In the Beginning (Spring 1998)
1998-1999 Season
1999-2000 Season
2000-2001 Season
2001-2002 Season
2002-2003 Season
2003-2004 Season
We ended up ranked 122nd out of 272 teams according to the UPA rankings and managed to get more than 9 out to every tournament this year. It's not quite a rebuilding year, but it is certainly the start of one. Also, remember no matter what you only need 7 to make it to regionals. We had a lot more at sectionals, but you only need 7. If you have 7 at practice, practice hard with those 7 and you will succeed.
Veteran Game: Mr. Yuk (Loss 7-5)
Day One Game 2: Lehigh University (13-12 Win)
Lehigh brought a really hot team to this tourney and it showed as we
watched them knock off U. Penn during our bye. However, we were able to
neutralize their main weapon, the huck, by keeping a good last back at the
back of the stack and switching well. Our athleticism gave us an advantage
in man defense and when Lehigh tried to throw a zone D, we absolutely
torched it, walking the disc down the field by taking our dumps and swings
and only throwing through the cup when they were late getting over. In the
second half of the game, most of us lost track of the score, and those few
who knew, wouldn't tell anyone, so that we were consistently playing a
game to one. So I really don't know how the scoring went in the second
half, but I do know that we won the real game 13-12. This was a big win
for us because Pitt traditionally has a halftime lead against Lehigh, and
then they manage to figure out something that we are doing and beat us
when its all said and done, but not this time.
Day One Game 3: Void (13-7 Loss)
We knew the U. Penn game was going to be difficult from the beginning,
coming off a draining one point win, playing in the heat of the day, and
playing a team who just polished off a 13-3 win over PSU B/C. However, we
stuck with Void in the opening points and we were even trading points with
them. However, fatigue began to catch up with most of us (I know it did
with me anyways) and Penn started to pull away. Early in the second
half, Brody connected with Fraggle on consecutive scores to keep the game
close, but eventually we couldn't outrun Void's suffocating man defense
and they squeezed out the 13-7 win.
Day One Game 4: Penn State C (13-9 Win)
This was game four, and the third in a row, and against the 5th seed in the
Pool looking to get their first win against us. And throughout the first
half, we were letting them walk all over us. We were getting beaten to
the force side. We weren't making smart throws. We weren't making good in
cuts. We were too busy expecting them to hand over the game to win it
ourselves. So when halftime rolled around and we found ourselves down
7-3, Brody layed things out to us. He told us that we didn't want to be
there, and we didn't want to win. The way we were playing, we really
didn't. He took his cleats off and he sat down and waited for us to show
him that we wanted it. And this worked, halfway. The other half was
provided by a somewhat unlikely source, perhaps, but certainly a capable
one, as Mike Yanchak fired up every single player on the line with him for
the rest of the game. We threw a monstrous zone defense, got many
turnovers, and made great end zone cuts to finish off the scores. In all,
we ran off seven of the next eight points and took a 10-8 lead...we went
on to win 13-9 in what was probably the biggest comeback I have ever been
involved in.
Day Two Game 1: Rochester U. (11-10 Loss)
When we took the field on Sunday, we were clearly not ready to play
Ultimate. We handed the first four points of the game to Rochester.
However, we did get on a role and close to 5-4, but went into
halftime down a couple of goals. In the second half, we ran into a few
physical problems, and by that I mean suntan lotion. Brody had the disc
slip out of his hands a couple of times while throwing. I had a huck to
Fraggle slip out of my hand and land short and I also dropped a wide open
huck from Brody in the end zone. We went on to lose the game by one
point. It was overall a disappointing finish, because there were so many
plays That (I at least) could look back on and wonder about. The final
score was 11-10.
Day Two Game 2: Mr. Yuk Rookies (7-6 Loss)
That's right, we drove three hours and played five games to end up with Mr.
Yuk. Since the veterans are all too used to playing one another, we
decided to play a rookie half. The basic trend of the game, it seemed to
me was this: If Pitt scored a goal, it was because we worked the disc
down the field using our dumps wisely. If CMU scored a goal, it was usually
because Pitt made a turnover in our own half of the field and they just
took advantage of it. The game came down to 6-6, and we had the disc and
for whatever reason our called play didn't work out. Despite some solid
defense, CMU scored a nice goal to win 7-6. However, Charles provided
some highlight reel footage in the rookie game by throwing a good 45 yard
flick huck down the line to Kevin cutting into the end zone, and by going
over about 5 other players (Pitt and CMU) to bring down a disc. The
rookies played a really hot game, and if we can just get all of you
together to play those CMU rookies, I think you guys can definitely take
them.
