No Wisconsequences recap

Well this weekend was a long time coming for Duluth, the moment this tournament was announced our entire team Knew we had to go, and make a statement. I personally had this date circled for a long fucking time. I was nervous for the bus ride down, because the first tournament we took a bus to people smoked and drank way too much. However, it was evident from the moment the bus left that we were extremely focused and were going to this tournament with our goal in mind which was to make a statement to the ultimate community that Duluth is for real, and is a team that needs to be taken seriously. Unfortunately we don't end up getting to or hotel until about 12:30 Am, which means we are going to get about 5 and half hours of sleep, that did not concern us we knew that we were going to be fired up and ready to go no matter what team we had in front of us.

Well due to the seeding we had a tough first round match up against University of Wisconsin Whitewater. We are 2 teams that are fairly equally matched up, and it definitely showed in this game. It was tight throughout, it was physical but spirited, both teams came to an unspoken agreement that it would be physical and we were not going to let calls drag us down or slow down the pace of the game. Early on we trade points and it is back and forth, I believe the score at half was 8-6 in favor of UW Whitewater, we had a couple of unforced errors that they were able to capitalize on. I think we saw a shift in our team mentality, I feel as though our team finally bought into the team philosophy of game to one, and it showed througout this weekend.
Eventually the score was 9-12, games were to 13 win by 2, and this meant we had to go on a 3 point run to even force the issue not just win. We score our O point and storm the field, the score is 10-12, we put out a super serious D line, I believe that UWW just turned it near there end zone and that made it 10-12, it seemed fairly evident from their body language that they were tired and that they just watned this game to be over regardless of the outcome. well we keep the same line out as before, and once again get the D and score, it is now 11-12 this gets us more fired up and UWW is more depressed I even commented to one of their players that it was fun to play in these tight games, and he gave me this look like I was smoking crack, they really did not want to be playing us anymore. I believe at this point we put out one of our freshman in place of Josh because he needed a breather but we still needed one more break to tie it up and keep playing. Well once again the D line delivers and gets the D, we score it is now 12's. At this pint all of us have the mentality that this is our game to lose, we have the all the momentum, and confidence. I believe they score their next O point to make it 12-13 UWW, we got out with chilly O and score to make it 13's, then proceed to break, and make it 14-13, they score to make it 14's it is now universe game to 15. we work it up to midfield Trosvergers gets the disc, sees creature deep and lets it rip, Creature runs it down GG nubs, Duluth wins in a close one 15-14 over UWW. This was an intense game and UWW is still a great team they are going to be a team to watch out for in the spring.

UNI Well this game should not have been as close as it was, we played down to there level and I think were still thinking about the Whitewater game, we keep lines pretty open for this game as well which I think may have contributed to a let down. Either way we end up beating this team 13-10 I believe and are 1 win away from winning our pool and getting our shot at one of the power pool teams

Illinois B. We open lines completely for this game and there was no let down, everyone played extremely well, I was in for the last 3 or 4 points this game and played well, it was D town the whole way as we get the 0atbag and beat them 13-0 I threw the game winner to Ryan Pekarna who got the D and busted deep right away, he took 2 defenders with him but I knew he had both them both beat, I did not have a mark so i picked up the disc and let it rip Deep, perfect put to the back of the end zone, Ryan runs it down, game over, Duluth now gets to play Michigan, one of the "C1" teams. We knew we couldn't come into this game intimidated, we knew we deserved to be in power pool, we knew we deserved to play Michigan and they were by no means out of our league and that this was our shot to show the ultimate world what Duluth was all about.

