November 12, 2012 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 2 comments
This marked the first weekend of somewhat meaningful college play, as spring contenders faced off for the first time with rookies in tow. Here’s a look at what happened.
Missouri Loves Company — Columbia, Missouri
Reigning National champion Pittsburgh didn’t make it through undefeated, but they did walk away with a tournament victory in an 11-7 victory over Colorado in a very rainy and windy game. Both of the semifinals were forfeited, as Texas and Carleton left because of the ugly weather.
Pitt lost to a surprising Texas A&M, who were put on the map at the Club Championships thanks to the stellar play of rookie Dalton Smith, last year’s Freshman of the Year in the South Central region. Texas A&M came in seeded fourth in their pool and walked out undefeated, which included a win over a strong Luther team. A&M lost to Texas 11-7 in the quarterfinals.
Another surprise: Arizona, who beat Colorado and Carleton from the four seed of their pool, before falling in prequarters 10-9 to Illinois.
It’s hard to read much into the Sunday results because of the weather. It really was awful, with pouring rain and high winds. But the top teams made it to quarters and got an early test of their mettle.
Fall Easterns — Wilmington, NC
Some of the top Mid-Atlantic and Metro East teams faced off at ‘Feasterns.’ Last year’s tournament winners — and the 2012 Nationals qualifier out of the Mid-Atlantic — North Carolina came out strong looking to defend their title. They cruised through pool play and first faced a challenge in semifinals, where they took down Penn State 15-13. They faced rivals UNC-Wilmington in the finals and eked out a 15-13 win.
SUNY-Buffalo played well, breaking seed in their pool and then grabbing a universe point win over Regional rival Connecticut in prequarters. Both teams are hungry to unseat Cornell as the reigning Metro East champions and take their spot at Nationals.
William & Mary was the tournament’s biggest surprise, notching wins over Maryland and Georgetown after coming in as the second-to-last seed. They lost to North Carolina 15-8 in the quarters and went on to take 7th place.
Classic City Classic — Athens, GA
Open
This was the big Southern tournament this weekend, featuring powerhouse teams Central Florida, Georgia Tech, and Florida. But none of those teams would walk away with the tournament title. Florida State, who had their season ended last year by Georgia Tech at Regionals, went undefeated, including victories over UCF (15-9 in the semis) and Dartmouth (13-9 in pool play, 15-13 in the finals).
Georgia Tech barely missed finals after a universe point loss to Dartmouth.
Florida didn’t have a great weekend, winning just two games. They almost took down UCF in quarters, but lost 15-13.
Women’s
Georgia flew past their seventh seed to win the women’s division at CCC with a hard-fought 14-13 victory over Texas in the finals. Georgia went undefeated on their way to the title.
Top-seeded Michigan, who tied for third at Nationals last year, went down in quarters to Florida State, the 10 seed and the surprise of the tournament.
Of the five 2011 Nationals qualifiers at CCC, just one made it to the semifinals — Texas. Two seed North Carolina had the earliest exit, busting out in prequarters.
