Monday, April 14, 2014

MLU Opening Day: Philadelphia Spinners vs. DC Current


The final score of Saturday's Opening Day match between the Philadelphia Spinners and the DC Current was close. The game itself, however, was not as close as the score makes it seem.

The Current controlled the game from first pull to the end. They dominated on just about every stat line. They were able to capitalize on their turnovers and Philadelphia's defensive overcomittals. They took advantage of some weak Philadelphia pulls and got the disc quickly down field.

I would attribute this to the superior game planning by the Current offense. They did a great job of spreading the field and keeping their cutter's open. But even more than that, they made the Spinner's defense work.

And they didn't work all that well.


They were often chasing after the Current's offense and weren't able to press as well. They may have benefited from some kind of a zone defense.

On the contrary, the DC defense stuck to their men like glue. Philadelphia had a real problem spreading the field and getting men into open space. Multiple times per possession, the Spinners grouped up making it very easy for DC to keep them covered. Plus, the DC team just looked a heck of a lot faster.

The combination of this made it very difficult for the Spinners to work the disc down field. They couldn't capitalize on DC's over comittals or straight up dives because there wasn't a man open. It simply looked like Philadelphia didn't have a solid game plan coming out opening day. They were forced to rely on big, down field Hail Mary plays to get their scoring done.

And, to Philadelphia's credit, they were fairly successful at this. It's part of the way they kept the game so close, in addition to their sufficient defense within 10 yards of the goal line.

The Spinners turned on the gas late in the game with some solid hammer scores. If they had used their 4th quarter offense and energy all game, there very well might have been a different result, but they came on a little too late. The DC Current played hard and smart on both sides of the field and, despite letting the Philadelphia Spinners stay in the game longer than they should have, closed out a strong road victory in their season opener. 



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