<w flying, late May’s National Championships seemed a long way away, but the postseason began nevertheless for four of Carleton’s ultimate frisbee teams last weekend.
Things started dramatically for the Gods of Plastic, as America’s A-Team split south to less-snowy Winona for the D-III Conference Championships. In an exciting weekend of play, GoP overcame a tough loss to St. John’s on Saturday to win the tournament, beating the Johnnies 15-7 in Sunday’s final.
Thanks to USA Ultimate’s restructuring, a wide variety of talent descended upon the campus of Saint Mary’s University for the first-ever Northwoods D-III tourney. GoP easily cruised past its first two opponents on a slushy, shivery Saturday morning, beating Augustana 13-4 before a 13-1 dismantling of Lakehead University, the weekend’s most road-weary team, hailing from the frozen shores of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Lulled into complacency by the easy wins, the Gods came out flat against the athletic Johnnies despite being seeded beneath SJU to start the weekend. GoP had no answer for the St. John’s deep game and quickly fell fatally behind, eventually losing the forgettable contest 11-4. After a bye, however, the men in Hawaiians regrouped and ground out a 9-6 win over favorite foe St. Olaf to end the day.
Although their stomachs were still recovering from Saturday night’s visit to Winona’s fabled China King Buffet, the Gods came out motivated on Sunday and rolled past Gustavus 13-1 before besting Macalester 8-5 thanks in large part to the blazing speed of Phil “Amazing” Yates ’11. With a 5-1 record in round-robin play, GoP earned a rematch with St. John’s in the championship game and this time the Gods would not be denied.
A former U.S. President once immortally misquoted an old proverb, “Fool me once … shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” The focused Goppers took these profound words to heart, determined not to let the Johnnies get the better of them again. After its man-to-man defense had failed the day before, the Gods conjured up a toxic zone for Sunday’s final which caused St. John’s fits and soon had the bros from Collegeville spiking their hats in frustration and uttering phrases that cannot be repeated in this fine publication.
Meanwhile, the GoP offense elevated its game – quite literally – with Rhys Lindmark ’13 patrolling the airspace with as much grace and spirit as the bald eagles surveying the nearby banks of the Mississippi River. The Gods quickly asserted their will, breaking SJU early and often and never looking back, returning to campus as tournament champions after a 15-7 win.
The weekend’s strong performance left GoP confidently deciding to take its talents to Appleton, Wis. for the D-I Regional Championships next weekend rather than remaining in the trenches of D-III play. With USA Ultimate’s new restrictions in place, the choice means the Goppers will not have a chance to defend their two-time D-III national title next month. Nonetheless, America’s A-Team is excited to face the region’s top teams and knows that as long as the mighty eagle of team unity soars, the sky remains the limit.
–Matt Hart
*****
Last weekend Eclipse battled fiercely between the weather and other D-III ultimate frisbee teams to take second place in the North Central Region and thus earning themselves a bid into D-III nationals.
Eclipse woke up in the dinky town of Decorah, Iowa on Saturday only to find that the grounds were filled with snow. After a few renditions of “It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas” and a three-hour postponement on the beginning of the tournament, Eclipse made its way out to the snowy and windy fields.
Eclipse went 4-0 on Saturday. In their first game, Eclipse faced Macalaster College. Although it may not have been the “best” frisbee ever played due to the weather, Eclipse ran off the snow and away with the win. The girls then battled the wind, cold and three other teams including St. Olaf B, Nova, and St. Ben’s. With a successful first day done, Eclipse and Nova stuffed their faces at the Family Kitchen and succeeded in frightening most of the five o’clock crowd.
Although the wind had died down significantly and the sun even peeked over the clouds, Eclipse faced a much more challenging second day. The first game on Sunday was against St. Olaf A. Eclipse went down quickly at the beginning, making the score 0-3. However, Eclipse found its energy and began to play smooth frisbee again, taking the game in hard-cap, 7-6.
Eclipse played Luther, the top-seeded team in the semi-final game that they needed to win to place first in the tournament. Eclipse had a rough start, falling behind 0-2. However, Eli Walker’s ’14 superior throws gave Eclipse a strong run, allowing it to take a 6-4 lead at one point. When the soft-cap came on the score was 6-6. After much drama, a “captain’s dispute,” and hard-fought playing, Luther pulled out the win on universe point 8-7.
Eclipse still had a chance at second though, facing St. Olaf A for the second time that tournament, and the fourth time this season, in the backdoor game. Eclipse played strong, and took the game 10-7 on a spazzy hammer throw from captain B.G. Green ’11 to Erin Heydinger ’11, who calmly snatched it one-handed.
The second-place game, the one that would secure Eclipse’s spot in Nationals was against Grinnell College. With a bit of fatigue, swagger and a true team effort, Eclipse pulled out the win 8-5, taking second place in the tournament and earning them a bid into D-III nationals.
Eclipse will head out eighth weekend to their first-ever national tournament in Buffalo, N.Y. Until then, the girls plan on intense practices. Captains Green and Leigh-Anne Borkowski ‘11 even implemented some early morning practices and drill polices like “every disc you drop, you take off an article of clothes.” Inevitably, the team will be working hard and looking forward to representing Carleton at D-IIIs.
To see a play-by-play of last week’s tournament or to follow along with Eclipse at D-III Nationals, go their twitter sight at <http://twitter.com/#!/eclipsethedisc>.
– Jill Merkle
*****
Last weekend, Syzygy went down to Cedar Falls, Iowa for Conferences, the first tournament on the path to Nationals. Despite weather conditions that made for an interesting playing experience – temperatures in the mid-30s and wind speeds up to 40 mph – Syzygy took care of business, qualifying for Regionals with a third-place finish.
Saturday featured wins over Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska in pool play, before a frustrating loss to Minnesota in which neither team could score upwind. Syzygy then beat Winona State solidly to close out the day.
In the first game the next morning, Syzygy took on Iowa, an up-and-coming team ranked third in the latest national poll. The wind again made playing difficult, and Syzygy lost 10-8, getting knocked out of the championship bracket in the process. Thankfully, there was a second-place bracket to play in. Syzygy beat Nebraska (again) and Minnesota (again) to reach Secondals, where Iowa was waiting after losing to Iowa State in the championship game. Iowa won again, this time by a score of 13-7, leaving Syzygy in third place. They will presumably be seeded third heading into Regionals fifth weekend, with three bids to Nationals. Stay tuned for some exciting ultimate!
–Laurel Schmidt