March 23, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in Recap with 1 comments
Follow all the action at Easterns on our dedicated tournament page.
WILMINGTON — #13 Florida State looked poised to rebound nicely against Colorado after their heartbreaker loss to UNC-Wilmington (they lost on universe despite an epic comeback in the second half).
With two quick breaks out of halftime, they jumped out to a three point lead against Mamabird and weren’t having any trouble beating Colorado’s defense led by Jimmy Mickle.
The teams traded points to 14-12, and it looked like FSU would head into their game against Pittsburgh with a chance to win the pool. But an FSU turnover gave Colorado a chance to get back into the game. A big huck to a skying Mickle got Mamabird within one.
FSU’s offense started to look a little shaky, rattled by giving up the break. They turned it over again, Colorado made quick work of the mistake and punched it in to tie it up.
Florida State had a good offensive point, hitting an open deep shot to go up one. After Colorado tied it up again on offense, FSU gave up another break before tying it up at 16s. They would pull to Colorado on universe.
Mamabird moved quickly down the field and called a timeout just 15 yards out. After the break, just a handful of throws to the open side got them the 17-16 win.
Florida State has now lost five of their six games this season on universe point, including both of their games today at Easterns.
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Pittsburgh used a strong offense to get past tournament hosts UNC-Wilmington 15-11.
Playing without Alex Thorne (hamstring), Pitt’s offense didn’t get broken in the second half as they rode a slim lead out for the win.
UNC-W led the game at 6-5 in the first half before conceding two straight breaks. Pitt would not relinquish that lead.
Tyler Degirolamo was, as usual, unstoppable on offense.
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Unlike all the other pools, they have still been no upsets in the somewhat lopsided Pool D. Wisconsin and North Carolina each dominated their second round matchups.
The Hodags took down Dartmouth 15-10 and North Carolina blew past Stanford 15-8. In their wins, UNC has allowed their opponents to score in the double digits only four times this season. They have just two losses: 14-13 to #4 Pittsburgh and 13-8 to #11 Colorado.
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#2 Carleton seems to be getting back on track after a shaky morning with a strong 15-8 win over #5 Tufts. The E-Men just haven’t looked like the same team they did at Stanford: they’ve been uncharacteristically loose with the disc on offense and their defense hasn’t looked as sharp.
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Although #10 Central Florida had already won their pool, their whole mindset today has been: “not enough.” It’s not enough to win one game, it’s not enough to win by a handful — they want to dominate.
In the first two rounds, they did. But they had a breakdown against #15 Ohio, who came back from a two break deficit with a four point run in the first half and never trailed again. After taking half 8-6, they finished with a 14-10 victory, adding a silver lining to missing the championship bracket.
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At the stadium, Oregon beat Brown 14-9 and Minnesota beat Florida 15-12.
