< of Carleton’s ultimate teams escaped the Northfield snow last weekend, as GoP and Syzygy competed in tournaments in “sunny” San Diego. Both teams fought hard on the field, and also enjoyed a magical date night together spent mostly in the UCSD library’s children’s section.
The Gods of Plastic battled bipolar weather conditions, injured stars, and poor logistics to take 11th out of 20 teams at the Pres Day Classic, going 4-4 overall. Having entered the tourney seeded 14th, the weekend was technically a success.
Saturday’s pool play featured wins over Kansas Horror Zontals, a 2010 Nationals squad, and UCLA Smaug, as well as losses to the Washington Sundodgers and Cal UGMO, which was obviously led by Carleton alums Sam Kanner ’10 and Andrew Olson ’09. On Sunday, the GoP lost a forgettable mud-bowl against Minnesota Grey Duck before beating a testy Texas A & M Dozen squad on universe point. The Gods wrapped up the three-day tourney on Monday, first falling victim to the Long Beach State Stalkers before salvaging the day with a hard-fought win over Arizona Sunburn.
Top performers for GoP included Rhys Lindmark ’13, who dazzled the air with his trademark gangly athleticism, and Will Gagne-Maynard ’13, who skied so many opponents that his shoulder exploded out of its socket. Nate King ’11 provided his usual defensive fire and sassy throws, while Eric Manley ’11 and Danny Hoppe ’11 handled the disc with the smoothness of swimming otters. GoP’s next wanderings will take them to Savannah, GA over spring break, where they will enjoy the company of Eclipse and compete at College Southerns.
Meanwhile, Syzygy started off the weekend with a handicap, losing the best athlete in women’s college ultimate, Marlena Hartman-Filson ‘13, to a vicious battle with a pack of wolves (or a random walk around her house, depending who you ask). Hoping to trade in Northfield’s blizzard for some SoCal sunshine, they instead found themselves playing in a sideways hailstorm in the dark. Nevertheless, Syzygy gutted out some impressive wins against Texas, Colorado, and Florida (twice), and showed a lot of heart against eventual champion Oregon and runner-up Cal. In the end, they finished in 10th place out of 20 of the top teams in the country.
Noteworthy were pinpoint hucks from Anna Snyder ‘11, explosive up-lines from Anna Reed ‘13, dominant cutting from the trio of Liz Arakaki ‘11, Sophie Hines ‘11, and Zoe Harris ‘11. Flannery McArdle ‘13 skied biddies and Taylor Want ‘13 had a monster layout D in the endzone. Catch Syzygy in action next weekend at the Stanford Invitational.
-Laurel Schmidt (Syzygy), Michael Alexander and Matt Hart (GoP)