Hillbilly Ho-down, WVU, Morgantown, WV - October 5, 2002
Game 2: West Virginia U. varsity (Loss 11-6)
Game 3: Haggis (Loss 11-6)
Game 4: Goucher College (Win 13-5)
Game against Duquesne, Pittsburgh, PA - January 17, 2003
Game 2: Haggis (Win 8-7)
Game 3: Colgate (Win 12-10)
Game 4: Groundchuck (Win 13-9)
Sixty open college teams, 103 teams overall, not just one,
but TWO parties. This was the biggest and best tournament that pitt has
ever been to.
Tourney Thoughts:
Day One Game 2: Indiana-B (Win 13-10)
Day One Game 3: Oklahoma State (Win 15-3)
Day One Game 4: Grinnell University (Win 15-1)
Day Two Game 1: Tulane University (Loss 8-6)
We went down with 11 players: Ben Ristau, Brent Bellinger, Brody,
Carmen Parrotta, Dan DelPiano, Ed Schneider, Fraggle, Mike LoPresti, Mike
Yanchak, Phil Katz, and Sean McComb.
Camp started not-so-promptly at 8am each morning and ran to 11am. We
Its relatively easy to look at the tournament in three
sections: Where we
have come, where we need to be and where we can go. Saturday day- we
proved that we have improved from the fall season and last year as we
avenged last years HOTI loss to Towson, and Fall Phling losses to
Syracuse and Rochester. Saturday's night game was first hand
experiencing where our team could go, in NC State. This is a team with
skilled and conditioned players across the board, they basically took us
to school in a 13-3 defeat. The Edinboro game showed us where we should
be by sectionals, it showed that we do have the skills and the legs, but
that we need to put it together for an entire game, that we need to
cultivate a will to win, that we need to find the personal heart and
intensity that it will take when the chips are down, and its time to lay
it all on the line, time to see what we have left after the tank hits
empty, time to see what we are made of.
It was a weekend of ups and downs, but a weekend that clearly shows we
are not yet where we could be or where we should be. We traveled with 14 players
this weekend: Ben Ristau, Brent Bellinger, Brody, Dan DelPiano, Dan Pokrifka, Ed Schneider,
Fraggle, John Thompson, Josh Baranowski, Mike Yanchak, Patrick Lenahan, Phil Katz,
and Sean McComb.
Day One Game 1: Scooby Doom (Win 13-7)
Day One Game 3: Pandemonium (Win 13-7)
Day One Game 4: Wolfpack (Loss 13-3)
Day Two Game 1: Haggis (Loss 13-8)
Day Two Game 2: Virginia Tech (Win 13-5)
Day One Game 2: Ohio University (Win 11-7)
Day One Game 3: III-Eagles (Loss 11-9)
Day One Game 4: Dreher High School (Win 11-3)
Day One Game 5: Berry U. (Win 14-12)
Day One Prequarterfinals: Gamecocks (Win 13-10)
Day Two Quarterfinals: DUF (Loss 13-7) Day One Game 2: Irish Elks (13-1 Win)
We came out with our zone because this is a young team and wanted to force
them to throw the disc a lot. They haven't played against zone D before or
simply don't know how to play zone O. Their offense revolved around one
guy getting the disc, holding on to it, looking off all short passes, and
then hucking it deep. This managed to get them down field a number of
times, but they could not punch it in on the short passes.
Day One Game 3: Salisbury (13-6 Win)
This was the one game that we were worried about all day. Salisbury
had beaten teams that we beat. We came out playing zone because it was
an upwinder/downwinder game, essentially the upwind scores would
determine the winner of the game. Salisbury got the first upwinder
because we tried to work it downwind instead of just hucking it or punting
and playing D. However, we answered right back. The through on a zone and
we just moved the disc through and around it and turned it to Swiss
cheese. I don't think I've ever seen us put a zone down so well and so
fast. They didn't throw zone again. From that point on we punted every
downwinder and then through our zone D on which pinned them in the back of
the end zone again and again. After that we scored 4-5 more upwinders and
that just put the game away.
Day One Game 4 Cross Pool Play: St. Francis (13-4 Win)
A reoccurring theme, we thought we were done and we really weren't, but at
least no one decleated this time. This was our cross-pool game that
started around 8pm on a very cold night. We had a lot of trouble getting
up for the game but luckily our offense came out smoothly. The real
problem was on defense. We traded points to 4-4 by running our 1-3-3 zone
and it just wasn't working. So we shifted it to a 3-2-2 and suddenly
something clicked. St. Francis didn't score again and we rolled off 9
points straight, game over. This was another good game for younger
players to learn and be the ones commanding the offense.
