The University men’s Ultimate Frisbee club swept a tough Northwest regional tournament April 29-30 in Vancouver, British Columbia, to capture a berth in the 2006 Ultimate Players Association College Championships, held May 26-28 in Columbus, Ohio.
The Ducks earned a No. 4 seed in the 16-team tournament, giving them one of the easiest paths to advance past the preliminary stages.
Sixteen squads qualified for the Northwest regional, but the competition soon condensed into three teams fighting for two spots. Stanford, home team University of British Columbia and Oregon, ranked fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, by the National Ultimate Media Panel, all easily dealt with pool play, setting up matches with each other. Oregon and British Columbia faced off in the semifinals just as the weather in Vancouver changed for the better.
“It was really rainy, coming down sideways and cold, but the sun came out for UBC,” team coordinator Dusty Becker said.
The Ducks jumped out to a quick 3-0 advantage, a big lead in the first-to-15 match.
“I don’t think they ever recovered; it put them on their heels,” team co-captain David Berney-Needleman said.
Oregon never trailed in the match and it pulled away to a 15-11 victory.
“We did a really good job of keeping our focus,” Berney-Needleman said. “We pretty much outran them.”
Thanks to its win over Western Washington in the other semifinal, Stanford lined up in the championship game against the Ducks. Despite the fact that the Northwest had two bids to the national tournament, the match was not just for seeding purposes. While the winner would become the No. 1 seed from the region, the loser would have to play in a match against a team from the consolation bracket to earn the second spot. In its only previous meeting this season, in Palo Alto, Calif., on March 4, the Cardinal defeated Oregon by a shortened 10-7 score.
The rematch was another tight affair that saw Stanford gain an early lead.
“We gave up the break, but then took a deep breath,” Berney-Needleman said. “We’ve got a pretty young team and were a little nervous.”
The two sides went back and forth until the Ducks scored the final two points of the first half for an 8-7 lead. Oregon carried that momentum into the second half, building a 12-8 advantage before Stanford rested some of its better players for the next match that now awaited them. The Ducks took the match 15-10 and the No. 1 seed from the Northwest region.
“We feel good about showing our critics,” Berney-Needleman said.
Oregon will have another opportunity to showcase its skills at the College Championships in Columbus next week. The 16-team field initally will be divided into four pools of four teams that will play each other in a round-robin format. By virtue of their No. 4 overall seed, the Ducks are the top-seeded team in Pool D. Oregon’s pool also includes Brown, UC San Diego and Georgia. The Ducks and the Georgia Bulldogs split their two earlier encounters this season.
“In the first match they were further along than we were,” Berney-Needleman said. “In the second, we were out for revenge. They have a few great players, but we’re deeper and more consistent.”
Only four teams are eliminated after group play, but the pool winners receive an automatic place in the quarterfinals. Looming on Oregon’s horizon is No. 1 Florida, the team the Ducks will meet in the semifinals if both squads hold up through pool play.
“We’ve been working hard since the first day in the fall,” Becker said. “Our goal is to win the tournament.”