Frisbee Team wins 7 for 7 at Rutgers Tournament
Posted: 10/21/2010
Tourney at Rutgers
This past weekend, the Lehigh University Men’s Ultimate Team went undefeated, winning seven games and securing first place at the Rutgers Thales “Palace” Nazario Memorial Tournament. Battling harsh winds with gusts up to forty miles per hour, Lehigh’s efficient offensive line and aggressive defensive line helped to tackle many tough opponents from surrounding schools in the Northeast area. The fourteen teams in the tournament were divided into two pools of seven. Each school played the six other teams in their respective pools – four games on Saturday, and two on Sunday – followed by a crossover for final rankings.
Seeded second, Lehigh’s first opponent was the third-seeded Rutgers-Y. Methodical, rhythmic offensive movement was coupled with strong effort from the defensive line, leading to a 15-8 win. Though Lehigh’s defensive line initially struggled to achieve a break point against their next opponent, Princeton, once the score opened up in the second half, the team was able to secure a 13-8 win. Both the offensive and defensive lines truly came to form against Georgetown-X, with a final streak of six break points resulting in a 15-6 win. Lehigh again exploited a break on the defensive line to close out the day with a 14-9 win against Temple.
Lehigh was able to utilize the strong winds to their advantage – ensuring a score on downwind points. In fact, throughout the weekend Lehigh only allowed for five break points from their opponents. Though the winds were substantially weaker on Sunday, Lehigh’s same strategy ensured a strong 15-6 win against East Stroudsburg. The final game of the pool versus Columbia University proved to be the toughest of the weekend. Following the hard-cap, the game was tied 9-9 with the game to 10. Captain Greg ‘Grover’ Stolowski secured the win with a huge catch off of a huck to the endzone.
The final game of the weekend was a crossover between the two pool winners – Lehigh and Columbia – for first place. The same successes that Lehigh felt throughout the previous six games came to full fruition. Though the two teams were matched up at halftime with a score of 8-7, Lehigh tore away to secure a 15-9 win and first place. Highlights from the weekend include precision deep cuts from Guido ‘Julius’ Bartolacci, impressive horizontal layouts from Mike ‘Guyco’ O’Brien and deep vertical leaps from Ian ‘Phil Phister’ Hutton. On defense, Andrew ‘Stape’ Lucibello and freshman rookie Andrew ‘Diezul’ Hannah were key players in forcing turnovers. With a squad of eighteen, Lehigh Ultimate as well as Lehigh's B team and Girls team, will travel to Pittsburgh this upcoming weekend for the Big East tournament at the University of Pittsburgh.