MLC Recap

MagnUM, now a team, finished off its fall season in sunny Columbia, MO at MLC. Overall it was an encouraging weekend, and more than anything we both saw how well we could perform and, through some frustrating losses to an old nemesis, where we really need to put in the work. A 4th place finish and an upset of the defending national champions was something to pat our backs about, especially given the heavy squad of rookies who showed up and played with great maturity when we leaned heavily upon them.

Day 1, Game 1: Colorado. W.

MagnUM started the day off against defending MLC champs and national semifinalist Colorado Mamabird. Without Zemmel and Zander, Colorado relied heavily on a constant dosage of Jimmy, who seemed to be touching the disc on O every other time. This actually worked to our benefit, because due to injuries we lined a short and handler-heavy D-line, and Mickle spent so much time around the disc Colorado was not able to capitalize on his height advantages. Constant pressure defense from rookies Joe Besser, John Abela, and Sam Greenwood was able to consistently frustrate Mickle, and the high pressure under defense downfield helped Magnum pull ahead 6-3 with a couple of upwind breaks. The wind all day would be a major factor, leading us to some tight games. The eventual Colorado surge came, but Magnum was able to keeps the bird at bay and eke out a 9-8 win. Every game the entire tournament would be hard-capped, due to the wind and the incredibly short (80min) rounds.

Day 1, Game 2: Missouri. W.

The question coming into the tournament was whether or not Mizzou deserved to be in the power pools, and we knew they were for real before they even showed up to play us, having just completed an upset of national finalist Wisconsin. MagnUM needed a few points to figure out who was who on a team of no-names, but once we were able to get favorable matchups against their two big downfield cutters and #24, a very good handler, we were able to shut down the offense in the second half after a late Mizzou run put them ahead 7-6 and come up with a “closer-than-it-was” 11-10 universe win.

Day 1, Game 3: Illinois. W.

No doubt we wanted to win this game. Three consecutive regional losses at the hand of Illinois will forever tarnish the Magnum books, and this year we want to beat as often as we can. Great defense from Jordan Macocha, who had evolved into a key Magnum shutdown defender and some strong wind helped slow down stud handler Ryan Smith and the huck-happy Illini, and Magnum rode the first break of the game, taking half at 7-6, through to a capped 8-7 victory.

Day 1, Game 4: Wisconsin. L.

Although 3-0, Magnum had yet to lock up any place in the pool, and could fall anywhere between 1st and 3rd depending on how games played out. A fourth straight game against a physical Wisconsin team saw multiple players go down with injuries, including O stud Yoni Rafael (hamstring) and rookie Sam Greenwood (ankle). With a tired and depleted roster, Magnum was unable to capitalize on early Wisconsin mistakes and sustain a fresh Wisconsin team who was playing off a bye. Although Magnum was able to keep it close through half (Wisconsin taking it 7-6), a second-half Wisconsin break saw Magnum lose 9-7.

The only benefit of the last round bye was that we were able to get back and shower in time to see the Illinois game, which, as Michigan football has gone in the past three years, was a bit frustrating to watch. As it was unable to keep our attention, most exhausted players, after ice bathing, simply passed out in their beds (rookies on the floors, of course).

The newest member of a Magnum lineage, Jesse Buchsbaum (also injured), decided to attack the Sky Hi Grill’s $30 eating challenge, ingeniously called the “Sky ‘Wall of Fame’ Burger meal,” which consisted of 2lbs of fries, 1 lb of pulled pork, and two 1lb burgers, all to be consumed in an hour. With consistent encouragement and tactical advice from mastermind Jeff Pape and persistent pessimist Phillip Bunge, Jesse put out a solid effort in the first 25 minutes, before hitting a wall. Here comes the Magnum nomination for “play of the week:” noticing an increasingly contorted face and furrowed brows on Jesse, Yoni deduced what was finally coming, and dove for an empty water pitcher—had Yoni acted one second later, the entire challenge would have been all over 1/3 of our team.

