Void of UPenn took a short three-hour drive down to Poolsville, MD (near Washington, DC) this weekend for a 40-team tournament.
We were placed in a power pool (there were 2 power pools) as the 5th seed, meaning we were seeded 9th overall. Luke's North Park, being 1 seed of the second non-power pool, were then 11th overall coming in.
Our first game on Saturday was against Wesleyan, seeded fourth in our pool and a huge question mark. We had no clue what they were about. As it was, Void overcame some sloppy end zone offense and spotty defense to pull out a victory, 12-9. Wesleyan ended up 0-8 for the weekend. During our second-round bye, I went over to watch North Park face Northwestern in a cross-town battle. Incidentally, one of our best players is a grad student who played at Northwestern, so he was on the opposing sideline watching as well. Anyways, Luke is a tool. Just kidding. He played pretty well.
Our second game of the day pitted Void against MetroEast powerhouse and nationals contender, Pittsburgh. Pitt was coming off a successful weekend at Centex where they had taken down the great Wisconsin Hodags. In their first game of the day they had beaten Maryland in a close encounter, and their second game against Void would prove to be no different. Void took an early 3-1 lead with flow-offense and a strong dump-defense, but Pitt went on a 4-0 run using poor spirit, bullshit calls, and deep looks. While on the sideline I distinctly remember a Pitt player mentioning, "we're not losing to some nerd school". Pitt would take half 7-6 and would stretch the lead to 10-6, leading to a Void timeout.
Void would regroup and come out strong, cutting the Pitt lead to 10-7, then 10-8, 10-9, and eventually 10-10, an unlikely combination of two break points and two downwind points in which Void capitalized on Pitt turnovers. Pitt and Penn would trade points, eventually reaching 12-11 Pitt, game point. Void would score downwind, setting up double-game point, and med student Tim Gaulton's upwind forehand huck to a wide-open Birdo (not me - our captain actually has that nickname) in the end-zone. A mosh-pit would ensue. It would be Pitt's only loss of the weekend.
The next game would have Void facing Leadbelly of Ohio St. A letdown was inevitable, and Tim re-aggravated his hamstring while Void took a 13-10 loss. In the following round, an exhausted Void couldn't keep up with regional contender Maryland in a 12-8 loss. This would see Penn end up as fourth in their pool, setting up a pre-quarters matchup with another regional opponent, Cornell.
Sunday - Came out flat early on and traded points (breaks) with a good Cornell team, until Void took half 8-6 on a break. Void would eventually take the game 11-8, setting up another inter-Ivy-League matchup with Red Line with Harvard.
Harvard had thrashed Western Washington on Saturday as the 1 seed in the other power pool, and was seen by most as the top team in the Northeast region. A disappointing performance at Centex had been forgotten with a 4-0 record on Saturday, and a thorough pounding of George Washington in pre-quarters. Now they faced a pumped-up Void that aimed for yet another upset...
A few things about that game. Harvard had a med student playing, and he was really good... he wore glasses, scrubs, and a strip of cloth like some football wide receivers like to do, but he was good nonetheless. He was intimidating. Also, George Stubbs was roaming the sidelines, but I didn't know it was him until like, just now.
All I can say is, Red Line was impressive, but they were mostly unable to stop Void's flow offense, which relied on very solid handler play. Soft cap sounded with Void and Red Line tied at 8, and Void would score deep. Game to 11. After Void set up 10-9 game point, Harvard would come back and score, setting up universe. And yet another upwind huck to Birdo, from Grant, would propel Penn to semis, with another quality win.
Semis saw Void face Ohio St. for the third time of the season, and Void controlled much of the game until 11-8, when Leadbelly went on a run. They would eventually take a tight game, 15-13, and promptly get trashed by Pitt in the finals.
All in all, Void would have an impressive weekend, positioning them for a 2 or 3 seed at regionals, and a great shot at making nationals. Penn Void has now notched wins against Michigan, Pittsburgh, and Harvard - three teams widely regarded as the cream of the crop of their respective regions. As an added bonus, Michigan and Pittsburgh both have beaten the Hodags.
Another thing. It seems like teams like Harvard and Pitt are really good when I watch them play other teams, but when they play us it seems like they suck. I can't figure out why.
Boulder is not as far away as I thought.
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11 comments:
Yeah Jay, good job! Way to represent!!! I know you did all the work. Heee heee!
