CCC LIX Previews – Georgia Jojah

Caleb Edwards sends a backhand around his defender at CCC 2009. Photo courtesy of Chad Borer.

Just like a couple of other previews we’ve mentioned, the preview of Georgia’s Ultimate team is going to be more focused on who isn’t there anymore than who is still there. Jojah has become a staple of the Nationals scene and seems to reload on talent every year no matter who leaves but there is no question that last year’s graduating class was one of its best in recent history.

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 – Finals

Wisconsin senior Evan Klane pumps a flick huck against Pitt in the Easterns finals. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://www.unitesports.biz

It was finally showtime at Easterns. Both Pitt and Wisconsin had waltzed through the tournament without much of a challenge one way or the other. Now the two best teams, both by seedings and by results, were meeting in the finals. With the wind at an all-time high, we had no idea what to expect.

Turns out, we should have expected a Hodag blowout because that is exactly what we got. The Hodags jumped out early and jumped out hard on En Sabah Nur and that eventually led to an easy victory. However, this game had more riding on it than a simple Easterns victory. The two teams had put up the VC Showcase Easterns jerseys and it was winner take all in the finals.

The Hodags walked away with the jerseys and a 14-11 victory.

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 – 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.