Speed headed to MLC with 11 players this weekend. Myself, Abe, Wes, Sebastian, Gentry, Brian, Cumbarge, Walker, Nathan, Wynn (rookie), and Chris (rookie). Seeded at the top of pool H, we had to win our pool along with a play in game to still be in contention on Sunday.
Game 1 vs UNT
We take half 7-4 after some unnecessary turnovers and defensive mistakes and go on to win the game 11-5.
Game 2 vs Winona State.
We take half 7-2, the wind is starting to gust at 15-20 MPH so it has turned into more of a zone game. We use this as practice with our 3-3-1 and 1-4-2 zones. Wesley and Gentry did a great job as marks for us. Meanwhile the Winona State captain says to me "We're playing so awful this game, I've never seen us play this bad". We work their zone and score repeatedly winning 12-5
Game 3 vs Wash U
Wash U had lost their previous game to Winona St so sitting at 1-1, the winner of this game would win the pool. We traded downwind points until i believe 4's when a big huck goes up to the end zone where Sebastian jumped over a guy for the score and tacos the disc. We used this momentum and put on our 3-3-1 where we force them into the back corner of the end zone where Abe gets a callahan. Pick 6 bitch. We take half 7-5. Wash U wouldn't back down and after some mistakes by us, they break and hardcap blows while it's 10-10. We work the disc down the field for the game. 11-10
Game 4 vs Minnesota-Duluth
Coming off an appearance at college nationals this year, the Northern Lights had high expectations for the tournament, still probably the ugliest jerseys though. After going 0-3 in the power pools, we met them in a game where the winner would get to play Texas A&M in the prequarters Sunday Morning. We trade points for the first few points, go down 2 breaks and they take half 7-5. On the sideline our now 10 man roster (walker went down with a knee injury) is exhausted, but still confident we can win. Speed comes out of half and goes on a 3-1 run. Once again we reach ultimate point, running on fumes we work our unders down the field until we find we in the end zone. He toes the line and cramps in the process. We win 12-11
Game 5 vs Texas A&M (pre-quarters)
The weather outside is not ideal. 50 degrees, 20 MPH winds with gusts at 30, and a storm rolling in. The wind has quickly become and upwind downwind game. We win the flip and take the wind and both teams strategies immediately become downwind hucks and upwind zone. We get broken upwind once in the first half and lose 13-10.
Game 6 vs Carnagie Mellon (9th place bracket)
The storm begins while our team is stading on the line waiting for the first pull. It started raining. Hard. Our roster is down to 8 people now and in the conditions our throws and hands just weren't there. CM took advantage when we turned the disc near the endzone and quickly took half 7-2. The weather is miserable and we continue to not perform in the elements after a long weekend and lose 13-3. The tournament is then cancelled due to the weather
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Ozark Mixed Sectionals (by April Johnson)
On September 16, Ozark mixed sectionals took place at Gary Hampton with three teams: Robot Unicorn Attack (Fayetteville), Hootie (Fayetteville), and Glory Daze (Conway/Little Rock). Hootie was a combo of current Arkansas college players who came together to play at sectionals. Glory Daze was primarily made of Hendrix players, but did have an ex-Fayettevillian favorite, Rich Walden on their squad. And Robot Unicorn Attack is the local mixed team who has been playing together since summer. Our section received two bids to regionals, which Robot Unicorn and Glory Daze won.
Captained by Jody Ayers, a stat junkie, here are RUA's stats from Sunday:
1) Possession to score ratio = 1.6. That's 48 possessions to score 30 points. 1.6 is a very solid ratio.
2) Clay Adams led the team with 5 goals caught. Even controlling for points played, he was most likely to score; catching a goal every 2.8 points played.
3) Abe Coffin threw the most goals with 7 assists. Casey Hooper was most likely to throw a point, doing so once every 1.8 points played.
Also, almost as exciting as winning sectionals, the RUA jerseys made their debut to a very warm reception:
Thanks to all the teams for coming out on a dreary Sunday and good luck with the rest of your seasons!
Captained by Jody Ayers, a stat junkie, here are RUA's stats from Sunday:
1) Possession to score ratio = 1.6. That's 48 possessions to score 30 points. 1.6 is a very solid ratio.
2) Clay Adams led the team with 5 goals caught. Even controlling for points played, he was most likely to score; catching a goal every 2.8 points played.
3) Abe Coffin threw the most goals with 7 assists. Casey Hooper was most likely to throw a point, doing so once every 1.8 points played.
Also, almost as exciting as winning sectionals, the RUA jerseys made their debut to a very warm reception:
Friday, September 14, 2012
Hillbillys at Grandmasters 2012 (by Doug Behrend)
So we went 3-5 on the weekend and played exactly to seed (14th). We had chances to do much better, as this brief report will show.
Minneapolis weather was great, highs in the 80s all 3 days, breezy and dry on Saturday and Sunday, muggy on Monday.
Game 1: Against Grandmaster Flash the 5 seed in our pool. We came out, turned it over a couple times and went down 3-0. We called a time out, got our shit together, and scored 13 of the next 14 points to win 13-4. Bitty, Salty Mike, and Bailey led the way.
Game 2: Against Man Down (Philly), the 3 seed in our pool. We saw this as our big game headed into the weekend. We came out solid with good offense and solid D including several hand packs. We led most of this game and received the pull leading by 1 as the cap blew. We turned it over, but got it right back and scored for the 11-9 win. 2-0 baby!!
Game 3: We had the last round bye, so we turned right around and played 1 seed Boulder. Phil sat out, and Boulder with hardly anyone out of their early 40s on their roster, skunked us 13-0. We got everyone in the game, and were able to hit the keg of West Mountain rye early as the last round of the day played out and we prepped for a big matchup with Brooklyn in the morning.
Game 4: Crucial game as Man Down had beaten Brooklyn and we had beaten Man Down. Win and we're #2 in our pool, but we had our worst game of the tournament here, missing open shots to the end zone and dropping far too many. Brooklyn pulled away early in the 2nd half and won 13-8, leaving three teams at 2-2 in the pool and dropping us to 4th because of point differential.
Game 5: So instead of winning and facing a #3 seed from another pool in the round of 16 we were paired with hosts and eventual champs Surly in the round of 16. We played pretty well here, but Surly was the superior squad and won going away. Toad hurt his hammy and missed much of this game and the rest of the tournament. Bob got heckled by Boulder.
Game 6: Dropping into the 9th place bracket, we faced Old Line from Baltimore/DC/Annapolis. Once again the game was tightly contested early on, but with no consistent big deep threat (Joe G. didn't make it, Toad hurt, and Phil gimping along) they did a good job of stopping our possession game and took us down. Once again we salved our wounds at the keg and then headed over to the Surly brewery for Bison burgers, brews, and a pretty good band.
Game 7: A rematch with GM Flash. We didn't let them take the lead this time and won easily again, setting up a game with our rivals from Texas, the Sick Hammers.
Game 8: We sucked. Hammers beat us. People went to the airport, watched the finals. A few of us went up to a lake house for a few days.
The tourney MVP for us was Jon Bitler. Bitty's always fit, but I think his practices with the mixed team helped his play. He also caught just about everything and may have led the team in points scored. Chuck scored a Callahan, and Salty just missed one. Bailey had two great d's in one point against Surly. Everybody on the roster either scored or threw a point. It sounds like GM Nationals will be moved back to the midsummer next year along with Masters and Womens Masters. With the regions changing for us next year, things could be much different.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWWWW!!
