Beira - Mar Part # 2
By: Rui Oliveira
Pics: Richardo Campos. PB.Record
Beira-Mar Paintball
Team
Our objectives for this event were clear
cut, we wanted to make the finals, and achieve a podium finish, whilst at the
same time, give our less experiences members of the team more play time in
order to hone their skills and prove that they deserve their spot on the
starting line-up.
Our schedule looked challenging yet accessible,
with two top teams in our division, including the winner of the 1st leg of our
Federation Sanctioned National Championship: Team Prophecy, along with a third
team which was a little inexperienced and should give us a chance to let our
newer teammates get all the rotation they needed.
So in our first game, we faced off
against Rush Vitória de Janes. We had the second game of the day, and were
confident with our game plan and overall analysis of the field. We were a bit
overly aggressive on the first point, which lead us to lose a lot of bodies
early on, and ended up losing it quite quickly, but we quickly adjusted for the
second point, using controlled aggression and quick moves in order to even the
score back up to 1 point a piece. Then Rush was able to grab the next point,
making it 2-1, and putting us against the wall since the tournament was best of
5 and we had gotten a penalty on our last played, forcing us to play with 4 the
next point. We managed to fix what we were doing wrong and dug deep to win the
next point quickly, to even it back to 2-2 with 18 seconds left on the clock,
which meant that we had to fight for our first win in overtime. And so we did.
We had a quick talk to understand what needed to be done, and we played a solid
team game to finish off the match 3-2 in our favour.
The next game was against Pure Pressure,
who were technically the easiest game on our calendar. We watched what they
did, and launched in the first point with our less experienced players,
unfortunately, we ended up losing that close first point on a 2 on 1, which
left only one sole survivor on the other side. We decided to send the same
squad in the next point, with a similar result in the end of the point. So,
losing 0-2 we decided to change our line-up a little bit on the 3rd point, and
quickly took the score to 1-2, and then again to make it 2-2. And ended up
closing the match with a 3-2 score when the other team got a penalty in the finishing
60 seconds of the last point.
So, we were already through to the
finals, goal achieved, but still with a challenge that were looking forward to,
which was beating Prophecy (probably our biggest rivals in the division this
year). We studied a little bit more on what they were doing, and made the
necessary tweaks in our game plan in order to be able to effectively counter
their game. With some very strong dorito play, we were able to take the first
point in a long battle, making the score 1-0 with about 5 minutes left to play
on the clock. The second point saw us lose several bodies at the start of the
game, making it into a 5 on 2 situation against us, though we had very good
positions in the snake and 40 yard line dorito. We managed to quickly get a
couple of kills before the other team could start working together to pinch us
out, and evened it out to a 2 vs 2, both teams then lost a body each, making it
into a decisive 1 vs 1. With the score on our side, and better field position
near the other team’s buzzer. We played this one by the book and played the
clock long enough to get our win.
In the finals, we would have to rematch
against Rush. Having had three hard fought prelim games got us ready for
anything, and allowed us to achieve a convincing win of 3-1 against them. That
left us to face PbRecord.com (Which consisted of SL Benfica’s SPL Roster, and
Portuguese defending national champions) in the final.
We knew it would be a tough game, but we
were ready for it. Having watched us all day, they played a very slow game that
was meant to keep our most aggressive players contained, while they waited to
get numerical advantage before making key moves into the snake and doritos.
They ended up taking the first point of the match, aided by some good shooting
off the break. We fought back to take the second point and even out the score
1-1. They then managed to win the next one making it 1-2 in their favour.
Again, we dug deep and managed to win our battles and make key moves in order
to convincingly get the 2-2 score and get the momentum swinging back in our
favour. Unfortunately, a long day of hard fought matches was starting to take its
toll, worsened by the fact that we had marshaled the 5 man division the day
before, and our team started showing the first signs of tiredness. We went back
in with 3 minutes left on the clock, decided to take this match, and were able
to get very good positions and a key kill that allowed us to put PbRecord on
the back foot, defending against our attacks. Unfortunately we were unable to
close the match in time and were about 20 seconds away from the win when the
clock ran out, forcing the match into sudden death.
Again we gathered our strength and got
ready for what would be the last of a series of hard fought points and games in
this tournament. We were able to get some key positions early on, but also lost
a couple of players which allowed PbRecord to use their numerical advantage to
keep us pinned down, and ultimately gain control of the snake, and using it to
eliminate our last players, leading to a 2-3 loss in overtime and ultimately,
2nd place for us.
Although we knew we could have won, it
was still a very good result for us, and we had a good team analysis afterwards
that allowed us to pinpoint our flaws and determine a plan to work on them in
practice before the next event. We played a solid, team game, we weren’t
flawless, but we were always able to identify our mistakes, and work together
to correct them. We are establishing ourselves as a team to look out for, and we
are hungry to do a lot more this season. Of course none of this would be even
remotely possible without the amazing help from our sponsors, for which we are
immensely grateful, and for which we will continue to work hard so that we can
represent you in the best manner possible. So to you, our deepest thank you,
and our pledge that we will practice, practice and practice in order to get
better and better results.
Follow Beira-Mar on Facebook Here:
Comments
Post a Comment
What do YOU think? Let us know >