Day Two Semifinals: Juniata/Kutztown (13-5 Win)
Day Two Finals: Salisbury/Shippensburg (13-9 Loss)
Day One Game 2: Barking Spiders (13-6 Win)
Day One Game 3: Irish Elks (13-1 Win)
Day One Game 4: Bucknell-B (13-2 Win)
Day One Game 5: Spank (13-2 Loss)
(As a side note, now seems to be an appropriate time to talk about our
record against teams from Penn State's Spring Phling tournament. Although
we were denied a bid, we have defeated Ohio University, Rochester,
Syracuse, Carnegie-Mellon, and Bucknell, while only losing to Edinboro and
Penn State. We hope that this will allow us to play at next year's
Phling.)
Day Two Quarterfinals: Groundchuck (15-9 Win)
Day Two Semifinals: Mudsharks (9-5 Win)
2002-2003 Roster
Ben Ristau, Brent Bellinger (Business Manager), Brody, Carmen Parrotta,
Charles Chapman, Dan DelPiano, Dan Pokrifka, Ed Schneider, John Thompson,
Josh Baranowski,
Mike Yanchak, Mike LoPresti, Phil Katz (Captain), Rich
'Fraggle' Coker, Sean McComb (President), and Tom Kirchner.
2002-2003 Tournaments
1st Annual Rookie Game, CMU, Pittsburgh - August 31, 2002
Fall Fling, Penn State University, PA - September 7-8, 2002
Hillbilly Ho-down, WVU, Morgantown, WV - October 5, 2002
Game against Duquesne, Pittsburgh, PA - January 17, 2003
Snoltimate, Edinboro, PA - February 22, 2003
16th Annual Mardi Gras, Baton Rouge, PA - March 1-2, 2003
WUFF Training Camp, Wilmington, NC - March 3-7, 2003
Huck of the Irish, Salisbury, MD - March 15-16, 2003
XIX Annual Joint Summit Classic, Clemson, SC - March 29-30, 2003
Steak-fest, Shippensburg, PA - April 5-6, 2003
Western Pennsylvania College Sectionals, Edinboro, PA - April 19-20, 2003
Metro East Regionals, Princeton, NJ - May 3-4, 2003
1st Annual Rookie Game, CMU, Pittsburgh - August 31, 2002
This was out first couple games of the year. Our rookies played
against Mr. Yuk's rookies and then the veterans played a short
game to 7.
Rookie Game: Mr. Yuk (Loss 13-10)
Our rookies came out patient and strong. After giving up
the first point, they took the lead 4-1. CMU slowly came back with some
hot plays and tied it up and then took half 7-6. We only had one rookie
sub and it began to show in the second half where the Yuk rookies pulled
away even more to win the game 13-10.
The last time we played yuk was at sectionals last year in a 13-4 blowout.
Over the summer a lot of our veterans played club or in summer league and
it showed as we were able to hang tight with Mr. Yuk the entire game.
Fall Fling, Penn State University, PA - September 7-8, 2002
This was our first tournament of the year and by the of day one
with 5 vets and 7 rookies (Ben Ristau, Brody, Carmen Parrotta, Charles
Chapman, Fraggle, Josh Baranowski, Mike LoPresti, Phil Katz, Sean
McComb.
Player stats)
we had seen Pitt: tear through some zone defense,
run a pretty successful four second dump offense, the rookies particularly
(especially Charles and Carmen) sky player after player for D's and
scores, get the curse of the Lehigh monkey off our backs, and mount a huge
comeback in the fourth game of a super hot day. Not too shabby. Also,
one rookie, tall Ben, took a greyhound bus up to catch the 4th game
because he didn't wake up in time.
Day One Game 1: Scooby Doom (13-10 Loss)
This game was against a solid team, a team that went to regionals last
year, and had no rookies at this tournament. However, we got out to a
decent start and were down only 7-5 at the half. In the second half, we
managed to even get the deficit to a single point, however, in the end we
simply dropped too many discs and didn't get back enough D's too pull out
the win. The final score read 13-10. In my mind, it was the veterans
that lost us this game, just by simply having discs hit our hands and not
catching them, and at times not having a proper dump, or not looking for
the dump in time. However, the rookies made hot play after hot play,
going up, over and between players to get the disc in the end zone.
