This past weekend in Davis, 16 open teams battled for two bids to UPA College Nationals in the most hotly contested Regional tournament of the weekend. With no clear frontrunner, each of the top 6 or even 8 teams considered themselves in contention for the two bids to Boulder. UBC entered the weekend as the #1 seed, but they finished in 4th place among the 5 Northwest teams at Centex. Santa Cruz had the second seed by virtue of their first place finish at Bay Area Sectionals, and they were followed by Stanford, LPC, Cal, and Oregon, a dangerous 6th seed after leading at half against every team they faced on the Saturday of Centex, including Wisconsin and Michigan.
We opened the weekend against Humboldt, a team that struggled at Oregon Sectionals but gave us trouble at Sean Ryan in the fall, when we won 11-8. Led by Ben Carlson and his big forehand huck, Humboldt kept it close at the beginning, and Matt Kissman cut strongly in the middle of the field. Sloppy play from both teams led to a long first half, but Stanford took half 8-6. There was a lack of urgency from Stanford, but drops and throwaways from Humboldt allowed us to pull away. Humboldt did shred our zone defense, which was cause for concern, but our defense clamped down later on, and we ended with two breaks to take the game 15-10, after a point block on Ben Carlson's attempted around forehand break.
That led to our quarterfinal game against Oregon, our first game against them since an 11-10 victory in consolation at Sean Ryan in November, and our last meaningful game against EGO was the 15-10 Regional final last year. The typical players who got recognition were fairly quiet in this game, as Eli Janin, Dusty Becker, and Kevin Stout were outshone by Gavin McKibbon, Spencer Wallis, Joe Condon, and Cody Bjorklund. After starting out up several breaks, Oregon clawed their way back when our offense stagnated and Eli and Gavin broke through our marks and various defenses. Stanford took a few break lead but Oregon never gave up. After the game, Reid Koss remarked on the sideline that without a coach, Oregon could never channel their talent into success because the egos (get it?) of the "Big 3" led to sloppy play and poor decision-making.
Midway through the first half, Mark Sherwood caught an upline pass as Eli was poaching off his man and slammed into Sherwood, knocking him into the ground with a lowered shoulder. Sherwood lay there for several seconds before popping up and shoving Eli in the chest, sparking the closest I've ever seen in ultimate to a bench-clearing brawl. After the observer issued TMF's, play resumed as normal. Speaking of the observer, this weekend proved that having one observer who doesn't know the rules is worse than no observers. At one point he ruled that the offensive player fouled the defensive player, upholding the D player's foul call. Instead of awarding Cody Bjorklund the disc, he sent it back to the thrower, giving Stanford a second shot. Dusty had at least one monstrous layout D, as did Sherwood, and Dusty got into several confrontations with Stanford players who considered his late bids at the disc dangerous and gratuitous. Oregon took the lead early in the second half, but Dusty dropping a pull helped Stanford claw back. We found ourselves on universe point with Stanford pulling, and both teams with their money lines on the field. After Oregon had a couple swings and short gainers upfield, Dusty had the disc on the open sideline and launched a forehand huck OI to a streaking Spencer Wallis with a couple steps on Angus Pacala. But the disc hung in the air long enough for Angus to catch up, and with the disc lingering out of bounds, Angus was able to get the D just out of bounds in the endzone, and Stanford began to march the disc up the field. In what seemed like 100 passes, Stanford calmly moved the disc from side to side with swings and stall eight bailout cuts from across the field, as Mark Sherwood took over and led the charge. Everyone was exhausted, and finally Chris McCarty, out for most of the season with a broken leg, threw the winning goal to send Stanford to the semis. After the game, Eli and Sherwood settled things with an apology and an explanation, and Eli's still alright with us.
There we met the UCSC Banana Slugs, who hadn't really been tested yet and were looking to repeat their Sectionals performance with another big win over their big brother Stanford. Unfortunately, we didn't test them either. We came out flat and found ourselves down 7-2. There was no energy in our defense, but the real problems were on offense, where Santa Cruz's force middle defense frustrated our handlers and cutters and stagnated the offense. On defense the marks were poor, and players like potential FOTY Cassidy Rasmussen and junior Steve Graves made huge grabs for UCSC. Without Tom James, a lot of the downfield matchups got shifted, giving players like Cassidy more favorable matchups and putting us into a deeper hole. We stopped the slide down 3-9, but with the cap approaching, our 6-3 run was too late. We finally figured out their defense, and Sherwood was literally draped over Danny Karlinsky for the entire game. To add to DLK's misery, I accidentally cut him on my wrist brace while marking him a few points into the game.
One of the most memorable plays from our end was a huck to Nick Chapman, who had about 10 steps on Ezra Schiff. But the disc hung a little bit, and Ezra took lazy loping strides (probably due to his sports hernia) and just as Chapman was about to catch the goal, Ezra leaps up, grabs the disc, does some of his signature flourishes, and bounds away to the goal line to put the disc in play. Midway through the second half, I bid for a disc in the endzone and landed awkwardly on my broken wrist, and the entire field of players rushed around me. It was actually Karlinsky who pushed them all back to give me some room. After icing and taking two Vicodin I was fine, and I even played on two D lines that got breaks and an O line that converted, but it was too late. UCSC scored up 12-9 to end the game at 13-9 and go into finals on Sunday. On the other hand, we had a tough road, facing Whitman who knocked off LPC, then the winner of Cal vs. Oregon, and then the loser of the finals. Three games - win them all and we're back at Nationals. Lose one, and our season is over.
