Centex 2009

The team arrived in Austin midday Tuesday after a long 18ish hour car ride. We hopped straight from the car to the fields to stretch our legs out with our first practice, and though it was sloppy and slow, all were excited about the 2-a-days to come leading up to the tournament. We pushed our way through the week with both morning and afternoon practice, and managed to have a good time as well exploring the town, going to a natural spring, and watching college basketball. As the tournament finally arrived, we were all ready to stop beating up on each other and start throttling other teams. Things got chippy towards the end of the week, and playing other teams couldn’t come soon enough. Friday night we had a delicious dinner at an Olive Garden style Italian restaurant compliments of the PCUT and loaded up on the carbos we’d need for the next day.

The first game was against the University of Michigan and we were ready to get our brand new jerseys dirty. We got a nice long warm up and came ready to play. We traded points early on, but on the 2nd D point junior D line cutter Peter Karian went down with a pulled hammy. This, on top of our already injured 2 starting O line cutters Jerome Potter (senior) and Patrick Roberts (sophomore) meant a few cutters had to carry the load most of the weekend playing lots of point both ways. Back to the game, the O looked great as they were simply walking down the field. At 2-3 junior Sam Kanner rips a huge backhand to senior Dan Mammel and he comes down with a great sky to tie it at 3’s (clip of the day http://ultivillage.com/index.php/COTD-2008/centex-09-open-carleton-vs-michigan ) The D took that momentum and turned it into a break and we coasted to a 7-6 halftime lead. We came out of half with a quick 2 breaks, to take the lead 11-8, but gave up a few to let Michigan back in the door and they tied it at 11’s. The O then held, to put the D on the field with a chance to break to win. Michigan worked it to the red zone, but a player fumbled a layout grab in the end zone and that was all we needed as we efficiently worked it the other way for the goal and the win 13-11.

Next up was the home team Texas. We came out slow on D, and though the O held all half, the D only got 2 breaks to take half 7-5. We came out excited after half to take a 10-5 lead, then put it into cruise control to finish the game 13-9. Great hucks by Senior Chris Kosednar all game as he threw 6 goals.

After a bye we played UNC and CUT alum Gabe Hart. Though Gabe played great all game, UNC just simply didn’t have the depth to hang with us. Though we played another sloppy first half taking it 7-5, we outscored them 6-3 in the second half to win 13-8.

After another bye we had a much-anticipated matchup with EGO of Oregon. They had been hot all season and were 3-0 up to that point in the tournament. All other games were done so the sidelines were lined with players eating BBQ and ready to watch a good clean game. At 1-2 a costly overthrow gave EGO the first break to make it 1-3. The D however was ready to reward the O for playing great all day and fired back with 3 breaks before half, including one on 6-5 to take it to half off a great inside backhand from Kanner to Sophomore Grant Lindsley. This would be a theme as Grant ended the game with 5 goals caught and 2 thrown. Out of half we weren’t done yet and started the half with another break to make it 8-5. The D would get one more break before the game ended and the O would stay firm. Final score 13-9 in CUT’s favor. We were happy with our performance on the day, but knew we could have been more efficient putting away teams. The long week of 2-a-days and the injuries were taking their toll on the legs of some, as would become quite evident early Sunday morning.

Sunday morning first round pitted us against Harvard. Led by a few studs we knew what they wanted to do and were confident we could stop them. The wind was blowing strong up/down but we knew we would be able to work it still. Though the O had been smooth all day Saturday, they came out out of sync Sunday. A dropped pull and a misthrown centering pass both on the upwind side led to 2 easy upwinders for Harvard and before we were even awake they took the lead 5-2. Our D owed the O a few breaks though, and after watching the slow start they were ready to start rattling them off and they did just that getting 2 before half, but Harvard ended with a smooth down winder to make it 6-7 at half. We came out of half well to go up 9-8, but the O was not done misfiring and though we were given multiple chances, we just looked tired. At 9-10 Harvard, a missed first throw led to a Harvard Callahan to make it 9-11. We fought back with 3 quick goals with great play from the handlers in the windy conditions to make it 12-11, but then Harvard scored to make it 12’s. We were receiving, but the wind and a combination of sore legs led to the point turning into a MARATHON. We had 4 chances to score and just couldn’t capitalize. Midway through the point the hardcap blew, and after a turn close to their end zone, Harvard capitalized throwing a swilly high release backhand break for the goal and the win. The defeat was humbling and our slow start bit us in the butt. Not one person had a good game, and too many to name played below their potential. We had a bye to stew in our dissapointment before Cal.

As we prepared for the Cal game, though we were excited to get a chance to avenge our loss, I don’t think anyone was focusing on warming up. People were sore and tired and not ready to exert at 100% to start. Well, it bit us in the butt again. After trading to 2’s our O began to fall apart. We had another few turns on the 1st throw or 2, and Cal was not a team that was going to give us second chances. They capitalized on our mistakes and before we knew it they took half 7-3. We regrouped at halftime and took a deep breath, but that didn’t help as the breaks continued and they went up 9-4 out of half. At this point we were pretty down on our luck, but after the O scored to make it 9-5 after a HUGE hand block by senior Dan Mammel to get back the disc, we decided it was time to stack the D line. We broke once, but then they held to make it 6-10, and then our O held to make it 7. The D hit the field with a full head of steam and decided to not leave. We started smiling, and having fun, and things started to come together. Cal had been giving us the disc the whole game, but now we were capitalizing. We were loading the upwind points with 5 handlers so we could move the disc and we did just that. Great steady play from juniors Luke Powers and Adrian Chow and all of a sudden we rattle off 3 points in a row to make it 10-10, universe. Well universe was a bit sloppy with 2 turnovers by us, but when Cal gave it to us a 3rd time, their was no denying us the end zone as Lindsley hit Kanner on an upline for the game winning goal.

The Cultimate format was quite bizarre, so we ended up in some low placement game against NC State. We were exhausted, didn’t feel like playing, didn’t really warm up, and played with entitlement/cockiness as opposed to supreme confidence. All that aside, there are no excuses for what happened. 3 points in a row we turned it over on the centering pass (2 turfs and 1 popped in the now crosswind) and suddenly NC State is winning 5-1. We bring it in on a timeout to focus and channel our energy, but there just simply is no energy to channel. We can’t get it together, NC State takes half 8-2, and then wins 7-15. As I said, there is really no good excuse for a loss like this to a bad team. We simply didn’t show up to play and they capitalized.

Back on campus the team is starting to get into a groove. The weather has been decent and so we have been outside as much as possible. Sectional was postponed till 3rd weekend and everyone is excited that regionals will be hosted at Carleton 4th weekend. Though practices have been rougher and a bit sloppier than all of us would wish, things are coming together as we really start to iron out what exactly it is like to play outside again. Sectionals/regionals write ups to come.