Minneapolis weather was great, highs in the 80s all 3 days, breezy and dry on Saturday and Sunday, muggy on Monday.
Game 1: Against Grandmaster Flash the 5 seed in our pool. We came out, turned it over a couple times and went down 3-0. We called a time out, got our shit together, and scored 13 of the next 14 points to win 13-4. Bitty, Salty Mike, and Bailey led the way.
Game 2: Against Man Down (Philly), the 3 seed in our pool. We saw this as our big game headed into the weekend. We came out solid with good offense and solid D including several hand packs. We led most of this game and received the pull leading by 1 as the cap blew. We turned it over, but got it right back and scored for the 11-9 win. 2-0 baby!!
Game 3: We had the last round bye, so we turned right around and played 1 seed Boulder. Phil sat out, and Boulder with hardly anyone out of their early 40s on their roster, skunked us 13-0. We got everyone in the game, and were able to hit the keg of West Mountain rye early as the last round of the day played out and we prepped for a big matchup with Brooklyn in the morning.
Game 4: Crucial game as Man Down had beaten Brooklyn and we had beaten Man Down. Win and we're #2 in our pool, but we had our worst game of the tournament here, missing open shots to the end zone and dropping far too many. Brooklyn pulled away early in the 2nd half and won 13-8, leaving three teams at 2-2 in the pool and dropping us to 4th because of point differential.
Game 5: So instead of winning and facing a #3 seed from another pool in the round of 16 we were paired with hosts and eventual champs Surly in the round of 16. We played pretty well here, but Surly was the superior squad and won going away. Toad hurt his hammy and missed much of this game and the rest of the tournament. Bob got heckled by Boulder.
Game 6: Dropping into the 9th place bracket, we faced Old Line from Baltimore/DC/Annapolis. Once again the game was tightly contested early on, but with no consistent big deep threat (Joe G. didn't make it, Toad hurt, and Phil gimping along) they did a good job of stopping our possession game and took us down. Once again we salved our wounds at the keg and then headed over to the Surly brewery for Bison burgers, brews, and a pretty good band.
Game 7: A rematch with GM Flash. We didn't let them take the lead this time and won easily again, setting up a game with our rivals from Texas, the Sick Hammers.
Game 8: We sucked. Hammers beat us. People went to the airport, watched the finals. A few of us went up to a lake house for a few days.
The tourney MVP for us was Jon Bitler. Bitty's always fit, but I think his practices with the mixed team helped his play. He also caught just about everything and may have led the team in points scored. Chuck scored a Callahan, and Salty just missed one. Bailey had two great d's in one point against Surly. Everybody on the roster either scored or threw a point. It sounds like GM Nationals will be moved back to the midsummer next year along with Masters and Womens Masters. With the regions changing for us next year, things could be much different.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWWWW!!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Summer League Twenty Twelve (by April Johnson)
Since the ADA finished earlier this year, we were able to expand our summer league from 7 to 9 weeks of play. We had 8 teams with about 160 players for this year's summer league. Despite record breaking temperatures, players continued to come out each week. Early predictions had team Brown on top, but a Perry once again proved good drafting skills and team White came into the tournament seeded first. The biggest contender was team Gold, who appeared to be an early favorite the first half of league. During the tournament, Gold was taken to ultimate point in two hard fought games against Brown and then Gravel before meeting White in an extremely hot finals. White came out on top fairly easily.
The league culminated in a private party at Wilson Pool. There was a great game of in and out box, along with a long chain of tennis ball passing (video is on the FDA Facebook page). We saw a lot of younger players this league as well as several new players. Hopefully, we will see them all again this winter!
The league culminated in a private party at Wilson Pool. There was a great game of in and out box, along with a long chain of tennis ball passing (video is on the FDA Facebook page). We saw a lot of younger players this league as well as several new players. Hopefully, we will see them all again this winter!
Friday, August 3, 2012
San Marcos Showdown - July 21/22 (by Clayton Adams)
This past weekend, Fayetteville's mixed team traveled to San Marcos, Texas for a 5-team co-ed tournament. We went 4-1 on the weekend and the only close game was a 13-10 loss to B.O.H.I.C.A., a perennial contender in the region. However, unforeseen circumstances forced us to leave early on Sunday due to time constraints. This prevented a rematch in the championship game against B.O.H.I.C.A.
Overall, it was a very productive weekend. The players got to eat at Salt Lick on Saturday night, the world-famous barbecue place, and enjoyed a cool swim in the San Marcos river after play on Saturday and Sunday. As the players departed San Marcos, they came away with a better sense of each other and an optimistic outlook for the season.
Overall, it was a very productive weekend. The players got to eat at Salt Lick on Saturday night, the world-famous barbecue place, and enjoyed a cool swim in the San Marcos river after play on Saturday and Sunday. As the players departed San Marcos, they came away with a better sense of each other and an optimistic outlook for the season.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Liquor and Cleats Win B Pool Finals! (by April Johnson)
The team name "Liquor and Cleats" was born at GRUB in 2007. That year, we made it to the B pool finals, went up 5-1, then proceeded to lose. Since then, we've made it back to the finals or semis, always losing. The team is primarily a group of current and past Fayettevillians who meet up 1-2 times/year to play and reunite with friends. We've denied repeated requests from the TD to move up to the A pool because our ultimate goal has been to be the most ridiculous, merched out pick up team to win the B pool at GRUB. This past weekend, dreams became reality. If you ever get an opportunity to play in Boulder, take it. They are the nicest fields in a very beautiful setting, and according to Brosh, "the nicest fields in the world". Our team did well on and off the field, living up to our reputation with plenty of liquor on the sideline and plenty of awesome cleats on the field. We also dominated the hotel hot tub and dance floor at the party, but it was the elk dog from the hot dog vendor who won in the end(warning: only order an elk dog in boulder if you can handle super spicy)!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Fayetteville Plays HOT at Solstice (by: April Johnson)
Three Fayetteville teams ventured over to Tulsa for this year's Summer Solstice: a LS/LS alum combo, the Hillbillys, and a group of ladies who played as Fayetteville Beach Party. The tournament hosted 10 men's teams, 8 mixed teams, and 7 in the women division. Fayetteville Beach party was victorious, going undefeated in the 7 team round robin and then winning the finals. It was great to see a group of new and experienced Fayetteville women come together and win the party and tournament.
The LS/LS alum team won the b (beer) bracket taking out the Hillbillys along the way. Per usual, Solstice was super hot (mid 90s). Some found relief in a kiddie pool that lent itself to a weekend long pool party crammed with at least 14 people in it.
Much fun was had including an intense game of CanPop and some golf cart joyriding. (Luckily, the girl Bustin ran over was okay.)
(For more pictures, go to www.picsbylesa.com and find the Solstice 2012 album.)
The LS/LS alum team won the b (beer) bracket taking out the Hillbillys along the way. Per usual, Solstice was super hot (mid 90s). Some found relief in a kiddie pool that lent itself to a weekend long pool party crammed with at least 14 people in it.
Much fun was had including an intense game of CanPop and some golf cart joyriding. (Luckily, the girl Bustin ran over was okay.)
(For more pictures, go to www.picsbylesa.com and find the Solstice 2012 album.)
