Sectionals - The Write Up

So I usually never update this thing the night of, but since this website seem to get a lot of hits on Mondays, I'll make it worth it to check here the day after a tournament.

We rolled into Pete's house on Friday evening, without Pete, but with the Sperry parents and some sloppy joes to greet us. That was awesome. We dominated some sloppy joes, played some Wii that night, and got ready for the Saturday that awaited us.

We woke up Saturday morning, got to our fields, and realized that we were finally playing in good weather. It was an exceptional feeling to get weather above 50 degrees and sunny. We were number two seed overall and a number one seed in our pool, so we wanted to come out and prove that we deserved it.

Our first opponent was Case Western Reserve. The game started out with some trading and I called a timeout to tell our guys we needed to step it up or this was going to be a disappointing weekend. Soon after (likely not because of the pep talk), we went on a roll. We put the foot on the gas and stormed through the rest of the game. The final was 15-6.

Oberlin-B and Ohio State-B were our next two opponents. These games ended with a 15-1 and 15-2 final, respectively.

Our final game was against Ohio Northern, the two seed in our pool. This was our biggest test of the day and we did okay. Not the type of performance that we'd hope for, but enough to get the job done and wrap up the pool. A 15-10 final secured us a spot in the semi-finals and a trip to Detroit for Regionals.

Some of us stayed to watch the game to decide our Sunday afternoon opponent in the semis. The Dayton/Bowling Green game came down to the wire and Dayton pulled out a double game point victory. The rest of our team rushed off to communal showers at the Denison recreation facility. Needless to say, a public shower, full of naked dudes is the place to be. Eventually everyone got showered up and went back to the Sperry's house to feast on a gorgeous chicken and mashed potato dinner (with delicious gravy!). After some college basketball and some more Wii, Lola (Pete's awesome dog) tucked us to into to bed as we dreamed of a run at the Sectional crown.

We still had another pool play game on Sunday morning. We had wrapped up the pool but still had to face Wright State. Miami took care of business and won the game 15-3. Then all attention turned to the semi final match up we'd been waiting for. Miami vs. Dayton.

Both teams were fired up to play each other; both emerging programs in the East Plains section chomping at the bit to play for their shot at the Sectional title. We still had a bitter taste in our mouth from a semi finals lost year and we wanted to see what life was like in the sectional final.
The game started with some tight, fired up, trading of points. Lots of energy and two sides ready to battle. Miami got a few breaks to take a noticeable lead. It led into an 8-5 halftime lead. After half we got another two scores off the bat and extended it to 10-5. Just as we thought we might be running away with it, Dayton starts roaring back. A few scores in a row of their own and it made it 10-7 or 8 (I forget). Nevertheless, they got some momentum and were closing the gap. This was not the tournament for let downs though and we were not prepared to let them back in. We stepped it up and decided we were ready for an appearance in the finals. Miami finished out the game on a nice run and won 15-9.

We were set to meet Sectional juggernaut Ohio State in the finals. A long series of consecutive appearances, we didn't expect our opponent to be anyone else. We played them in the semi finals last year and felt that we could go toe to toe with them this year. Everyone was especially pumped. Our biggest game of the year. For a lot of the Seniors, we could have never dreamed we'd get to this point. It was quite the journey. On the first point we're standing on the line ready to receive and Beffel turns to me and says with a smile "I'm so nervous." What a fun feeling to be in that game. A crowd forming on the sideline to watch our game; really cool stuff.

We came out holding nothing back and threw our best at Leadbelly. Some fierce trading of points until they got a big break to make the score 6-5, OSU. We played solid ultimate and proved we had the right to be there. Then we traded out the half, for an OSU lead of 8-7. In previous match ups we didn't stay this close with Lead for 15 points and this time we put up an overall good first half. It was an exciting first half of play, with some big catches, great Ds, and some fun ultimate. It was neck and neck.

Then in the second half Leadbelly distanced themselves. They took four straight out of half to set a tone and we couldn't fight our way back in. We answered back and made it 12-8, but couldn't quite get our momentum back. We blew some chances (many chances) on the goal line, and things just got off track in that second half. Ohio State took charge and won 15-9.

Knowing full well the perils of a backdoor final, we talked about keeping the focus for one more game to secure 2nd place. We meandered over to the Dayton/Ohio game that decided our opponent for the backdoor final game. It was a tight game and treated us to another double game point ending. It was 10-10 with Dayton receiving the disc. Dayton turns the disc over and Ohio works it up to the red zone. A big swing about 10 yards out of the end zone gets caught, and then a throw is immediately put up to a horizontally streaking cutter in the end zone. Turfed. Dayton gets the disc back and works it full field for the win. We head back to the field and prepare for another game against Dayton.

It's always difficult to play a team twice. Especially in a backdoor final where we were coming off a loss and they were coming off a win. We got set to rumble with Dayton again. There wasn't anything to hold back on this last game of the weekend.

Dayton decided to cash in their chips and leave most of their starters on the bench. They felt they didn't quite have the gas to play and opened up their lines. Miami was ready to lock up the the game and rolled to a 15-4 victory.

Out of 25 teams in our section, we beat out 23 to claim the 2nd spot in the East Plains Section.

This was an overall exceptional weekend for Miami Ultimate. (To my knowledge) It was the first Sectional Finals appearance in the history of our program. We played a hell of an 8 games of ultimate. We had fun. We played hard. We played with pride. We got the job done. It's a weekend we can all be proud of.

Next stop: Detroit, Michigan. The Great Lakes Regional awaits.

Here is the 2008 Miami University Boogiemen: