After our successful tournament on the 15th of November, the second Indoor competition day came upon us much quicker than anyone had expected. Despite the good team cohesion and the home ground, the anxiety was high as we were not sure if we can match our performance against a much tougher opposition.
Our first game was against our friends from Force Electro, who were set to test us to the limits as the favorites to win the competition. Despite the formidable opponent, we played our own style and our offense was unwavering. We kept our composure for the first 25 minutes of the game and turned this into a neck and neck opening to the tournament. With only few minutes until the end, the game was tied at 6:6 and it looked like it could go either way. Unfortunately, a few lapses in concentration cost us dearly in the final minutes of the game and Force was able to convert a few quick points in succession to get to the final score of 7:10.
Despite the loss, we were heartened by the fact that we played as equals against a supposedly superior team. As it turned out Force Electro went undefeated throughout the day and we came the closest of all teams to beating them. The great opening gave us wings and we swooped through the second game against WAF1. It was a very spirited game in which we continued to play our fast-paced handler offense and dominated the game from very early on. Despite WAF1’s best efforts we took the win home with a convincing score of 12:4.
Our next game against Veenendaal Tijgers Open was by far the closest and most competitive game of all that were played today. Through the day we could see that the Tijgers were really practiced at playing Indoor style and showed some incredible hammers, scoobers and blades as well as some sick layouts. We were definitely in the position of the underdogs, but we showed that dogs can also bite. We held our own on offense and we pushed them to the limits with our energetic defense. We both fought fiercely for every single point and as a result neither of the two teams went ahead by more than 1 point at any given time. The game went back and forth until at 10:10 the siren sounded with R’damnit in possession of the disc and the chance to finish off the golden point. Unfortunately, we were denied a hard-fought victory by a momentary loss of focus and a stray scoober that the Tigers pounced on to make it 10:11.
The closing game of the day was against Spinners1. Even though it was a physical game with relatively more body contacts, calls and stoppages, it was also a good one. Throughout the first half of the game we gained a lead of about 3-4 points and managed to maintain it. It seemed that during the last 10-15 minutes of the game we didn’t have the legs to press our advantage and to make the score line even more convincing, so we were content to keep playing point-for-point until the end. The final result was 10:6.
In the aftermath of these 4 games, it became clear that our promotion from division 4 was well deserved. Even though we came in to the tournament as underdogs, we managed to dominate 2 of the teams and to give the two best teams in the competition a run for their money. If anything, we proved that when we come together and play with energy, confidence and desire to win, we play as equals even with the best of teams. We are confident that no team in Division 3 will underestimate us the next time that we meet on the field.