No Wisconsequences 2008

The sun rose on the magnUM 2008 fall season with a trip to the Milwaukee polo grounds in Wisconsin. With rosters not yet finalized and the squad altered from a variety of absences, the weekend brought plenty of chances for a young squad to grow and shine.

Pool play started at 830 Saturday against Luther College. Perhaps focused on the really sweet lasagna and brownies from Friday night instead of playing good Ultimate, magnUM quickly found itself broken twice and in a 1-3 hole. magnUM battled back before Luther took half at 7-8. When, Gordon hit Jeeves with a goalline around, the rally was on, 11-10. Bandit made the next sweet play, pulling a disc down in a crowd for a 12-11 lead. The lead would grow on the way to a 15-13 win.

Up next was Wisconsin X, and magnUM again fell victim to a slow start. Sloppy marking, amusing contested fouls by the guy in the maroon shirt and more than a few acceptable break marks saw magnUM at the wrong end of a 4-8 halftime score. magnUM showed good D intensity in the second half. When Ben DeLand reverted to killing 150% of the time with a nice layout D and then Fumo hit beaker to cut the game to 9-11, magnUM smelled a comeback. Unfortunately, the only smell was from the horse stalls at the polo grounds, and riding a couple of timely tipped discs the multi-colored hodags won 15-11.

Having finished the power pool with a respectable 1-1 mark, magnUM played a crossover against Minnesota-Duluth. magnUM started strong with a Fumo to Steinbock combination resulting in a 3-1 lead. The ‘northern lights’ hung tough, using a TO for oxygen before Gordon repeated his goalline prowess hitting Bandit to take half, 7-6. The second half featured a pair of amusing highlights. Tim Lee made his mark layout not once, not twice, but three times for a throw that wasn’t there. And Derek Towster proved beyond a doubt that you can’t pushoff right when moving your arm left. The actual second half score can be attributed to a variety of factors, but whatever your preference, magnUM lost on universe point 14-13.

A night of credit card roulette (congrats John Abela!), in-van techno dancing and conference 1 talks gave way to Sunday play. Fired up from that call from the waitress, Derek Towster had two sweet layout plays to open the game against Birdhouse. Unfortunately for DTow, magnUM was still sleepy and sloppy on the disc and lost the first point. magnUM would surge back and took half when Jeff Pape found Fumo, 7-5. The second half featured strong control, pulling away to an easy 13-8 win.

How you can have a rematch this quickly in a tournament with 44 teams is beyond me, but magnUM again faced Luther, plus two vastly stronger opponents when working in concert: the wind and a sudden lack of confidence on the disc. In the debacle that followed, a Callahan was given up, zone D was dissected, and swilly hucks were repeatedly caught in a game that could only be described as ouch.

Up next was Winona State. Winona rode the huck all day long and the game was tight through 9-9. But when Derek Moen scored to make it 10-9 and Ollie landed a huck to make it 11-9, Winona had no response on the way to a 13-10 final.

magnUM then played a short game to 9 against Wisconsin Y. A close first half saw magnUM up 5-4 at intermission. Ben DeLand jumped magnUM into kill mode with a score to make it 6-4. After a couple points Ollie hit AK with a sick blade for a break and an 8-5 lead. magnUM closed the weekend strong with a great final D-line; Jeff Pape nearly hit Ben DeLand on a sweet huck but the glory went to Jeeves hitting Robbie Steinbock for the winner.

The consequences from the weekend were many. The rookies got lots of playing time and tournament experience. Returners saw what needed to get better. The injured guys felt the virtues of hot chocolate on a cold morning. And everyone was longing for the chance to improve their game…up next is CCC in three weeks.