We had a delicious team dinner at Applebees on Saturday night to recharge and refocus for Sunday. The only kosher for Passover meal at the pizza place we went to on Friday was a salad, but at Applebees I could have a delicious steak. Our waitress was actually wearing a pin that said "Landshark" on it - courtesy of Landshark Lager. Courtesy of the waitress, our entire team got Landshark coasters. Memories of Kaimana definitely fueled us for Sunday as well. I was actively pulsating throughout the night, as reports of a Maryland-Delaware Metro East final made me almost positive that Maryland and Mike Rubin would qualify for Nationals, and hearing about NC State's near loss to Emory made me cringe. It was a mixed day for my former teammates around the country, but really all I could focus on was making Nationals myself.
In the morning we met Whitman, who had a simple scouting report - Jeremy Norden throws hucks and Jon Loeffler scores goals. The game went pretty much the same way, although we fell into a hole early after our zone failed to produce breaks and our upwind forehand hucks turned over. Down 3-5, however, we turned it on and started playing smarter ultimate, working the disc underneath until smart huck options opened up. It didn't hurt that we had Tom James back, and we scored 5 points in a row to take half 8-5. After seeing Jeremy Norden play at YCC's last summer, I was expecting more from him in an elimination game at Regionals. He threw a bunch of hucks early, but for several points I covered him and he hardly touched the disc. What struck me the most about his play was the he didn't play defense. It wasn't smart poaching or team switching, but he didn't cover anyone on the turn. That didn't work against us, and we essentially traded out the rest of the game until hard cap went on with us up 14-12. We put in a rookie line that got the turn and worked the disc to the endzone, but a point block and a huck quickly ended that. 14-13, Stanford, and on to play another game. Whitman's most impressive player to me wasn't Norden or Loeffler, but Micah Jarnot who had several great grabs and nice D's to keep Whitman right on our heels.
We had a bye next, and our women were playing in the backdoor quarters against PLU after their loss to Cal in the quarterfinals. They were shaken up but looked great against PLU - Reign didn't score in the 30 minutes we were on the sideline watching the game. Apparently they carried that momentum into the next game against Oregon to go up 11-7, but the game ended in disaster for Superfly when Emily Damon and Becca Schwartz layed out into each other while Emily was catching the game-winning goal on universe point, sending the disc and their season crashing down.
Cal beat Oregon in their backdoor semi, 14-12, and now we were set to face Cal for the fourth time this season. Ben Ewing and Elliot Schatmeier were both injured and out for the game, and really, this game was over in the first 10 seconds, as Colin Van Lang got a huge layout D on the second pass of the game, just outside Cal's endzone. Three points later, he pressured Charles Denby into a drop, just outside their endzone again. We were up 3-1 and crushing. The first half ended 8-4, with Cal's spirits crushed and Stanford's legs churning faster than ever. We felt the game to go in our grasp and would not let Cal come near it. Brian Neil was slinging forehand hucks to Tom James and Mark Sherwood, and this handler even got a deep D against one of 6'7" twins in a hell point where Miles Brodsky and I almost killed an old man on the sideline after bidding out of bounds for a huck. The best part of it was, after he regained his senses he asked both of us if we were okay. Choon got several deep D's that point for Cal, but eventually we were able to punch it in and several points later, we sealed the win, 15-10.
We were able to catch the last two points of the UBC-UCSC final, where Cassidy Rasmussen and Steve Graves were again making huge plays, and Karlinsky and James Yeager were throwing pinpoint hucks. Thanks to UCSC, UBC finished the game dead tired. Eamonn Watson threw up on the sidelines and Jon Hayduk was hunched over on the field, shirtless. Their body language indicated that they wanted no part of a game against a Stanford team that had played two hard games but still had the legs for a third. Our entire team could smell blood, and we knew that the game to go was ours for the taking.
We started the game on defense and got a turnover on a rushed huck. Matched up on Blair Hole, I could feel how tired he was and was open deep and underneath on each cut I made - and from the way we were moving the disc up the field, it was evident that the entire team had fresher legs than their Canadian defenders. We broke first, then traded to 3-3 and then went up 6-3. Receiving at 3-3, we struggled through a long, long point that forced several UBC players to call injury subs, but we toughed it out as Tom James caught a huck over the four inches taller Jon Hayduk, then instantly cramped up in tremendous pain. To Hayduk's credit, he stayed with Tom and stretched him out until our coach and resident trainer, injured freshman Nick Greenfield, could take care of him. Our defense capitalized on UBC's exhaustion, breaking their offense two more times and watching them hunch over and gasp for air at the end of each point. But UBC wasn't done, and Blair Hole, Eamonn Watson, and Raef Immerman moved UBC up the field, throwing goals to Mark LeDuc and Jordan McPhee. But we gathered our composure at 6-6, then broke again to take half 8-6. Sherwood was poaching off of LeDuc a lot, given how tired he was, but LeDuc still managed to make him pay, and Blair Hole launched hucks that helped UBC avoid some long, grinding points.
