<lified for the USA Ultimate National Tournament for the 22nd time in its illustrious history after taking third place in the North Central Regional tournament four weeks ago. Seeded 12th out of 20, CUT will face British Columbia, Harvard, and Whitman in pool play and must take at least third place within the pool to advance to the championship bracket.
Behind First Team All-Region players Alex Evangelides ‘11, Christian Foster ‘11, and Grant Lindsley ’11 and Second Team All-Region player Simon Montague ‘13, CUT turned in an almost unprecedented regular season. With 22 wins and only three losses, they won two tournaments, Warm Up: A Florida Affair and the Stanford Invite, in addition to a postseason tournament victory at the Northwoods Conference tournament. Their path to the championship won’t be so easy, however.
Carleton has lost twice to Florida, the three seed, so far this season, while they have split the season series at two games apiece with Wisconsin, the six seed, who bested them in the North Central Regional finals. Coming off back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Iowa in the Regional tournament, CUT has been practicing the last few weeks with a chip on its shoulder and a desire to prove that they are the best team in the country despite their low seed.
Throughout the majority of the regular season, CUT was regarded as the “team to beat” this year, and, despite being seeded 9th due to the regionals slip-up, are still ranked as the number one team in the country by Skyd Magazine, a resource in the Ultimate Frisbee community. Furthermore, Evangelides and Lindsley were named to Skyd Magazine’s 2011 All-American Team.
One aspect of CUT’s philosophy that no doubt impacts them year after year is their focus on “team” over “individual.” CUT does not nominate team members for the Callahan award, the most prestigious award in the sport of Ultimate. Despite the incredible talent that has donned the CUT jersey over the years, only one Carleton player, Alex Nord, has won the Callahan award, and only because he was elected by an outside member of the Ultimate community. More so than perhaps any other team at the National tournament this weekend, CUT truly values the team over self, and it shows in their selfless play.
For more coverage of this weekend’s tournament, visit skydmagazine.com and usaultimate.org.
Syzygy also qualified for the USAU National Tournament for the 22nd time in the past 23 years. Behind the stellar play of All-Region First Team members Elise Rasmussen ‘12, Anna Reed ’13, and Anna Snyder ‘11, Syzygy cruised to a second-place finish at the North Central Regional tournament in Madison, Wis. They now go into the National tournament as the 15th seed, fourth in Pool B. They will face Oregon, North Carolina, Ottawa, and Florida throughout the two days of pool play that begin today.
Syzygy had a mostly successful regular season, going 12-11 while traveling to tournaments in San Diego, Stanford, and Texas. They played incredibly tough competition at every tournament they attended, beating California and splitting their season series with British Columbia. Despite having lost four times to Iowa, the five seed at Nationals, Syzygy has a promising roster of talented players, and could provide some excitement for the women’s side of the bracket.
The team faced an especially tough task at Regionals, with only three bids coming from the North Central Region and years of Syz alumni expecting a trip to Nationals. Fortunately, Syzygy was in top form that weekend, crushing Minnesota and Iowa State in the Championship Bracket before losing a close game to Iowa, 11-8. This solidified its spot as the number two team in the region and ensured that they would be traveling yet again to the National tournament, this time in Boulder, Colo.
Captains Snyder and Rasmussen have guided this young team with discipline, focus, and consistency. With quite a few first-years and sophomores on the team, Syzygy will no doubt miss the graduating seniors next year, but they have loads of potential and players more than willing to step in as dominating role players.