing him. The time to release the huck is often *now* so I react based on what I see. This is a prime example of being able to take in more of the field in one look and see that poacher, no matter the team or the level of play.

As the second half progressed, we found ourselves down, so I started playing exclusively to force turnovers. I succeeded in the way of 3 layout Ds on the dump and a couple of other turnovers forced from a breakside poach or marking well. We brought the game tighter again (and our team is getting better by the game) only to lose 12-15 on some dumb turnovers by me (another deep poacher) and some other players.

I'm still confident about this season and excited about the possibilities for this team. Stepping back and not scrutinizing every decision or play is tough for me, even in summer league. I feel bad as I'm spewing off about this that and the other strategic option or whatever knowing full well that if I were listening to me, I might not, well, listen to me.

Summer League Record: 1-2
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Workout Total:
90 minutes of ultimate