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– Pool D was the death of Claremont’s bid to repeat. Their play was missing one thing – fundamentals, and after a few mistakes they couldn’t bring themselves back into games. Tommy Li still made amazing grabs, but when he too is uncharacteristically throwing away break chances or dropping wide open in-cuts, the Braineaters didn’t stand much of a chance.
– The seedings were a mess. Not much can be done there though until we get more tournaments that cater to D-3 teams. The more tournaments like that, the more head-to-head and similar results will develop between teams from New England and teams from the West Coast.
– My predictions were horribly wrong. RPI, who at Metro East D3 Regionals played so well in the wind, seemed to have trouble adjusting to that – and their opponents – all day long today. Picking them had me completely overlooking Carleton, which I’ll get more to later. My pick to win it all, Kenyon, relied too much on a few players – especially main handler Jordan Rhyne who rarely took a point off – and it cost them. Rumor had it there were also missing some seniors due to graduation, but not all. Regardless, they weren’t able to secure a spot in tomorrow’s quarters. Claremont obviously won’t be making it to the finals either.
– New predictions: Carleton College-GOP against Rice. GOP was crazy good today, especially #7 Rhys Lindmark. They were extremely efficient and patient with the disc, and the energy on their sideline was unmatched all day. They showed no signs of slowing down today, and St. Johns will be a challenge to start the day. BAM didn’t play like the #1 seed, until their ridiculous comeback win against Bowdoin. Down 12-7, with hard-cap ending the game at 13, St. John’s broke and broke again, playing calmer ultimate even with an entire sideline cheering against them. Rice too showed no signs of cooling down from their recent hot streak, which started at regionals. I didn’t watch too much of their game, until their universe win over St. John’s, but in that one game I saw a team that is still out to prove they belong here.
– Speaking of St. Johns, they and Georgia College & State, definitely felt the effects of being in Pool A when playing in pre-quarters. They got to start the day with a first round bye, but had played back-to-back-to-back games entering pre-quarters. To make matters worse, they both played teams from Pool D who had just come off of a bye themselves. In both of their games, cramps and other injuries seemed to be called much more than a usual game – especially for St. Johns.
– It’s very unfortunate that the North Central region teams, and North Park, are in the same side of the bracket. Watching them play today, I was hoping they’d all meet up in semi-finals.
Feature photo by Brandon Wu (UltiPhotos.com)
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