RecapSummer 2019House Arryn vs. House Lannister

I’m amazed both the games happened last night.  There were some field issues that caused us to move off of the turf at Rancho Cienega and onto the grass, where they had to get creative to fit in two fields around a bunch of fences and softball.  I could easily fill two recaps worth of soliloquies on the annoyance it’s been booking Summer League fields this year, and the insanity of the phone call I was on last night with Rancho as they continued to claim confusion over things I thought we cleared up over a month ago. I even sat down in the office with the person who books the field back in April to clear everything up, and all of that was apparently forgotten when he brought up the same things he was confused about back then.  It boggles the mind.  Chuck Bender was the LAOUT Field Coordinator who originally got us the turf fields a few years, but unfortunately he left the Board right before Summer League planning began. He must’ve pulled some magic out of his ass because I’ve been struggling to nail fields down this year.  But I don’t want to waste too much of your time whining about fields.  Let’s get to the recap!

This year Mixed division is House vs. House.  Men’s gets the clans.  Mixed gets the Houses.  And the first up is Arryn and Lannister.  So here’s Nate Lannister:

Lannister vs Arryn: Nate is poisoned

It was a coincidence I’m sure, but Andy scheduling Lannister vs Arryn as a week 1 match-up is perfect considering the lore of Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire for book readers). For those unfamiliar with the series, the foundation of the family-politics side of the story begins when Jon Arryn, “Hand of the King” to King Robert Baratheon, dies under mysterious circumstances at the capital. King Robert rides north to convince Eddard “Ned” Stark to be his new Hand, and Ned does not plan to accept, until his wife Catelyn Stark gets a letter from her sister Lysa Arryn alleging that, the Lannisters murdered Jon Arryn by poisoning him. Ned decides to become the new Hand to investigate, and thus the story begins.

So… it was a coincidence I’m sure, that I got particularly awful food poisoning the night before our first summer league game and spent most of the night throwing up and not getting precious sleep. Vengeance for Jon Arryn? My entire day was agony. However, in lieu of our second round guy not being able to attend, and House Arryn getting male sub to replace their R1 guy, there was no question that I would be there anyway. Maybe I could pull off a Michael Jordan Flu game.

It was not to be. We started on O and they took half on us 8-3. Lots of fun plays, but my favorite obviously was Fuse running me over while catching a goal I was trying to poach and snatch away safely. I think we both got it at the same time when we both fell down in a heap together. It was not a high impact collision at all, and the entire sideline was asking if I was fine, because Fuse was definitely fine and was up and asking if I was good. I was winded. It was an awesome play. Fuse is awesome.

Team Arryn has arguably the strongest core of women in the league, and it showed last night in their natural chemistry. Fuse, Becca, Crunchy, and captains Tahlia and Audree were excellent. Their throwing, utilization of space, and general speed was too much for us. The game was a strong indicator that 6v6 significantly increases the role and importance of women in league, and more women were involved on both sides of the disc. So cheers to that!

On the Lannister side, the second half was better for us, as we notched a 3-goal run at one point (Our second half goal!!), and played the half to serve to finish 15-9. Unlike Arryn, whom already look like an almost completed version of what they can be, we at Lannister have a ton of room to grow and improve. We were too excited for our own good last night, most of our team is young, and many have not played outside of a structured vertical stack. It should be a fun summer!

Like Tyrion Lannister, Arryn put us in their Sky Prison this week, but we will be back!

I will take all history of House vs. House for this season.  Since I didn’t watch the series, it was absolutely coincidence to put these two houses together on the first week.  But I love backstory, so any backstory of HvH conflict I’m up for.

Also interested to hear of any tales of how 6v6 played.  Were zones tried?  How was the strategy different?  Or did it just feel like normal frisbee played on a smaller field?  (Cause I’m pretty sure they had to play on small fields last night to fit it all in.)