Colorado College v. Michigan – Quarter Final

Photo by Andrew Davis

After upseting a plethora of top talent in pool play, Colorado College Lysistrata’s Tools was all about energy as the first quarterfinal of the weekend set to begin. The 2011 underdog had the pull and faced off against the nationals veteran Michigan Flywheel. The team to advance to semis would soon be decided. Michigan began moving the disc down the fields until senior Claire Jencks of Colorado College was able to get a beautiful D for an attempt for CC (Colorado College) to earn the first break of the game. But it was only a minor setback for Becky Malinowski and the rest of Flywheel who soon put in the first point. Michigan 1-0. Michigan proceeded to jump out to an early lead with and break after break saw Michigan go up 5-1. Sophia Herscu of CC had played great all game and helped her team stop Michigan’s roll with a connection to Lisi Lohre to make it 6-2 Michigan. Michigan was quickly able to capitalize on a Strata mistake and take half 8-3.

Each team was playing their own game, but Michigan was well rounded and made use of the few Colorado College errors. Another key factor that was giving Michigan the edge was Becky Malinowski who played every point and racked up a slew of assists.

Photo by Andrew Davis

After half, Colorado College put in another well-executed point from a great huck by Hannah Sohl to Claire McKeever. 9-5 Michigan. Flywheel’s Paula Seville is able to answer right back with a smooth pass to senior Becky Malinowski to make Michigan up 5 at 11-6. With soft cap in place, the game was to 13. After a Colorado College score, Michigan was in position to win the game and advance to the semis. But Colorado College was not done yet, with help from Nikki Kaufman, CC was able to score 4 points in a row, putting them only down one. It appeared as if the new team on the national scene was about to pull off a huge upset. Michigan’s captains Paula Seville and Anna Maria Paruk got their team rallied for one more point, and were able to put in the final point allowing them a pass to the semifinals. Michigan wins 12-10.

Each team played with a lot of intensity, especially Colorado college in the end who were able to earn 4 breaks in the end giving the young team much deserved validation to their ticket to Boulder. Michigan would then advance to the semis to play against Oregon’s Fugue and advance to the finals.

Photo by Andrew Davis