In the second half, things started to get chippy, sloppy, and extremely frustrating. UBC scored some O points on long hucks, and they got some discs back with a Raef Immerman layout D and Dan Woodsworth sky. UBC's tiredness manifested itself with almost nonexistent defense, while Stanford started to crumble with rushed throws and overthrows. The second half was also marked by an inordinate amount of injury subs - the most I've ever seen in one game. After Steve Scardato dropped a huck in the endzone and UBC got a break back, the game got narrower and chippier. With the UBC womens team drunk and loud on the sidelines and Superfly supportive but still in shock, angry heckles crisscrossed the field. At 14-12 Stanford, we got several D's (two by Mark Sherwood and one by Derek Frome, a first-year player) and break opportunities, and receivers were open downfield, but a rushed huck, turfed open forehand, and a dropped dump all ruined our chances to win with a break, and UBC converted. At 14-13, we received and Sherwood touched the disc nearly every other pass, throwing scoobers over the top to Tom James and eventually scoring the game-winning goal to send Stanford to Nationals for the 5th straight year. Make no mistake, this is a different Stanford team than the ones that made Nationals before. Ten rookies joined twelve veterans in November to take this team to Nationals, and we achieved our goal. It doesn't matter that we'll be the #3 seed in our pool instead of the #3 seed overall. The way we cut on Sunday throughout all three games, and the intense defense that defined our play in all the elimination games we faced, will give us as good a chance as anyone to play on Sunday for the first time since 2002.
2008 NW All-Region Team:
Mark Sherwood, Stanford
Danny Karlinsky, UCSC
Blair Hole, UBC
Joey Durkin, California
Ernst Westphal, LPC
Tom James, Stanford
Nick Chapman, UCSC
FOTY:
Cassidy Rasmussen, UCSC
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
A National Picture
Bay Area sectionals was this past weekend, and while none of the five regional qualifiers finished where they were seeded, the final results could hardly be said to be a surprise. The top four finishers will likely take 4 of the top 5 (or even 4) seeds at Northwest Regionals, and along with UBC and Oregon are very much in the hunt for a bid to Nationals. All across the country, late-season results are turning once-boring Regionals into hotly-contested battles for one or two spots to Nationals.
Metro East
Pittsburgh is the undisputed favorite in the ME, although their loss to Penn at Roll Call makes them far from invulnerable. Penn and Maryland will not be afraid of Pitt come Regionals, and Pitt's history of slipping up and qualifying via the backdoor - losing to Delaware in 2006 and Cornell in 2007 - could hurt them more than usual this year. Pitt has a strong core of cutters and handlers that will jam the disc down your throats on the open and break sides until a favorable deep look opens up. They will beat teams with their depth and consistency - their bench can also break the mark and has no fear of cutting against another team's starting D. Look for Chris Brenenborg, Josh Suskin, and Nick Kaczmarek to make the Metro East All-Region team while Julian Hausman and MIke Plunkett compete for FOTY. Penn is led by handler Ricky Chung and receiver Andrew Bailil, and Ricky at least has improved tremendously over the past couple years. Maryland is led by the fiery Reuben Saul and defense of Adam Reis, with the cutting of Andrew Hempstead and steady handling of Sam Burnim and Mike Rubin. They also have a legitimate FOTY candidate in Freddy Tsai.
Southwest
As it's been ever since Beau pulled on Mamabird yellow, Colorado comes into Southwest Regionals as the favorite. After a shaky start at Vegas and Stanford, missing Martin Cochran and having severe handler problems, they pulled it together at Centex. Martin's return allowed Jolian to play less defense and handle again, and Chris Wicus is almost impossible to stop as he uses his long arms and legs to pivot around a mark. But for all of their superstar Bravo players, the player who seems to have been consistently good for Mamabird all season is defensive superstar Kevin Schipper, who seems good for at least one layout D a game. Arizona put together a magical run at Vegas and dealt Florida their only loss of the season on their way to a 12-11 finals loss to Wisconsin, and they've ridden that wave all the way to the second seed at SW Regionals. A quarterfinals appearance at both Stanford and Centex shows that they're not about to go away. Their loss to Texas at Stanford was without star Joe Kershner, but at Centex they were blown away by Colorado and lost to a Michigan team in the quarters that struggled to score upwind all day. Look for Austin Gregerson and Erik Gafni to lead this team with Kershner and take them all the way to Nationals. On the outside looking in is Claremont, a team that will be looking to upset Arizona in the semifinals with their big receivers coming down with discs over Arizona's big defenders. Michael Stout, Jay Schulkin, and even SW future FOTY Markham Shofner will be looking to rip down hucks from Gordon Stecklein and Daniel Bobrowsky - and even Stout and Shofner. If they can make the plays, they have a shot at making Nationals, although they'll have to beat Arizona in a tough backdoor game to do it, not to mention avoid slipping against UCSB, SDSU, or even Colorado State. If the weather is bad, UCSD might even make a run.
Central
The big question lingering from Centex is how Minnesota and Carleton match up. That question should be answered next weekend at Northwoods Sectionals, but until then, Minnesota should not consider a trip to Boulder in May out of their reach. Led by Sub Zero's Jeff Anderson and last year's FOTY Michael Arenson, the handling of Kevin Terry and Josh Davidson also plays a big role. They love to put the disc and are strong in the air, although when forced to work the disc up the field, they will struggle and get impatient. Their 5th place finish at Centex placed them ahead of both Wisconsin (7th) and Carleton (10th). Carleton is an extremely fast team and more than half of their roster played high school ultimate - meaning they have the throws of players five years their senior. They punish teams on the break side and with hucks to speed instead of height - Grant Lindsley, Christian Foster, and Patrick Roberts are Junior Worlds receivers that they added this year to the already formidable Jerome Potter. After years and years of winning Central Regionals, they will not go down without a fight. Who am I forgetting? Only the defending national champion Wisconsin Hodags. While Florida might have the most feared O-line and zone defense in the country, Wisconsin has the most dominant man defense in the country, bar none. However, Muffin's quick hucks on turnovers don't have nearly the same completion percentage that they did last season, and nobody is taken by surprise anymore. But trust that the defending champions will bring it at Regionals, and they will be up in the title hunt again this year, perhaps content to no longer be favorites and to have taken some of the pressure off. Ben Feldman has improved massively over the course of the year, and he will have to help lead a much younger Hodag team next year.