Of course, we learned that the wall of fame Jesse would have been on was not the same wall as the other 8 pictures—no one had actually completed the challenge yet, as it had been revamped to be more expensive and add more food. Classy, Sky Hi. The only other notables from the night were how Magnum was able to dry up the Ski Hi’s water-on-tap supply (Ricky’s first question of the night: “so, is your water free?”) and Yoni and Seth’s discovery that Columbia may be one of the worst college towns ever—its “nationally famous” pizza place, Godfathers, stops serving pizza by the slice at 9pm on weekends—shouldn’t it be the opposite?

We learned that due to our amazing point differential of zero, Magnum took third in the pool behind Wisconsin and Mizzou.

Day 2, Game 1: St. Louis. W.

Day two started much warmer than day 1, but with winds much stronger, gusting at up to 45 mph. Magnum faced of against Saint Louis University (who thankfully have finally deviated from their old team name, St. Louis Ultimate Team—SLUT) in a strict upwind downwind game. The game started out with the first Callahan of the season, caught by rookie Ryan Schechtman, a rookie who played beyond his years (mostly) on the O-line this weekend, and also the odds-leader in the disc race at 3-1. With the O-line scoring easily on the down-winders, the outcome was known to both teams after the first two points. A poachy defense helped the D-line get some backfield handler turns, and after a few marathon points to figure out the wind, we were able to churn out some breaks.

Day 2, Game 2: Carleton: W.

The next game was the one we were all looking forward to, a match-up against a team we had lost to twice last year at Easterns and the defending national champion, Carleton. The game was a non-stop battle, where we consitantly played our “Ohio” defense, going straight up on the mark and fronting their downfield cutters to disrupt the under-flow that CUT specializes in. The game, though constantly traded, was leaning in our favor, as Carelton was unable to convert on the hucks we were giving them and our O-line went unbroken, with a host of 2-throw points, mostly between senior captain Jeff Pape and downfield stud Matt Orr. Twice in the same point our D-line was able to get the disc within yards of the break end zone, but two unfortunate turnovers led to a no-break first half, MagnUM up 8-7. The second half saw more of the same, but with MagnUM on a D point leading 9-8 with Universe looming, the D line was able to get it outside the endzone and a diving catch by Jordan Macochoa sealed the expected upset, 10-8.

Day 2, Game 3: Wisconsin: L.

I don’t like writing about losing to Wisconsin more than once, if ever, so I’m going to keep this one brief. Some long marathon points that went the wrong way for us and some early breaks given up, along with some interesting observer rulings saw this game fall out of hand way too quickly, and with the short-capped games we never had a chance to really get back into it.

Day 2, Game 4: Iowa: L.

After deciding not to play an “annotated” game, MagnUM fell to IHUC in a game where we saw the rosters open up a lot and many rookies get much deserved playing time. Highlights of this game would have to be John Landstra’s stellar layout grab on O, covering the distance of the endzone in probably half a second. Landstra is one of our stellar rookie additions, a former starting safety at Missouri S&T, now an Engineering grad here at UM.

Take aways: like always at MLC, the rookies were exposed to the national spotlight that sets MagnUM’s expectations for the year. Many played well beyond their years, with spectacular grabs from Landstra, Sam Greenwood (who “now you see it—now you don’t’ed” an Illini defender in the endzone), and Dan “sticky scoober fingers” Harras. Eli Leonard stepped up huge and showed that he belonged on the D line, showcasing some big throws and quality composure throughout the tournament. John Abela, back with the MagnUM program, showed his veteran wile with some nasty “where was he?” poach d’s. The sophomores held their own as well, with Jordan Macocha establishing himself a premier shutdown defender (especially on Carleton’s Julian C-W) and Matt Orr did just what we expected from him—catch an inordinate number of goals (his goal-to-catch ratio must be around 4-5). Not to be outdone, the veterans showed why they call us that, and stellar consistency from the O-line, especially from Jesse Brauner, Robbie Steinbock, and newcomer Travis Martin all gave us great things to look forward to in the spring.

That said, there was much to work on. At times, our overall lack of fitness really showed on some of the longer points, especially in the Wisconsin games. Also, the high winds exposed our throws a bit, and we will be out this winter in the snow working on them. Now marks a transition for us, as we head into the gym, indoor track, and indoor fields to start the grind towards reclaiming the section and region this year.

— Seth Collins

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