Authors: Ritik Mishra, Andrew Georgioff
Match 63: Foreshadowing
This was another tough match. Throughout the match we managed to out-shoot the other alliance, keeping the score slightly in our favor. However, the extra points they obtained from their double climb managed to barely tip the match, resulting in a loss with a match score of 114-125.
Match 73: Smooth Sailing
This was one of our easier matches, as we were with KnightKrawler (one of the best teams in MN). As expected, we won the match with a score of 163-59 and earned the 3rd RP for a balanced double climb.
Match 84: Won by a Penalty
This was a match that stayed close throughout. The start was rough, with the opposing alliance gaining a lead in auto (the shots made were 2 outer vs 7 outer and one inner). Despite the close scores throughout the match though, we managed to barely win with a score of 118-11, thanks to a tech foul awarded to us early in the match due to a G10 violation.
Alliance Selection:
Coming into alliance selection, we were ranked 6th out of 59 teams. After 1 picked 3 and 2 picked 5, we were positioned to become the 4th alliance captain. The 3rd alliance captain, 4778, invited us to their alliance, but we respectfully declined. After they picked a different team, we were able to pick FRC team 1259, Paradigm Shift, a team with a very consistent trench shooting capability and 6-ball autonomous. During the second round, we were able to pick 7530 for their climbing ability.
With our alliance complete, we were ready to go into quarterfinals.
Quarterfinals
Quarterfinals went relatively smoothly. While standing in the queue, the drive team was thinking about how we might go about beating the 1st alliance in semis. One potential strategy that they thought about involved playing defense against 2052. After all, alliance 1 was a very strong alliance, scoring 199 points in their first quarterfinal match.
We won our first quarterfinal match — Quarterfinal 2 — with a score of 219-191. In our next quarterfinal match — Quarterfinal 6 — we won again with a score of 202-137, even though 1259’s climber was broken. Confident, we headed into semifinals, abandoning our strategy of playing defense against KnightKrawlers.
Semifinals
As expected, we went into the semifinals against the first alliance. Given our strong performance in the quarterfinals, we went into the first semifinal hopeful. Throughout the match we managed to out-shoot the other alliance, keeping the score slightly in our favor. However, we lost with a score of 137-181, as both Paradigm and ourselves were unable to climb.
In the second semifinal, a member of the red alliance fell off of the bar, which combined with some fouls awarded to us, allowed us to win the match with a score of 153-149.. However, in the tiebreaker match, despite outshooting them in auto and teleop, 7530 was unable to climb in time. Since the other alliance triple climbed, we lost the match with a score of 155-180.
Recap
For the first time in our team’s history since 2015, we have not qualified for Worlds at our first regional (we didn’t win any awards). We need to have an outstanding performance at 10k. Ideally, we can
- Make our 6 ball auto consistent
- Become more consistent at shooting balls from the trench
- Fix intake jams
Quote of the day: As long as it’s a strong rectangle I don’t care – Nathan Seelig, Fabrication Lead, talking with other teammates about an intake redesign