Open Division - Day 3 Recap
Andy Wade
Posted: May 30, 2010 12:20 PM
Sunday Open highlights
- Florida and Carleton — two of college ultimate's most dominant programs in recent years — will square off in Monday's final of the 2010 USA Ultimate College Championships in Madison, Wis., after both teams notched impressive wins in Sunday's semifinals.
- After a 15-5 quarterfinal romp over Central rival Minnesota, CUT jumped out to a 5-0 lead over Pitt in the much-anticipated semifinal matchup. Carleton held on after a late rally from Pitt, playing without captain Chris Brenenborg, who fell ill from heat exhaustion.
- Florida pulled away late in wins over UNC-Wilmington and Cornell, as Brodie Smith continued to impose his will on opposing defenses with an amazing aerial assault. In Smith's five games at the Championships, he's thrown an astounding 46 assists and scored 10 goals, meaning Smith has been involved on 72 percent of Florida's goals.
- In the quarterfinals, Cornell squeaked by Michigan, 17-16, in a universe-point win. After Michigan missed on three huck attempts, Cornell senior Jon Hirschberger pulled down a floating huck from Dan Brager over several Michigan defenders. Earlier in the game, Cornell rattled off four straight points to go from down 12-10 to up 14-12.
- In its quarterfinal, Pittsburgh topped California, 15-10. Down 5-4, Pitt rattled off a 4-point run to take half 8-5. Alex Thorne had 5 assists and two goals for Pitt, while California's Dylan Kluck threw three assists and scored a goal for Cal.
- In the quarterfinal against Florida, UNC-Wilmington's Rusty Ingold-Smith and Tommy Lamar played superbly. Ingold-Smith threw three assists and had three goals, while Lamar scored four goals and threw for two.
- Facing Carleton in the quarters, Minnesota's Danny Miesen caught a pair of goals, but the Grey Ducks couldn't hang with Carleton's balanced attack.
In the placement brackets:
• Iowa and UCSB tied for 9th place. Iowa finished the College Championships with four straight wins, beating Illinois, Oregon, Texas State and Wisconsin. Iowa's Nick Sanchez caught a Callahan to take half 8-5 over Oregon, which had hoped to be playing in the championship bracket on Sunday.
• All four teams that lost in Saturday's prequarters (Colorado, Oregon, Harvard and Georgia) also lost their first game on Sunday. UCSB, Middlebury, Iowa and Wisconsin all maintained their focus from earlier Sunday morning victories. Middlebury beat Kansas on universe point, then took out Colorado. UCSB held off a late rally by Harvard, who struggled early with the wind.
• Nearly every team in the placement brackets rested key starters and gave younger players lots of playing time.