The city of San Diego boasts a world-famous zoo, spectacular beaches and one of the pre-eminent tournaments in collegiate ultimate frisbee. Although pandas and sand are treats for the casual tourist, the Northwestern ultimate frisbee team had no trouble focusing squarely on the President’s Day tournament, hosted by California-San Diego.
A three-day gathering of 30 elite teams from across the United States and Canada, the President’s Day tournament provided tough competition for cold-weather schools like NU. While most teams in attendance hailed from the West Coast and had the luxury of practicing outside year-round, their Midwestern counterparts faced snowdrifts and sub-zero wind chills, forcing them indoors for most of the winter.
“It’s a real advantage, those guys play outside all the time,” said club co-president Dave Cesa. “I’d say we finished in the middle of the pack though.”
Due to its grueling schedule of 11 matches in three days, the NU team had little time to enjoy the weather, which reminded players of the meaning of the word “summer.” The pinnacle of relaxation came on a half-hour trip to the local beach, but even that brief interlude was rushed.
“We also had dinner in little Italy, but besides that we all just crashed at the end of the day, ” Cesa said. “We were all just tired.”
NU finished the weekend at 4-7.
THE ULTIMATE HIGLIGHT: The men’s ultimate team didn’t make the trip out west all by itself. Unlike their male counterparts, who had to splurge for a hotel, members of the women’s squad enjoyed free housing courtesy of students from the host school.
“We basically slept on their floor,” club co-president Melinda Kutzing said. “But it cost us nothing.”
The women viewed the President’s Day tournament as a successful tune-up for the offical meets, where they can qualify for the national tournament in May. Although the team won only a couple of matches over the weekend, just staying competitive with some of the continent’s top teams at this juncture of the season was a plus.
At this very tournament last year, the NU women lost to the University of British Columbia, traditionally an ultimate frisbee power, by a score of 15-1. This year, the two teams met again in a much closer contest, with British Columbia prevailing 13-9. In Kutzing’s opinion, the result can be attributed to NU’s improvement rather than the other teams’ regression.
Making the showing an even greater success, NU played the entire weekend without co-president Beth Lopour, who said she began feeling “terrible” with an illness just days before the tournament. Unable to travel, Lopour reluctantly stayed home.
“She got pneumonia, that really sucked,” Kutzing said.
Besides missing the matches, Lopour also lost out on an afternoon of sunbathing at Mission Beach, a positive consequence of the club’s early loss on the tournament’s final day.
MADNESS IN MADTOWN: As if spending Mardi Gras in Madison, Wis., wasn’t cause enough for celebration, the NU men’s and women’s club tennis teams joined forces to capture third place out of 11 teams at a tournament last weekend hosted by Wisconsin. The Wildcats faced five other squads in a round-robin format en route to defeating Miami (Ohio) in a head-to-head matchup for the bronze.
Only powerful Michigan kept NU from taking the tourney, with the maize and blue Wolverines fielding the top two teams. Players faced off in traditional doubles and singles, as well as mixed doubles, all of which counted toward each squad’s overall record.
The men’s doubles team of Marc Valdez and Mike Liang dropped one set in the tournament.
Although the players’ busy schedule of matches precluded some of the more well-known activities often associated with Madison, such as bar-hopping on State Street, the team managed to attend some off-campus parties that, players said, nicely captured the local flavor. The near-victory plus the festive atmosphere equaled a pleasant van ride home for the players, most of whom were freshmen.
