Regionals, part one

Kalamazoo

We just can’t get enough of a good thing. Two weeks after beating them twice at Sectionals, second-seeded magnUM opened bracket play against Kalamazoo. With each game, the results get a little better for magnUM. The Dutch connection (Vandervoort to van Staveren) hooked up for an early break and magnUM controlled throughout. Later in the game Pat Collins, the glory hog that he is, tried to intercept a pass intended for a wide open Brandon Beeler. Beeler’s hands proved steady despite PC’s layout mac bid, and magnUM got another score. Official scoring on the point for PC: 0.5 assists and 0.5 turns. Despite some moments of soft D in the second half, the outcome was never in doubt as magnUM rolled to a 15-7 victory.

Weather

The major story of the weekend was weather. In the final days leading up to the tournament, a major frontal system was forecast to stall in the Ohio river region and drop several inches of rain on many areas, including Bloomington. The decisions to play or not aren’t mine to judge, and the fact is we were planning to play as scheduled. Around 3am Saturday morning a major line of thunderstorms preceded around 3 hours of heavy rain. Under cloudy but dry skies, the first round started as scheduled and the field we played both of our games on held up well. However, several other fields at the complex were damaged by the first round, and much more rain was in the forecast for Saturday night. Before our quarterfinal match word got around that play would be suspended following those games.

Northwestern

Speaking of not getting enough of a good thing, magnUM met Northwestern in the second round, for our fourth meeting since January. Inspired to avenge an upset quarterfinal loss at Huck Finn, magnUM came out pumped. NUT didn’t help their case by choosing to go upwind on offense to start the game. magnUM got the first break, then followed on O to take an early 2-0 lead. After a couple of inspired but ultimately unsuccessful D points, Mike DeRubeis hauled in a huck with a defender right on him for the break that burst the floodgates and magnUM would take half 8-4. NUT broke to start the second half, but magnUM later broke back and controlled the second half throughout. Illinois was watching as we ended the game, and the weekend, 15-10.

Up Next: Great Lakes Regional Semifinals in South Bend, IN

The remainder of the Great Lakes Regionals was postponed 7 days and moved to South Bend, IN due to graduation weekend at IU. In yet another rematch, magnUM will again meet Illinois in the semis. This will be the sixth meeting between the two teams in major spring competition in the last two years. magnUM has wins over Illinois at Huck Finn the last two years and in the regional final in 2008. Illinois won a rematch at Nationals in 2008 and in the regional semis last year. The winner of our game will play the winner of the game between top-seeded Michigan State and Indiana for the regional title, while the loser has the difficult backdoor road to try and make nationals. Come out to South Bend this weekend and follow us. If you can’t make it, follow us at score reporter and our twitter feed.