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
High School Recap (By: Kaplan Maurer)
Okay, first off I would like to thank all of Fayetteville, and especially the FDA. They not only provided us with money for our tournaments, but have also always been there when we needed them to maybe come out to a practice to teach our more in experienced players, and also setting up scrimmages to help us prepare for incoming tournaments. So for all of that, Darkside thanks you. This is a write up of our season, and basically just re evaluates our major tournaments this spring including the Chicago Invite, Madison Mud bath, and our very own Regional; Southerns.
Let’s start off with the first tournament of the spring, and by far my favorite tournament this year. The Chicago Invite was held on March 19th and 20th in Naperville, Illinois ( About 30 minutes from downtown Chicago ). We were very fortunate with the weather at this tournament as we only experienced about 30 minutes of showers throughout the whole tournament, with temperatures in the mid 60’s, and winds not a factor at all Darkside was feeling very confident that nothing was going to slow us down. We were seeded third in our pool behind Holy Family Catholic, and our arch rival Hopkins. (Both of which finished in the top ten according to USA ultimate’s youth rankings) First game- Holy Family Catholic We started this game receiving the pull and had a lot of confidence in our offense considering we had Kaplan Maurer and Clayton Adams rocking the middle, and Sam Borgastadt and Abe Gambert being chilly at handle. We started Kaplan, Clayton, Sam, Abe, Ian, Larkin, and Cole. Our offense looked hot from the start has we worked it up wind with ease and were on the goal line within a matter of seconds. Clayton caught the disk and had Ian for a wide open cut but due to this being the first game the fields were very wet with due and Ian slipped and didn’t make the grab. Everyone on our team chuckling still Holy Family Catholic scored to break us and take the first score 1-0. They never looked back and we were defeated with our un chilly offense, and miss matched defense. We didn’t look very good, but then again it was our first game all season, and against the number 1 seed at the whole tournament. We were still very confident in our chances at this tournament. Holy Family wins 13-5. Second game- Hopkins This team ended up being the best team in the country by far, or at least tied with the club team “Seattle Fryz” Ignoring that, we knew we had a chance due to our teams rivalry, and history at last year’s tournament. Last year Hopkins was able to come back from a 6-2 lead by Darkside to win 8-6 in semis. But this was a new year with two completely different teams. We received the disk and were much chillier on this first point of the game to take the first point 1-0. Sam to Clayton for the score. We traded with Hopkins for a while to make it 3-3, but then Hopkins got an up wind break to make it 4-3. They never really looked back. Highlight from this game was Abe Gambert’s full field flick to Kaplan Maurer for the score. Kaplan Maurer also had a sweet forehand invert for a break score early in the game. Hopkins takes this game 13-5. Third game- Harry D. Jacob’s This team was the four seed in our pool and we really didn’t know much about them other than that they lost to Hopkins 13-2, and to Holy Family 13-1. We still knew that this was a very important game for our chances at championship bracket, and our star players knew that we had to put this one on our shoulders and lead Darkside to it’s first win. We did just that. The dynamic trio up field with Kaplan, Clayton, and Sam flowed perfectly. Abe had some great hucks to our middles including one to our newer players at the time Larkin Purkaystha who skied the heck out of a guy for the score. Final score, Darkside- 13 Harry D- 6, Darkside wins first game! Fourth game- Center Grove (Crossover) This team was very mean to say the least to us last year. They yelled at Sam and Cole’s mom, called us a bunch of elementary school kids, and most importantly they got their ass handed to them last year. This year was no different. We improved to 2-2 on the day feeling very comfortable about our finish in pool play. We were looking forward to tomorrow and all had our heads held high which is a very important factor when playing so far away from home. We won 13-4. CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET First game- Neuqua Valley We all knew who they were and a lot of us knew their players from other tournaments or other Frisbee related things. You could say that we were friends but then again I think you could say we were enemies. We had one goal, winning the tournament and we knew in order to do this that we had to play at our best. First point, Abe hucks a perfectly thrown disk to Sam and we score. 1-0 us. 2nd point, we get a nice d from our zone and then set up our offense. Sam was trapped on the sideline at a high stall count when he throws it up towards the end zone. Kaplan runs and fully lays out grabbing the disk, and barely getting a toe down to stay in bounds. Darkside is on a roll, is pumped up, and most importantly up 2-0. We traded a lot from there and we took half 8-7 (Championship bracket games are to 15) Darkside pulled out of half on another roll to break them, and get the up winder to make it 9-7 us. Neuqua goes on a run to make 9-9 though, and with soft cap in place the game is 11. Neuqua get’s a d and works it up wind to make it 10-9. Now starting to worry began the longest point of my life. Turn after turn, after turn, after turn is the way to describe that point. We finally broke their zone and got it up field when Sam caught it and had Kaplan up field for another 10 yard gain when one of Neuqua’s players laid out to get the d. Neuqua then works it up and is on the goal line. One of their better cutters makes a run for the goal but Kaplan Maurer has an insane lay out to try and contest it. Kaplan call’s a strip and the disk is sent back. A few swings later and Neuqua punches it in for the win. Devastated, crying, demoralized, worthless, never playing ultimate again are just a few of the things that popped into my mind after that game. We were still in the tournament and had a chance to win 5th place. However we were still upset about the last game and had no chance. However a second half run against Madison West did make the score a lot closer. Final score- 13-9 bad guys. We then played Pine Richland for 7th place. We decided that we were not going to lose this game and we really wanted to salvage this tournament and show that we are a great team who will be returning 9 players next year including 5 seniors. We won the game against Pine Richland very easily by a score of 15-7. We had a lot of fun that game, and I think we proved to ourselves that we were a lot better than some of the teams here may think. We felt good, and sad at the same time. The car ride home was a hard one, but we knew that we still had a lot of work to do. With another tournament just a month away, we couldn’t hang our heads on this one. The season had just begun..
