CCC 2010 Recaps – The Semifinalists

Sadly, as you may have already seen, we did some damage to ourselves this weekend. Up until today, our right hand looked (and felt) broken at least to a certain extent. While the swelling has gone down, the signs of some kind of deep bruising have gone up. Pain is at a minimum so we’re going to pound this write-up out. Apologies to anyone who wanted more in-depth coverage and specifically to Jojah, who was kind enough to invite our services, not expecting us to be debilitated by the end of Saturday.

We’re going to do things a little bit differently than usual since, by now, you surely know how the tournament turned out.

UOA SEC Championship – A Recap

Apologies for the delay in the recap. We were hoping to find some photos of the observers and players in action. Alas, it was not to be. We did, however, find the above video. It’s a highlight reel from Auburn from the weekend. You can get a glimpse at the observers in action in various shots.

This weekend was, in our opinion, a good showing of some of what Ultimate could potentially become if all the powers-that-be get their heads and acts together and take the best of all worlds. It’s clear that Ultimate is moving towards a more observer based officiation system. Anyone who plays Ultimate at any kind of competitive level should be for this. It makes NO sense to avoid it.

Now, the current question is: How much of the UOA’s system should or should not be adopted into the future of Ultimate?

Easterns 2010 – Semifinals

Pitt's Eddie Peters sends a low backhand through Virginia's cup. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://www.unitesports.biz

With only four teams left in the hunt for the Easterns title there was yet to be anything that anyone would consider a big upset. Of the four teams that were still alive, Virginia was the only one that was not a No. 1 seed in its pool and that pool was the only pool that had three teams advance to quarterfinals.

Both semifinal games seemed like they were going to be the first example of the big upset but in the end, both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for the tournament pulled out victories and moved on to finals. Wisconsin came out on top of Middlebury 13-9 and Pitt beat out Virginia by the same score. However, that wasn’t before the Pranksters and Night Train gave the Hodags and En Sabah Nur a good scare.

Easterns 2010 – Quarterfinals

Pitt's Colin Conner snags a disc in front of a Georgia's Matt Bailey during Eaterns quarterfinals. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange.

Quarterfinals had a bit of a different feel than prequarters. All four of the teams that had advanced through prequarters had advanced through dogfight games. Mostly fighting tooth and nail to advance, only to face an even tougher opponent than the round before.

Unfortunately for spectators, this resulted in some lopsided scores. The round of eight consisted of Pitt vs. Georgia, Virginia vs. Cornell, Middlebury vs. Virginia Tech and Wisconsin vs. Brown.

Just like prequarters, we were only able to watch three of these games. Wisconsin toppled Brown by a count of 15-6. We have no further information as to the manner of method by which this happening occurred. Meanwhile, Pitt whooped Georgia, 15-5, Middlebury and Virginia both avenged Saturday losses, Middlebury over Virginia Tech 15-9 and Virginia over Cornell 14-11.

Easterns 2010 – Prequarters

Georgia junior Matt Bailey lays out for and catches a 'mac'ed disc to save a possession for UGA. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://www.unitesports.biz

Although most things had gone more or less to seed on Saturday, the only exception being Jojah not winning its pool, prequarters presented an opportunity for many quality teams to go home.

The matchups included: UGA vs. UNCW, San Diego State vs. Cornell, East Carolina vs. Virginia Tech and Ohio State vs. Brown. We only could watch three of these at a time so we can only report that Brown defeated Ohio State 15-11, we do not know the manner or method in which this transpired.

Easterns 2010 – Saturday Night Showcases

UNCW captain Rusty Ingold-Smith narrowly misses a bid for a disc against Wisconsin in the Easterns showcase game. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://unitesports.biz

As we experienced at the Tally Classic, getting an opportunity to play under the lights is a good opportunity indeed. Four teams got that chance at Easterns but they each had something more on the line as well. Easterns was putting up two sets of 15 VC jerseys to add to the pot, one set to go to the winner of each of the games.

From pool A, Pittsburgh En Sabah Nur squared off with Ohio State Leadbelly and from pool B the Wisconsin Hodags met up with the UNCW Seamen. Pittsburgh won handily by a score of 15-8 and Wisconsin clung to an early lead to win 15-11.

Easterns 2010 – Round Four – UGA Jojah vs. Cornell Buds

Cornell's Ethan Pollack comes down with a catch block over Jojah's Matt Bailey at College Easterns. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://www.unitesports.biz

In their final pool play game of the day, Georgia and Cornell squared off against each other in a game that had plenty of meaning. Since Jojah had lost to UVA and Virginia, in turn, had lost to Cornell, a Bulldog victory would create a three-way tie across the pool that would be decided by point differential.

Needless to say, both UGA and Cornell were feeling the pressure coming into the game and with the wind picking up, the game was bound to be an exciting one.

Cornell would mount a huge comeback over the course of the game in order to pull out a 14-13, double game point, victory over the Dawgs.

Easterns 2010 – Round Three – San Diego State Federalis vs. Kansas HorrorZontals

SDSU's JT Power catches a score in front of a Kansas defender. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://www.unitesports.biz

In the next round we encountered two of the biggest surprises of the tournament. On one side of the coin we had San Diego State, one of the two west coast teams to make the trip, the Federalis had already held a late lead over Pitt and beaten UNCW in the showcase game on Friday night. On the other side of the coin was Kansas, a Nationals qualifier last year and a team that had driven 25 hours on a charter bus to get some good competition in, but had surprisingly poor results so far this season.

The trends of the tournament continued as SDSU pounded Kansas 15-10.