Spartans face adversity against SLUH

The Spartans had a tough match against the SLUH Billikens Sunday, losing 15-11.

Alex Buhse, Sweat Editor

Falling off from their win against the junior varsity DeSmet Sparties last week, the Spartan frisbee team suffered a loss against the SLUH Billikens, losing 15-11.

Despite the motivation and effort of the team’s offense, they experienced difficulty against the opposing team’s defense. Coach Jason Becker described the team’s hard time facing against SLUH’s players.

“I’d say we were well-matched in terms of athleticism, but SLUH’s zone defense caused problems for our handlers all day,” Coach Becker said. “On offense, [the team] played smart and patiently. Our defense played with its usual tenacity, but our offense just couldn’t move the disc.”

Senior Clay Goodman described how prepared the opposing team was for the game.

“It was a good game. It was tough,” Goodman said. “I think that they’re just kind of more experienced and ended up doing well because their backups have been playing longer, but I think by the end of the year we will be a more skilled team and be able to beat them.”

Making sure to correct the mistakes the team made, Coach Becker plans to focus the week’s practices on reacting fast to strong defenses.

“This week in practice, we’ve been working on our response to zone defenses like the one SLUH played, working on our decision-making.  We’ve also been working hard on breaking the mark,”  Coach Becker said. “The next time we face such a zone, I think we’ll be ready.”

Confident that the team can recover from its loss, Coach Becker expressed his enthusiasm for the team’s match this Sunday at CBC at 1 p.m.

“I’m excited to head over there. CBC is a well-coached program that has exhibited exceptional sportsmanship every time we’ve faced them,” Coach Becker said. “I’m optimistic on our chances of righting the ship and adding another win to our 1-1 record.”

Just as Becker felt, Goodman expressed content for the upcoming match. Based on the team’s past experiences against CBC, Goodman believes the team will have a definite victory.

“I’m feeling confident about the game; I know we’ll win that game.” Goodman said. “We played them twice [last year] and beat them both times pretty easily, so I’m pretty confident that we’ll win this weekend.”