College Easterns: Recaps

It was a busy March for Pitt ultimate. We played in 3 tournaments in 4 weekends, with a lot of unexpected conditions. Last weekend it was time for our final regular season tournament: Easterns. There were 18 teams and some good competition from some up-and-coming teams. And the weather? Pretty good. 70s and a little wind on Saturday. Nearing 80 and a more steady, but manageable wind on Sunday. Eddie's got some stuff as well.

Here's my pretty long post:

Saturday

Duke (Pitt wins 15-6): Nothing much to talk about this game. We could've easily won this game by more. We won because we were the better team, not because we did anything spectacular. It was a good warmup game.

San Diego State University (Pitt wins 15-8): Similar to the Duke game, this was a tougher warmup game. We won, yet again, because we were the better team. SDSU is better than Duke, but just as our competition improved so did our playing. Thing is, we started out somewhat flat and SDSU broke us a couple times and held a lead early. But then we went on a 13-1 run and ran them into the gorund. Guys started to adapt to the weather conditions and wake up.

Kansas (Pitt wins 15-1): I don't even know how to describe this game. Somehow, somewhere people started talking highly of Kansas. How they were a very aggressive team and it could be the toughest game of the day. We were told to get observers for the game because it was going to be chippy. Kansas was hyped - big time. Then we went up 13-0 and it actually felt like some kind of joke. Up 13-0, we sent the O-line out to play D and they gave up the score that broke the shutout. Kansas rushed the field and the sidelines jokingly poked fun at the O-line. In all, there isn't much you can say bad about a 15-1 win.

SHOWCASE: Ohio State (Pitt wins 15-8): I don't think there was any other team at Easterns that we wanted to beat than OSU. We traded points early, but they never gave us the competition that we saw at QCTU. Our intensity is what gave us a 2 or 3 point lead at half before we sprinted out the second half for the win.

The only thing sweeter than beating Ohio State was getting free* jerseys. And the only thing sweeter than getting free* jerseys was winning our pool. And sweeter than that? An 11 a.m. start time on Sunday.

Sunday

QUARTERFINALS: Georgia (Pitt wins 15-5): Fresh off a universe point win over UNCW in prequarters, Georgia was tired. The game was fairly close in the beginning but I don't think any of expected that to last long. We got the crucial updwind/downwind break (winds picked up on Sunday) towards the end of the first half and Georgia never threatened again. Easy but solid win to start out the day.

SEMIFINALS: Virginia (Pitt wins 13-9): With wind much more of a factor, but nothing like it was in Centex, upwind/downwind breaks were necessary to win. If we got the upwind break, we needed to get the downwind one to go with it. Unfortunately, anytime we did, Virginia would come score the upwind offensive one and then maybe get the downwind break. A few breaks early in the first half by both teams, but the game was on serve heading into halftime as we trailed 8-7. Starting out the second half on offensive with the wind meant we'd have to score an upwind break to win the game. Right after our offense scored to make it 8-8. Our D-line got the upwind break - 9-8. And finally converted the downwind break - 10-8. Virginia answered but we got the upwind/downwind break again. Virginia is a pretty solid team and they upset Cornell in quarterfinals. They have a good handler (don't know his name) but he could rip the disk upwind or downwind. Unfortunately, their offense revolved around him and he couldn't do it all. Still a good team.

FINALS: WISCONSIN (Pitt loses 14-11): For the second time in three tournament were in finals at good tournament. And for the second time, we lose. Sucks and pretty heartbreaking. We also put up our 15 jerseys for winning the showcase game on the line in a winner-takes-all contest. Anyways, like has been the case all season, we came out pretty flat in a game and it showed. When we bring intensity and never let up, I really think we're the best team in the country (I feel like we've shown that at times throughout this season). But when we're flat and lazy, we struggle (And again...I feel like we've shown that at times). As for the game, they hucked it deep to their tall guys and we never had extra deep help. It also didn't help that some of their tall guys made some nice catches. Our O-line got broken early in the game. I think we started out down 5-0 before it was 8-3 at half. Hell, we took the second half 8-6 after showing some intensity and getting some updwind/downwind breaks.

I felt like this game could be summed up in this one point I played in the second half. We were trailing 11-9 out of half and with the cap looming, we needed a double break. We got the upwind break the point before. I'm covering one of their main handlers as Wisco heads upwind. I've got their guy near the one sideline we're forcing about 40 yards from the endzone. I kill the dump and he lets off some stall 9 bending huck upwind. We get a couple under and they do, too. Wisco comes down with the disk and a quick pass or two later, they score the goal. It was like we did everything we could on the point, shut them down and were about to really close in on them...and then we couldn't come down with the disk when we needed. We needed a play to be made and we didn't get it.

But that's Easterns. Series starts this weekend. Sectionals in Penn State.