Michigan
Man was this a fun game, intense and close the entire way, and almost an exact replica of the Whitewater game. Our studs came into this game really well rested as they did not have to play at all the last game unless they just wanted to stay loose and not get too tight. They knew they were going to have to play a lot this game. The game starts with them breaking us right away, they seemed cocky and I overheard one of them say I only want play offense once and that is out of half when they pull to us. We didn't let this break fluster us and we scored our O point, they scored their O point and got another break, the score is 3-1 at this point we are still calm we know this game is not out of reach and that we need to value the disc and tighten up a little bit on D. We score our O point, and proceed to get a break; the score is now tied at 3 with Duluth still down a break. We keep playing intense physical D they are doing the same, they manage to go on a little mini-run to take half 7-5. At half we remind ourselves of the situation that we were in against Whitewater and how this is the exact same and how all we have to do is keep playing hard and things were going to work out we felt as though it was our game to lose. eventually we end up in the same position as before and the score is 10-12, game to 13, Jake calls a time out so the captains can talk, I am told to talk to the team and get them fired up, I don't remember what I said but I once again reminded them of the Whitewater game, I told them that sidelines need to step it up one more notch and really help our studs that are out there dying, the captains walk back tell us that we are going to try and make a run and puts out a stud O line. We score our O point fairly easily and now have to put out a sick D line to stop game point #2 for Magnum. We get the D, put it Deep it gets turned, we get the D again this time we deliver, and charge the field, score is tied at 12, Magnum is in shock they have no idea who we are or where we came from. Michigan calls a time out at this point we are all stoked but we know we have to once again keep the energy up, around this Time a small crowd has gathered as people are a little confused as to why Michigan is still playing this game, we got some help from the Whitewater boys (thanks guys) with our cheers. We score a break to make it 13-12, and we trade to 14's, prior to this point the captains had agreed to make the game hard at 15 meaning this was now once again universe point only this time we were pulling, but we still felt as though it was our game to lose. We manage to get the turn, Jeff recognizing that both Creature and Josh are deep in the end zone proceeds to rip it, josh extends his arms pulls it down game over 15-14 Duluth pulls the upset and beats Michigan in a barn burner. at this point we are going fucking nuts this was by far the biggest win we have ever had at this point in Duluth ultimate, it also meant that we can finish no worse than 12th in the tournament, the best Michigan can hope for is 13. It was a great end of the day I am so proud of everyone I still can't really believe that we pulled off 2 Universe point victories!

Saturday night some of us went to eat at the Brewhaus, it was a good meal with great beer, (they have an amazing Oktoberfest Beer.) We end up going back to the hotel, where most of us stay and chill and hang out and try to take in our win over Michigan, most of us are in bed a pretty decent time. Some people did end up making it to the party, apparently it sucked, but that doesn't really matter at a tourney like this.

Sunday: we open up with North Park, we have a little bit of a history with this team, and things can sometimes get heated between our two teams but this game was fairly clean, we didn't seem to have quite the same energy as on Saturday, and our sidelines were losing some intensity, partly due to the fact that I lost my voice, some of the Freshman were also not paying attention and I tweaked on them, however, they need to learn to pay attention to our game even if they are not playing and not play with a ball of FUCKING BREAD!! we end up losing this game 9-13 for a number of reasons sidelines being one of them, I think we also were still thinking about the win over Michigan a little too much and were still jerking off to that thought, hopefully we have learned our lesson to forget the big wins as well as the bad losses and focus on the the game at hand.

We go on to lose our next 2 games, we open up lines and get experience for the younger players on the team, I am glad we did this cause it is important that we have depth later on in the season. On a whole the tournament was a big success, Cultimate definitely knows how to run an a great tourney, plenty of water, and other amenities, although I was disappointed that they ran out of discs by the end of Sunday, my fault for not buying one sooner. Big ups to Yossi K. for making the Hodags, he definitely tore it up in the finals, I am excited to see what he will do with that team. The next tourney for Duluth is this weekend in Eau Claire Wisconsin, we are going as an A and B team, teams have not yet been announced, but both teams should be very competitive, everyone is going to get a lot of playing time which is good, I am excited to see how we do, (both teams), that’s all for now.

~Fro #23