DCU GRYPHONS WIN SUMMER CUPPERS

In case you hadn't already heard, in addition to the Gryphlets doing awesomely, the Gryphons had a pretty good day too :P

13 purple-clad warriors bested all opponents to emerge victorious at Summer Cuppers, for the first time ever in DCU's history.

Tejas 'BD' Guruswamy (c)
Sam 'Milk' Turner
Andrew 'Tebs' Tebboth
Nick '4OD' Owen
Nick 'Gonzo' SD
Chris Barnes
Ares Meroueh
Michalis Neururer
Fraser Elliott
Jess Wong
Valentijn Karemaker
Claire Burgess
Helen 'Heron' Brooks

The goal for the day was to play our best and end each match happy with our performance. We reminded each other of the lessons we had learnt in college league this term: that we play to our full potential when we stay positive, to make sure we play to our strengths rather than allowing the opposition to dictate the style of play, and to remember that ultimate is a team sport and we have to cooperate on the pitch. We came into the tournament deservedly seeded 2nd but there were some other very good squads entered from Trinity (Matt Shannon, NataFenn, Paul Gurican) to Thundercatz (Mike Fletcher, Dom Dathan, Nick ‘Wildcard’ Tsao) so I was definitely not expecting to sail through to the trophy.

DCU Gryphons (2) 7 - 0 Churchill Tossers (11)
We were somewhat surprised to see a Churchill second team strengthened by the return of a few of their star alumni players (Ian and Andy). After a “tactical masterstroke” of winning the toss and deciding to start on upwind defense, we played a few scrappy points to warm up our catching hands (which fortunately ended in DCU's favour), before comfortably pulling away with the victory. Unfortunately during this match Valentijn injured her knee cutting for an endzone catch and had to go to A&E -- get well soon Valentijn! -- a major blow, the other women in the squad deserve a lot of credit for stepping up and ensuring DCU made it through the day.

DCU Gryphons (2) 4 - 2 Homerton (8)
The wind had been gradually increasing through the day and by now it was zone o'clock. We started off a bit slowly and Homerton were able to snatch a quick lead by baiting throws through their zone and moving the disc quickly on turns. About 15 minutes in we found ourselves waiting for the pull, facing upwind, 2-0 down - things were not looking good. Cue an amazing no-turn point where we just stuck with simple, short passes and worked it around their zone with amazing speed -- we were back! The next point dragged on a bit before I managed to convince the onfield players to call a timeout and remind them of what we had done the point before. After all agreeing we should stop attempting to throw over their zone, we scored and were level at 2-2. Two more points filled with clinical handler movement and DCU had topped its group.

Quarterfinals: DCU Gryphons (2) 6 - 4 Churchill Chillies (7)
From our college league experience against these guys we knew it would be a tough match. Both teams with plenty of competent handlers successfully navigated the opposition's zone defense and so we were trading points with Churchill having the slight advantage of winning the toss. Every point was hotly contested including one where Tebs's catch in the endzone had to rely on video evidence to decide whether it was in or out. In the end our more chilly handling managed to score the break and DCU made it three wins out of three against Churchill Chillies this term.

Semifinals: DCU Gryphons (2) 7 - 4 ARU Darkside (3)
In a preview of the college league final that may-or-may-not happen, we came up against an ARU line that has been rapidly improving over the course of this year, and had already defeated a strong Thundercatz side to progress. Lassie, his brother Nick and Dobie gave them a significant height advantage, but our zone managed to keep them quiet and forced enough turns for us to close out a win. Again the way our handlers worked together really proved to be the difference as their zone simply couldn’t contain us. Despite losing the toss and ARU having the initial advantage, and Helen having to disappear for choir committments, Gryphons got the break and won the game.

Finals: DCU Gryphons (2) 5 - 3 Penguins (1) Penguins rocked up to this match with an amazing squad, including Lily Huang, Adam Morgan, Dan Marahrens, Danny Cole, Kris Cao, Aaron Miles, Pri Seth, and even with coaches in the form of Mark Stephens and Elliott More advising from the sideline (Elliott played a few points as well). Meanwhile DCU had lost Gonzo as well so we were down to 10 players. By this time the wind was strong and steady so both teams came out with junk zone defense. DCU started stronger though, with some absolutely textbook zone offence, making short simple passes to take a 2-0 lead. Then Penguins woke up and piled on some strong handling lines and replied in kind, calmly working around our zone and scored three in a row. 3-2 down in the cuppers final - could DCU make it four comebacks in a row? Switching to a man defence we piled on the pressure and got some spectacular run through D’s. Our offense stayed calm and despite the high winds we made reliable throws to get the break back. Much credit goes to Claire and Jess who were basically iron-womanning now but still managed to keep Lily under control on D and beat her long on O. Time went with DCU having the advantage at 4-3. Trying to select who would play that last point, oh man -- I asked who was ready to step up and we had too many volunteers! Very proud of everyone there. And step up they certainly did. After a great pull by Sam, Nick Owen sacrificed his nose to get a D right on the Penguins end zone line and a simple break from Sam to Ares sealed the victory.

A few comments from our players:
As a general comment, my favourite thing about Cuppers thinking back was that we didn’t win because we got an easy ride through the games, or because other teams played badly, or because we got lucky. We won because we played well and proved ourselves to be better than the other teams there. I think we’ve maybe scored some wins (and losses) in the past on luck or whatever, but this day was totally about us kicking ass and taking names. Feels good man. -- Sam

Watching the videos, I have to add that there were times when we played O like there was no D. Seriously, we just passed and passed and passed as if there was no-one there. The only times we turned were off hucks or unlucky drops etc. It was absolutely spectacular. -- Gonzo