Many Week Two matchups could make a case for the 'Game of the Week' tag, with six of the 10 contests ultimately being decided by four points or less.
And while Jacksonville and Charlotte played the second overtime game that the league has seen in as many weeks, you could argue that the three best games all went down out west, with three victories for Vancouver, Los Angeles, and San Jose over regional rivals coming by one, two, and three goals, respectively.
On ESPN3, Vancouver put everything together in its impressive 21-20 victory over Seattle, scoring the winning goal on Darren Wu’s flick to Edward Guo with two seconds left. The Riptide’s poise under pressure was remarkable, with Kevin Underhill and Gagan Chatha leading the offense and Richie Tam stifling Seattle with suffocating handler defense.
It was Vancouver’s second time under the ESPN3 spotlight, and both appearances have basically involved buzzer beating drama. Unlike last year, when San Jose’s Ashlin Joye found Tyler Bacon for the winning goal to crush Vancouver’s hopes as the clock expired, the Riptide had the disc last on Saturday and earned a crucial statement win.
“Beating Seattle is definitely a big deal for us," Chatha said, who accounted for six Riptide goals. "They are our biggest rivals, especially with how close they are in geography. There is also a rich history with the two club teams associated with the teams, so its nice being able to get a win against them and also letting them know that we mean business."
Chatha attributed the victory to everyone finding and embracing their roles. Compared to Week One, when the Riptide suffered two losses in the Bay Area to San Francisco and San Jose, they did a better job of working the disc around and being patient, utilizing the bigger field to their advantage.
With a quick rematch on tap this Saturday in Vancouver, the Riptide will brace for the Cascades’ inevitable adjustments and renewed effort. It will be the second of five scheduled regular season meetings between the Pacific Northwest rivals.
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There are over 1,100 people currently signed up in the AUDL’s weekly Pickem contest. (If you’re interested in joining the competition, check out AUDLPickem.com to join the completely free fun!)
On Monday, the official AUDL twitter account shared that more than 70% of the pickers chose Seattle to beat Vancouver this past Saturday night - that outcome did not happen.
Shortly after the AUDL tweeted the news, the Cascades optimistically posted, "there’s always week 3."
Two things:
1) If you’re not already following the Cascades on Twitter, you’re making a mistake. Those Seattle kids are clever fellows.
2) It will be mighty interesting to see how many of the 1,100+ players in AUDL’s Pick'Em showdown will go with Vancouver to beat the Cascades for the second straight week, this time at home. Or will folks not fully believe in the 1-2 Riptide with the majority thinking that Seattle will bounce back and win on the road? I’m honestly not sure who I’m going to pick yet, but I’m very curious to see how that game unfolds.
In the AUDL Pick'Em contest, exactly zero of the 1,154 registered players have selected all 21 games correctly through two weeks. I’ve gotten three games wrong; only nine pickers have done better.
Kudos to “jaimelochte” who is the only picker to have 20 correct thus far! Pressure’s on Jaime to prognosticate correctly this week, with 12 games on the docket.
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Lost a bit amidst Vancouver’s dramatic win over Seattle was the continued spectacular cutting of Cascades lefty Donnie Clark. The 28-year-old University of Washington product has not been mentioned a ton in conversations about the top explosive deep threats across the sport, but it is time to throw Clark in the mix. With one highlight reel play after another, Seattle’s #1 has repeatedly wowed the crowd with his acrobatic grabs or layout Ds. One particularly amazing play on Saturday saw him reproduce one of the great Ds of the 2014 AUDL season, when Toronto’s Mark Lloyd chased down Rochester’s David Ferraro, closing the gap and laying out over the sprinting deep cutter from behind. Just like Lloyd, Clark somehow smacked the disc away before any body contact might have necessitated a foul call. A remarkable play from Clark that prevented a Riptide score. Also, with four, eight, and five goals in Seattle’s three games so far, Clark currently has the AUDL lead with 17 scores through two weeks.
Originally posted on http://theaudl.com/articles/ata/tuesdaytoss2