An intrepid group of nine (it was Club Regionals weekend) headed to WVU on
October 5. The fields were on the top of a hill, so there was a good sized
breeze the entire day. We hoped to play good ultimate and gain invaluable
experience, especially for the four players at their first tournament. We
got off to a rocky start, but everyone came up with some great plays and
everyone had fun.
Game 1: The Fatherless Bastards (Loss 11-0)
We came out abysmally flat. It is true that this pick up team went on to
win the tournament, but there is no excuse for being shut out.
We scored the first two points, and it looked like they were going to have
trouble with our zone defense. They responded with their own zone and came
back, taking half at 6-5 after a tough last point. The team that played the
first game took the field for the second half, as we started to throw the disc
away.
This was our first complete effort of the day. The score is not a good
indicator of how we played; we were actually two closely matched teams.
Edinboro's zone offense was more patient than ours, and that was the
difference in the game.
We were pumped up for this game. We went out and took it over. Half was
something like 7-2. We didn't play as well in the second half. Goucher's
zone-o was basically 1 handler with 3 mids and 3 deeps, which led to us
knocking a lot of discs down, but when they were able to sneak a 20 yarder
through the cup, it led to a 3-on-1 or a 4-on-2 break for the score. Had
they not dropped 2 or 3 scores, it would have been a lot closer. Still,
this was a great win.
This was our first game of the spring season. The start of
something new perhaps. It was also Charles first game since his
sabbatical. Welcome back, Charles! We won 15-6 or 7? There
were hot plays everywhere by vets and rookies.
Snoltimate,
Edinboro, PA - February 22, 2003
10 club and college coed teams battling it out in a foot of snow
of Northwestern Pennsylvania snow. What more could you ask for?
In our 5 team pool, we had a 3-way tie for first place that was
broken through point differential. Foot Clan claimed first in the
pool and went on to place second in the tournament. CMU placed
first. I think it is fortunate that we didn't have to play the
finals because it was wicked cold out and a number of us had
to get back to Pittsburgh for our respective winter league games.
The best part of the tournament has GOT to be the sauna and dryer
that Foot Clan found. We were able to use it during our bye and warm up.
We traveled with 11 players (Ben Ristau, Brent Bellinger, Brody, Dan
DelPiano, Dan Pokrifka, John Thompson, Sean McComb, Alexis Louden, Sheetal
Jhaveri, and Diana Schmalzried.
Game 1: Foot Clan (Loss 8-2)
They went up 5-0. Then we started to play or they stopped and it was 3-2.
Final 8-2.
This game we went down early, but were able to bring it back somehow. I
think it was 7-4 at half but we came back to win 8-7. We played hot zone O
and D.
We went up very quickly on this team but we got tired and they had one guy
who wasn't. He caught a score and then another and then another. It was
bad but we held them off.
The final game of the day. We were tired and cold and let them go up 4-0.
Finally our Zone O started clicking and our Zone D started dominating. We
scored 9 straight and kept on rolling to the end of the game.
16th Annual Mardi Gras,
Baton Rouge, PA - March 1-2, 2003
Back Row (Standing): Fraggle, Mike LoPresti, Carmen
Parrotta, Mike Yanchak.
Middle Row (Kneeling): Dan DelPiano, Ben Ristau, Ed
Schneider, Dan Perry.
Front Row (Sitting): Brent Bellinger, Brody, Sean
McComb, Phil Katz.
Not Shown: Jordan Perry.
Friday Night:
Uncharacteristic of most tournaments, the Mardi Gras held a
Friday evening party. Several Abita varieties were on keg, and the bar was
stocked with heady foreigns and serving all ages. Excellent food was brought
in with several vegetarian options for those of us who swing that way.
Two large trashcans were filled to the brim with crawfish. We ate, drank,
and were merry, meeting many very cool people and unfortunately losing a
boat race to Towson. Boat races will soon be incorporated into practice.
Phill went to town on the crawfish, Yanchak went to town on everything
else, and Fraggle went to town with the women.
Saturday Night:
Saturday night was a very different type of party. It was the weekend
before Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and the most crowded weekend for Mardi
Gras celebrations. Short and simple: Breasts, Beer, Beads, and
Sucky Parking. After an hour plus of driving around we found a spot
on Bourbon street. Good times were had by all. The riotous Bourbon Street
festivities entertained everyone and offered opportunities
for debauchery and things we're not going to tell our mothers about.
