Team USA (Sockeye) beat the German National Team last night, 17-10, in a friendly in Seattle, WA.

The first half went 9-2, Sockeye, as defensive pressure and smart lane-poaching was forcing the German O into long, pressured hucks that were lasering past their cutters. The Sockeye offense was able to make a couple extra passes around the endzone on each point to ensure an easy goal.

The second half was dead even, though, as the Germans were able to match Sockeye 8-8. A major change was the aggressive pivoting of the Germans; their handlers (especially #18 Flo and #13 Has) used their pivots to open up cutters. The German offense relies heavily on long I/O breaks, but when their handlers pivot aggressively to the dead side, it opens up more space by moving other defenders to respect those throws. The German long game started to connect as they were able to open up some cuts into the middle of the field, giving their best throwers good position.

There was a crowd of about 400 folks there to watch, and they also got to see some of the best middle school Ultimate in the country as Seattle’s Asa Mercer Middle School took on a team of combined Seattle Middle School players. Asa Mercer will be showcased again in Vancouver during World’s. The level of skill is still shocking to those that remember learning their first forehand at age 20, and the team works hard and together to move the disc.