February 16, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 5 comments
Carleton CUT, the number two ranked team in the country, didn’t have a stellar showing in pool play, losing each of their three big games: Pittsburgh (13-10), Texas (13-10), and Wisconsin (13-10). But with wins over each of the teams in their pool (Florida State, Maryland, and Georgia), they’re all set to challenge for the championship tomorrow, right?
Nope. Because of an unusual seeding format that sent the team in each pool based on overall Friday and Saturday record into the championship bracket, Carleton’s 4-3 record left them outside looking in. Florida State finished 7-1 — their one loss was to Carleton. However, DUF had a much softer schedule, facing just one top 25 team — Dartmouth (#17) — due to their strangely low seed.
Florida State will face Central Florida, one of the two “wild card” (non-pool winners with the best overall record) teams that made it into the championship bracket, in the quarterfinals. It should be a great early season Southeast regionals preview. The other quarterfinal matches up Pittsburgh and Florida in a rematch of Friday’s surprise upset.
Wisconsin and Texas, the only undefeated and one-loss teams, respectively, await the winners of those two games in the semifinals.
Some team notes:
– Wisconsin continued to show that they are the best team at this tournament — and, right now, the best team in the country. They’ve withstood strong play from Carleton and Pittsburgh to notch wins, and they looked calm and focused in today’s windy conditions. Brian Hart has had an outstanding weekend so far — one Hodag rookie called him the best player in the country. They are without a doubt the team to beat tomorrow.
– Texas, after surviving a very close game against Dartmouth, rattled off two huge wins over Carleton and Central Florida to finish 6-1 in pool play. Although captain Will Driscoll is easily their best player, he doesn’t dominate the disc on offense, instead acting more as a field marshal and directing traffic. The wind today seemed to help their tall, athletic team — their zone was effective.
– Carleton deserves to be not just in the championship bracket, but perhaps even in the finals. They have looked very impressive this weekend, even in their losses. Led by Simon Montague and outstanding play from Nick Stuart, they have shown stretches of brilliance, but also periods of spotty decision making and poor defense. It’s a shame we won’t see them tomorrow against the top teams, but this team will be very strong come May. Rookie Jesse Bolton is a player to watch for.
– Dayton, the small school from Ohio, went 3-0 on the day, with impressive wins over Cornell (13-10) and Georgia Tech (14-13). They rebounded nicely from an 0-4 Friday and will get a game against Carleton tomorrow. If you said you predicted Carleton would be facing Dayton on Sunday at Warm Up, you would be lying.
– Cornell had a rough two days, failing to win a single game. Although they were without a couple of their top offensive players, Cornell has to be disappointed.