Day One Game 1: Miami (Ohio) U. (Win 15-14)
First game of the day - Miami of Ohio. Ex-Sabah Dan Perry and his brother
Jordan came out to play for the blue and gold. Some of us had never
played with each other before, some of us hadn't played together since
last spring, but we all came out hot and fired up, except for Phill who
had eaten some bad crawfish the night before. Fraggle got dirty, scoring
the first point and chalking up two in the layout d column. Neither team
secured a big lead throughout the day, and we relied on strong cuts and
Brody and Sean's homey-o to maintain the advantage. In the beginning of
the second half, Sean laid out to catch a disc when Ed laid out at the
same time, and Sean ended up with a knee to the head and had to exit the
game. He wouldn't return until halfway through the next game. We failed
to establish a deep game, but Miami resorted to desperation downwind punts
that resulted in a few points for the bad guys. There was some confusion
as to the meaning of the air horns, and we found out that the game was
supposed to end several points earlier than it did. Nevertheless, we were
never behind in the entire second half, earning ourselves a 4th over 1st
seed upset.
The wind picked up for the second game against the number two seed
Indiana-B. This introduced the zone for the first time in the tourney.
Fraggle again scored the first goal and picked up the intensity for the
team. If that wasn't enough, Brody consistently made hot play after hot
play, getting up, getting low, getting here, getting there, and
eventually, getting a point block for his first ever Callahan Goal. We
played zone and man, scoring several upwinders and establishing a deep
game. A couple player from Indiana-A were playing with the bomb squad,
but a team cannot win hanging on the coattails of just a couple players.
We won the game and got ready for our bye.
OK State had a couple decent players, but this wasn't enough as they made
many poor decisions. Pitt got a little bit lazy this game and didn't come
off our bye with enough intensity. We won on skill and athleticism, but
hardly with any sort of style. We involved everyone in this game, with
many people throwing for scores.
Grinnell was a very spirited team and a lot of fun to play, but an
obviously inexperienced team. We took the opportunity to run our Iso
and Spread offenses as well as Zone defenses. They worked well, not
only because of Grinnell's unfamiliarity with the styles, but because
they were run properly and efficiently. Sean grabbed another Callahan
Goal for Pitt. Many threw for scores in this game as well, and Dan
DelPiano made two assists.
We were bumped up to the B-Division for winning our all our Saturday
games. Wind played a huge factor in this one. The game was a fierce zone
battle. Hot D was recorded over and over as coming from Brent, Phill
Katz, Brody, and Fraggle. Sean shredded their defense with break after
break. We went from being down 2-5 to up 6-5. Dan Perry took shorties
deep for a few scores, but a lack of ability to transition to Man-Defense
resulted in the loss of a few points. The winning goal was scored by
Tulane on an Iso offense, the first time it had been used in the game.
WUFF Training Camp,
Wilmington, NC - March 3-7, 2003
Back Row: Brody, Fraggle, Mike LoPresti,
Mike Gerics, Sean McComb, Dan DelPiano, Mike Yanchak.
Front Row: Phil Katz, Brent Bellinger, Carmen
Parrotta, Ed Schneider, Ben Ristau.
took a 2 hour break for lunch then restarted at 1pm and ran 'til 4pm. We
got a minimum of 6 hours per day if not a little more. We stressed the
basics of Ultimate each day, but Mike Gerics put a Coastal Carolina twist
on all of it that made sure even our best players would learn something.
We worked on basics that would enhance our force middle and force sideline
offenses. Everybody went home tired. No one left without learning a lot
of new spikes. Check it out, I'm dangerous! Thanks to Sean and his dad
for getting us the SWEET condo on the beach at Carolina Beach. If you go
to Wilmington, make sure to eat at the Salt Works II. It's fabulous!
Huck of the Irish,
Salisbury, MD - March 15-16, 2003
Day One Game 1: Piggies (Win 9-7)
After spending the entire morning playing musical fields, we finally got to
play ultimate. The game against Rochester gave us an opportunity to
revenge a one point loss at Fall Phling and to match up against a team that
had also attended WUFF Camp this year. We came out fired up and put on a
suffocating zone defense. We forced them to swing the disc until they made
an errant throw or until an extra effort on our part got a turnover. Once
we got the disc we used the short field efficiently and took a 5-0 lead.
Rochester, to their credit, did not fold and cracked our D for their first
score. Our offense now proved inept at moving the full field and
repeatedly turned the disc over, giving the Piggies easy goals. They got
back into the game and tied it at sevens, where the game was capped.
