<ast weekend, two of Carleton’s intercollegiate ultimate teams, the Gods of Plastic and Syzygy, descended on sunny San Diego to participate in the Pres Day Invitational tournament. For both teams, this tournament would be their first outdoor play of the 2010 season.
GOP would play in a 2-day tournament with power pools on Saturday and bracket play Sunday, while Syzygy participated in a longer 3-day setup.
For GOP, Saturday play started at a slow pace as the Goppers had to acustum themselves to the unnaturally bright sunlight and above freezing temperatures. The absence of senior Kevin Draper due to a plane delay, led to some inconsistencies on offense and GOP fell 13-7 to UCLA.
The second game was a rematch of the previous spring’s D-III Nationals finals against Las Positas college. Once again GOP came out slow and found themselves in an early defecit, but some smart adjustments on defense and the arrival of Draper gave them the energy to pull out the win 13-11.
Next GOP played Humboldt State. GOP took an early lead and rode it till the end winning 13-10. The last game of the day would be against the host, and nationals’ qualifier the previous year, UC San Diego. Despite about a 6-inch average height gap between UCSD and GOP, GOP would not back down.
After giving up two early breaks, GOP’s offensive line found its rhythm and scored on every subsequent try. The defensive line was successful in getting turn overs, including an incredible end zone layout catch d by Will Gagne-Maynard.
However, the D line was unable to convert its opportunities and GOP fell 13-10 to the eventual tournament champions.
On Sunday, GOP was matched in an unusually hard pre-quarters game given their strong play on Saturday, having to face UC Santa Barbara. The Black Tide, came out fired up and angry. GOP was equally fired up, but some early mishaps and suspect calls by UCSB allowed GOP to lose its focus and they lost 13-8. This put GOP in the 9th place bracket where they easily won out, beating University of San Diego 13-5, UCSB-B 13-4, and UC Irvine 13-8.
Syzygy started out strong on Saturday, notching a 13-7 victory over UC- Santa Cruz despite missing senior captain Emma Dobbins and junior Liz Arakaki due to the same flight delay that had held up Draper.
Trying to keep their momentum, they came out strong against UCLA for their second game, the game was neck and neck, yet not even the arrival of Dobbins and Arakaki could propel Syzygy over the top as they lost on universe point, 8-7. After a bye to go cheer on GOP, Syzygy took care of business, beating Claremont 8-5. Their final game of the day would be against the #3 overall seed Oregon. With GOP on their sideline cheering them on Syzygy came out on fire and scored two early points to take a 2-1 lead. However, Oregon’s deep roster and height advantage took its toll as Syzygy had trouble putting the disc in the end zone and lost 13-3.
Sunday presented reseeded pools for Syzygy, they would play two games and then a pre-quarters game. Syzygy won their first game 13-6. Then, after a bye and a pre-game serenade of Beyonce’s Halo by the Gods of Plastic, Syzygy dominated, beating Arizona 13-1.
This put Syzygy in a pre-quarters game against USC. USC had beat the defending national runner ups, earlier in the tournament so Syzygy knew they were in for a tough game. USC took an early lead and it seemed as if Syzygy might fold. Yet, the Syzygites preserved and came back to force the game to universe point.
However, the fates were not on their side as the game ended with Syzygy being sent to the 9th place bracket in their second universe point loss of the tournament.
Monday presented two possible games as Syzygy competed for 9th place. They won their first, beating Wester Washington 11-9. Their second game was a rematch against UCLA.
Seeking revenge the Carleton women came out fired up, but alas, the multitude of games had taken its toll as Syzygy ran out of gas, ending with an 11-7 loss and earning 10th place.