Trouble in Vegas 2009

By the time Trouble in Vegas finally rolled around 5th weekend, the 21 members of The Carleton Ultimate team were ITCHING to get on the plane. After the 6 week long winter break filled with individual workouts, and the first 5 weeks of the term chalked full with morning practice, track workouts, and lifting sessions, CUT was ready and rearing to punish teams. As the tournament approached, team members found it harder and harder to focus on midterms and getting ahead with work, and easier and easier to slip in and out of daydreams about laying out, and skying opponents. After a nice jog and stretch followed by a meeting to discuss our goals Wednesday night, the team boarded a late plane Thursday to LAS. After piling most of the team into a 15-passenger van we finally arrived at the house around midnight. Though we had a 930 game the next morning, it was hard to get to sleep due to a combination of our excitement, and the fact that our house was unreal. For having the self-proclaimed "stingiest captain ever," this house was huge and filled with fun. Highlights included a pool, hot tub, pool table, dartboard, 72 inch HDTV, and over 1400 DVDs. After a quick sit own and handing out of individual goal note cards, the team finally went to bed dreaming about what they could do to help the team the rest of the weekend, and crushing the first opponent, Western Washington.

We arrived to the fields nice and early to warm up, happy to see the sun and looking good in our spray-painted cut off sleeve v-necks and various...beautiful...hair-
dos. Unfortunately for Western Washington's DIRT, our excitement to finally be playing outside again was brought down upon them like the hammer of Thor. We came out swinging on D rattling off 3 quick breaks to start capped by a huge backhand rip by junior Luke Powers. We took half 7-2, and weren't done there giving up only 1 point in the 2nd half to finish the game 13-3.

Next up was Stanford's Blood Thirsty. Towards the end of the first game and while warming up for this game, the wind began to pick up. It was a bit chilly and this combined with the wind led to some very sloppy play. We came out on D again, and went up 3-0 with great play from junior Adrian Chow who caught the first and threw the next two goals. Unlike the game against Western, we hit one of our first lulls of the tournament and Stanford began to chip away at the lead. Our D became complacent with trading and we took half 7-4. Points were getting longer and longer, and turns were frequent, but both defenses were having trouble capitalizing. Out of half, an overthrown huck led to the first break of the game for Stanford to make it 7-5. The O got right back on track though and scored to make it 8-5 right as the cap went off, so game over.

We had a bye round before the last game of the day against Colorado Mamabird. Some of us went over and watched the Hodags lose their 2nd game of the day (they ended up something like 3-6 on the weekend, 1-2 Saturday, 0-3 Sunday), but most of us went to the van to shelter ourselves from the wind. As seems to be a trend with this team, we were slow to come out of the van to warm up for the game, and coasted through the drills right up to game time. No one felt really warm or ready to play this last game of the day, and Colorado came out swinging right away. We started on D and though we forced a turn the D line was still having trouble converting turns into breaks and Colorado got it back and punched it in. The next point a costly drop on a swing led to break number 1, and a dropped pull on the next point led to another break and a quick 0-3 lead for Colorado. Timeout was called and we regrouped in the huddle. Everyone was finally warm, and though we knew it would be hard, we were ready to work our way back into the game. Our O got back on track right out of half with a quick score, and we sent a stacked D line to the field to start chipping away at the lead. Junior Peter Karian got a big D on an under and we punched it in for a break to make it 3-2. Colorado threw a 50-50 ball the next point into the wind, which we ended up coming down with. Senior Jerome Potter streaked to the end zone, and a big outside in backhand went up to the left corner. It looked like the defender had a step and the throw was going to be too far, but Jerome put on the burners and layed out HUGE to come up with the big break on the sideline tying the game at 3-3. We weren't done yet though and forced a turn with our zone and punched it in for the 3rd break in a row to take our first lead of the game. Colorado's O finally got back on track to make it 4's, and we traded to 6-5 with solid steady play from both O lines. With half looming another stacked D line was sent out to get the break, and though the point was sloppy, with a plethora of turns, the D got the break to take half 7-5. We brought it into the huddle with adrenaline flowing, and an unfinished feeling running through our veins. We knew we had more to do and were screaming about finishing the job. We broke the huddle and started walking back to the sidelines when we realized Colorado was lined up for handshakes. The short rounds and sloppy play had led to a short game and the cap had gone off. So game was called 7-5, but no one on the team was content leaving the fields on that note.

After a nice relaxing Friday night filled with hot tubing and lots of sleep, we got to the fields Saturday morning late because we had a round 1 and 2 bye. When we got there the rain was coming down and the fields were already starting to look bad. With the cold wet conditions we had a difficult time getting our legs warm and our minds into dominator mood. Tufts was the first competitor of the morning. The fields were basically just a pool of mud at this point. The O looked solid all game, but the D line had a hard time pulling away. We took half 7-5, and resolved to finish the game on a better not. At 12-7 the cap blew in the middle of the point and so the point was to be the last no matter the result. The D wanted to end on a winning note though and junior Christian Foster got a big weak side lay out D, but the disc macked straight up into the air, and Tufts ended up catching it for the goal to finish the game 12-8, CUT wins.

The UBC game immediately followed which was nice because standing around was quite unpleasant with the rain and 45 degree weather. The same problems from the Tufts game rang true against the Thunderbirds, and though we had a lead most of the game, our D just couldn't pull away. We traded to 4's before getting 2 breaks right before half to take the half 7-4. Our O line was playing a bit sloppy, but Senior Jerome Potter was all over the place getting Ds to earn the disc back when we turned it. The 2nd half found us lulling again as I think we got but one break and gave one up to finish the game with a 13-10 win. We all ran to the cars to warm up as we had a bye before the last game of the day against last year finalist Florida.