2nd tournament!! Madison Mud bath!! This tournament was held on April 28th and 29th in Madison, Wisconsin. Darkside goes to this tournament with only 9 guys. That might’ve been the worst decision that we have ever made. Not only did we spend a ton of money on the tournament itself, but we went up there without our full team and our expectations were still to win the whole tournament. Well they were still realistic. Our 9 guys included Kaplan, Abe, Clayton, Sam, Ian, Naseer, Cole, Carlin, and Adeeb (He wasn’t even on the team, we just picked him up because we really needed another player). We were the number 1 seed in our pool including teams such as Memorial, Monona Grove, and Cathedral High School. First game- Memorial This was the home team, and despite us only having 9 players, we still had all of our more experienced and more athletic players so we really were not worried about this team. We saw them in action in a few games at the Chicago Invite and knew we could handle them. Ian Shaffer had some sick lay outs in this game and surprisingly he really led us to our first victory at the tournament. Darkside wins 13-5. Darkside is 1-0. Next we had a bye, and that was definitely the worst hour and a half of my entire Frisbee experience. It was sleeting, and raining, and snowing at some points. Temperatures were crap, and the wind was insane. However we found a dug out to keep warm in, and all of Darkside pilled on Ian for warmth. We were having fun. Second Game- Monona Grove This team was also at the Chicago Invite and their finish there helped us determine that they really weren’t a team to worry about. We were right. However most of our team could not feel our fingers so we were wondering at the start of the game if the northern team might have the advantage being more accustomed to the bitter cold climate up north. We were wrong. Darkside cruised to its second victory by a score of 13-1. Darkside is very confident at this point and has already begun to look past its final opponent Cathedral…. Big mistake. Third Game- Cathedral High School We had never heard of this team coming into this tournament so we were very skeptical. Starting the game we liked our chances and felt that we matched up very well. We started the game horribly, and quickly found ourselves down 4-1. Countless turnovers by our handlers, and Darkside early on was in a pickle. Middle Kaplan Maurer really led this game and was really the only player on the field that seemed to have a feel for Cathedral’s defense. Kaplan, alongside with his other middles Clayton and Sam who proved to be very solid despite the wind fed it to Kaplan quite nicely. Solid d by our role players such as Naseer, and Cole led Darkside to take half 7-6. Feeling like we hit our groove, Darkside and Cathedral trade a few points coming out of half to make it 8-7. Darkside then gets an upwind break on a sick sky by Kaplan Maurer who then throws it Carlin for the score to make it 9-7. Darkside is very confident that they have Cathedral on it’s heels and will be able to win this game. Darkside runs another zone defense against Cathedral that throws them off guard to force another turn. Darkside works it up despite many violation calls made by Cathedral. Darkside is on the goal line when Kaplan cuts for the goal and pan cakes the disk. He falls on the ground due to being off balance and clearly made the catch. Cathedral calls the disk down. After a great argument made from Kaplan and Clayton that a pancake is a catch and you can fall on the ground, and it is still a catch the stubborn Cathedral dousche decides to make us send it back. We have no choice but to oblige. Clayton get’s the disk and again throws to Kaplan but a great defensive effort in the end zone gives the disk back to Cathedral. That b.s. call was the game. If he wouldn’t have called it, Darkside would’ve been up 10-7 and had all the momentum. Whereas since he did call it, Cathedral drove down the field to get an up wind break to make it 9-8. We ended up losing this game on hard cap 11-12. But I’m pretty sure that the soft cap horn went on when it was 9-8 but on one told us because we were on the farthest field. If that was the case then we would’ve won 11-10. This game made me so pissed off, and really made me question how the north treats ultimate and it’s most proud rule of spirit of the game. That’s what it is all about, and it is rarely demonstrated amongst these northern teams. 4th game- Denver East (Played on Saturday but still the first round of Championship Bracket) Clayton Adams and Sam Borgastadt really demonstrated their leadership in this game as they tried their absolute best to rally our 9 guys to play this game and give it our all. I really wanted to win this game, but my body seriously just wouldn’t move. Only having 9 guys proved to be our Achilles heel in this game as the score really didn’t reflect how these two teams match up. On any given day I believe that with our full team that we would beat Denver East 9 times out of 10. We lost this game 13-3. 9th place bracket! We decided that we did want to salvage our ranking, and improve as a team and win the 9th place bracket. Well we did just that. We rolled Monona Grove to start by a score of 13-5. Abe Gambert, Ian Shaffer, Sam B. and Clayton Adams really led our team to this victory. Next game against Mounds View was really no different. Darkside won behind our best players and solid performances from Ian Shaffer, Carlin Purcell, and Adeeb Haroon. Abe had the highlight of the day in this one as he threw a sick full field huck to Sam for the score. We never looked back as we won 13-4. The final game of the tournament was for 9th place and against the home team Memorial. We knew that this would be a different game considering that it had more on the line, and they had quite the audience. This was their turf, and we had to respect that. That doesn’t mean that we were going to lose. We set out on the day with a mission and we were here to fulfill that mission. Highlight from this game is when Abe had a huge huck to Kaplan who skied a guy nearly 6 inches taller than him. The Memorial guy called a foul, and the disk was sent back. Abe immediately did it again and Kaplan did the same. Kaplan then threw it to Carlin for the score. Darkside never looked back. Darkside wins 12-7. Darkside learned a lot from this tournament. Never bring only 9 guys to a tournament. You will lose. But we did win the spirit award which was a huge plus and really ended up making the whole trip worth it! Arkansas State tournament I think it is only right that I mention it. We won the whole tournament without allowing a point scored on defense. This really proves that we are an elite team, and that there are some really bad teams out there.
Southerns- Regional’s (Biggest tournament of the season) This was the grand daddy for us. The biggest of the biggest and we knew for a fact that we had a chance to win the whole thing. We were the Third seed in our pool and seeded 5th overall, and we understood that considering we did very poorly at our previous tournaments. We found out that Sam wasn’t going to be able to make this tournament due to obligations regarding graduation. We were pretty upset about that, but still knew that we had a chance. We also only had 10 people for this tournament, which was still better than 9 (the number we had for Madison) First game- UNC “University School of Nashville” (Best team at the tournament) This game wasn’t a very intense game, and was really filled with laughs and great sportsmanship from both teams. Right off the back we were able to see that the south prided itself more on Spirit of the Game than the north and we were loving it. Our still aggressive play set us apart from some other teams from the start and we were in a great position to be there come finals. We ended up losing to UNC on universe point 9-10. We weren’t very upset and actually felt very confident that we were going to do quite well considering we just lost to the best team here by 1 point. Morale= high Second game- LC Byrd This team was a very in experienced team who had lost their best player in the first game to a broken leg. They really had no leadership and we rolled to gain our first victory on the day, 13-4. Third game- Lakeside High School (Atlanta) This game was a lot closer than the score may tell. The score was really tight at half, but Darkside was really led in the second half by fantastic play from it’s middles including Levi Finn, and Clayton Adams. Kaplan and Clayton were switching in and out at handle to try and save their legs as we knew from experience could pose a problem later on in the tournament. Darkside wins 11-6. Fourth game- Brookwood Brookwood was seeded 2nd in our pool, and is definitely one of the better teams at this tournament. After playing two easier games, we knew that we were definitely going to be tested as this game would most likely be for championship bracket. Brookwood had around 20 players including a player that tried out for the junior USA national team as well as our very own Abe Gambert. We knew that he was going to be the key in this game, and we defended him accordingly. Our zone defense was very important in this game, but when we were forced to play man, Kaplan, Clayton, and Abe all cycled on their best player. Brookwood took half 7-5, and most of Darkside including myself was pissed. We were playing pretty good, throwing descent hucks, playing good defense, the luck was just not going our way. Tim Caffrey rallied us, and basically just asked us how bad we wanted it, and if we have balls. Well, I guess we have some big cohunes on our team because we rallied to make the score 8-8. We then scored 2 straight to make it 10-8. Hard cap was then in play, and we basically just let them score. Final score 10-9, DARKSIDE. Last Pool game was played on Sunday before bracket play. But before this game, our new brothers from the south “Brookwood” came over to us to wish us luck and congratulate us on making it this far. This was a very cool experience for me, and all of Darkside. We then all got in a circle, arms locked and sung Amazing grace. Pure perfection. Game 5- Carolina Friends I guess we made some friends this game, or then again Kaplan might’ve made some enemies. Darkside went up early in this game and took half 7-6. It was a lot closer than anyone on Darkside or probably Carolina figured. We weren’t tired; we just were making dumb mistakes and were definitely getting down on our selves. The game was tied at 8’s when the hard cap horn blew. As many of you know we weren’t very good when it came