Mark Poole catches vs. Doublewide | photo via nzsnaps.com

On-the-scene report from Mark Swanson: “Playing in windy, cold, and occasionally rainy weather, Chain was down one or two to Doublewide during the entire first half of the game. At the start of the second half, the body language of several Doublewide players showed they were tight and nervous. Chain put constant pressure on defense and asserted themselves offensively, winning the game, 17-12. Jolian’s deep floating pulls into the wind allowed Chain’s defense to aggressively challenge DW’s first or second throws. Asa crashed into an iron rail along the sidelines injuring his knee but expects to be back on the field for tomorrow’s games.”

A look at the stats (from the tremendously thorough WUCC online scoreboard) shows the game not swinging the ATL’s way till late, when a 4 goal run (the last 3 by the defense) closed out the game from 13-12. The offense was only broken once, going an outstanding 11 for 12 when receiving. Individual leaders look to have been Dylan Tunnell with 4 assists, and AJ Tiarsmith, Asa Wilson, Paul Vandenberg, and Peter Dempsey with 3 assists and/or goals scored each (Doublewide’s Kiran Thomas, who’ll be joining Chain after this tournament, scored 3 goals for the Texans).

Chain's standing in Pool A

Will Lokke laying out for a catch | photo courtesy Mark Swanson

From the shot above and from Mark Swanson’s video postings, you can get a look at Chain’s brand new Spin jerseys, customized for Worlds.

Paul Vandenberg with the long backhand deep to Sam C-K vs. Loquitos

UPA finals recap

From the article: “Chain received on the final point and showed again their cool confidence. The disc was swung from side to side and then beautifully worked up the backhand sideline until a deep shot opened up for Greg Swanson. The Georgia alum launched an amazing upwind backhand huck to college teammate Dylan Tunnel to win the championship, 15-11. The team rushed the field and the celebration was on.”

photo via VC ultimate

Much more to come, to be sure. For now…

• first southern team in history to win it all

• first southern team in history to be in the finals

• first team from the eastern half of the U.S. to win since 1999

• only the third team to go through the tournament without a loss since 2000

• average score: 15-10

• no game closer than 15-12

• the 2009 season ends with a 21 game winning streak

• the purple jerseys remain undefeated

The game will be the first time Chain or any open team from the southern region has ever made the finals.

Today’s win over Ironside was a reversal of last year’s semifinal result, when the Bostonians ended Chain’s title hopes.

The last time Revolver and Chain met was 2 months ago at the Chesapeake Invitational, where Revolver came from 3 goals down to win a time-shortened game 12-11.

The UPA will be having a live stream of the championship game at http://club2009.upa.org/live.

The quarterfinal matchup is a rematch of Thursday’s game with Jam. While Chain pulled away in that game, the defending champs will likely put up a fierce fight to stay alive. The quarters winner will meet the winner of Boston’s Ironside and NC’s Ring of Fire.

Results from the first 2 days:
15-10 Ring of Fire
15-8 Madcow
15-9 Jam
15-12 Johnny Bravo (Colorado)
15-9 Sockeye (Seattle)

UPA score reporter from regionals

15-1   Crude
15-6   Iron Men
15-4   Florida
15-10  Doublewide

1st regional crown in 3 long years, won right here in the ATL.

15-2   GT Tribe
15-2   Juice
11-6   Overthrow
15-6   Tanasi
15-5   Duel
15-4   Tanasi

Incredibly, Statesboro was nice and dry.

Yesterday, for the 2nd year in a row, Chain Lightning won the Chesapeake Open in Poolesville, MD, over what was likely the tournament’s strongest field yet. 5 of last year’s nationals’ 8 quarter-finalists – and 9 of 16 qualifiers – were competing, including 2 of the teams Chain lost to at ECC two weeks ago, Boston’s Ironside, and San Francisco’s Revolver (both were in the ECC finals, with Revolver winning). The path to the title:

13-6   Los
13-5   Invictus
13-5   Bodhi
11-12 Revolver

12-10 Truck Stop
15-9   Ironside
15-10 Ring of Fire

Chain finished up a strong roadtrip north of Seattle with a resounding 15-6 quarterfinal win over Ring of Fire before an 11-15 loss in the semis to Boston’s Ironside ended a 5 game winning streak against some of club ultimate’s biggest names. The old-school toughness exhibited over the weekend seemed a fitting match for the debut of the new Chain throwback green jerseys.

Mark Poole going over the crowd vs. Ring of Fire in the quarters
(click to view larger image)
via bil elsinger

Josh Ziperstein with the catch around Sockeye opponent Skip Sewell
(click to view larger image)
via Scobel Wiggins