Great Lakes
It was Michigan that garnered the most attention at Centex this year, beating Wisconsin handily on Saturday behind the play of Ryan Purcell (on my Callahan ballot) and Will Neff. In addition to their superstars, they have a very strong core of sophomores who contribute both their handling skills and cutting prowess to MagnUM. However, Michigan struggled on Sunday to score upwind, although their inability to get breaks may have been related to freshman D-handler Ollie Honderd's absence (Worlds tryouts). But for all of the attention Michigan received, Illinois nearly upset eventual champions Florida in the first game Saturday morning, losing 12-13. Illinois has a very, very solid offense that throws a lot of blady forehands to receivers with only a step or two on their defender, and they complete nearly all of them. They also have a strong switching defense that creates turnovers and layout D's, and after trading with Stanford in the first half of our game at Centex, they won the second half 6-1. Lurking in the background at second-tier tournaments have been Ohio State and Notre Dame, and both teams have the skills and players to upset one of the top teams - but do they have the focus? Last year Illinois was one of the favorites to make Nationals and fell short while Indiana rose to the top - who will fall this year?
South
The South has historically been one of the shallowest regions in the country, with Texas so far ahead of the competition that their Regionals was easier than some teams Sectionals. This year, however, North Texas shocked TUFF and came away with the sectional title, a 12-7 victory, and the #1 seed at South Regionals. Kevin Richardson is the go-to guy for UNT, and their speed and athleticism makes them similar to a Claremont team with better defense. It remains to be seen whether their high-powered huck-happy offense will pass muster in a less windy situation where turnovers are more costly. Texas is still the favorite to take the first bid to Boulder, led by Stephen "Franchise" Presley, a shifty handler who makes TUFF's offense tick. Presley, along with Steven Darroh, run a handler-motion offense that attacks the break side and launches opportunistic hucks. Throw-and-go handler motion generates opportunistic cuts from their vertical stack and punishes poaches and lazy defense. But less athletic than in years past, Texas fell to the sheer power of UNT. Left out of the discussion so far are Oklahoma, Wash U, and Kansas, the Ozarks teams looking to bump out the top two seeds and take the #16 seed at Nationals. It will take a heroic performance by one of these teams to qualify, but Oklahoma's "faceless army" might be the Ozarks best bet.
Atlantic Coast
Florida rules the roost in the Atlantic Coast, and their win at Centex has nearly cemented Kurt Gibson as the Callahan winner. Their offense is nearly perfect, and their O-team defense fights ferociously to get the disc back and prevent breaks. Kurt and Brodie Smith are a formidable pair and cause matchup problems for every team in the country. Cyle Van Auken is a reliable reset, and John Windham and Chris Gibson provide usually reliable downfield options but are vulnerable to layout D's. Their zone is often illegal but so effective, as their height forces risky throws over the top that Kurt eats up from his deep deep position. The main battle in the AC is for second, as UNC, UNCW, NC State, and Georgia all believe they deserve to be in Boulder. The story of the year is the rise of UNC-Wilmington, behind the play of Rusty Ingold-Smith and the reliable leadership of Adam Pflaumer. They're fiery and streaky, and they will get into teams' heads. Their weakness is in their depth, as they wilted against Stanford in the fourth game of the day at Stanford Invite. UNC has the players and the experience to make it to the big show, but they have a history of falling to NC State. Mat Thomas, Ryan Coffield, and Eddie Alcorn lead Darkside, with physical Ring of Fire defense and youthful Los experience from their younger players contributing to their success. Noah Saul is probably the best freshman in the region, contributing as a handler all season. NC State has to overcome internal turmoil between its captains and coaching staff, but they're confident that they have the tools to make it to Boulder - as long as they're given the opportunity by their line-callers. Georgia has fallen since Dylan Tunnell left, but Greg Swanson is doing his best to bring them back. But with a shoulder injury he might not even get the chance - their 14-13 victory over Georgia Tech in the sectional finals hardly inspires confidence in their chances.
New England
It's hard to predict much from the Northeast this year, as weather and various out-of-state tournaments have produced such starkly different results. Williams must go into Regionals as the favorite after their Yale Cup victory and Santa Barbara performance, but they might even falter at Sectionals. Brown has put up inconsistent results but has much more experience after their young team finished poorly at Nationals last year. Michael Vandenberg and Jimmy Lowe run this team from behind the disc, and they play well in wind and slop. Tufts and Dartmouth are the flashy picks to make Nationals, and they met in the finals of Southerns several weeks ago. Still in the picture are Wesleyan and Harvard, who may still be missing super-freshman George Stubbs at Regionals. Fellow freshman Andre Vogt has stepped up to lead Harvard's consistent but unspectacular older core. Middlebury jumped onto the scene with a Yale Cup finals appearance, but can the skirt-wearing Pranksters survive bracket play at Regionals? It will be a surprise to see them in Boulder, but New England has the most parity at the top out of all 8 regions - including the AC and NW.
