2015 D-I College Championships - Men's Day Two Recap
Ian Toner
Posted: May 23, 2015 11:26 PM
Pool A
Pool A went down to the wire: In the pool’s final round, Pitt faced Texas for the pool title while Georgia and Wisconsin battled for the pool’s last pre-quarters berth.
Up early, Georgia allowed Wisconsin to claw back into the game and tie it up at 13 in front of a loud and sizeable hometown Hodag crowd. But Jojah shut the door late and broke the Hodags to win 15-13 and advance to the pre-quarters.
Texas did their best to keep things interesting. Up 12-9 with the game capped at 13, TUFF let Pitt back in the game, and En Sabah Nur forced double-game point. Having just racked up their third technical foul, TUFF was forced to start the final point at the reverse brick inside their own end zone. TUFF hucked too far for Dillon Larberg, and then Pitt hucked over the head of Max Thorne. On the ensuing possession, TUFF’s Joel Clutton threw a cross-field hammer for the winning goal. With TUFF’s 13-12 win, they finished atop Pool A and sent Pitt into the pre-quarters.
Pool B
Minnesota broke seed by toppling Texas A&M in a contested match up on Saturday morning. Minnesota took half 8-7 before extending their lead to 13-10 late in the second half. Cutters Ben Jagt (three goals), Josh Kautz (four goals) and Ryan Osgar (two assists) bailed Josh Klane (four assists) and the Minnesota offense out of multiple tight situations in Minnesota’s 15-13 victory.
Minnesota’s subsequent game against the Central Florida Dogs of War did not go as smoothly for Grey Duck which gave Central Florida the Pool B crown. Central Florida’s offense was nothing short of ruthless, with Alex Bullock, Jeremy Langdon, Michael Fairley, Terence Murphy and Stuart Little getting involved in multiple quick, few-throw scores. Central Florida stacked their lines early and never looked back on their way to a 15-10 victory.
Pool C
After yesterday’s epic collapse against North Carolina, Florida State avoided a similarly dangerous situation by staving off a late comeback attempt from Maryland. With their 15-12 win this afternoon, Florida State held seed in their pool and ended Maryland’s season.
Oregon rebounded from yesterday’s rough start with convincing wins over Illinois (15-7) and North Carolina’s rookies (15-5) to qualify for the pre-quarters. North Carolina rested their starters against Oregon because Darkside had already clinched Pool C and a quarterfinals berth.
Pool D
UMass continued their tear through this tournament, rising to the challenge and beating both teams seeded above them to clinch the Pool D title and bye into quarterfinals.
ZooDisc faced the North Carolina-Wilmington Seamen first, and they punished Wilmington’s riskier decision making. Jeff Babbitt reeled in seven goals – many of them breaks – in UMass’s 15-9 victory.
In the Pool D championship game, UMass’s defensive pressure forced Colorado drops and miscues, and ZooDisc showcased their discipline once again. Sophomore Ben Sadok tallied three assists and four goals, and freshman Brett Gramann continued his composed play, delivering five assists and one goal. Sadok laid out to catch a huck from Babbitt on the game’s final play to help UMass win (15-12).
Pre-Quarterfinals
A year after Wilmington stunned Pitt in the national quarterfinals, Pitt returned the favor and ended the Seamen’s season in the 2015 national pre-quarterfinals. Wilmington jumped out to an 8-6 halftime lead, but Pitt tightened the screws in the second half. Trailing 11-10, Pitt went on a 4-0 run to close out the capped game. Pittsburgh will face the Central Florida Dogs of War in a rematch of the 2013 College Championship in the quarterfinals tomorrow morning.
Pool D second-place finisher Colorado notched three breaks in each half of the Georgia match up, and that proved to be too much for Jojah to overcome. Tomorrow morning, Mamabird will play North Carolina Darkside in a rematch of the 2014 College Championship.
Squaring off against Minnesota Grey Duck, Oregon Ego made the most of their newfound opportunity and won 14-11. In a rematch of a quarterfinal from last year’s Championships, Ego will face Texas TUFF and be gunning for a fourth consecutive national semifinal appearance.
Despite the best efforts of Matt Bennett and Dalton Smith (who, between them, contributed 10 of Texas A&M’s assists in the game), their team ran out of gas against a deeper and more experienced Florida State squad. Connor Holcombe threw five assists and caught six goals, and Chris LaRocque threw five assists and caught three goals in DUF’s 15-12 victory. LaRocque has thrown more assists (29) than any other player at the tournament, and Holcombe is second (18) only to Jeff Babbitt (20) in goals; Babbitt and UMass will battle Holcombe, LaRocque and Florida State in the quarterfinals tomorrow morning.
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