Day Five - Women on fire! Men lose to strong Swiss...

The fifth day of EUC competition saw the two Irish teams fortunes take different paths - there was happiness for the Ladies who won a further 2 games (that's 5 wins out of 9!) but disappointment for the Open team who's first appearance in an international quarter-final finished in a crushing defeat at the hands of a strong Swiss team. Best start with the good news...

Another 9am start in overcast and humid conditions saw the Irish Ladies take on Austria in the second last of their 'Bottom Six' group games. The Austrians were fired up and started well with a Zone Defence that looked strong but soon the girls adapted to it and were scoring with ease. It was 9-5 at half-time before the Austrians made a play for the game with a run of points bringing it to 10-8. The Irish Ladies were having none of it though and as the game wore on pushed further ahead to close out a 17-11 win, with a Callahan goal for Catherine being the highlight!


Game Two of the Day was against the Russians at 1pm. They were no match for the Irish who exploited a weak defence and shaky throws to run amok. 9-1 at halftime and 17-4 at the finish, it was an excellent and ruthless show by the girls who now face France in the 9th/10th place playoff. As the dust settles the organisers will have to face serious questions over the Womens Division. Not only were there no crossovers (unlike the Open Div) in a Division where 4 new teams were competing, but there was also 5 consecutive 9am starts. Apparently this was because 'the Open Division had more to offer spectators'...


Pitch 11 was the field on which the Ladies demolished the Russians, the field where the Open team beat the French and the field where our big match took place today. It's still a pretty open wound at this stage, a little raw... We approached the game like every other, knowing who we were as a team, what we had to do and the size of the task ahead of us. We were bidding for a place in the top four. We were ready, we were psyched and we wanted it bad. We ran into a brick wall made up a Swiss team who with a better draw might even make the Final. Their Offence was fast, cutting to break and openside with throws going across or around the mark. Their handlers were clever and had throws to beat the band. Their defence was unerring - hassling every throw, just behind every catcher and swarming under any disc. There was no space for anyone, anywhere. They got turns and converted them time and time again. It wasnt even as though we did anything wrong, we simply weren't allowed do anthing right! There's nothing else to say...the best team won and they wone well beating us 17-4. Next up for them are GB, who cruised past France. It's the French again for us...11am tomorrow morning for a shot at 5th.

It ain't gonna be easy...