As part of our 2014 Skyd Fundraiser celebrating 3 years of Skyd, we wanted to turn the page back to look at all of the great ultimate work our awesome contributors have put together. The Skyd Staff and contributors will be counting down the days of our fund with their favorite pieces.
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7 Days – Unexpected in Boulder — Minnesota-Duluth
There’s nothing like college ultimate. Being a part of an ultimate team– the practices, parties, car trips, and chumpionship bracket wins– during such formative years is so unique, so irreplaceable that it drives a lot of people away from the game when, a year or two after graduation, they realize they no longer have what they did in undergrad.
Minnesota Duluth’s surprise run to Nationals in 2012 is one of my favorite stories I’ve covered with Skyd because Northern Lights did something that most college teams nationwide only whisper about: after years of building, they got hot and made a run to the promised land. For a lot of players, Nationals remains a far-off possibility, a Happy Gilmore dream (the good kind). When I talked to Jay Drescher a few days after his team had qualified, he was so even keel and matter-of-fact about it. His program had long worked hard with the hand it was dealt, and his team had played well at Regionals. It was never crazy to hope.
“We knew that we just needed one key win,” he said. “Our goal was to play for the fifth place game and put forth full force against a demoralized and tired team.”
While opponents at Nationals rely on dedicated coaches and players that have been throwing since middle school, Duluth will take pride in what it has achieved through years of internal development. “This is the accomplishment of an entire program, not just one season,” said Drescher. “When we qualified, the first people I found and hugged were alumni.”
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