Sports
Ohio Men’s Ultimate Finishes 13th in Queen City Tune-Up
By: Erick Starkey
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The Ohio men's ultimate team rallied from a disappointing Saturday during pool play to go undefeated on Sunday.
The Ohio men's ultimate team went 1-3 in pool play on Saturday at the Queen City Tune-Up in Charlotte, N.C. but went 3-0 on Sunday to capture 13th place.
The men began with a 15-14 win over Connecticut after being down 7-6 at the half. Towards the end of the game, Matt Olsen, one of the team's best players, suffered a knee injury. Olsen did not return to action for the rest of the tournament.
After the first contest, the team began a downward slope for the rest of the day. The 'Cats lost their next game against Appalachian State, 10-13, then fell to Iowa, 10-13, and rounded out their day by losing to Harvard, 13-7.
The day was not a total loss, as the team did have some personal successes,
"We saw some great play from our rookies on offense and defense, especially Anthony Buran and Cameron Haldin," team captain Kelley McAndrews said.
Ohio finished fourth in the five team pool behind Harvard, the eventual second place team, Iowa and Appalachian State while finishing ahead of Connecticut.
"The biggest factor of our losses [Saturday] was our inability to do the basics – throwing, catching and playing shut down defense," McAndrews said.
The Bobcats rebounded Sunday and proved not to be worn out, as they won three straight games.
The team started by ousting NYU, 14-9. After the day's first victory, Ohio won against two regional foes. They beat Ohio State, 12-10, and finished off the day by beating Penn State, 9-6. The wind proved to be a big factor during the day as it limited the amount of points scored, resulting in a time cap enforced on most games.
“[Sunday] we were more focused and a little more relaxed," the team said, "We made less mistakes so we didn’t have to dig ourselves out of holes late in games."
The Bobcats ended the weekend with a 4-3 record, with a solid closing to the weekend with positives and negatives.
"The positive is that we were able to bounce back from yesterday and put together some complete games," the team said, "The downside is that we were already out of the championship bracket when we made these adjustments."