<rmer temperatures and the disappearance of snow usher in spring term on campus, Carleton’s most-skilled disc enthusiasts lace up their cleats in a most competitive manner, in anticipation of competitive club ultimate’s postseason. Both of Carleton’s division one (CUT and Syzygy) and division three (GoP and Eclipse) teams previously found success in sectional contests, before challenging the North Central region’s best at the regional tournaments, with a bid to the national championship in Texas.
Syzygy entered regional play ranked fifth in the nation, and first in the North Central region. Despite squaring off against two other ranked opponents in the eight team tournament, including #10 Minnesota and #15 Wisconsin, Syz traveled to Blaine, MN as the consensus favorites to run away with a regional title.
Syz consciously made an effort to suppress any over-confidence that could haunt them, however. As freshman standout Carly Campana ’22 put it, “We were pretty careful not to take anything for granted. Our last game of sectionals was closer than we wanted it to be, and I think that gave us the mindset that we were gonna have to work harder at regionals. We had some good practices and came to regionals fired up, and it showed. Just because we’re nationally ranked doesn’t ensure us anything.”
And come fired up they did. Carleton defeated their three pool play opponents, 6-seed Iowa, 7-seed Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and 4-seed Iowa State by a combined score of 45 to 9. Their impressive early play earned them a direct trip to the regional semifinal, where they ousted #10 Minnesota by a score of 15-10, and were crowned North Central Champions after defeating #15 Wisconsin 13-8. As regional victors, Syz was granted one of three regional bids to the frisbee D1 national championship in Round Rock, Texas.
Of their practice plans heading into nationals, Campana said, “We’re finding all of our systems, our offensive and defensive sets, and we know we have to come into nationals with a lot of energy.
Eclipse faced some extra pressure in their trip to regionals, in comparison with Syz, CUT, and GoP. The Women’s D3 North Central region was only allotted two bids to nationals, as opposed to the traditional three, meaning anything less than a top two finish would not send Eclipse to Texas.
Carleton rose to the challenge however, winning their pool with a 13 to 8 win over Michigan Tech, a 13 to 0 shutout of Cornell, a 13 to 6 trouncing of Luther, and a 13 to 0 blanking of St. Olaf. On bracket day, Eclipse shuffled through their opponents to meet Michigan Tech for a second time, with a nationals bid on the line. Eclipse and Tech went point for point in a low scoring affair, that ultimately resulted in Eclipse claiming victory by way of hard cap, 8 to 7, sending the women of Eclipse to the national championships.
On the men’s side, Carleton’s Gods of Plastic, more commonly referred to as GoP, also entered regional play as a national-title contender. Ranked third nationally, GoP headlined a North Central tournament chalked full of top twenty five teams, including #7 Michigan Tech, #8 Luther, and #11 St. Olaf. GoP wasted no time asserting their presence as the team to beat, as they ran a very tough #8 Luther team off the field, by a score of 11 to 4. Three other wins followed, as GoP ran the table in regional pool play, posting victories against Wisconsin-Platteville 12 to 8, Macalester 13 to 7, and Carleton’s own Hot Karls 13 to 1.
Bracket play saw more of the same from Carleton’s Plastic Gods. Pitted against Winona State in the regional semifinal, GoP was able to double their opponents score in an impressive 15 to 7 win. GoP capped off a regional championship by defeating #7 Michigan Tech by a score of 13 to 7. GoP will be joining Eclipse for the D3 National Championships in College Station, Texas, on the weekend of May 18th.
The lone squad who will not be heading to Texas in late May, is the successful CUT. After a strong preseason that saw them garner a #4 ranking amongst D1 Men’s teams, and an undefeated session in pool play, CUT suffered an uncharacteristic loss to an unranked Iowa State team in the regional semis, by a score of 14 to 12.
Despite the loss, CUT still had a chance to punch a ticket to Texas, as a win in the third place game would grant them a berth to the national championships. Hope was stymied, however, by a tough #10 Wisconsin team, who out-physicaled CUT on their way to a third place title, sending the CUT boys home. Though their season may be over, CUT remains a national powerhouse, will return with lots of talent, and is sure to be a force to be reckoned with in coming years.