to very close games, and ultimate points. But despite that we knew that we had to kick it into gear and get a d. Carolina worked it up and then a very disputed pick call called on Kaplan resulted into an argument. As Kaplan was beginning his argument, the player threw the disk and it was not caught resulting in a turn. Darkside then worked the disk up the field and finally got the disk to Kaplan for a nice break. Kaplan called time out as Darkside was about 30 yards from the end zone and winning the game. Tim Caffrey really didn’t have a special play for us to run, he just said let Kaplan, Clayton, and Abe work it up and everyone else get to the side. This really made me laugh, but regardless of the humor to it, It probably was the best plan for us to score. Kaplan went to check the disk, and as he did began our three man offense. It worked beautifully, and eventually Kaplan threw a high release back hand to Clayton Adams for the score. Everyone going crazy you could say that we had a great chance at winning the tournament due to our high morale’s and great playing. Final score, Darkside wins 9-8 Semifinal- Independence (Flight) This team was really powered by the same 7 or 8 guys the entire tournament so they were definitely feeling fatigued as well as us. We used our high morale from the last game to take half 8-3. We definitely felt that we had the game, and that we were just a few points from finals. That was a thought that has never really crossed my mind as an ultimate player. Maybe we got side tracked, or maybe it was just our sloppy play but quickly flight gained some morale back from us to make it 8-6. Starting to get a little weary now we made more mistakes, and not even our coach Tim was able to calm us down. The game was quickly now 8-8. We had no idea what to do, and just couldn’t settle our nerves. We knew hard cap was approaching so we tried our very, very best to gather together and get one last point. We weren’t able to do that and an Independence sophomore threw a pretty good forehand which was caught in the end zone by one of their bigs for the score just as the hard cap horn blew. We were devastated, I myself was balling tears. I couldn’t believe that that had just happened. I will never forget this game, and from now on I can only use it as a motivational tool, and as a learning experience. The UNC coach came to talk to us after the game was over. He told us that we were a great ultimate team, and that we are easily one of the best teams here. He said that we only came here with 10 guys, and still almost kicked everyone’s ass. He told us that we were going to be amazing next year, and had the opportunity to compete with every team in the country. I think that it was easy to tell that all of UNC was glad that they didn’t have to play us again, and that they were able to roll to their first Regional Championship. We had to play for 3rd place, but no one really cared and we really just let them win. Final score of that one, Grady -13, Darkside-8 The highlight of this tournament goes to Ian Shaffer. He managed to throw a disk 50 yards directly out of bounds in the Brookwood game, and he also managed to race one of the fastest people that I’ve ever seen from Grady. He lost, of course, but did give it his all. We got 4th at this tournament and were very disappointed with our finish. But the barbeque, southern hospitality, and our overall play and closeness of games made us decide that we are going to attend more and more southern tournaments.
We really hope to win this Regional next year alongside all of our other tournaments. It’s just going to take a lot of work, and effort on our part. Do we really want it? Do we really want to be the best? We’ll find out this off season as we continue to train for next year. This was the best, and greatest Ultimate team ever assembled in my mind. So much fun! I really look forward to next year, and all it has to offer. Final Notes- Thanks again to all of our sponsors, and the FDA for all that you do for us. We really appreciate it, and look forward to your participation in our next season. Until then, stay classy Fayetteville
Let’s start off with the first tournament of the spring, and by far my favorite tournament this year. The Chicago Invite was held on March 19th and 20th in Naperville, Illinois ( About 30 minutes from downtown Chicago ). We were very fortunate with the weather at this tournament as we only experienced about 30 minutes of showers throughout the whole tournament, with temperatures in the mid 60’s, and winds not a factor at all Darkside was feeling very confident that nothing was going to slow us down. We were seeded third in our pool behind Holy Family Catholic, and our arch rival Hopkins. (Both of which finished in the top ten according to USA ultimate’s youth rankings) First game- Holy Family Catholic We started this game receiving the pull and had a lot of confidence in our offense considering we had Kaplan Maurer and Clayton Adams rocking the middle, and Sam Borgastadt and Abe Gambert being chilly at handle. We started Kaplan, Clayton, Sam, Abe, Ian, Larkin, and Cole. Our offense looked hot from the start has we worked it up wind with ease and were on the goal line within a matter of seconds. Clayton caught the disk and had Ian for a wide open cut but due to this being the first game the fields were very wet with due and Ian slipped and didn’t make the grab. Everyone on our team chuckling still Holy Family Catholic scored to break us and take the first score 1-0. They never looked back and we were defeated with our un chilly offense, and miss matched defense. We didn’t look very good, but then again it was our first game all season, and against the number 1 seed at the whole tournament. We were still very confident in our chances at this tournament. Holy Family wins 13-5. Second game- Hopkins This team ended up being the best team in the country by far, or at least tied with the club team “Seattle Fryz” Ignoring that, we knew we had a chance due to our teams rivalry, and history at last year’s tournament. Last year Hopkins was able to come back from a 6-2 lead by Darkside to win 8-6 in semis. But this was a new year with two completely different teams. We received the disk and were much chillier on this first point of the game to take the first point 1-0. Sam to Clayton for the score. We traded with Hopkins for a while to make it 3-3, but then Hopkins got an up wind break to make it 4-3. They never really looked back. Highlight from this game was Abe Gambert’s full field flick to Kaplan Maurer for the score. Kaplan Maurer also had a sweet forehand invert for a break score early in the game. Hopkins takes this game 13-5. Third game- Harry D. Jacob’s This team was the four seed in our pool and we really didn’t know much about them other than that they lost to Hopkins 13-2, and to Holy Family 13-1. We still knew that this was a very important game for our chances at championship bracket, and our star players knew that we had to put this one on our shoulders and lead Darkside to it’s first win. We did just that. The dynamic trio up field with Kaplan, Clayton, and Sam flowed perfectly. Abe had some great hucks to our middles including one to our newer players at the time Larkin Purkaystha who skied the heck out of a guy for the score. Final score, Darkside- 13 Harry D- 6, Darkside wins first game! Fourth game- Center Grove (Crossover) This team was very mean to say the least to us last year. They yelled at Sam and Cole’s mom, called us a bunch of elementary school kids, and most importantly they got their ass handed to them last year. This year was no different. We improved to 2-2 on the day feeling very comfortable about our finish in pool play. We were looking forward to tomorrow and all had our heads held high which is a very important factor when playing so far away from home. We won 13-4. CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET First game- Neuqua Valley We all knew who they were and a lot of us knew their players from other tournaments or other Frisbee related things. You could say that we were friends but then again I think you could say we were enemies. We had one goal, winning the tournament and we knew in order to do this that we had to play at our best. First point, Abe hucks a perfectly thrown disk to Sam and we score. 1-0 us. 2nd point, we get a nice d from our zone and then set up our offense. Sam was trapped on the sideline at a high stall count when he throws it up towards the end zone. Kaplan runs and fully lays out grabbing the disk, and barely getting a toe down to stay in bounds. Darkside is on a roll, is pumped up, and most importantly up 2-0. We traded a lot from there and we took half 8-7 (Championship bracket games are to 15) Darkside pulled out of half on another roll to break them, and get the up winder to make it 9-7 us. Neuqua goes on a run to make 9-9 though, and with soft cap in place the game is 11. Neuqua get’s a d and works it up wind to make it 10-9. Now starting to worry began the longest point of my life. Turn after turn, after turn, after turn is the way to describe that point. We finally broke their zone and got it up field when Sam caught it and had Kaplan up field for another 10 yard gain when one of Neuqua’s players laid out to get the d. Neuqua then works it up and is on the goal line. One of their better cutters makes a run for the goal but Kaplan Maurer has an insane lay out to try and contest it. Kaplan call’s a strip and the disk is sent back. A few swings later and Neuqua punches it in for the win. Devastated, crying, demoralized, worthless, never playing ultimate again are just a few of the things that popped into my mind after that game. We were still in the tournament and had a chance to win 5th place. However we were still upset about the last game and had no chance. However a second half run against Madison West did make the score a lot closer. Final score- 13-9 bad guys. We then played Pine Richland for 7th place. We decided that we were not going to lose this game and we really wanted to salvage this tournament and show that we are a great team who will be returning 9 players next year including 5 seniors. We won the game against Pine Richland very easily by a score of 15-7. We had a lot of fun that game, and I think we proved to ourselves that we were a lot better than some of the teams here may think. We felt good, and sad at the same time. The car ride home was a hard one, but we knew that we still had a lot of work to do. With another tournament just a month away, we couldn’t hang our heads on this one. The season had just begun..
