Wilmington 8's

The first real tournament for the Pittsburgh A team against the nations top teams.

The Roster read as follows:

• Alex Thorne
• Allen Rakers
• Andrej Ababovic
• Ari Weitzman
• Brad Bellinger
• Chris Brenenborg
• Colin Connor
• David Zettel
• Isaac Saul
• Jason Kunsa
• Jay Huerbin
• Kevin Norton
• Kyle Baynes
• Michael Brenner
• Michael Van Ness
• Michael Plunkett
• Patrick Every
• Robbie Shapiro
• Tyler Degirolamo
• Zach Kauffman

Notable Absentees

• Bob Liu (injury on Saturday)
• David Hogan (groin)
• Eddie Peters (injury Saturday)
• Ethan Beardsley (absent)
• Geoff Zettel (knee ligament)
• Julian Hausman (out of country)

Tennessee 15-10

Half of the team needed some payback for the blowout loss to Tennessee. The other half wanted a win under their belt. After a bit of a nervy half with O line holding steady and D line not being able to punch it in, we finally broke serve to start a roll of breaks. During half Coach Suskin hammered in the point that adjustments were just that, and only plays were going to create breaks: the D line took this to heart as we rolled out of half with consecutive breaks and ending the game on a break. Overall a great first day win and first team win.

Florida 17-15

The big daddy themselves. I personally have never played in a game of such of talk and anticipation. I quickly learned that talk is just talk, and playing is another thing all together. Florida's offense boiled down to one of two things number 21 receiving the disc and ripping it, or number 14 receiving the disc and ripping it to 21. After a long spell of O line holding serve we were finally broken towards the end of the game. Down 10 -12 the D line was told to step up; with three breaks they did so and punished Florida with a mix of adjustments and Ds. The game held serve until 15s then the D line proceeded to end the game with two more breaks. Most notably, #14 had the disc at the top of Florida's endzone, he ripped it to #21 who was in a dead sprint with 5 Pittsburgh defenders: he didn't get it.

Cornell 15-13

This was the most anticipated game of the day. Were we going to reclaim the region? Were we going to be the top dogs after an emotional nationals? Yes, empathetically yes. The answer was yes even before the game as our mentality and attitude for this game was one only of winning and one of lingering revenge. The game was fiery, yet oddly friendly. I think we now have some mutual respect for each others programs and the level they've reached. Much like Eddie, i remember little of the game; the O line definitely, like nationals, kept us in this game with some good, solid play. Win Picksburgh.

Virginia 15-11

Virginia of last year was a Cinderella story beating Georgia to take the AC Regionals, but this year seems to be a transition year. They had a mixed national champion in their roster with a dude wearing a number 10 jersey; he seemed to run everything, which worked a bit in the beginning but as the game wore on his efficiency diminished. The game was one of the easier ones on the whole, as we broke quickly and effectively putting up a big score at half, and coasting through it for the game. Retrospectively, not what we want, but we were tired after a physically and emotionally draining day.

Maryland 15-7

After running fourteen sprints for being fourteen minutes late, we were both pissed and tired. The culmination left Maryland scoring the most points on our team ever. They scored a remarkable seven points, i think half was something like 8-5 and then they scored 2 points when we scored 7. Eh, first game. We'll do better next time.

NC State 15-9

The game was once again nervy in the first half, but our dominance in the second. We played hand in hand with them for the first half and down a break at sevens we needed to get control of the game. The game in the first half was a story of D line missed opportunities as we got the disc quickly, but lost them quicker. At sevens to take half the D line finally punched it in for a huge momentum grab and a confidence booster. The game turned on its heels after and we managed to break them five more times, or more, for the decisive 15-9 win.

UNC 15-8
The UNC games had been notoriously known for their chippiness and their intense nature. Yet this was a brand new team, they lost most of their cutters and were left with a Saul brother and a large cutter doing most of their work. They couldn't stay in the game with our depth and team as we cruised to a pretty easy win.

FINALS

Cornell

With the Octogon now in sight Pittsburgh wanted the win. And the game started as usual with O line's holding. Cornell got a break at three, but we held serve and broke back at 6-5. We continued exerting pressure as we scored another break for 7 - 5. The halftime score 8-6. The game was like the other one before with Cornell playing as anticipated and our O line holding strong and our D line punishing mistakes. The second half started on a positive as we broke two more times and pushed our lead to a resounding 10-7. At this point, the confidence on the team sideline was high and in the reaches of hubris. And boy did we pay. Huck after huck were missed and small, sloppy mistakes punished as Cornell beat us down with our own medicine. Five breaks Cornell had turned the game and our loss looked inevitable. Yet this is where our new spirit shines. Down 12-10, the O line punched in their goal after Alex Thorne had a gnarly lay out D to save a break. The D line took the field with a mentality of must break; they did as the score moved to twelves, and thirteen twelve with another huge break. With Cornell scoring on O and our O scoring as well it was now 14-13. Mega D line, the ensuing point had multiple Ds and multiple turns, but the one that mattered came down to Jay Huerbin getting in between two confused Cornell players and getting a huge D. The D line turned that D into a break and a tournament win as Pittsburgh went undefeated on the weekend.

http://upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=127&id=6648

Purpose and Season Thus

This blog is dedicated to, as previous players did before, chronicle the Pittsburgh Men's College team over the coming seasons. Done for the fans, the alumni, and for future alumni to be able to relive the old days or live vicariously through youngins.

