May 27, 2013
by Max Palzewicz
On a crisp, 50-degree afternoon in Madison, Wisconsin, UCF’s Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team, Dogs of War, took the field against defending champion Pittsburgh. After experiencing two losses to Pittsburgh back in February, UCF was primed and ready to prove that the third time would indeed be the charm. Unfortunately, the Dogs came up short, losing their maiden championship game, 15-8.
This championship final was prefaced by three days of intense ultimate over the holiday weekend. 20 of the most proven teams hailing from ten different regions traveled to compete, but only one would be crowned champion.
Friday and Saturday’s action consisted of round-robin pool play. UCF received the 6th seed heading into the tournament. They upset 3rd seeded North Carolina on Friday and went on to claim the top spot in their pool on Saturday. This secured them a berth in the championship bracket on Sunday.
UCF’s Women’s team, Sirens, also made the trip to Madison. They entered the tournament seeded 14th, but were denied a spot in the championship bracket after going 1-3 in pool play.
En route to Memorial Day’s championship final, UCF edged out 9th seeded Dartmouth 14-12 and rolled 7th seeded Carleton College 15-8. This was sweet revenge for the Dogs of War after Carleton cut the Dogs’ Cinderella season short in the 2012 quarterfinals. They ditched the glass slippers this year, and surprised some the country’s most storied programs in the process.
UCF’s offense, led by Senior Jeremy Langdon and Graduate students Michael Hickson, Daniel Jakob, and 6’8” Mischa Freystaetter, appeared to be firing on all cylinders on Sunday. They needed a similar team effort on Monday, if they intended to beat defending champion Pittsburgh, but they just could not find their rhythm.
The championship kicked off at 3:30 EDT on Monday. The slight breeze was not pervasive enough to merit a zone defense by the Dogs, and Coach Andrew Roca kept his team in man-to-man defense for much of the game.
Pitt jumped out to a 2-0 lead after scoring points both ‘upwind’ and ‘downwind’. The fluent and savvy UCF offense came out uncharacteristically slow, almost stagnant. Pittsburgh’s lead stretched to 8-4 at halftime, after Pitt managed to capitalize on seemingly every UCF mistake.
After playing a nearly flawless first half, Pitt came out with a series of uninhibited deep throws, pushing their lead to 10-4. The Dogs kept their heads and continued to play their game, but they turned out to be their own worst enemy.
The conservative, methodical UCF offense that rolled perennial powerhouse Carleton CUT on Sunday, could not quite find its groove in the championship game. In the end, UCF’s unforced errors were too frequent and debilitating, and Pittsburgh defended their title with a 15-8 victory.
A quarterfinal appearance in 2012 and a championship effort in 2013 have certainly put UCF Ultimate Frisbee on the map. Having established themselves as Florida’s premier collegiate team, look for UCF to “cry havoc and let loose the Dogs of War” in 2014 and beyond.