2nd tournament!! Madison Mud bath!! This tournament was held on April 28th and 29th in Madison, Wisconsin. Darkside goes to this tournament with only 9 guys. That might’ve been the worst decision that we have ever made. Not only did we spend a ton of money on the tournament itself, but we went up there without our full team and our expectations were still to win the whole tournament. Well they were still realistic. Our 9 guys included Kaplan, Abe, Clayton, Sam, Ian, Naseer, Cole, Carlin, and Adeeb (He wasn’t even on the team, we just picked him up because we really needed another player). We were the number 1 seed in our pool including teams such as Memorial, Monona Grove, and Cathedral High School. First game- Memorial This was the home team, and despite us only having 9 players, we still had all of our more experienced and more athletic players so we really were not worried about this team. We saw them in action in a few games at the Chicago Invite and knew we could handle them. Ian Shaffer had some sick lay outs in this game and surprisingly he really led us to our first victory at the tournament. Darkside wins 13-5. Darkside is 1-0. Next we had a bye, and that was definitely the worst hour and a half of my entire Frisbee experience. It was sleeting, and raining, and snowing at some points. Temperatures were crap, and the wind was insane. However we found a dug out to keep warm in, and all of Darkside pilled on Ian for warmth. We were having fun. Second Game- Monona Grove This team was also at the Chicago Invite and their finish there helped us determine that they really weren’t a team to worry about. We were right. However most of our team could not feel our fingers so we were wondering at the start of the game if the northern team might have the advantage being more accustomed to the bitter cold climate up north. We were wrong. Darkside cruised to its second victory by a score of 13-1. Darkside is very confident at this point and has already begun to look past its final opponent Cathedral…. Big mistake. Third Game- Cathedral High School We had never heard of this team coming into this tournament so we were very skeptical. Starting the game we liked our chances and felt that we matched up very well. We started the game horribly, and quickly found ourselves down 4-1. Countless turnovers by our handlers, and Darkside early on was in a pickle. Middle Kaplan Maurer really led this game and was really the only player on the field that seemed to have a feel for Cathedral’s defense. Kaplan, alongside with his other middles Clayton and Sam who proved to be very solid despite the wind fed it to Kaplan quite nicely. Solid d by our role players such as Naseer, and Cole led Darkside to take half 7-6. Feeling like we hit our groove, Darkside and Cathedral trade a few points coming out of half to make it 8-7. Darkside then gets an upwind break on a sick sky by Kaplan Maurer who then throws it Carlin for the score to make it 9-7. Darkside is very confident that they have Cathedral on it’s heels and will be able to win this game. Darkside runs another zone defense against Cathedral that throws them off guard to force another turn. Darkside works it up despite many violation calls made by Cathedral. Darkside is on the goal line when Kaplan cuts for the goal and pan cakes the disk. He falls on the ground due to being off balance and clearly made the catch. Cathedral calls the disk down. After a great argument made from Kaplan and Clayton that a pancake is a catch and you can fall on the ground, and it is still a catch the stubborn Cathedral dousche decides to make us send it back. We have no choice but to oblige. Clayton get’s the disk and again throws to Kaplan but a great defensive effort in the end zone gives the disk back to Cathedral. That b.s. call was the game. If he wouldn’t have called it, Darkside would’ve been up 10-7 and had all the momentum. Whereas since he did call it, Cathedral drove down the field to get an up wind break to make it 9-8. We ended up losing this game on hard cap 11-12. But I’m pretty sure that the soft cap horn went on when it was 9-8 but on one told us because we were on the farthest field. If that was the case then we would’ve won 11-10. This game made me so pissed off, and really made me question how the north treats ultimate and it’s most proud rule of spirit of the game. That’s what it is all about, and it is rarely demonstrated amongst these northern teams. 4th game- Denver East (Played on Saturday but still the first round of Championship Bracket) Clayton Adams and Sam Borgastadt really demonstrated their leadership in this game as they tried their absolute best to rally our 9 guys to play this game and give it our all. I really wanted to win this game, but my body seriously just wouldn’t move. Only having 9 guys proved to be our Achilles heel in this game as the score really didn’t reflect how these two teams match up. On any given day I believe that with our full team that we would beat Denver East 9 times out of 10. We lost this game 13-3. 9th place bracket! We decided that we did want to salvage our ranking, and improve as a team and win the 9th place bracket. Well we did just that. We rolled Monona Grove to start by a score of 13-5. Abe Gambert, Ian Shaffer, Sam B. and Clayton Adams really led our team to this victory. Next game against Mounds View was really no different. Darkside won behind our best players and solid performances from Ian Shaffer, Carlin Purcell, and Adeeb Haroon. Abe had the highlight of the day in this one as he threw a sick full field huck to Sam for the score. We never looked back as we won 13-4. The final game of the tournament was for 9th place and against the home team Memorial. We knew that this would be a different game considering that it had more on the line, and they had quite the audience. This was their turf, and we had to respect that. That doesn’t mean that we were going to lose. We set out on the day with a mission and we were here to fulfill that mission. Highlight from this game is when Abe had a huge huck to Kaplan who skied a guy nearly 6 inches taller than him. The Memorial guy called a foul, and the disk was sent back. Abe immediately did it again and Kaplan did the same. Kaplan then threw it to Carlin for the score. Darkside never looked back. Darkside wins 12-7. Darkside learned a lot from this tournament. Never bring only 9 guys to a tournament. You will lose. But we did win the spirit award which was a huge plus and really ended up making the whole trip worth it! Arkansas State tournament I think it is only right that I mention it. We won the whole tournament without allowing a point scored on defense. This really proves that we are an elite team, and that there are some really bad teams out there.
