Our Wednesday, April 19 game against Williston began with a moment of uncertainty. We arrived at the Williston fields only to be greeted by the Westminster team we had played the previous Wednesday. We knew, for sure, we weren’t scheduled to play Westminster, but which of the two visiting teams (Westminster or D.A.) would play Williston’s Varsity? We were told we were playing J.V., and several players expresses some disappointment, especially given our earlier win over Westminster. Minutes later we learned that, no, we were, in fact playing Varsity. Most of our players were glad for the turn of events, but some were nervous. After all, the Williston varsity had beat Four Rivers, a historically really strong team. In fact, they’d had nothing but victories all season, with most scores in the 15-2 or 15-4 range. We knew we’d have to give our all.
The competition, indeed, was stiff. Williston took two quick points. We upped our defense, looking for turnovers at every possible moment, and the points got longer. Still, Williston had four points before our signature Kass Gifford-Jerry Huang combo broke the tension with a striking first goal. Willison turned on the heat and scored three more goals, putting the score at 1-7. “One more goal to halftime,” a Williston parent said to me. My response? “Not if Deerfield can help it.” (Halftime happens when one team gets to 8 points, and 15 points is a win.). Just as I had predicted, Deerfield kept the opponent at bay for quite some time! With deep runs from Kass, with Forrest Gao’s great defensive play in the cup, and with excellent defensive plays from Jeff Wang (plus Jeff’s good placement on an assist to Kass), D.A. scored four (count ‘em—4!) more goals before Williston earned their halftime point.
Deerfield played an even stronger second half, falling behind Williston by only two goals. Four of those five goals were Jerry-Kass scoring combinations, and goal 7 included a phenomenal run and huck. At times in this highly athletic game, tensions threatened to weaken Spirit of the Game, but coaches are proud to report that Deerfield players kept appropriate focus on spirit at all times. They dealt calmly and rationally when dealing with foul calls on both sides (a reminder: players ref their own games; there is no input from adult refs or coaches during a game), and they offered a spirited challenge to a strong team.
Shoutouts go to Jeff for good play on both sides of the disk, for his controlled intensity, and for literally (and frequently) throwing himself into this game. To Forrest for running the cup and taking a deep breath after a collision to play a clean game. To Bonnie Pang for being in the cup, for locking it down every time, and for being an exceptional teammate and consistently taking water to players between points. Go Bonnie! To Kass for field awareness. He really knows when to cut deep and when to throw deep. To Allyson Xu for consistently and helpfully calling the lines and yelling, “Up!” To Jerry for his layout and for playing a game with so few errors, overall. We love your pretty throws, Jerry. To Lily for exceptional improvement, and for fluid play. You rock. Actually, our entire team is pretty awesome. Have I said that yet? To all those reading these notes: Come see us play! Ultimate is a fun game to watch. Who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to pick up a disk yourself!