QCTU 2010

A disturbing trend is developing for the magnUM 2k10 season. Drive over 10 hours south … and play in the snow. As our team traveled into Charlotte, NC for this year’s Queen City Tune-Up, we encountered approximately 4 inches of fresh snow throughout North Carolina. The tournament had some interesting changes, including a noon Saturday start because of the snow. As if 4 inches of snow was going to melt.

Separately, this was the weekend magnUM unveiled our new 5 Ultimate jerseys, having won a competition for 5 sponsorship last fall. I don’t have any pictures of us in them, but rest assured we look pretty sweet.

The fields Saturday morning – believe it or not there’s a cone out there marking the back corner of the end zone.

Appalachian State

Yes Michigan fans, you read that right. Someone out there had a sense of humor, seeking to remind us of past football infamy. That’s fine, we’ll play along. Since Saturday group play was compressed to meet the noon start, all games would happen in the space of 60-70 minutes, meaning the pressure was on from the start. Since we had practiced in the snow, we were ready right from the start. After the O-line converted to open the game, the D-line converted a couple breaks and magnUM never looked back. Chris Li earned a couple layout D’s early in the game as part of his big weekend. The only blemish to the 6-2 win was that when the O-liners played D-line points, the Mountaineers scored goals.

Clemson

After a bye, magnUM moved to Clemson, who had just finished a tough double-game point loss to Ohio. At this time the snow was quickly getting trampled away, so traction had improved markedly. Not that this helped our pulling over the course of the weekend. Shank left, shank right, and so on. While there were individual exceptions, several of us are not pullers. Anyways, we eased past Clemson without too much adventure.

Ohio

Having just beaten North Carolina, Ohio was pumped and ready to play. Indeed, they went up a couple of breaks early as magnUM struggled to match their energy early. But in due time our legs, skill and drive of the rookies would prevail. Zubin Shetty had a big weekend and will clearly be a high energy player for magnUM for years to come. And through Zubin’s and similar efforts including a stellar deep D by Jason Guan, magnUM got the breaks back and took care of business against Ohio. Jason however should be mocked for managing to get into my van despite the lack of a driver’s license. Fail. I guess it’s some sort of NYC thing, but how can you not have a driver’s license? What a rookie.

North Carolina

Darkside represented a step up in class, and intensity. They play bring a very aggressive mark, something magnUM has struggled with in the past. This team responded nicely. Patiently calling fouls and disc space where they should be called, magnUM managed to effectively move the disc, and the O-line was cruising early. The D-line however, had lost its success from earlier in the day. The step up in competitive class was not answered by better play, and the D-line would not break UNC the entire game. The O-line played brilliantly, and only suffered late breaks while playing ferocious D, particularly so in the case of Pat Collins. But magnUM conceded the pool in the defeat, meaning an earlier start Sunday morning … sort of.

Saturday Night

MagnUM2k9 alumni, we have an important piece of news for you. We finally found a role for Seth that everyone like him as: team mom. As the snow turned to slush and the fields to mud, magnUM was a pile of wet, stinking apparel Saturday evening, more so than usual. Seth, unable to play due to injury, stepped up, raided a Laundromat and made everyone’s evening with fresh, dry clothes. After a scrumptious dinner with Flywheel, magnUM returned to the Hotel.

NC State

A funny thing has happened to magnUM the last couple of years Sunday at Queen City. We haven’t brought the intensity in the first game. Maybe it was the two-hour delay to let the fields train, or the mountains of pulled pork we consumed, or the atypically clean uniforms, but we weren’t ready to play. NC State got the first break, and generally controlled throughout. magnUM rallied, as we often do. But one point seemed to drive home the destiny of the game. Ollie Honderd, playing in the cup, got a piece of a floaty pass, further floating it in the air. He then skied the crowd again but could only hit the disc, then watch as it happened to fall into an opposing player’s arms. With the loss, magnUM fell out of the Championship bracket far earlier than was remotely acceptable.

Georgia Tech

Confidence is a funny thing. Sky high after our 3-0 start to the weekend, magnUM was now way down on itself. En route to our consolation bracket game against Georgia Tech, we huddled and did our best to respond, since the consolation bracket still had quality competition and the chance to get better. Given the chance for a better warmup, the D-line got pumped and ready to play. After the O-line conceded an early break, the D-line got it back on their first try. But confidence is a funny thing. Despite showing flashes of our potential, we could never pull away. The game was not sealed until the waning moments of hard cap when Mike DeRubeis followed nicely on a deep huck to PC for the winning score.
Pitt

magnUM finished play on the weekend with a tightly contested match with Pitt. Pitt’s place in the consolation bracket with us was a tip of the hat to our regional competition. Despite their first overall seed in the tournament, Pitt lost their group to Michigan State. And they were knocked out of the championship bracket by Ohio State. The game was a high quality affair with the intensity normally reserved for the championship bracket. One stellar played not mentioned yet was Carson Mailler, who had an amazing weekend on the O-line and a really sweet monster deep shot in this game. Tom Haynes showed that he’s the best in shape on magnUM with a series of deep cuts for goals in the game, including one from Pat Collins where the Pitt sideline saw PC with the disc and called “not a thrower” before PC ripped a 65 yard backhand bomb. But despite the improvement in play and intensity, magnUM could not respond. The D-line just didn’t have it together when they did get the turnovers, and Pitt ended the weekend on a sour note. To be sure we learned a lot, and in certain places we saw great leaps in cohesiveness. But there is a lot of work to do. magnUM’s next chance to do work is Ultimax on Feb 27-28. The blog will return with a write-up about Centex, March 20-21.

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