Northwest
My own region has had its fair share of turmoil this exciting college season. UBC or UCSC will take the top seed at Regionals - two teams that haven't been to Nationals in years. Stanford, coming off of four consecutive semifinal appearances, is either a #2 or #3 seed, and last year's quarterfinalist Oregon is languishing back as a likely #6. UBC is an odd team, with their baggy shorts and roster loaded with graduate students, some of whom have been playing with Furious for years. But there is no Morgan Hibbert or Oscar Pottinger, and their deep game shredded Wisconsin at Stanford Invite. But they nearly fell to Jeremy Norden-led Whitman at Sectionals and looked poor in the C-bracket at Centex. UCSC is led by Revolver's Danny Karlinsky and Nick Chapman. They're almost unstoppable at redzone offense - turnovers need to come on hucks or early in cuts to get breaks on Santa Cruz. Cal is a very solid team with a strong ho-stack offense that hucks a little recklessly but ruthlessly exploits lazy marks to romp down the break side. Alec Berg runs the O line, while Charles Denby, Choongil Fleishmann, and Erec Hillis make things happen on defense. LPC fell to third at Sectionals, but Brad Kearney, Nick Raisch, and Ernst Westphal are huge for them, while the more recognizable players Dan "Robot" Naruo and Michael "808" Liu draw more formidable matchups. Oregon has struggled this year, with all of their "big three" players suffering injuries. Despite that, Dusty Becker and Kevin Stout led Ego to huge leads over almost every team they played at Centex before they crumbled. If they can maintain those leads at Regionals, another Nationals appearance is in the cards. Stanford has struggled on offense this year with drops and throwaways, but Mark Sherwood is a difference-maker, and if players 4-7 on the line can step up and make plays against other team's 4-7 defenders, Stanford can make it to Nationals again.
Metro East
Pittsburgh is the undisputed favorite in the ME, although their loss to Penn at Roll Call makes them far from invulnerable. Penn and Maryland will not be afraid of Pitt come Regionals, and Pitt's history of slipping up and qualifying via the backdoor - losing to Delaware in 2006 and Cornell in 2007 - could hurt them more than usual this year. Pitt has a strong core of cutters and handlers that will jam the disc down your throats on the open and break sides until a favorable deep look opens up. They will beat teams with their depth and consistency - their bench can also break the mark and has no fear of cutting against another team's starting D. Look for Chris Brenenborg, Josh Suskin, and Nick Kaczmarek to make the Metro East All-Region team while Julian Hausman and MIke Plunkett compete for FOTY. Penn is led by handler Ricky Chung and receiver Andrew Bailil, and Ricky at least has improved tremendously over the past couple years. Maryland is led by the fiery Reuben Saul and defense of Adam Reis, with the cutting of Andrew Hempstead and steady handling of Sam Burnim and Mike Rubin. They also have a legitimate FOTY candidate in Freddy Tsai.
Southwest
As it's been ever since Beau pulled on Mamabird yellow, Colorado comes into Southwest Regionals as the favorite. After a shaky start at Vegas and Stanford, missing Martin Cochran and having severe handler problems, they pulled it together at Centex. Martin's return allowed Jolian to play less defense and handle again, and Chris Wicus is almost impossible to stop as he uses his long arms and legs to pivot around a mark. But for all of their superstar Bravo players, the player who seems to have been consistently good for Mamabird all season is defensive superstar Kevin Schipper, who seems good for at least one layout D a game. Arizona put together a magical run at Vegas and dealt Florida their only loss of the season on their way to a 12-11 finals loss to Wisconsin, and they've ridden that wave all the way to the second seed at SW Regionals. A quarterfinals appearance at both Stanford and Centex shows that they're not about to go away. Their loss to Texas at Stanford was without star Joe Kershner, but at Centex they were blown away by Colorado and lost to a Michigan team in the quarters that struggled to score upwind all day. Look for Austin Gregerson and Erik Gafni to lead this team with Kershner and take them all the way to Nationals. On the outside looking in is Claremont, a team that will be looking to upset Arizona in the semifinals with their big receivers coming down with discs over Arizona's big defenders. Michael Stout, Jay Schulkin, and even SW future FOTY Markham Shofner will be looking to rip down hucks from Gordon Stecklein and Daniel Bobrowsky - and even Stout and Shofner. If they can make the plays, they have a shot at making Nationals, although they'll have to beat Arizona in a tough backdoor game to do it, not to mention avoid slipping against UCSB, SDSU, or even Colorado State. If the weather is bad, UCSD might even make a run.
Central
The big question lingering from Centex is how Minnesota and Carleton match up. That question should be answered next weekend at Northwoods Sectionals, but until then, Minnesota should not consider a trip to Boulder in May out of their reach. Led by Sub Zero's Jeff Anderson and last year's FOTY Michael Arenson, the handling of Kevin Terry and Josh Davidson also plays a big role. They love to put the disc and are strong in the air, although when forced to work the disc up the field, they will struggle and get impatient. Their 5th place finish at Centex placed them ahead of both Wisconsin (7th) and Carleton (10th). Carleton is an extremely fast team and more than half of their roster played high school ultimate - meaning they have the throws of players five years their senior. They punish teams on the break side and with hucks to speed instead of height - Grant Lindsley, Christian Foster, and Patrick Roberts are Junior Worlds receivers that they added this year to the already formidable Jerome Potter. After years and years of winning Central Regionals, they will not go down without a fight. Who am I forgetting? Only the defending national champion Wisconsin Hodags. While Florida might have the most feared O-line and zone defense in the country, Wisconsin has the most dominant man defense in the country, bar none. However, Muffin's quick hucks on turnovers don't have nearly the same completion percentage that they did last season, and nobody is taken by surprise anymore. But trust that the defending champions will bring it at Regionals, and they will be up in the title hunt again this year, perhaps content to no longer be favorites and to have taken some of the pressure off. Ben Feldman has improved massively over the course of the year, and he will have to help lead a much younger Hodag team next year.
