Glory Days

MagnUM rostering continued this past weekend in Naperville, IL as the boys in blue sent a squad rich in rookies with a sprinkle of returners on top. The date was Glory Days and MagnUM was ready to make some plays.

Rising early Saturday morning, bowls of rice crispies and bagels consumed, MagnUM made its way to the Polo Grounds and began competition against RHIT (Round House In Theface(I think(Not really(Rose Hulman IT)))). Tree City’s finest started out in typical MagnUM fashion, giving up three uninspiring goals to an inferior team before waking up and realizing the game had begun. Refocused, MagnUM answered with 4 straight and eventually took half 7-4. The second half brought more of the same as MagnUM rolled to an easy 12-7 victory.

Next up came the game that everybody was waiting for, MagnUM vs. UW-Milwaukee Blackcats. I know, I know, who the hell are the Blackcats? Well, apparently MagnUM was wondering the same thing on there way to a 12-11 universe point loss. Upon deeper inspection, though, MagnUM and Blackcats were easily the most athletic team in the pool and in the end, the veteran Blackcats were able to take advantage of some boarderline (at best) foul calls and two straight possessions in which MagnUM turned the disc over on the goal line. Despite MagnUM’s defensive intensity and overall athleticism, its lack of poise around the end zone allowed UW-Milwaukee to hang around and steal a victory … for now.

After a third round bye MagnUM refocused against a severely over matched Southern Illinois team. The game was never really close and MagnUM coasted to a 12-6 victory.

Game four of Saturday matched MagnUM up against Kalamazoo College, a team that took Blackcats to the brink just a game earlier. Completely focused on getting a decisive win to secure action in the championship bracket on Sunday MagnUM shot out of the gates for a quick 3-0 lead. The improved K-College Ultimate Buzz tried to show some life but were repelled each time by the inspiring play of MagnUM hopefuls Seth (Bushbaby) Buschbaum and Hammerin’ Hank Tyler. Seth’s sky D’s and Hank’s steady handling helped MagnUM take half at 7-4. Hard set on ending the game as quickly as possible, MagnUM continued to roll through the second half en route to a decisive 13-6 victory, displaying the best ultimate that the team had played to date.

Next on slate was free food and picking a rookie to play in the rookie all-star game. Not surprisingly MagnUM picked the Bushbaby to play in the spectacle of heckling. Amidst plates of lasagna, bottles of Vitamin Water, and hundreds of terrible hammers the game was finished to the crowds satisfaction. Seth patrolled the skies but to our disappointment would not implement the dump-huck strategy. On to a night filled with the lady up on the moon and police encounters at McDonalds.

Sunday morning saw MagnUM seeded tenth and matched against a potent Miami (OH) team. You may remember that Miami came into Ann Arbor just two weeks ago and walked away with the BAMF crown so revenge was fresh in the minds of the Ann Arbor boys. Although MagnUM showed a flurry of emotion and an inspiring 3-0 run to take half 7-6, Miami once again proved a little too wily for such a young squad and won 10-7. Frustration and disappointment leaked from MagnUM.

Lessons were learned quickly though because a rematch date with UW-Milwaukee came next. I (Matt Marcum) needed to do very little inspiring to get the team up for the rematch. Rants from Dave Fumo, Tom Haynes and Pat Collins rallied the troops to a controlling style of ultimate for the entire game. Although it was close in score, MagnUM’s swagger returned and on game point all players stepped up. First there was the Lively sideline helping to urge the pulling D-line to their marks, then there was the tight D that forced a turnover with their backs against the goal line, and finally there was the timely sky by rookie Kyle Kissoff just outside of the end zone. The disc was swung around the field and finally ended up in Gordon Sigfriedt’s hands as the Blackcats frantically dove in for an intentional foul. Tempers heated, fire flowed through veins, UW-M’s #22 made threats, but in the end it was ‘Ole Steady #13 Dave Fumo beating his man on the block to seal the deal, 11-9 Michigan.

The third game of the day saw MagnUM roll against a split squad Illinois team. I could talk about a dominating game, or I could talk about Ben Deland’s amazing layout goal to take half. I’ll chose the latter. Gordon Sigfriedt, while being momentarily possessed by the ghost of Dave Collins, saw some space for the hammer to rookie Brian Yost in the end zone. Yost, however, decided that he would cut the opposite direction because he knew that Gordon was incapable of throwing any form of a catchable hammer. Ben Deland thought otherwise. He quickly shifted direction and laid out for what can only be described as a falling lawn dart. In the unconventional, half freestyle swim stroke, half bear claw, half crazy attempted catch, somehow Ben came up with a face of Dirt and the disc in his hand. All I can say is, best catch I have seen in person… ever. And so went MagnUM vs. Illinois.

Finally, in the 9/10 game MagnUM matched up against the tournament directors, Sensei Ultimate Network. At this point Michigan was playing sans Dave Fumo, sans Pat Collins, sans Craig Sandford, and sans Alex Fegert. That math equals 3 returners and 17 rookies. The game stayed close for the first half but quickly the gap widened as MagnUM fell. There were some highlights, though, as Doug Sharp also seemed momentarily possessed by Dave Collins (like Gordon) and did his best Mike Gundy impersonation after a defender called foul after being skied. As Dave Fumo said it best, the foul cited by the defender was the “I just got completely owned by a rookie and need to save face to my teammates” foul. Seriously though, it was one of the worst calls ever followed by one of the better on field blow ups ever.

All in all the tournament was a success. Although a better finish would have been desirable, playing time went all around and valuable experience was gained. Every rookie leveled up their defensive attributes and most leveled up their play making abilities. Die were cast, cups were flipped, and stomachs were filled upon arrival in Ann Arbor as a great weekend came to an end at 913 Vaughn.