Scobel Wiggins Photography

First off, ECC was a great tournament. It is key in a season to face tough opponents in tightly contested games. But in the northwest region, we often tire of playing the same teams. It was great to get to play other teams from the east coast and international teams. Our most challenging, and therefore rewarding games, were against Revolucion from Colombia. We were lucky enough to play this team twice, once on Saturday and then once on Sunday in the Quarter Finals. Both games were hard fought with lots of spirited play. Colombia is a physical team with great athletes, all of whom seem to feel very comfortable with the disc in their hand. Their quick, confidant playing is something to emulate, and I know that our team learned a lot from playing them. They play a spread stack and look primarily for in cuts. They rely on the speed and throws of their handlers, particularly Aleja Torres (who is a truly fantastic player).

On Saturday we relied primarily on our long game, urging our cutters to get the disc in an aggressive position and look downfield. Our strategy was to front their receivers to force their handlers to put the disc long instead of completing easy passes. We were fairly successful with this strategy, only being beaten deep off a few hucks but contesting most of them. We held a backhand force thinking that this would slow down the fast throws of their handlers as well as forcing a slower throw on the big looks so we had a better chance of making a play. We also threw several zones but none of them were successful. Despite playing a hard fought game where every point felt like it could go to either team, we lost by one point after a hard cap on universe point (12-13).

Following our one point loss on Saturday, we went back to the drawing board and thought about a strategy to put more pressure on their handlers. Despite our backhand force and attempted zones, we had been unable to stop the part of their game that really allowed Revolucion to get into their grove. We decided to try forcing flick instead to challenge the short, quick passes from their handlers on give and go's. We also decided to continue fronting but putting more of an emphasis on playing last back since flicks can be released faster and are therefore often harder to make a defensive play on.

We showed on Sunday fired up and came out strong. Immediately our change in strategy seemed to be effective. The first several points we were able to stop the fast passes of their handlers while clamping down on their in cuts. Each point was still hard fought with several lead changes taking place over the course of the game. With our change in strategy, however, we were able to take half 8-7, feeling great about our play. But then we came face to face with a truth of sports—90% of any game is mental.

In the second half, Colombia seemed to respond to our fronting force flick and began to put discs up long more often. Despite changing some of our matchups we were not able to challenge their throws. They got several points in a row coming out of half, and then our game changed. Throws that had been easy passes before suddenly became turnovers. We started holding on to the disc and playing a little more scared on d meaning we weren't able to keep the disc moving or challenge their in cuts. We ended up losing 10-13. The lesson learned being that any adjustments made can give you a small edge but in the end of the day, the team needs to play its game to win. You must continue to execute your offensive and defensive game in the face of pressure. Once you can accomplish that, all the adjustments are just the sprinkles on top of the cake.

Pauline Lauterbach plays for Portland's Schwa.