Southerns- Regional’s (Biggest tournament of the season) This was the grand daddy for us. The biggest of the biggest and we knew for a fact that we had a chance to win the whole thing. We were the Third seed in our pool and seeded 5th overall, and we understood that considering we did very poorly at our previous tournaments. We found out that Sam wasn’t going to be able to make this tournament due to obligations regarding graduation. We were pretty upset about that, but still knew that we had a chance. We also only had 10 people for this tournament, which was still better than 9 (the number we had for Madison) First game- UNC “University School of Nashville” (Best team at the tournament) This game wasn’t a very intense game, and was really filled with laughs and great sportsmanship from both teams. Right off the back we were able to see that the south prided itself more on Spirit of the Game than the north and we were loving it. Our still aggressive play set us apart from some other teams from the start and we were in a great position to be there come finals. We ended up losing to UNC on universe point 9-10. We weren’t very upset and actually felt very confident that we were going to do quite well considering we just lost to the best team here by 1 point. Morale= high Second game- LC Byrd This team was a very in experienced team who had lost their best player in the first game to a broken leg. They really had no leadership and we rolled to gain our first victory on the day, 13-4. Third game- Lakeside High School (Atlanta) This game was a lot closer than the score may tell. The score was really tight at half, but Darkside was really led in the second half by fantastic play from it’s middles including Levi Finn, and Clayton Adams. Kaplan and Clayton were switching in and out at handle to try and save their legs as we knew from experience could pose a problem later on in the tournament. Darkside wins 11-6. Fourth game- Brookwood Brookwood was seeded 2nd in our pool, and is definitely one of the better teams at this tournament. After playing two easier games, we knew that we were definitely going to be tested as this game would most likely be for championship bracket. Brookwood had around 20 players including a player that tried out for the junior USA national team as well as our very own Abe Gambert. We knew that he was going to be the key in this game, and we defended him accordingly. Our zone defense was very important in this game, but when we were forced to play man, Kaplan, Clayton, and Abe all cycled on their best player. Brookwood took half 7-5, and most of Darkside including myself was pissed. We were playing pretty good, throwing descent hucks, playing good defense, the luck was just not going our way. Tim Caffrey rallied us, and basically just asked us how bad we wanted it, and if we have balls. Well, I guess we have some big cohunes on our team because we rallied to make the score 8-8. We then scored 2 straight to make it 10-8. Hard cap was then in play, and we basically just let them score. Final score 10-9, DARKSIDE. Last Pool game was played on Sunday before bracket play. But before this game, our new brothers from the south “Brookwood” came over to us to wish us luck and congratulate us on making it this far. This was a very cool experience for me, and all of Darkside. We then all got in a circle, arms locked and sung Amazing grace. Pure perfection. Game 5- Carolina Friends I guess we made some friends this game, or then again Kaplan might’ve made some enemies. Darkside went up early in this game and took half 7-6. It was a lot closer than anyone on Darkside or probably Carolina figured. We weren’t tired; we just were making dumb mistakes and were definitely getting down on our selves. The game was tied at 8’s when the hard cap horn blew. As many of you know we weren’t very good when it came to very close games, and ultimate points. But despite that we knew that we had to kick it into gear and get a d. Carolina worked it up and then a very disputed pick call called on Kaplan resulted into an argument. As Kaplan was beginning his argument, the player threw the disk and it was not caught resulting in a turn. Darkside then worked the disk up the field and finally got the disk to Kaplan for a nice break. Kaplan called time out as Darkside was about 30 yards from the end zone and winning the game. Tim Caffrey really didn’t have a special play for us to run, he just said let Kaplan, Clayton, and Abe work it up and everyone else get to the side. This really made me laugh, but regardless of the humor to it, It probably was the best plan for us to score. Kaplan went to check the disk, and as he did began our three man offense. It worked beautifully, and eventually Kaplan threw a high release back hand to Clayton Adams for the score. Everyone going crazy you could say that we had a great chance at winning the tournament due to our high morale’s and great playing. Final score, Darkside wins 9-8 Semifinal- Independence (Flight) This team was really powered by the same 7 or 8 guys the entire tournament so they were definitely feeling fatigued as well as us. We used our high morale from the last game to take half 8-3. We definitely felt that we had the game, and that we were just a few points from finals. That was a thought that has never really crossed my mind as an ultimate player. Maybe we got side tracked, or maybe it was just our sloppy play but quickly flight gained some morale back from us to make it 8-6. Starting to get a little weary now we made more mistakes, and not even our coach Tim was able to calm us down. The game was quickly now 8-8. We had no idea what to do, and just couldn’t settle our nerves. We knew hard cap was approaching so we tried our very, very best to gather together and get one last point. We weren’t able to do that and an Independence sophomore threw a pretty good forehand which was caught in the end zone by one of their bigs for the score just as the hard cap horn blew. We were devastated, I myself was balling tears. I couldn’t believe that that had just happened. I will never forget this game, and from now on I can only use it as a motivational tool, and as a learning experience. The UNC coach came to talk to us after the game was over. He told us that we were a great ultimate team, and that we are easily one of the best teams here. He said that we only came here with 10 guys, and still almost kicked everyone’s ass. He told us that we were going to be amazing next year, and had the opportunity to compete with every team in the country. I think that it was easy to tell that all of UNC was glad that they didn’t have to play us again, and that they were able to roll to their first Regional Championship. We had to play for 3rd place, but no one really cared and we really just let them win. Final score of that one, Grady -13, Darkside-8 The highlight of this tournament goes to Ian Shaffer. He managed to throw a disk 50 yards directly out of bounds in the Brookwood game, and he also managed to race one of the fastest people that I’ve ever seen from Grady. He lost, of course, but did give it his all. We got 4th at this tournament and were very disappointed with our finish. But the barbeque, southern hospitality, and our overall play and closeness of games made us decide that we are going to attend more and more southern tournaments.
We really hope to win this Regional next year alongside all of our other tournaments. It’s just going to take a lot of work, and effort on our part. Do we really want it? Do we really want to be the best? We’ll find out this off season as we continue to train for next year. This was the best, and greatest Ultimate team ever assembled in my mind. So much fun! I really look forward to next year, and all it has to offer. Final Notes- Thanks again to all of our sponsors, and the FDA for all that you do for us. We really appreciate it, and look forward to your participation in our next season. Until then, stay classy Fayetteville
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Liquor and Cleats go to Vegas (By: April Johnson)
Both Liquor and Cleats and the college men's team, Ludicrous Speed, went to Trouble in Vegas the first weekend in March. This year, the tournament held the club and college divisions on the same weekend, which meant 40 mixed teams, 35 open college teams, and 22 women's college teams all playing in Sin City. The club schedule was very different from the norm. L&C's first game wasn't until 2:00 pm, which worked out well since several players were out until 6:00 am getting $4 steak and eggs breakfasts after supporting the casinos. In a pool of 4 teams, they went 2-1, losing the last game. L&C did take half, but started chanting "more liquor, less cleats" to start the second half and went downhill from there. The next day, they were playing for 17th and won the first two games, but then lost several players to the afternoon Allegiant flight and lost the 17th place game by two after deciding to play some all girl points and taking whiskey shots. Ludicrous Speed was not as lucky with their starting time, and were up playing at 8:00 am on Saturday. They had only 10 players, and went 5-0 the first day. They went on the next morning to win their first games, but were not able to play in the semi-finals because they also had to catch the afternoon Allegiant flight. The team they beat in the quarters did go on to the finals, then lost to Central Florida. We are currently requesting Allegiant to change their return flight to a later time on Sunday and planning a way to get back to the Paris' buffet. 
Ludicrous Speed Falls Short of Nationals Goal (By: Will Sharp)
Afterending the fall campaign with a spirit lifting first-place finish at HarvestMoon, Ludicrous Speed went into the spring season with high expectations. LShad scheduled to travel to four tournaments before the postseason. We went toDenton, Baton Rouge, Las Vegas, and Atlanta.
