The Colorado College Men’s Club Ultimate Team breezed through the sectionals round of national competition last block after hosting their first-ever sectionals tournament in club history.
On April 14, the team, known as Wasabi, rolled to a 3-1 finish and easily secured second place in their region for the third straight year.
CC began play on Sunday morning against Colorado State University (Hibida), and won handily. After an hour-long break, CC secured two more comfortable victories against University of Colorado Boulder’s B team (Cockfight) and Northern Colorado.
These three wins secured CC a place at Regionals, but left one last game against CU Boulder (Mama Bird) with first place in the Section on the line.
CU Boulder was ranked 10 in the nation coming into the weekend and CC was ranked 43, but that didn’t stop CC from giving Boulder a 15-12 game that looked like it could go either way right until the end.
At one point the score was 11-12 with the Buffs in the lead, CC had possession, and it looked like CC might just tie things up, but Boulder pulled away at the crucial moment to win the game.
It was disappointing for CC not to close out the upset, but playing one of the best teams in the nation bodes very well for their Regionals tournament in Kansas City this weekend.
To secure a bid to the College Open Ultimate Tournament in Madison this summer, CC will have to finish either first or second in their region. In all likelihood, this means beating either University of Texas (Tuff), which is ranked sixth at the moment, or Boulder in a rematch.
The road to Nationals won’t be easy, but CC always knew that they would probably have to take one of these two Ultimate powerhouses out to earn a trip to Milwaukee.
“We’re already looking ahead to regionals,” junior Gavin Nachbar said. “We wanted to put ourselves in a position where we could fight for a spot at Nationals, and we feel like we did that.”
If Colorado College finishes either first or second in Kansas City, then they will earn a bid to Nationals for only the second time in the club’s history.
The last time CC went to Nationals was two years ago. While Wasabi is undoubtedly an underdog, an increase in notoriety in skill in recent years leaves the potential of a national run within the realm of possibilities.
Editor’s Note: Nick Brown is a member of the Wasabi Ultimate team.
Nick Brown
Guest Writer