Yeah you're totally going to make natties. Here's what sucks, though:
Overall ranking & RRI:
28) 2507 Whitman
36) 2489 Pennsylvania
Regional ranking & RRI:
8) 2507 Whitman
2) 2489 Pennsylvania
We would be 4th or better in every region except for Atlantic Coast, in which we would be 6th. Blast. Still, it seems like the top 2 teams in the NW might actually be weaker than the top 2 teams in most other regions, based on Centex. Although I expect the Stanford and UBC that were at the stanford invite to show back up. Oregon's in big trouble, though. They've finished well below their seed at every tournament they've gone to. (After all this I'm going to laugh when we go to nationals and you don't. Ha. [I'm laughing already, actually.])
Congrats man. Good luck with the end of the semester and with the series!
Hehehe, the joys of Metro East. The NW is just really deep talent-wise. The state of Washington alone has three teams that would vie for the second spot to go if they were in the ME (UW, Dirt, Whitman). And yeah, Atlantic Coast is deep too.
I don't think Oregon has a chance at making nationals with their recent showing. Skymonster's not pulling his weight (or his team's, for that matter).
Also, even though we beat them in an upset, Harvard is def overrated. I think Dartmouth and Tufts will go to natties from NE.
And thanks!
Yeah I agree. Dartmouth and Harvard gave us our two worst losses and they were about the same margin, but we made a lot more mistakes against Harvard. It just didn't seem like there was all that much we could do against dartmouth, and that wasn't the case at all with Harvard. Plus, we had been at the vegas party the night before, and I think many of us weren't feeling so well for that first game on Sunday (when we played red line).
The thing about Oregon is that they lose to almost everyone *very* close. Out of 13 losses, the only ones by more than 2 points were:
Wisconsin: 7-13
Illinois: 9-13
NC State: 8-13
They have also beaten such teams as UBC, Carleton, Colorado, and Texas, all of which have a good shot at nationals.
I also think Carleton's prospects are just about as bad as Oregon's. Mostly because they have Wisconsin and Minnesota to compete with (#1 and #6) instead of UBC and Stanford (#11 and #19). Although this is probably offset by the fact that beyond the top 3 teams, the northwest dominates the central region with 6 more teams in front of the next in the central (which has a record of only 5-2).
Also, I would like to mention that one ultimate blog dubbed us the 'Davidson of College Ultimate'.
While we're discussing which very good teams will miss out on nationals, I'd like to point out that UCSB is struggling just like Oregon, and there's a good chance they will miss out as well(with Colorado and Arizona advancing from SW, and with UCSD and Claremont to compete with as well).
And yeah, we were neck-and-neck with Harvard the whole game, and actually in control of it towards the end. Not the case with our game against Pitt, in which Pitt had control for much of the game. A big difference in playing level between Pitt and Harvard, it seemed. But who knows, maybe Stubbs will make a difference once he comes back.
That is not to say that Pitt looked great. They made their share of mistakes in our game against them, and in the finals, with the chance to close the deal against Ohio St., they turned it over 5 or 6 times just on one point.
There was a new article on MSSUI on bids per region, with a focus on the Metro East - you should check it out. I honestly believe that the Metro East's top teams aren't too far off from New England's best.
Yeah UCSB has looked really bad since stanford. We beat them at Stanford while missing 3 important players, including one of our captains. But I that's not as much of a turnaround because they haven't been as dominant in their region as Oregon and Carleton.
I read the article, and I'm wondering about this line toward the end:
"The afore mentioned favorites for the ME’s two bids to Boulder, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, have a losing record against only one of the other seven Regions, when compared to the 16 top ranked teams from each Region, according to the latest UPA Rankings."
Are they really taking the record of the top 4 teams from the metro east vs. the top 16 teams from other regions? Obviously that favors the ME because you're taking the very best of the ME against mostly middle-tier teams from other regions. I'd bet money that every region ever has had an overall winning record vs other regions if you compare its top 4 teams to other regions' top 16. I don't understand why that's supposed to be a compelling argument.
Other than that, though, it's a good article.
You're right, that's not a good argument. Maybe the author is making the point that the top teams in the Metro East would be compared by most to only middle-tier teams from other regions. I really don't know.
In any case, we have sectionals this weekend!
so much jargon!
that's all. :-) oh and to say this: good job birdo. the real birdo. woot. the real birdo piginny killed in the last story of us superheros.
You really need to shed that inferiority complex, Ginny.
good luck this weekend at sectionals. we have ours as well and have a chance to make a statement we belong in the upper tier if we can A) keep our seed in the D pool, B) take out Nortre Dame on sunday morning, and then C) pull off a sweet game against Illinois...
I believe we are just now starting to peak and have a great chance at doing better than anyone ever imagined.
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