USA Ultimate

Recap of 2011 Warm-Up: A Florida Affair

 

After finishing as runners-up last year, Carleton College CUT emerged as 2011’s team to beat after a 6-2 record in pool play and a 14-12 Finals victory over Colorado Mamabird at Warm Up: A Florida Affair, a tournament that included 2010 College Open Champion Florida along with six other top teams. 

 

Each Semifinals team posted a 6-2 pool play record, with Carleton avenging a 10-13 Saturday loss to Wisconsin by a score of 13-7, and Colorado again beating Florida, this time by a score of 13-10 in a game that was never very close. 

 

Rounding out the top teams were Harvard, who was without standouts Andrew Vogt, Adam Fagin, and Devon Williams, and Virginia, a team that would have qualified for the Semifinals had an 11-12 loss to Wisconsin gone their way.  

 

In the Finals, Carleton College and Colorado showcased similar movement-based attacks with differing strengths. CUT relied on its cutters to get open in isolation and move the disc among themselves, while Mamabird’s biggest threat was its quartet of fast and experienced handlers. Each team opened up its deep game early, and onlookers were not disappointed as a result: both Carleton College’s Julian Childs-Walker and Colorado’s Martin Freeman put on a real show in the endzone, the pinnacle being Freeman’s spectacular layout grab on a disc that the wind seemed to be carrying well out of his reach. 

 

While Colorado earned the first breaks of the game, Carleton College got them back quickly and was able to take a 7-5 lead into the half. After a Mamabird hold, CUT began its biggest run of the game; the team’s stingy man defense, the strong play of sophomore handlers Simon Montague and Justin Norden, and a Colorado offense that lacked movement helped Carleton College bring the score to 11-7 before Colorado could stop the bleeding with a well-placed inside out huck from Matty Zemel to Hylke Snyder.

 

At this point, Colorado went on a run of its own, and after a poach picked off a Norden throw, the score was 11-10. Miscommunications among Carleton College’s handlers and a Patrick Roberts turnover on a huck attempt provided opportunities to continue breaking back, but each time, CUT was able to retrieve the disc, and the teams traded points to a 13-12 Carleton College lead. 

 

On game point for Carleton College, the teams continued to swap turnovers and scoring chances. The game looked to be over when CUT finally worked the disc to Mamabird’s endzone line, but Freeman came up with a soaring block on a Norden hammer to keep Colorado alive. Just throws later, however, Mamabird again had no open cutters, and Freeman was forced to attempt a break throw that soared over his receiver’s head. 

 

On the door step once again, Carleton College called a time out, setting up an isolation set that appeared to give a cutter room to get open on the force side or receive an easy break throw. When the disc was tapped in, however, Norden immediately cut upline, finding himself open for the score and the tournament win. 

 

After the game, Carleton College coach Phil Bowen credited his team’s early season fitness for the Warm Up win. Also, he noted that many reserve players stepped up and had big showings in the absence of starters Grant Lindsley (out on Sunday), Nick Stuart (out all weekend), Alex Kinsey (off and on throughout the weekend). He noted that the team would work on its endzone offense and zone defense in preparation for the Stanford Invite on March 5th and 6th in Palo Alto, California. 

 

Colorado, Florida, Wisconsin, and Harvard will also be at Stanford, along with top teams Pittsburgh, Oregon, and British Columbia.  

 

 

 

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While workings to provide tournaments for USA Ultimate, Jonathan Neeley also writes at Inside Breaks, an Ultimate coverage and analysis blog. Check it out at insidebreaks.skydmagazine.com