Ourfirst tournament was Big D in Little D held in Denton, TX hosted by theUniversity of North Texas. Speed was seeded first overall with four games toplay on that Saturday. We finished the day with a 4-0 record and a +/- of +21.On Sunday, our first game was against Kansas State in the quarterfinals. Wejumped ahead quickly and KState was never able to catch up. Final score was15-8. In the semifinals, we were match up with Texas A&M. A lackadaisicalstart on our part led to a quick deficit. Eventually we were able to matchtheir intensity, but too little too late resulting in a 14-10 defeat. We thenplayed North Texas for third place, losing on ultimate point 11-10 for a fourthplace finish.
Nextwe traveled to Baton Rouge for Mardi Gras. We only got four points into ourgame before the day was called for lightning. The tournament was changed to asingle elimnation 32 team bracket to accommodate for only having one day. Inour first round we were paired with Miami (OH). Speed quickly dispatched themin a 13-2 finish. Next up, Mississippi State. With windy conditions picking up,this game was capped at 10-6 with us on top. The win against MSU placed us intothe quarterfinals with a matchup against Mizzou. An upwind-downwind game thatwas decided by who could get more upwind breaks. In the end, it was Missouriwinning 12-10 at cap.
Nexta group of nine players traveled to Las Vegas for Trouble in Vegas. Speedrolled through their pool on Saturday, allowing a total of 10 points throughfour games. LS then won its first two games of bracket play before having toleave to catch their flight home. British Columbia took their spot in the semisand lost to Central Florida in the finals 11-9.
Overour spring break, Ludicrous Speed went to Atlanta for College Terminus. OnSaturday Speed went 3-1, beating Emory, Chicago, and Tulane, with the lone losscoming to Ohio State in the last game of the day. OSU was an extremely athleticteam and they matched LS well. Final score 13-8. In our first game on Sunday we played UMass. Speed was ableto get the jump on them, going up early and closing out 13-8. Our next game wasin the quarterfinals against Georgia Tech. We went up 8-5, but drops and missedhucks led to a stagnant offense. Georgia Tech scored the last 5 points of thegame before cap blew to win 10-8. We lost our first game in the 5thplace bracket 12-9 to Cincinnati. The end of the tournament meant the end ofour regular season.
Tostart the post season we travelled to Kansas City for the Ozarks sectionals. Toadvance to South Central regionals, we had to place in the top 5. Our firstgame was against Kansas. For the first 13 points, we looked like a well-oiled machine,going up 9-4. Kansas turned it on, shutting down our offense and executingtheirs to close out the game on a 9-1 run handing us a 13-10 loss. We won ournext three games ending with a 13-5 beat down of Mizzou. We started Sundaymorning in the 2nd/3rd/4th place bracketagainst Wash U, winning 13-6, and sealing our trip to Austin for Regionals. Thewin rematched us against Mizzou, beating them again in similar fashion 13-6. Ournext game was our last game, playing Kansas State for 2nd place.They handled the zone we had been using all weekend really well and beat us13-10.
TheSouth Central Region had two bids to go to Nationals. The format was four poolsof four teams each. Winner of each pool went into a championship bracket andthe second and third place from each pool went into the backdoor bracket. Webeat North Texas and Colorado in our first two games, setting up our gameagainst Texas for the pool and a place in the championship bracket. Texasjumped ahead of us 3-0 in what seemed like no time at all. We woke up fromthere finally getting on the board. At 11-6, things seemed to be getting awayfrom us. We then scored 4 straight to make it 11-10. We traded to 12-11, butTexas held us off, winning 14-11 at cap. The loss meant we’d enter the backdoorbracket, with our next loss knocking us from contention. Our first game in thebackdoor bracket was against Kansas State. They ended our season on double gamepoint 13-12.
Asa team we made great strides this season. We feel like we are prepared and moreaware of the work that has to be done to get to the level we want to be at as ateam. The work is already being put in individually as everyone is home on summerbreak and will be continued as summer turns to fall to prepare for next spring.Thank you for following along all season and for your support of LudicrousSpeed. We appreciate having a community that is invested in our club.
SoCo Focuses on Rebuilding. HPER Forces Name Change. (By: Lorelei Bakaric)
This year started off great. We recruited 18 new girls and only lost 5. It’s been a fun year. This year we went to Rookie Ride. This tourney really showed us how much potential we had. Since then we’ve been working hard on our throws, offenses, defenses and general knowledge of the game. We went to Rookie Ride, JPN, Harvest Moon and MLC in the fall semester and Mardi Gras and Fools Fest so far this spring. At Harvest Moon we lost every single game Saturday and then complete turned it all around Sunday and won every single game! It was awesome. We really saw improvement that weekend and the team started really working together. Mardi Gras was insanity just like it is every year. We got rained out again so we didn’t play at all Saturday and only two games on Sunday. This year we decided to go to Fools Fest because it worked with everyone’s crazy schedules. We took 14 girls! It was a great bonding weekend. We played Betty’s Alumni, Tsunami Alumni, Betty’s and SLU. In the Betty’s Alumni game we only scored two points the first half, but in the second half we matched them point for point and lost to them by two points. Even though we lost every single game we kept up with the teams and only lost by a few. It really showed us what we needed to work on and where we could be if we kept working. We’re super excited for the series to start and to see what where we’ll go next year! This year we were also told be the university that we are no longer allowed to go by SoCo and aren’t allowed to do our cheer. So now we’re trying to come up with a new name. We want to keep it four letters and an acronym like SoCo, but we’re having a hard time. We also really want to hear what the FDA has to say about so if anyone has an idea please let us know!!!
Winter League 2012 (By: April Johnson)
This year's Winter League brought 10 teams together with 152 players playing in what was the nicest weather I've ever seen in the six leagues I've played, which was both fortunate and unfortunate. Fortunate because we played in amazing weather, unfortunate because the long sleeve shirts we got for the first time were unnecessary.
Before the games started, there were predictions of team Blue coming up big. However, as the games progressed, an undefeated Red team was emerging as a superpower, followed closely by Sangria. Towards the end of the league, Yellow slowly rose into the contender mix. Lack of players in the last two weekends of league due to college tournaments changed up the seeding leading into the tournament though. Yellow dropped to 6th seed, while Red stayed on top followed by number two Sangria. The tournament saw some very close games in the quarters, with most games going to ultimate point. Team dynamics changed quickly once full squads showed up for the tournament and were on the field playing.
In the end, Brosh's White met Mills' Yellow in the finals, and Yellow came home with the victory champagne. It was a close game at first, but Yellow eventually pulled away with it. There was a league party at Mojo's after. Team Lime's efforts of handing out cheese and crackers during the tournament proved fruitful as they came home with the most spirited team award. Other award winners included: Abe Coffin - mvp, Andrea Ritchie - mvp, Ramsey Sprattmoran - rookie, Brian Trussel - rookie, Stu Allgood - hustler, Wes Axtell - hardest to guard, Joe Delnero - most spirited player, Alex Kreps - best bargain, and Abe Coffin again for nicest calves.
This year's league also brought on a spirited debate on the supplemental draft and other league logistics. As my first year running winter league, I appreciated all the input and constructive critism. Overall, I believe Winter League 2012 was a great success. We saw a lot of new faces join our ultimate community, and newer players start to transition into leaders. There are several FDA members who care about ultimate and how to provide the best playing experience for its members. I'm looking forward to our continued league improvements and growth. Thanks to everyone for coming out.
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