Stop the Swill 2009
This was the first tournament for the oncoming rookies of the 2009 Pitt Ultimate class. For half, or less, of the team this was their first tournament. Composed of three returning players - David Zettel, David Hogan and myself (Andrej) - one alumni-ish player - Pat Hammonds - and the rest rookies, the team was set to play well, dominate and win the tournament.

John Hopkins - B 17 - 2
Each team in our pool was dubbed a 'B' team but none were. Penn turned out to be a vet team with two or three rookies. We were simply a rookie team. And the other two were the actual teams of their school with rookies. Needless to say, the game was a blow out. We played to seventeen. This turned out to be great as the rookies got to play an extended game against some sub par competition, basically getting some basics down and working out kinks. Nothing to note, other then a good first win.

Penn - B 17 - 2
This game i remember even less of then the one prior. They had one handler who kind of did things, but nothing to note. We played well, they played poorly. Their rookie class was leagues below ours and it showed as they could barely get one throw off.

Penn State - B 13 - 17
This was the competition that we, as vets, wanted for the rookies to have. It was contentious in play, not in calls, and every point was a battle. We took half, but were lulled into false sense of security. They rolled off four breaks at thirteens to win the game. The vets attempted to fight hard and show how to fight through adversity, but due to an earlier injury to Dave Zettel and a continuous injury to Dave Hogan, it was Pitt Rookies plus friends against Penn State A. We ended holding seed and going into the bracket.

Quarterfinals:
Delaware-Y 13 - 10
Delaware was a good team. Much like our team they were a rookie team with vets interspersed. It was a tough game and a physically demanding one. Delaware was very upidy and our rookies were having none of it. Most notably Robbie Shapiro gave 'googly' eyes to a Delaware player who fouled him and then called a travel. In the end it was a great game and showed the rookies how hard they needed to play.

Semifinals
Delaware-X 13 - 9
Sean Keegan, despite playing for the team we had just beaten, decided to join this rookie team as well. And his presence and the already chippy nature of the Delaware game made for an intense game. We worked hard and it paid off as we went on an early run to dominate the game. Zach Kauffman shut down Keegan around the disc and he was null, until Keegan hurt his back and had to leave the field of play. After that, it was a simple game with a deserved ending.

Finals:
Penn State 13 - 10
In the huddle on Saturday after the loss, we made a promise to not lose again, and to beg for the chance to play Penn again. Now with Dave Zettel back, Eddie Peters picked up for Sunday, and the rookies in a frenzy to show Penn that they got lucky, we were ready to dominate. The game was back and forth for a few points, but then the legs of the fifteen deep Penn team gave way to our no stop offense and defense. We cruised through the game after getting four or five breaks (they broke back late), and the rookies won their first tournament.

Ohio State Fall Brawl
This is from the Pitt-X perspective.

Toledo 13 - 6
Coming in with eleven guys, four guys who were considered rookies the team had an uphill battle in the tournament to begin with. Toldeo proved a good first game as they played to a warm up level to the cold Pitt players. The wind was up and down, the cold was numbing and aggravating. Simply put, we were better, so we played better and won.

Miami of Ohio 13 - 7
Seeded second we were set to play the number one of the pool in our second game. After a good warm up we were ready and firing. Key defense plays from Alex Thorne, a gnarly layout catch block, and solid first cutting from Ari Weizman set the tone for the game. On the other hand the Miami team was struggling to do much of anything. Their main handlers seemed content to playing a position game, in the upwind downwind, although position mattered little to the skilled throwers of our Pitt team.

RIT 13 - 4
RIT bagged their game against us. It wouldn't have mattered for them if they did or not, they had neither the athleticism or smarts to play against us. They stuck discs in dumb positions and easy areas for us to block them, on top of that they couldn't run with us. We played solidly and won easily. Apparently i made a sick catch to end the game. Take that Rochester.

Youngstown 13 - 4
Youngstown did not bag their game against us. They also yelled, this is our first tournament ever, at us. Unfazed, we won handily. They throw swilly hucks and we blocked them... a lot.

Ohio X 12 - 8
This was the game of the day. We knew they were going to be fired up as they lost to RIT, Miami, and Toledo, strangely. They were good, which compounds the puzzling ways they lost to the other teams. They played physically, had a few great recievers and a few good handlers. Our momentum started as i got a big layout D in the lane against one of their better receivers. After that the team got fired up and OSU couldn't move the disc. We gave up a break towards the end, but the game was securely tucked away as the cap went off.

Quarterfinals:
Micigan 12 - 8
There is/was a prequarters game, but it doesn't count. Considering they had a girl on their team, and they didn't want to play. Go Kent State. So we played Michigan. Off the bat, i was nervous considering their recent success, but after the first point we realized this was a new Michigan; a dangerous one, but not one of years past. They played well and had some big receivers, but they couldn't handle Alex Thorne's back breaking upwind hucks for goals. Our offense was smooth as Isaac Saul continuously hit Tyler Degirolamo for back to back to back to back O line goals. We won the game after the afore mentioned hucks from Alex as Michigan couldn't answer upwind. Great win. Hard fought.

Semifinals.
Tenesee
Eleven players, hovering barely above ten, Pitt was exhausted. After an o line turnover by myself right outside of the endzone, we as a team seemed to feel a wind of fatigue. Nobody could run, jump, think as we were getting beaten by ourselves more then Tenesee's double team zone. We took bad shots, didn't run hard, and played very poorly. But in all honesty, nobody really cared as we all battled cramps and exhaustion. This simply gave Tennessee a false sense of security to the upcoming Wilmington 8s. Beware Tennessee, we're out for blood.