<ase you didn’t notice, this past weekend brought 32 Ultimate teams from across the Midwest to Carleton’s campus for the annual UPA regional championships. With bids to the national tournament in Columbus, Ohio on the line, all the teams were bringing their A game.
On the men’s side, CUT came in ranked first in the region and second in the country, while GOP earned a respectable 10th seed in the region. For the women, Syzygy was seeded 3rd and Eclipse came in as the lowest team with the 16th seed.
For the men, the tournament was set up in a straight bracket. However, with four bids to nationals it meant that a team could lose two games and still make it. The women had a normal pool play on Saturday and then bracket play on Sunday setup, with the top three teams earning a trip to Columbus. Saturday’s weather proved better than expected, with no rain and slight wind. However, Sunday provided pretty miserable conditions with wind and pouring rain.
For the past few years, CUT has played second fiddle to their rivals, the Wisconsin Hodags. The Hodags have won the past two national championships and been the top team in the region. However, this year has been different; Wisconsin is not nearly as strong and CUT already had one regular season victory over them.
With the possibility of winning the regional championship, CUT clearly had no desire to mess around; they came in as the top seed and planned on finishing as the top seed.
With this in mind, they started off strong, beating the 16th seed Beloit 15-3. Next came Marquette, who put up a fight but Carleton prevailed 15-8. This put CUT in the semifinal against Minnesota, a win would
guarantee a trip to nationals.
The game was riddled with calls, as Minnesota appeared to come in with a negative attitude towards the Carleton players. However, CUT pulled away and won 15-10. This setup a finals match against Wisconsin.
The match started close as the teams traded points, however with their sharp cutting and abundance of
fans lining the field, CUT appeared to have the edge taking half 8-6. As the game progressed CUT began to distance themselves, with stellar play from their handlers and a nearly unstoppable Grant Lindsley ’11, CUT could smell blood.
With the rain pouring down, CUT was able to punch the disc in for a 13-8 win and a regional championship. In the Atlantic Coast region the first ranked team in the country, Florida had a faltering weekend, losing three games and not qualifying for nationals. Thus, CUT has moved up the rankings to become the #1 team in the nation!
Syzygy was seeded third but felt they deserved better than that. With something to prove, the Carleton women came out strong beating Marquette, Wisconsin-B and Eclipse in pool play. Next came a crossover game against Wisconsin to finish Saturday play. Though they fought bravely, Syzygy could not overcome the speed and hucks of the Wisconsin squad and were overcome 15-3. This set them up in a Sunday morning match up against St. Olaf, which they won handily.
Next came the semi finals against the team seeded above them, Iowa State. Syzygy started strong and never looked back, cruising to a 15-4 victory and securing a bid to nationals!
The finals pitted a rematch against Wisconsin. Hoping for a better result, Syzygy came out gunning and quickly had a 3-0 lead. However, as the rain began to subside, Wisconsin seemed to recover and Syzygy could do nothing to stop them, losing 15-6.
It was a hard weekend for the GOP. Fighting their arch nemesis, the early morning, GOP was forced to arrive on time in order to set up fields.
Somewhat perplexed at what to do when they weren’t having a rushed warm up, GOP decided to take a short nap for the first three points of their opening game against Wisconsin Eau-Claire. This led to a 0-3 deficit. Quickly waking up, GOP proceeded to battle back but the early points proved costly as GOP lost 12-14.
Next GOP defeated Northern Iowa 15-9, not playing their best, but doing what they needed to win. Their next opponent, Marquette proved to be too much for the Hawaiian clad warriors, as they fell 10-15 despite the best efforts of a large fan showing.
For the last game of the day GOP matched up against Winona State. In a match that senior captain Frank McNally described as “one of the best games I’ve ever played and a battle to the end,” GOP once again fell, losing 13-15.
This set up a rematch against Eau Claire on Sunday morning, With pouring rain, lightning delays and ever dropping temperatures this game would be decided by wills. For the first half, GOP was the better team, taking an 8-6 lead. However, the cold and a stifling Eau Claire zone proved too much as GOP fell 13-15, earning 12th place.
Despite a sub-par regionals showing, GOP has earned an invite to DIII Nationals and should look forward to a fairly high seed.
While Syzygy had the goal of making nationals, Eclipse was just looking to have a great time. Despite being the 16 seed, they played hard all weekend getting goals against good teams. On Sunday, Eclipse woke up early, and looked ready to play hard. They were so ready in fact that all their opponents were too scared to show up. With these two forfeits Eclipse was able to take break seed and take 11th place.