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Mark Johnston

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Men's Ultimate Travels to Ohio for the National Championships

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

For the first time since 2006, the UC San Diego men’s Ultimate team traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the college nationals tournament. Of the 20 teams in attendance, the Air Squids were seeded 16th.

On Day 1, the Squids faced Stanford and Michigan. Stanford ran a fast moving offense led by a veteran group of handlers. The Squids came out firing and scored with great throws to Josh Nickerson. After trading points for most of the first half, Stanford was able to put in a couple of defensive breaks, and went up 8-5. The Squids were able to trade points for the rest of the game, but defensive breaks were hard to get and Stanford held on to win 15-12. The second game of the day against Michigan was another hard fought battle. Michigan ran a good man defense that broke the Squids’ offense several times. Great plays from Alec Miller kept the game close, but Michigan came out on top 15-10.

Day 2 was another tough one for UCSD. Against Minnesota, the Squids were able to take the half by a point 8-7. Going into the final seconds of the Minnesota game, the Squids were tied 13-13, and received the disc. They worked it up half the field and then threw up a huck to Josh Nickerson that fell slightly short. Minnesota was able to pick it up and score the final point of the game to win 14-13. The next game was against Virginia, the top seed in the pool. Virginia played tough defense and were able to break the Squid zone Defense easily, but seemed tired. Justin Elliott had some great throws for scores, but in the end, Virginia’s experience was too much for the Squids. They took the game 15-12.

After a disappointing first two days, the Squids knew they could not win the championship, however, they were still in position to break their seed. The first game of bracket play pitted the Squids against Georgia. After a frustrating first two days of competition, the Squids came out extremely hungry for a win. Eric Abhold had an amazing showing with 8 scores caught as he led the Squids to a 15-11 victory. The Squids then faced Luther, a team from the dominant Central Region. Luther moved the disc quickly and were able to get a couple of breaks on the Squids just before half after some uncharacteristic turnovers from the Squids’ offensive line. Luther went on to win the game 14-12.

In the final game of the season, UCSD faced NC State. The Squids came out fast and scored the first few points of the game against NC State’s lazy defense, but as the game went on, a storm rolled in. The stronger wind gave UCSD some trouble, and brought the game close again. As rain came down, NC State tied the game at 13-13. After NC State worked the disc down most of the field, Mark Johnston managed to get a D on an errant hammer from one of NC State’s better handlers, and worked it down the field with Eric Abhold to win the game 14-13. With this win, the Squids clinched 13th place in the Nation, three spots ahead of their seed.

Next year, the Squids are returning a large number of players, and should be looking to crack the top 10 at Nationals.

More Headlines:
Apr 29 - Men's Ultimate Wins a Trip to Nationals
Apr 15 - Men's Ultimate Pulls off Amazing Comeback to Place 1st at Sectionals
Mar 24 - Men's Ultimate Competes in Texas
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