Flying high with Imperial frisbee

Imperial’s Ultimate Frisbee club, more commonly known as the discDoctors (or dD) were in a position to bring both a women’s team and a men’s team to nationals for the first time ever, with the men having qualified in the league throughout the season, and the women finishing highly at Outdoor Regionals qualifier back in March.

Men’s 1st Team

Nationals this year started with dD taking on Heriot Watt who took an early lead and never looked back, with the game finishing 8-4 to Heriot – a typical dD start to a tournament!

With much more now at stake having lost the first game, dD came out fighting against a Southampton side that looked a little lacklustre at times. dD capitalised on this with great defensive and offensive play, winning the game 10-1, sending a big message to our next opponents Liverpool.

This next game proved to be very close, with both teams taking the lead at different points, but it was dD’s intensive defensive play which won them the game 9-6, and coming second in our pool.

This put us in a crossover with Cardiff, which turned out to be a game of two halves, dD took the first half fairly convincingly 7-4, however after half time, Cardiff came out with some very strong defence play which dD couldn’t break, and Cardiff won the game 8-7.

This left us on Sunday with a round robin against Southampton and Sheffield for a place in the plate final. With fewer players now, dD knew both games would be tough, particularly with a re-match against Southampton who came out fighting, however dD were able to keep the intensity up and won 12-2 in the end. The Sheffield game was very close, with the teams trading points throughout, but dD came out 9-7 winners with great defence play giving them the win.

This put us in the plate final against Kent, a team we had beaten 13-4 previously in the season. With a very small squad from injuries at this point, dD knew it would be a tough game. Everyone came out fighting and gave it their all, with dD playing incredibly well in windy conditions to go 7-0 up, including three upwind points! At this point Kent came out fighting clawing the game back to 7-4, however it wasn’t enough as dD won 9-4.

The players can be very proud of winning the division two plate, showing the great quality that we have in a squad with a mix of vast experience and relatively new players.

Women’s 1st Team

The weekend started on a cold and sunny Saturday morning, with the women in a good position; seeded 2nd in Div 2, and top of their group.

Their first game was against Manchester, an enjoyable game and an opportunity for the team to find their flow. The final score was 11-1 to Imperial; a great start to weekend.

The second game was against Cardiff, who although seeded at the bottom of the group, proved they certainly didn’t belong there by fighting a tough fight against the wind with some good catches in bad wind. Imperial eventually worked it down the pitch though to win the game 6-3.

The final game of pool play was against Sheffield Hallam, who also put up a good fight. They came out with a tight zone defence, and some very safe catches that Imperial just couldn’t quite beat and the women lost 8-2. This meant that a tense crossover game awaited against Reading, which if lost would mean the team could only finish as high as 8th. It was a tight game, and points were traded throughout, both teams desperate to avoid being in the lower bracket, but the women worked it through the gaps in their defence with every player contributing. It ended with a tense universe point, which Imperial won to leave them in the top bracket.

Day two started slowly, as the regret of too much pizza and the consequences of sleeping on a cold scout hut floor took hold, but the women came out fighting against Nottingham, the weekend’s hosts. Unfortunately despite Imperial finding their swing quickly and playing some excellent offence, Nottingham were just too strong and won 11-5.

After watching the boys beat Southampton (again), the girls were ready to take on Southampton’s women’s team. Once again a strong performance gave the women a 10-4 victory.

The final game was against Swansea where the wind picked up and Imperial took the opportunity to bring out their zone defence which they’d been practicing all weekend. It all came together and Swansea just couldn’t compete. Combined with some excellent upwind points from Imperial, the women took the final game 10-1, to finish in 5th place.

All in all an excellent weekend for Imperial’s inaugural women’s outdoor team, playing against some tough teams but they came together and played well as a team. MVP went to Si-Ci Ong, and MIP to Poh Hui Xian (Fish).

Many thanks must go to the captains and coaches for enabling both teams to play so well at this level and to also bring on-board and incorporate new players in the team.