USAU College Championships

Making it to Nationals was a huge accomplishment for the Gee Gees this year. We were excited to go to Boulder Colorado, and were entering the tournament seeded 10th.

Day 1

Our first day of play was Friday, where we matched up against seeds 4 and 5 of Pool B (we were B3), Carleton College and Florida State, respectively.

We had a late start, which was much appreciated after our late night arrivals on Thursday night. Our first game against Carleton started off strong, even after coming off a tiring warm up in the morning - remember, altitude does that to ya! Our Carleton game began strong, with the team running hard and taking it to our opponents. We rolled through their zone, and scored some easy points man-to-man as well, taking half 8-3. Our second half was not as fortunate. Whether it was mental weakness or physical tiredness, we let Carleton come back into the game. It finished at soft cap with a score of 14-11 Ottawa. While they were able to come back with several breaks in the second half, we knew that we could not be a single-half team anymore. Our next game was against Florida, a team that we had battled with in San Diego several months earlier who would be out for a much-desired win.

With a pep talk from Coach Ken, our team was ready for battle again. We re-focused and knew that we must work as a team and not individuals in order to get our game-flow and keep it for the entire game. Florida was athletic, and it was a well-fought game throughout the entirety. There were big plays made from both teams, although Ottawa's offensive flow really would not be matched this game. A final score of 15-9 Ottawa secured our second win of the day - we celebrated that evening with Applebees and cake!

Day 2

Our first game on Saturday was against Oregon - our last encounter with Oregon had been at the 2009 UPA college championships when we lost to them in the quarter finals of Nationals that year. We knew that Oregon boasted a team of athletes, who prided themselves on being able to capitalize with their athleticism rather than their value of the disc. The game was indeed a run-and-gun style from Oregon, who transitioned with quick lateral's or give-and-go's to key players (often Julia Sherwood #18 and Bailey Zahniser #4) who would huck it deep for a receiver. However, our defense and offense were a tight match for Oregon in the first half of the game, with points being traded and Oregon taking half at 8-7. The rotation from both teams was tight. The second half of the game was not as close, with Oregon going up a couple breaks after half, and maintaining the lead until the soft cap horn went off.  Oregon ended up winning the game 14-10 over the Gee-Gees, but we certainly exhausted their top end.

The Gee-Gees second match up of the day was against UNC Pleiadies, a team which we had an 0-2 record with. Going into the game we were prepared for long bombs from UNC's Leila Tunnell, and have athletic receivers in the lanes and on defense. Our plan was simple: to run our zone offense system and break through their zone defense for the easy scores. However, not everything turns out the way you plan it. Our offense was not at all according to what we had practiced all spring - our handles were tight and we had trouble breaking through their 4-man cup, and our receivers were not on the ball (we had more than enough turnovers from drops and throwaways). When we broke through the defense and worked it down to the endzone, we could not execute and our turnover resulted in easy huck points for UNC. UNC took half 8-3, and the Gee Gees decided to play it out and rest for our pre-quarters game later in the day. The second half looked much prettier, with the new lines working beautifully through the cup and often right to the endzone. The Gee Gees only scored 2 more points in the second half though, giving UNC a huge 15-5 victory over us.

What we thought was leading us to a pre-quarters game against UNC-Wilmington, actually ended up being our team's downfall. Losing both of our games on Day 2, and with Carleton upsetting Oregon in pool play that same day, put us in a 3-way tie with UNC and Carleton College. A point differential would determine which 2 teams would move to pre-quarters and which would be left behind. UNC +2, Carleton College -1, uOttawa Gee Gees - 6. Our team sadly did not make our expected pre-quarters, and instead we were done for the day and would play for the 13th place tie on Sunday's Day 3. It was a big disappointment for all, but the lesson the whole team learned was that every point counts - winning a game sometimes isn't enough.


Day 3


Sunday rolled in, and we rolled to the fields, catching a glimpse at what may have been our quarter-finals game before we cleated up and started our warm up.

First game: we played against Virginia Hydra, a team that we had never played before. We did not know their style of offense, or their defenses. We started on defense, and Virginia scored an easy offensive point. A little shocked, the Gee Gees roared back, determined not to let Hydra run away with the game off the bat. We scored, and then again, and then some more, taking half at 8-2 and rotating lines all the way through. Continuing with mixed lines in the second half, Hydra scored only one more point, with Ottawa winning the game 15-3. The Gee Gees would move on to play for T-13.

Second game: Tufts. We had seen them before at Keystone Classic in early April, but that was over 6 weeks earlier and a team can change drastically in that time (we did!). Nothing was unexpected, and nothing would be given up. Still rolling lines, the Gee Gees played great against Tufts, contesting the deeps that were going up and really focusing on no-open-side unders as well. The Gee Gees took half at 8-3, and finished the game strong (still with every player playing almost equally!) with a score of 15-8.

While disappointed that we didn't finish in the top-8, as was our goal, the team really came together and ran hard and played well as a team on Sunday - winning games using every single player on your bench sometimes can be a better feeling than ranking high.

A great weekend, a great tournament, and the Gee Gees can't wait for next years USAU College Series! Now, instead of having 5 players who have played at College Championships we have 19.
Giddy up Gee's! We'll be back!