The ride down to Chattanooga was not bad and we made it in before midnight. Usually the tournament is in Athens, Georgia so we escaped an extra two hours at the end of the trip. We settled into the luxurious Super 8 Motel and called it a night.
We depart from the hotel at 7:45 that next morning and get to the fields a little before 8. It was funny and somewhat vindicating for me to see so many teams there when we arrived. I remember at David Baldwin, we got to the fields at 7:50, and NO ONE was there. The tournament staff had barely shown up. No team got there until at least 8:15 or 8:20. I heard the complaints about it being cold and being the only team there. That was David Baldwin, this is Classic City Classic. Some of the best teams in the country come together for this and it showed in the parking lot. There were tons of cars and players already populating the complex.
As we're warming up we see Illinois jog by and they rolling with at least 25 guys. Our warm ups were considerably less cluttered with Miami only sporting 13 players for a grueling 5 games on Day 1.
First on the bill is Georgia at 9 am. Nothing like a perennial quarter finalist to greet you in the morning. We came out flat and made too many mistakes. Maybe we put them on a pedestal? Maybe it was just us starting out slow like we always do? Regardless, it was a brutal game and they made us pay for every turnover we made. They didn't give the disc back and made quick work of us. Georgia wins 13-3.
Our next game came in the form of Richmond. They're a solid team out of the AC region and proved what we already knew: no one at this tournament could be taken lightly. Even at a 6 seed, we came into this game knowing it would be a fight. We cleaned up our play from our Georgia debacle and started to look like an ultimate team. We went back and forth with Richmond. Lots of trading and exchanging breaks on D. Finally the game is 11-11 and the cap is on. Game to 12. A throw goes up to the force side and I'm tracking it in. It's going to go out of bounds if I catch it, but I see Beffel coming across underneath me ready to snag it before it leaves the field. He plants his foot within millimeters of the sideline and catches the disc. I'm within 5 feet of him, looking right at the line, and made the call. Without a doubt the closest and toughest in call I've ever had to make. Miami wins 12-11.
With a win under our belt we are set to face off against Minnesota. One of the stronger teams out of the Central Region, which seemingly gets better at each tournament they are represented. We slightly regressed to mix of the Georgia and Richmond game. It wasn't solid, but not totally sloppy. Minnesota took the game 13-6.
The next game was the highlight of the weekend. One of the high points of my college ultimate career and possibly this programs biggest accomplishments. We faced off against Texas in the fourth game of the day. We all agreed before the game to not go in thinking they were out of our league and just play our game. Our game saw a combination of hitting our stride, playing a stingy zone D, and having nothing to lose. We came out and ran with them for a few points but then out of nowhere we found ourselves down 7-4 at half. Instead of mailing this one in, we fought back. Our 13 man squad threw zone, point after point, and forced some Texas mistakes. We got ourselves back into the game and realized we had a shot. Slowly but surely we were breaking them and before we knew it, it was 11-11, double game point. We were pulling to them for the game. Towards the end of the game Texas was hucking it off the first throw (instead of dealing with our zone D) and putting their best receivers down field to get the jump ball. This time the Texas player lasered the throw right to Jack and we had the disc in hand, poised to march it down the field for the win. A throw to Nate on the goal-line and a heartattack of an 8 seconds later, the disc was thrown to Snaps for the win. We secured a victory against a team who finished in the top 8 in the country last year.
Whether they had all their guys or they were playing some newer guys is unclear (many of the top teams don't bring it full strength) but it didn't/doesn't matter. We were elated. We had beaten an extremely good ultimate team and it was an extraordinary feeling.
An excited but battered Miami squad took to the 5th against the boys from Wilmington. We stormed out of the gates and took a 3-0 lead but then relinquished our breaks. Wilmington took half and we played from behind for the rest of the game. At the end of the game, Wilmington was up 10-9 with the game to 11. We couldn't make another comeback and UNC-W took the game 11-9.
We went back to the hotels, still with a smile from the Texas win, and showered up. The ups and downs of the day were something to internalize and fix for tomorrow, but the Texas win was ours to keep. After everyone cleaned up, we meandered over to Applebees. Beyond starving, we devoured all the food and water our money could buy us. My entire table ordered steaks and we ate like kings for a night (eating like kings for a college kid). The UNC-W guys got seated before us, but we made sure to have our orders ready as the waitress came by for the first time. She got in our order to the cook before them and bam, we got our food before them. They may have won on the ultimate field, but we won the war at Applebees.
We played our way into the B bracket (out of the A, B, C). Our win versus Texas bumped them down to the C bracket because we won the head to head. The first game of the day was against Davidson. One of the better teams hailing from the AC Region, we were in for a tough game. They finished 3-2 and were a completely different team from David Baldwin. Following tradition, we came out slow, beyond slow. We didn't really play at all. We dug a hole and were down 8-2 at half. It wasn't even at halftime when we decided to start playing, Davidson went up 12-4 in our game to 15. Then, point by point, we clawed our way back in with some big plays and better O. We took them out of the game and gained ALL the momentum. We went on a 7-2 run and brought the game to 14-11. Tons of chances were presented but Miami took none of them. Our run ended there and Davidson won 15-11.
The last game of the fall season was against Dartmouth. We took 3 early breaks and were up 6-3. For some reason inconsistency plagues us and we couldn't hold that lead. Dartmouth took half 8-7 and and we could only get 11 or 12 out of this game. Dartmouth stole the last game of our season and we ended with the loss.
It was a tournament with lots of ups and lots of downs. Hard to find a coherent understanding of who this Miami was at CCC, but the flashes of excellence leave a lot to be excited about. Being at the best college tournament of the fall was an awesome and humbling time. Ultimate in December, against top notch competition, with a determined group of guys is a great experience for this team. I look forward to what the winter and spring has in store. Get ready.
Lots of pictures for your viewing pleasure:
1 comment:
Really excellent writing in this post. I felt like I was there on the rollercoaster ride of emotions. Go Boogiemen!
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