Now if you know anything about college Ultimate, you know that no one likes Florida. Really, no one likes them. They are poor spirited, boring to watch, frustrating to play and are quite frankly the equivalent of the F that college Ultimate tries to hide on their transcript. This coupled with our loss to them in the semis at nationals last year was all the inspiration we needed to get excited for this game. At the start it was still rainy and muddy but we were ready to put the Gators where they belong, in the mud. We knew what we had to do to win this game. Offensively, we knew Florida was going to give us as many wide open unders as we wanted all game. As long as we stayed within our system and moved the ball quickly, we would walk the disc down the field with ease. Our O line did just that all game getting broken only once (maybe twice), as senior cutter Dan Mammel was untouchable gaining 25 yards per under and senior handler Rob Bradley moved the disc side to side with ease. Sophomore Patrick Roberts came up with HUGE plays as he skyed a Florida defender to save a stall 9 huck, and snagged a disc in the end zone in between 2 defenders by reaching his hand through them (it was incredible). Defensively, we knew we were going to have to try some different looks out. Florida's offense consists of 3 players who play small ball for 40 seconds before one of them jacks it to the end zone to a tall dude who catches it. In the whole game, they threw like 5 legit unders. With a combination of force middle, straight up with other handler defenders sagging the lanes, having a constantly switching last back, and playing shut down D on their 3 "studs" we were able to generate turns, and most importantly, our D line O was phenomenal as we converted on just about every turn we got. We took half 7-6, and by this point the sun was out, it was warming up, and a rainbow appeared over the field as if to say Florida and Carleton are meant to be playing right now. We were able to hold our lead in the 2nd half with smooth O, and at 10-9 the cap blew when we were about to pull. We were on D; get the break, game over. Get scored on; Florida forces universe. Florida right off the bat sends their big guy deep but the throw is a little short, and Sophomore Grant Lindsley comes up with the GINORMOUS sky D, and we work it down the field with short quick unders for the score and the victory to end the day. Saturday night the alumni cooked us a delicious pasta dinner, and we went to bed early knowing we had a round 1, 830am game.

Sunday morning the sun was out once again, but the wind had returned. First up the UC Santa Cruz Slugs. We came out slow trading the first few points, but finished the first half up 7-4. In the 2nd half, sparked by some huge bids and Ds by junior Dan Curme, we got rolling and went on to finish the game with a 13-5 W. One note, during the middle of this game Senior and O line primary cutter Jerome Potter went down with a shoulder injury that sidelined him the rest of the tournament.

Pool play was now over and it was elimination time. Quarterfinals pitted us against Pitt, who had reason to be mad at us given that we knocked them out at last year's nationals in the Pre-quarters. Unfortunately for them, their anger was not enough. The wind was really howling by this point and their O just simply couldn't handle the tenacity of the CUT's D with the strong wind. Our O had a few turns, but both Senior Dan Mammel and Sophomore Alex Kinsey had big lay out D's to get it back. We took half 8-2, then coasted on our way to a 15-6 victory.

This landed us right where we wanted to be: the semifinals against Colorado. As we moved fields, we all made sure to get water, food, and for some, Red Bull in us to make sure we would have the energy we would need for the battle to come. As the game began, there was a strong cross wind making if difficult to move the disc. Luckily for us, our O was finally hitting their stride and was looking smooth as butter. They were broken just once in the first half after a minor execution-error drop. Colorado's O was looking far less fluent as they were throwing up late stall count desperation balls left and right. Our D was generating turn after turn, but unlike the previous days Florida game; we were once again having trouble converting the break. Colorado broke early in the half, but we got two after that, including one to take us into half with an 8-7 lead. We knew this game wasn't going to be called at halftime, so we prepared ourselves for one more half of clean Ultimate. We came out on O, and scored in 2 throws on an easy huck from Senior captain Chris Kosednar to Grant Lindsley to make it 9-7. Colorado turned it early the next point, and we worked it worked it to mid-field before sloppily giving it back. That was all the Colorado O needed as they punched it in to bring it to 9-8. The O then hit their first hiccup of the half throwing into a poach D and Mamabird was quickly able to turn it into a break to even the game at 9-9. The cap sounded and that meant universe. CUT put a line of studs on the field, confident Mama couldn't match our 7, and starting on O didn't hurt either. But, just two throws in, a dropped dump 10 yards out of our own end zone led to a quick scoober goal for Colorado. Game, 9-10, CUT is eliminated in the semis after going 7-0 in pool play. Towards the end of the game we began to get tight, and started to play scared. Our handlers stopped running the systematic cuts, and thus we had a hard time moving the disc horizontally, our D got sloppy and had countless huck turns, and we just seemed unwilling to run OUR system and possess the disc.

After the game, we jogged to a clearing to discuss the weekend. What is clear is this; we can be the best team in the nation this year, but we are going to have to work to become it. We can beat anyone, but we cannot afford lulls, tight play, or straying from our systems. We were proud of our accomplishments having beaten both finalists (Florida and Colorado), but realized that we didn't earn or prove anything. The season is long and there is a lot of time till the series.

Given that it was midterm break, many CUT members stayed an extra night. Fun was had by all (not in small thanks to a few alumni), and the seniors gave Vegas the sendoff it deserved. Everyone was back on campus by Monday night and Tuesday it was back on the track. The Stanford Invite is 3 short weeks away now and I know everyone will be dreaming about the grass from the weight room and the track.