Great Lakes
It was Michigan that garnered the most attention at Centex this year, beating Wisconsin handily on Saturday behind the play of Ryan Purcell (on my Callahan ballot) and Will Neff. In addition to their superstars, they have a very strong core of sophomores who contribute both their handling skills and cutting prowess to MagnUM. However, Michigan struggled on Sunday to score upwind, although their inability to get breaks may have been related to freshman D-handler Ollie Honderd's absence (Worlds tryouts). But for all of the attention Michigan received, Illinois nearly upset eventual champions Florida in the first game Saturday morning, losing 12-13. Illinois has a very, very solid offense that throws a lot of blady forehands to receivers with only a step or two on their defender, and they complete nearly all of them. They also have a strong switching defense that creates turnovers and layout D's, and after trading with Stanford in the first half of our game at Centex, they won the second half 6-1. Lurking in the background at second-tier tournaments have been Ohio State and Notre Dame, and both teams have the skills and players to upset one of the top teams - but do they have the focus? Last year Illinois was one of the favorites to make Nationals and fell short while Indiana rose to the top - who will fall this year?
South
The South has historically been one of the shallowest regions in the country, with Texas so far ahead of the competition that their Regionals was easier than some teams Sectionals. This year, however, North Texas shocked TUFF and came away with the sectional title, a 12-7 victory, and the #1 seed at South Regionals. Kevin Richardson is the go-to guy for UNT, and their speed and athleticism makes them similar to a Claremont team with better defense. It remains to be seen whether their high-powered huck-happy offense will pass muster in a less windy situation where turnovers are more costly. Texas is still the favorite to take the first bid to Boulder, led by Stephen "Franchise" Presley, a shifty handler who makes TUFF's offense tick. Presley, along with Steven Darroh, run a handler-motion offense that attacks the break side and launches opportunistic hucks. Throw-and-go handler motion generates opportunistic cuts from their vertical stack and punishes poaches and lazy defense. But less athletic than in years past, Texas fell to the sheer power of UNT. Left out of the discussion so far are Oklahoma, Wash U, and Kansas, the Ozarks teams looking to bump out the top two seeds and take the #16 seed at Nationals. It will take a heroic performance by one of these teams to qualify, but Oklahoma's "faceless army" might be the Ozarks best bet.
Atlantic Coast
Florida rules the roost in the Atlantic Coast, and their win at Centex has nearly cemented Kurt Gibson as the Callahan winner. Their offense is nearly perfect, and their O-team defense fights ferociously to get the disc back and prevent breaks. Kurt and Brodie Smith are a formidable pair and cause matchup problems for every team in the country. Cyle Van Auken is a reliable reset, and John Windham and Chris Gibson provide usually reliable downfield options but are vulnerable to layout D's. Their zone is often illegal but so effective, as their height forces risky throws over the top that Kurt eats up from his deep deep position. The main battle in the AC is for second, as UNC, UNCW, NC State, and Georgia all believe they deserve to be in Boulder. The story of the year is the rise of UNC-Wilmington, behind the play of Rusty Ingold-Smith and the reliable leadership of Adam Pflaumer. They're fiery and streaky, and they will get into teams' heads. Their weakness is in their depth, as they wilted against Stanford in the fourth game of the day at Stanford Invite. UNC has the players and the experience to make it to the big show, but they have a history of falling to NC State. Mat Thomas, Ryan Coffield, and Eddie Alcorn lead Darkside, with physical Ring of Fire defense and youthful Los experience from their younger players contributing to their success. Noah Saul is probably the best freshman in the region, contributing as a handler all season. NC State has to overcome internal turmoil between its captains and coaching staff, but they're confident that they have the tools to make it to Boulder - as long as they're given the opportunity by their line-callers. Georgia has fallen since Dylan Tunnell left, but Greg Swanson is doing his best to bring them back. But with a shoulder injury he might not even get the chance - their 14-13 victory over Georgia Tech in the sectional finals hardly inspires confidence in their chances.
New England
It's hard to predict much from the Northeast this year, as weather and various out-of-state tournaments have produced such starkly different results. Williams must go into Regionals as the favorite after their Yale Cup victory and Santa Barbara performance, but they might even falter at Sectionals. Brown has put up inconsistent results but has much more experience after their young team finished poorly at Nationals last year. Michael Vandenberg and Jimmy Lowe run this team from behind the disc, and they play well in wind and slop. Tufts and Dartmouth are the flashy picks to make Nationals, and they met in the finals of Southerns several weeks ago. Still in the picture are Wesleyan and Harvard, who may still be missing super-freshman George Stubbs at Regionals. Fellow freshman Andre Vogt has stepped up to lead Harvard's consistent but unspectacular older core. Middlebury jumped onto the scene with a Yale Cup finals appearance, but can the skirt-wearing Pranksters survive bracket play at Regionals? It will be a surprise to see them in Boulder, but New England has the most parity at the top out of all 8 regions - including the AC and NW.
