< spring break CUT traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina to play in the Easterns Invitational hosted by the UNC-Wilmington. CUT ended up going 7-1 on the weekend and coming in third place. Their only loss was to eventual champion Florida. The tournament started Friday March 18 with a showcase game against Colorado Mamabird. CUT came out firing and cruised to a 15-9 victory. Saturday brought pool play, with CUT facing off against California, Cornell, and Virginia. CUT took care of business taking first place in their pool, creating a crossover game against Michigan. It was a tightly fought game, but CUT pulled it out 15-10, keeping seed. Sunday brought the quarterfinals against Harvard, a team that has troubled CUT the past few years. Turnovers were hard to come by this game, but CUT was able to pull out the 15-12 victory. The semifinals pitted CUT against Florida, a rematch of last year’s national championship. The game was very chippy with Florida receiving five team misconduct fouls and CUT receiving one. One of Florida’s captains, Cole Sullivan, was ejected in the second half for tackling Justin Norden ‘13. CUT was not able to generate enough turns to be victorious and lost 10-12. In the third place game, CUT was matched up against Michigan again. Again the result was the same with a 15-10 victory.
With the conclusion of the regular season, CUT is currently ranked first in the nation. CUT hopes to continue their strong season as they begin post season play with the Conference tournament third weekend.
The Gods of Plastic passed spring break not far away on the shores of southern Georgia in flippy floppies and cleats. The team spent three days practicing vigorously on the best “field” Tybee Island could provide. On Saturday before sunrise they drove north to Statesboro for Southerns, hosted by Georgia Southern University. GoP opened the floodgates against an overwhelmed Princeton-B with a 13-1 win. They hoped to build on their strong start, but fell short against Florida-B on a highly controversial universe point. The GoP cleaned up against Mississippi State 13-5 and finished the day with a flat, 13-8 loss to Indiana. Hoping to win most, if not all games, GoP ended the day displeased with its 2-2 record.
The floodgates opened again on Sunday as GoP slid by Grinnell 12-10 and coolly conquered Gerogia College & State University in the tournament’s most fun game. The wind picked up for a quarterfinal loss to UMass. GoP then succumbed 12-8 to Luther College, a familiar foe. GoP walked away in 7th place with an 8-8 record, leaving the tournament unsatisfied with its performance but excited for redemption in spring term tournaments. GoP opens the postseason third weekend at Division III sectionals.
Meanwhile, Syzygy headed down to Texas as usual for a week of training followed by the biggest tournament in Women’s College Ultimate, Centex. Featuring 50 teams in three divisions, Centex was the destination tournament for all of the most competitive teams in the country. Syzygy came into the tournament energetic and motivated, taking down regional nemesis University of Wisconsin Bella Donna 13-9 for their first victory in three years. Next, they avenged a loss to the University of British Columbia at Stanford by beating them 14-9, rattling off 9 straight points in the second half. In the final game of the day, Syzygy lost a close one to Michigan, 14-11, to finish second in the pool (they came in seeded fourth). The week of two-a-day practices in 90 degree heat took its toll on the second day of the tournament, however, as Syzygy lost to Tufts, Virginia, and Northwestern, beating Pennsylvania to finish 14th overall. Syzygy showed a lot of potential, and should be ready for the USA Ultimate College Series, which starts 3rd Weekend with Conferences in Cedar Falls, IA.
Eclipse shattered their seed over spring break, taking 13th place overall in Southerns. The girls, after having driven a 20 hour drive to georgia, had several two-a-day practice to get ready for the weekend. Southerns was comprised of both D-I and D-III colleges, and Eclipse saw some of their most important rivals that they’ll be facing in Regionals. They began the tournament by using their intense energy and solid defense to pull out a win over their Northfield rival St. Olaf A. They concluded the first day with two wins and two loses, enough to push them into the championship bracket for day two. Eclipse began Sunday in much of the same way, taking the first game with a big score. Later in the day, Eclipse faced off with Luther, the highest ranked team in their region. The girls played head to head with them, breaking down their zone defense until hard cap ended the game with an upsetting loss. Overall, the girls felt good about their play and their 4-4 record in the tournament. The next day, Eclipse rolled out to their different destinations to enjoy the rest of their spring break.
Eclipse has taken what they learned from Southerns and carried it into the last couple of weeks of practice in preparation for the regional tournament in Decorah, Iowa during third weekend. Currently, Eclipse is ranked 4th in the nation for D-III schools, and 41st overall.
Alex Kinsey (CUT), Michael Alexander (GoP), Laurel Schmidt (Syzygy), and Jill Merkle (Ecliplse) are ultimate frisbee players and spring break enthusiasts.