A blustery, overcast pitch and one of the earliest starts of the weekend was not enough to put a dampener on the outdoor Ultimate Frisbee this morning.
Filling a fair proportion of both touchlines, the crowd was vocal and an even split of Red and White from the first hammer to the final whistle.
The opening minutes of the game were tense as both teams refused to relent the first point despite evidently different playing styles.
Lancaster, led by former GB player Reese, opted for a looser mode of defence; making several impressive interceptions in this fluid yet well organised form.
By comparison, York played far tighter to the man, forcing the Lancashire players to throw short passes for little gain.
Despite first blood going to the Whites, the game remained in a tense deadlock with the frenetic pace causing the temporary injury of crowd favourite and Wentworth E veteran Sam Geddes-Smith.
Looking somewhat bemused following a sharp knock to the head, the young disk junkie looked on as his team battled end to end for ownership of the second point; one which finally came as Dutch highflyer Koen Voskuil threw an excellent pass to Josh Briggs.
Undeterred by this early deficit, Lancaster rallied around key player Gaskell, whose cries of “I want a fucking turn over Lancaster” both bemused a slightly embarrassed York crowd and raised the tempo of his teams performance.
Regardless, the combination of Briggs and Koen struck again, swapping roles as a huge throw was met by an equally impressive catch.
Three-nil to York.
With the game now firmly in York’s hands, the crowds attention turned towards an altogether different spectacle.
Whilst the average ultimate frisbee player appears to be tall and short haired, both York’s Christopher Henshaw and Lancaster’s number 15 sported a ponytail.
Whether this change in the crowd’s attention was filtered through to the York players or Lancaster simply upped their game, the next score went to the Reds following a string of fast passing.
The play was recreated moments later as some weak York defence allowed Lancaster in up the line.
This drop in class was mimicked by the Lancaster players following the next pull, as an ineffective defence allowed a low pass to fly into the hands of Brian Moore and make the score 4-2.
At this point a timeout was called, allowing a moment for the players to recuperate and giving me a chance to talk to Sarah Donaldson, a strong member of the women’s team.
“It’s an interesting game and pretty level at this point,” she said. “Lancaster have lost a couple of key players so we’re hoping to capitalise and hit back following last year’s 15-3 defeat.”
Unfortunately, the moments following the timeout failed to live up to this hopeful sentiment, with some great Lancaster play edging the two teams closer together.
The passage of play leading up to the point was dominated by the aptly named Hands, who showed a gentle touch and laissez faire approach; slipping behind the York players and into enough room to catch the disk.
Rallying behind their ever vocal fans and team mates, the York player struck back twice in the space of a couple of minutes.
Josh Briggs threw a huge pass to Tom Haines and Tom Coward linked up with Max Moseley to make the score 6-3.
The next passage of play was tit-for-tat with Lancaster player Nelson directing a fast pass to no25 Fish, who aptly caught the disk with a powerful leap.
York hit back a minute later as Tom Coward launched a point-winning forehand to Callum Spears, a player affectionately dubbed The Gibbon due to his long arms and love of Ultimate Frisbee.
Two moments stood out in the final 20 minutes that fairly sum up the nature of the game.
During a Lancaster led stack, opposing players Sharked and Briggs were seen high fiving in a touching moment of camaraderie.
Seconds later Voskuil made a sensational catch in the far right corner, flinging his feet back in bounds as he stretched for the disk.
The game soon fell out of Lancaster’s reach as Fiona Kwan and Brian Moore put in strong performances in the final stages.
The final score, York 15-7 Lancaster, was an achievement by no means belittled by Lancaster’s injuries, due to the vacancy of York captain Jamie Smith and one which saw great play from both teams.
Now this, this is journalism. Thank you.