Northwest
My own region has had its fair share of turmoil this exciting college season. UBC or UCSC will take the top seed at Regionals - two teams that haven't been to Nationals in years. Stanford, coming off of four consecutive semifinal appearances, is either a #2 or #3 seed, and last year's quarterfinalist Oregon is languishing back as a likely #6. UBC is an odd team, with their baggy shorts and roster loaded with graduate students, some of whom have been playing with Furious for years. But there is no Morgan Hibbert or Oscar Pottinger, and their deep game shredded Wisconsin at Stanford Invite. But they nearly fell to Jeremy Norden-led Whitman at Sectionals and looked poor in the C-bracket at Centex. UCSC is led by Revolver's Danny Karlinsky and Nick Chapman. They're almost unstoppable at redzone offense - turnovers need to come on hucks or early in cuts to get breaks on Santa Cruz. Cal is a very solid team with a strong ho-stack offense that hucks a little recklessly but ruthlessly exploits lazy marks to romp down the break side. Alec Berg runs the O line, while Charles Denby, Choongil Fleishmann, and Erec Hillis make things happen on defense. LPC fell to third at Sectionals, but Brad Kearney, Nick Raisch, and Ernst Westphal are huge for them, while the more recognizable players Dan "Robot" Naruo and Michael "808" Liu draw more formidable matchups. Oregon has struggled this year, with all of their "big three" players suffering injuries. Despite that, Dusty Becker and Kevin Stout led Ego to huge leads over almost every team they played at Centex before they crumbled. If they can maintain those leads at Regionals, another Nationals appearance is in the cards. Stanford has struggled on offense this year with drops and throwaways, but Mark Sherwood is a difference-maker, and if players 4-7 on the line can step up and make plays against other team's 4-7 defenders, Stanford can make it to Nationals again.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Upwind/Downwind (Centex Sunday)
After the massive shakeup in the order of things on Saturday, this year's parity in college ultimate was evident on Sunday as well. The main theme of the second day of play was the wind - every field was upwind/downwind, and upwind pulls generally went 45 yards into the strong 15 mph winds. Every team dealt with the wind differently - Saturday's Cinderella, Michigan, had to face the consequences of indoor practices, while UNC rode the wind and Josh Torell all the way to the finals. But the clear winner was Florida, whose four-man cup devastated teams and Kurt Gibson got deep D after deep D.
Our Sunday started with Harvard, who played spoiler to Georgia on Saturday and avoided a three-way 4-1 tie at the top of Pool D. Star freshman George Stubbs was still out with a PCL tear, and Harvard looked like they could have used a confident thrower into the wind. Fellow freshman Andre Vogt looked able but overwhelmed, and Harvard struggled against a hard man defense but performed admirably against the zone. Harvard's coach, Josh McCarthy, controlled the team well, and talked Zirui Song out of at least one terrible foul call. We won the game by putting in a handler-heavy D-line and actively seeking an upwind break, then converting the downwind break. We did it once each half for the 13-8 victory. The game also saw the solidification of our only call/response cheer: "We scored!" "Yes!" After our dismal Saturday, we talked about how we should never expect to score and that we should celebrate each goal. And so we did.
Because of the different round times for consolation and the A-bracket, after finishing our Harvard game, I wandered over to the A-bracket quarterfinals. Planting myself between the Pitt-Colorado and Florida-Wisconsin games, I saw several points of each. Florida-Wisconsin was a contentious game, and several arguments between Muffin and Cyle had to be settled by the observers. Florida's four-man cup was doing their job, making every point long, but Wisconsin was working the disc pretty well with handler motion. But some turnovers cost Wisconsin, and Brodie caught a lucky goal over Shane Hohenstein after being layout D'ed by him and launched a vicious spike. Florida eventually eked out the win in the cap.
Pittsburgh was getting it handed to them by Colorado when I first started watching. Colorado's zone was eating up poor hucks and some drops led to Colorado getting an upwind break. Evan Padget swooped on a poor Chris Brenenborg huck and hucked it upwind to Martin, who threw the goal. The downwind break came on a dropped swing pass, and Colorado quickly worked the disc in. Apparently the game was one full of breaks, however, because after Pittsburgh worked the disc down and scored on a Nick Kazcmarek high lefty forehand, they managed an upwind break of their own with some disc movement between Chris Brenenborg and Jake Christian. Pitt, unlike Michigan later, was able to capitalize on loose offense by Colorado and convert upwind, but they were less able to stop Colorado from pouncing back with breaks of their own.
Heading back to the C-bracket, our game was further delayed because UCSD was grinding out a way over time cap come from behind victory over UCSB. We lost to UCSD at Santa Barbara Invite in the rain and wind, but we had a 13-5 victory at Stanford Invite, and we were well prepared to deal with the weather and UCSD's zone. Their blond handler, #7, hucked a lot going downwind so that the Air Squids could set their zone, and it was pretty effective. We only managed one upwind score the entire game, but as in the Harvard game, we actively sought it out with a handler-heavy line and smart disc movement. Match Diesel was on the sidelines for this game, pumping up the Squiddies with some movie magic motivational speeches. We retaliated with "Gladiator" at halftime, but with cap on so soon, we scored twice after half and won 9-6.
We followed that game up with the C-bracket finals against Kansas, a team that will be pushing on the edge of Nationals qualification if the South gets two bids again this year. Picking up star freshman Axl from Rockhurst High School has helped mitigate the loss of most of their handling corps from last year, and Kansas is a solid team with solid handlers and some big downfield receivers. However, their breaks and defense are not yet at a level where they can compete on a National scale with the best teams. We managed 5 breaks in this game - 3 upwinders and 2 downwinders. Kansas was the only team that scored upwind on us all day, to their credit. Their ability to throw in the wind was probably the reason they made it to the C-bracket finals, but their day ended in a 7-13 loss to us. We had 11 breaks and gave up none on the day - a massive improvement over Saturday's dismal performance.
