Colorado Cup Recap
by Marcus "Cous" Gavin
This past weekend, four Austin club Ultimate teams headed north to Boulder, CO for the annual Colorado Cup. Doublewide competed in the Elite open division; Showdown competed in the women’s division; and both Seuss and Riverside competed in the open division. While the teams had mixed results, they all gained some valuable experience that will surely help as the young club season progresses.
Riverside made this weekend their Colorado debut complete with fresh, new jerseys. As a traditional pick-up squad, the Riverside club now consists of two teams. While the team didn’t win any games in Colorado, they had a great time playing similar competition in a new venue. Riverside will be a force to reckon with at sectionals and regionals this year.
Seuss entered the tournament seeded last, but that should be no indication of how the young team performed. This hodgepodge of college players, recent grads, and seasoned vets united by tie-dye found a way to win on and off the field. Despite not taking half in any of their games, Seuss went 3-1 in pool play and made it to the finals where they lost to Prairie Fire, an elite open team from Kansas. Next stop for the Seuss party bus is the Texas Two-Finger tournament this weekend in Irving, TX.
Showdown went to Colorado seeded second and fresh off a month long break, but things didn’t go as well as planned. In Saturday’s pool play, uncharacteristic turnovers allowed teams to beat the Texas ladies who were trying some new offensive strategies. The learning did pay off on Sunday when Showdown earned two wins one of which was a rematch with Schwa from Oregon. With the offensive kinks worked out in Colorado, some more practice in the heat, and a full squad, Showdown should garner a winning record at the Chesapeake Open in three weeks.
Doublewide performed tremendously in the tournament earning a flawless 7-0 record in round robin play before losing in a finals rubber match game against the local Johnny Bravo. This was Doublewide’s second finals appearance in two tournaments this season. At the Heat Out tournament in Baton Rouge two weeks ago, Doublewide lost to regional rival Chain. That loss inspired the team to sweep through the competition at Colorado. Most notably, Doublewide beat Bay Area based Jam, last year’s UPA open champion, for the first time ever. With a high powered offense and swarming D, the well nasty brotherhood looks to continue its winning ways at the Labor Day tournament in Santa Cruz.
It was great to see four teams make the trip to Colorado and represent Austin ultimate well at all levels. For more information and results from Colorado Cup, check out the following web links and twitter feeds:
Tournament Web Page: http://www.gru.org/play/2009-colorado-cup
Score Reporter for Elite Open: http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=124&id=6486
Score Reporter for Open: http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=124&id=6487
Score Reporter for Women’s: http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=124&id=6488
Doublewide Twitter: http://twitter.com/doublewidetx
Showdown Twitter: http://twitter.com/txshowdown
