In the Masters Division, the tournament was set up as a round robin, with each team playing every other.
From these results the top 4 teams were selected to play semi-finals, then finals.
At the end of the round robin, the four teams were:
OLD SAG (that’s us)
Vigi (from Japan)
Eastern Greys (Australia)
Grind (Vancouver, BC)
With an undefeated record, we were the top dog, and played Grind in the semi-final on Friday morning.
We beat them soundly, but by the end of the game, some of our better players were unable to play any further due to injuries.
Len (pulled / partially tore his right quadricep during the game against Grind)
Steve W. (a hamstring he’d been nursing for days, finally gave out)
Jay Soda (ankle or achilles tendon)
Gian (groin pull)
The Eastern Greys faced Vigi, and though they battled it out, lost by a few.
So we faced Vigi in the final.
I’d have to say that as a US team, favored to win, it didn’t seem like anyone was on our side. That was compounded by the presence of roughly 16 Japanese teams at the tournament all rooting (very loudly) for the bad guys. I’m sure the audio on the DVD won’t do the noise level any justice, but we all had a hard time hearing on the field.
In the end we lost the game in overtime 16-17.
One week later and some of us are still finding ourselves wondering, “How did we lose that game?”
Several of us have come up with a list of reasons, and things we could have done differently. In the end it comes down to winning Nationals next year, and getting ready for Worlds again in 2008 in Vancouver.
For a really detailed play by play of the game, you’ll have to buy the DVD. Then you can watch it and come to your own conclusions.