At this point we refused to lose. We switched to a tough man-d and out played
them for the final two points and the game. The victory raised our record
in close games (decided by two points or less) to 2-1 this season. This is
promising as our record in these games was a dismal 1-5 last year.
We came out a little flat against this team and let them go up 4-0.
Then we scored upwind and could come start bringing our zone on
defense. The score at half was 7-4. We got ourselves especially fired up
in the second half, making deep cuts for hucks and staying chilly in the
red-zone. Several strings worked out well in this game, and the zone
defense proved difficult for the boys from 'Cuse to handle. Trapping
against the lines and making swings difficult forced several turnovers.
A break between games cooled us down a bit too much and we went down early
in this one. A few points later we got back in the game, made solid cuts
and great throws, and came back. Sean's hucks to Brody were on target for
several points. One was not however, and a Towson handler attempted to
break Brody upfield. The pass was high and floated, Fraggle skied his man
to knock it away and into the end zone where he caught it for his first
career Callahan goal. Towson worked the zone decently for a few points,
but were unable to do much against it overall. Man D was a invitation to
glory for several Sabahs; the layouts, anticipations, and skies abounded.
The game to win the pool. A showdown under the lights between the number
1 and 4 seed in the pool. We were both 3-0. We are an up and coming
team, they are a perennial power house. If they aren't at nationals,
they are threatening it every year. The plan was come out, play our
hardest, and if nothing else see how we stack up against some of the
best. As it turns out, we didn't stack up too well after the first point
where Sean aired out a beautiful huck to Brody off the pull on a sleeping
Wolfpack defense. Unfortunately, this play seemed to wake them up. They
went on to throw long score after long score using an offense that had
them packed in tight around the disc (within 20 yards) but left the
entire rest of the field wide open. They got the disc back again and
again because their defense was simply stifling. They played
man D and just ran so hard that we could not get open. We didn't play like
a team enough to get open. Instead, we relied on superb individual
efforts like
Ben "Money" Ristau's first true layout catch in the end zone. Despite
these hot solo efforts, it wasn't enough. Their top seven, and probably
top ten, were all fast and could all throw the disc extremely well.
Though they didn't seem to be running any certain plays or offenses, they
were extremely well organized and rarely clogged. In retrospect, though
we gave up hope of winning the game and our active sideline sat down in
dismay, we did learn a thing or two. We learned where we are as a team,
where we are not, and we also learned where we are going . . .
This game was against Edinboro, a team that we will need to beat to go to
regionals. It was a litmus test to see where we are in comparison to
where we want and expect to be. We played right with them through the
vast majority of the first half despite a number of drops, scoring to
make it 5-5. However, we gave up an upwinder and a subsequent downwinder
to let them take half 7-5. In the second half, we became inpatient, we
rushed and forced throws and let our offense get out of control. The
mental errors on "O" led to let downs on "D" and we lost the second half
6-3 and the game 13-8.
Our consolation game was against Virginia Tech. Since there was supposed
to be a bye before our game we decided to call the TD to see if we could
just commandeer some field at Salisbury and just play then. VT "tried to
call the TD" though later his cell phone revealed no missed calls,
curiously enough. It was decided that we would team rosham for the game,
little did VaTech know that this has been what we have really been
practicing for the past 2.5 months. We DOMINATED the game, sticking with
the strength of "rock" and playing the crafty "paper" and "scissors"
rarely but intelligently. Honestly, VaTech never stood a chance, final
score- 13-5 Pitt.
Annual Joint Summit Classic, Clemson, SC - March 29-30, 2003
19th Annual Joint Summit Classic. Not-really lined fields. Live Band.
Warm weather. Great times and pretty good play, we went 5-2 with a small
squad of 8 players (Ben Ristau, Brody, Carmen Parrotta, Dan
DelPiano, Fraggle, Mike
LoPresti, Mike Yanchak, Phil Katz, and Sean McComb) We picked up Blake Joy
(Clemson Alumni and the captain of bRUNt) and Dan Perry once we
were down there. Our
coach, Iron Mike Klawansky, also played a few points.
Day One Game 1: Sparkle Motion (Win 11-2)
Sparkle Motion gets absolutely no support from Elon University. In fact,
they are not even allowed to use the name "Elon." You have to respect
"not-Elon" (as they called themselves) for even existing, yet alone coming
to tournaments, under those circumstances. On the field we completely over
matched Sparkle Motion and rolled to an easy victory.