With our playing over by 1, we were able to check out the A-bracket finals and consolation games. Florida was rocking UNC, with Kurt Gibson putting in a Callahan-winning performance, so I focused my attention on the 3rd place game between Colorado and Michigan. It was an intense battle of great downwind offenses and what looked like scared defenses hoping for turnovers. Some silly decisions like hammers from Jolian and hucks to Will Neff in double coverage led to possible upwind breaks, but nothing materialized the entire first half. Occasional turnovers would lead to Colorado's Evan Padget picking up the disc, yelling "Chinatown!" and hucking to Martin as far as he could throw, which usually ended up being 35 or 40 yards into the wind. Martin had his fair share of upwind turnovers trying to do too much, but Colorado finally got the break halfway through the second half and eked out a 13-12 victory. Big defensive performances from Martin, Padget, and Pebbles (a great defender) helped key Colorado all weekend.
Our Sunday started with Harvard, who played spoiler to Georgia on Saturday and avoided a three-way 4-1 tie at the top of Pool D. Star freshman George Stubbs was still out with a PCL tear, and Harvard looked like they could have used a confident thrower into the wind. Fellow freshman Andre Vogt looked able but overwhelmed, and Harvard struggled against a hard man defense but performed admirably against the zone. Harvard's coach, Josh McCarthy, controlled the team well, and talked Zirui Song out of at least one terrible foul call. We won the game by putting in a handler-heavy D-line and actively seeking an upwind break, then converting the downwind break. We did it once each half for the 13-8 victory. The game also saw the solidification of our only call/response cheer: "We scored!" "Yes!" After our dismal Saturday, we talked about how we should never expect to score and that we should celebrate each goal. And so we did.
Because of the different round times for consolation and the A-bracket, after finishing our Harvard game, I wandered over to the A-bracket quarterfinals. Planting myself between the Pitt-Colorado and Florida-Wisconsin games, I saw several points of each. Florida-Wisconsin was a contentious game, and several arguments between Muffin and Cyle had to be settled by the observers. Florida's four-man cup was doing their job, making every point long, but Wisconsin was working the disc pretty well with handler motion. But some turnovers cost Wisconsin, and Brodie caught a lucky goal over Shane Hohenstein after being layout D'ed by him and launched a vicious spike. Florida eventually eked out the win in the cap.
Pittsburgh was getting it handed to them by Colorado when I first started watching. Colorado's zone was eating up poor hucks and some drops led to Colorado getting an upwind break. Evan Padget swooped on a poor Chris Brenenborg huck and hucked it upwind to Martin, who threw the goal. The downwind break came on a dropped swing pass, and Colorado quickly worked the disc in. Apparently the game was one full of breaks, however, because after Pittsburgh worked the disc down and scored on a Nick Kazcmarek high lefty forehand, they managed an upwind break of their own with some disc movement between Chris Brenenborg and Jake Christian. Pitt, unlike Michigan later, was able to capitalize on loose offense by Colorado and convert upwind, but they were less able to stop Colorado from pouncing back with breaks of their own.
Heading back to the C-bracket, our game was further delayed because UCSD was grinding out a way over time cap come from behind victory over UCSB. We lost to UCSD at Santa Barbara Invite in the rain and wind, but we had a 13-5 victory at Stanford Invite, and we were well prepared to deal with the weather and UCSD's zone. Their blond handler, #7, hucked a lot going downwind so that the Air Squids could set their zone, and it was pretty effective. We only managed one upwind score the entire game, but as in the Harvard game, we actively sought it out with a handler-heavy line and smart disc movement. Match Diesel was on the sidelines for this game, pumping up the Squiddies with some movie magic motivational speeches. We retaliated with "Gladiator" at halftime, but with cap on so soon, we scored twice after half and won 9-6.
We followed that game up with the C-bracket finals against Kansas, a team that will be pushing on the edge of Nationals qualification if the South gets two bids again this year. Picking up star freshman Axl from Rockhurst High School has helped mitigate the loss of most of their handling corps from last year, and Kansas is a solid team with solid handlers and some big downfield receivers. However, their breaks and defense are not yet at a level where they can compete on a National scale with the best teams. We managed 5 breaks in this game - 3 upwinders and 2 downwinders. Kansas was the only team that scored upwind on us all day, to their credit. Their ability to throw in the wind was probably the reason they made it to the C-bracket finals, but their day ended in a 7-13 loss to us. We had 11 breaks and gave up none on the day - a massive improvement over Saturday's dismal performance.
With our playing over by 1, we were able to check out the A-bracket finals and consolation games. Florida was rocking UNC, with Kurt Gibson putting in a Callahan-winning performance, so I focused my attention on the 3rd place game between Colorado and Michigan. It was an intense battle of great downwind offenses and what looked like scared defenses hoping for turnovers. Some silly decisions like hammers from Jolian and hucks to Will Neff in double coverage led to possible upwind breaks, but nothing materialized the entire first half. Occasional turnovers would lead to Colorado's Evan Padget picking up the disc, yelling "Chinatown!" and hucking to Martin as far as he could throw, which usually ended up being 35 or 40 yards into the wind. Martin had his fair share of upwind turnovers trying to do too much, but Colorado finally got the break halfway through the second half and eked out a 13-12 victory. Big defensive performances from Martin, Padget, and Pebbles (a great defender) helped key Colorado all weekend.
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