Notes from a Saturday that made it clear the gap between the top of the field and the bottom of the field is way narrower than we all realized.
February 16, 2025 by Emmet Holton in Recap
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Though weather-induced field site changes necessitated clipped pools and a few awkward scheduling quirks, Saturday of Presidents’ Day Invite offered a number of new insights into the competition. There was one major takeaway from the action:
The Pres Day Field Is Wide Open!
Sure, #1 Oregon Ego, #3 Colorado Mamabird, #5 Cal Poly SLO SLOCORE came out of the day undefeated and earned themselves top placement in Sunday’s reshuffled pools. But, well, so did UC Santa Cruz Slugs. Let me scan that power rankings spreadsheet again… surely they can’t… Ah, yes, that’s right. The unranked Slugs are right there with the heavy hitters. Make it make sense.
Oh, wait. That’s my job. Very well, then. Read on.
Ego Versus Id
Let’s start with the first overall seed, #1 Oregon Ego. With all the early season hype in the world, and a tournament already under their belts, pool play games against UC Santa Barbara Black Tide and #21 Northeastern Huskies should have been a cakewalk. Instead, cracks in this Ego team became evident almost immediately. In their opener against Black Tide, the defense did enough to give themselves plenty of break chances, but struggled under even the lightest pressure to string together consecutive passes. Luckily, the sheer volume of turns they generated meant efficiency was not of particular importance, as the final score of 11-6 undersells how hapless the Black Tide offense often looked against a hungry pack of Ego defenders. But for a team with season goals focused on Sunday and Monday of Nationals, the defense must be able to score more efficiently on the infinitely less difficult Saturday of Pres Day. Even winning by five, the final point was a microcosm of the Ego experience, as a reset on Oregon’s own goal line tumbled through the hands of Aaron Kaplan, giving UC Santa Barbara their lone break, and the final goal of the hard-capped game.
The offensive woes picked up as before in their second pool play game against a highly competent Northeastern team.
Presidents’ Day Invite 2025: Tough Sledding at the Top on Day One (Men’s Div.) is only available to Ultiworld Subscribers
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