During our first round bye we watched an athletic OU zone defense
completely suffocate Elon. We were not surprised when they set it on us,
but the first point was a little difficult anyway. We worked the disc 60
yards twice, turning it over in the end zone both times. Fortunate for us,
OU hucked it incomplete both times. On our third try we finally punched it
in for the first point. After getting settled, our offense was very
efficient. Even though the wind was calm, and we proved point after point
that their Z wasn't working, they kept putting it on until the game was out
of reach.
As we seem to at least once every tournament, we came out cold. Emory put
up four points before we responded. We gained ground and found ourselves
down at half 6 to 4. We traded points for much of the second half, but we
couldn't win the critical points that would have allowed us to tie it.
Emory was a good team and took second place in the tournament, but I
think we all wanted a second shot at them.
We got a look at some of the future college stars in this game. They may
have a shot at Junior Nationals (at least their women do), but they were no
match for us. They game did provide us with an excellent opportunity to
experiment and try new things. Everyone got plenty of playing time, and
Dan DelPiano got to run the offense.
After four games, after doing one of Brody's infamous cool-down laps, and
after some of us had de-cleated, we found out we had another game. We
wanted to get this one over, but Berry would not oblige us. Even though
they only had eight or nine players who had played at least as many games
as us, they would not roll over. We were tired, and this was by no means
our best game, but we played hard. Down the line we traded a bunch of hard
fought points, but we took the last two when it mattered. Our record in
close games is now 3-2.
We were fired up and ready to win on Sunday for the first time this
season.
We played well in the first half and took advantage of SC mistakes for easy
scores. We took half 7-1. We knew SC would probably play better in the
second half, and we wanted to take the first few points to put the game
away. After trading the first few point of half, our offense just fell
apart. They scored a few in a row, and got real fired up. We started
worrying about blowing the lead instead of scoring, and it cost us. We
tried switching to a three man weave, but it only led to turnovers. SC
tied it at 9 after a 6-0 run. We scored a key point to end our rut, but SC
responded to tie it again at 10. Our offense came back and our defense
became tough as we refused to blow this one, scoring the next three for the
13-10 win.
Florida State is a very good team with lots of height and athleticism.
They remind me in a number of ways of NC State, but whereas NC State had
less than 5 turnovers the entire game, FSU gave the disk back more readily.
We were able to take advantage and put up a decent number of points. In
the end we came up short against a more experienced team, but we did learn
some new things, including how to catch it "airplane style."
It was a tough draw for our quarter-final game. It would have been
interesting to play Clemson or get another shot at Emory. As it was, FSU
beat Emory in the finals.
Steak-fest, Shippensburg, PA - April 5-6, 2003
After heading to Penn State's Spring
Phling to cheer Pansy on, we headed through the mountain, some fogs, and hair pin
turns to Shippensburg. Brent still isn't happy about waking up to, 'Oh shit, Oh
Shit!" We played a great zone this weekend and did pretty well with how few subs
we had. However, we couldn't carry it through to the finals. We need a bigger team.
We only had 8 players: Brent Bellinger, Brody, Dan DelPiano. We had one of our
potential
recruits for the following year, Tommy Pearson, play a few points with us and he
even scored even though it was his first official game of Ultimate.
Day One Game 1: Shippensburg (13-7 Win)
We'd spent all morning in the cold watching Pansy play some hot
Ultimate at Spring Phling at State College, now it was our turn and the
sun was even beginning to shine and warm things up a little bit. We
came out and pretty much went point-for-point with Shippensburg because
we were making sloppy errors on both sides of the disc. However,
eventually we cleaned things up and pulled the game out. One of the
highlights of the game has got to be that one of our recruits for next
year, Tommy Pearson from Myerstown, PA, came out to watch and ended up
actually playing a few points. He's never played ultimate before, but
managed to score on his very first point ever. Way to go Tommy!
These teams didn't want to play us again because on Saturday, we crushed them in our
quest for the steak. So they decided to make a super team, that really didn't do that
much better.
Salisbury lost a lot of players on Sunday and said they needed shippensburg's good
players to play in the finals. They also switched the field sizes up. It was really
shady, and it through us badly. Consequently, we sucked it up and lost. OK, probably
we just sucked it up because we were tired, but we were defeated in our quest for
steak.
College Sectionals,
Edinboro, PA - April 19-20, 2003
Pitt's goal this year was to place 3rd at the Western
Pennsylvania Sectionals and then, bids permitting, go to regionals. We
worked out all winter and went to tournaments all over the east coast
just to prepare for sectionals and to meet our goal. Well, we met our
goal and got Pitt its first ever bid to regionals. We competed this weekend
with a very small squad of 10 players: Ben Ristau, Brent Bellinger, Brody, Dan
DelPiano, Dan Pokrifka, Mike LoPresti, Phil Katz, Rich 'Fraggle' Coker, Sean McComb,
and Tom Kirchner. Mike Yanchak was there for moral support and his sideline yelling. Also, Dan Pokrifa (Poke) won the
first fastest man contest at sectionals, beating a Felipe from Penn state in the finals.
Day One Game 1: Mr. Yuk (12-10 Win)
This was a game that many of us had be looking forward to for a long time.
Our proximity and the number of friendships among our players makes this
rivalry strong but healthy. In addition in five years of Sectionals play,
Pitt had never beaten Carnegie-Mellon. We did not, however, start strong.
The game featured quite a bit of zone, and ours seemed rusty at first. On
defense we allowed too many of their punts to be completed, and Mr. Yuk
took half up 7-4. We fought back in the second half, getting back to a more
efficient style of play. When the cap went on we were still down by one.
Then, to quote West Penn Coordinator Dan Naylor, "Pitt battled back to make
it 10-9, when a dropped pull by an unnamed CMU player gave Pitt a tie game.
From there, Pitt stepped it up, and things fell apart for CMU all at the
same time." Although we had some help and some luck, this game was by no
means given to us. The come back was fueled by a number of great
individual plays on our part. Some of the highlights were TallE catching a
Callahan goal, Sean point blocking a huck, and Phil making a crazy rescue
of a MACed disc. We could have played better, but getting the so called
"CMU monkey" off our backs felt petty good, no matter how we did it.
Despite the presence of Pittsburgh favorite, Brandon Redding, Allegheny just didn't
have the depth to compete with us for an entire game. They came as a coed team to an
open tournament and did pretty well.
Juniata appeared at sectionals for the first time ever this year and their
inexperience showed, but they are a growing team with hints of promise. Hopefully,
they keep coming out and competing. The highlight of this game was when Sean McComb
took a huck fully in the chest from only ten feet away. It left a mark, a really big
red mark.
We came, we played hard, we used our few subs, and came out on top.
Penn State has a very good team; without a doubt the best in the section.
We have a good team as well, and we were looking forward to playing them
for the top spot in the A Pool. They scored first and proceeded to put on
a zone defense. Our offense came out clicking, and we ripped through them
to tie the score, prompting one Spank player on the sideline to say,
"[Crap], they are good." Unfortunately they quickly learned from this and
did not play zone again. Our man offense was pretty bad, but we are better
than we played. There is no reason that we should have gone down 12 to 1.
We seem to have some sort of phobia of playing well against good teams.
This manifested itself against NC State as well as PSU, and it something we
must get over quickly.
Our goal from the beginning of the year was to go to regionals. To do that
we knew we needed to win two games in Sunday's double elimination. This
first one was extremely important. For one, it was against a team that we
should be able to beat, and it would also be much, much harder to advance
in the loser's bracket, where the pressure would be on. The wind from
Saturday had intensified, making most games zone contests. We pulled and
set our defense with the wind. We got a turnover within ten yards of our
end zone, but could not score. Groundchuck got the upwinder, and this was
the model for the first half. We had at least three or four chances from
our goal line-not near the goal line, but ON it--and we could not convert.
In fact, all three of our points in the first half came on upwinders.
Halftime found us down 8-3. It was time for us to reach down deep and find
what it would take to win this game. We got the first point to start the
second half and then another and another. Momentum swung in our direction
as we stifled their offense and torched their defense. We scored 7 in a
row to make it 10-8 before they scored again, and then we closed the game
on a 5-0 run. We played our top seven the entire game, even though Brody
was basically a cripple. Depth is one thing we need to work on for next
year.
This was our game to go to regionals. At sectionals last year, Bucknell
eliminated us 15-2. This time things would be different. Once again, our
zone defense played very well. We forced Bucknell into many poor
decisions and throws. On offense we weren't spectacular, but we worked it
nicely upwind. Our strategy of punting downwind was successful. We took a
6-1 lead. Bucknell is a good team and they were not going to go down that
easily. They put a on really tight mark to stop our hucks and were able
to close the gap to 6-4. We needed to score the next one to stop their
run and we did. The cap went on at 7-4. We traded the next two points.
Game point seemed to take forever, but we got it, earning our first ever
trip to Regionals!