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Round Four (4:00 - 6:30)
Round Four at the College Championships is the year's best 2:30 hours of ultimate. Twelve evenly matched games take place almost simultaneously (six of the games are staggered and start 30 minutes after the first six) allowing a spectator to wander from one exciting finish after another. And the outcome of every game is crucial for the teams involved: for some it means the end of the hunt, for others its lingering death (the team's probably dead - the players just don't know it), and for the lucky pool winners, it means a trip directly to the quarter-finals and an extra two hours of sleep.All the women's games (except, probably, Carleton vs. Washington) should be good, but the money games should be (****) UCSD (#2) vs. Stanford (#7) and (****) UNC-Wilmington (#3) vs. Brown (#6).
Virtually everyone has UCSD making the final four of this year's women's division, and although Martyna Bryn is their Callahan candidate, they don't really have any one star. The UCSD offense features Corinne Ginsberg, Jen Sanderson and a handful of other experienced players. UCSD's played an ultra competitive schedule and done extremely well: they won the Santa Barbara tournament and President's Day, and finished second at both the Stanford Invite and College Easterns. But Stanford has a team filled with veterans of previous Championship tournaments and features one of college ultimate's best players in Camille Yu (#10).
UNC-Wilmington returns most of the squad that got them to the 2000 finals last year against Carleton, but that may not be good enough. Virtually all of the top women's teams are significantly improved over last year and a return trip to the finals this year is hardly guaranteed. UNC-W features what would charitably be referred to as a no-holds-barred attitude fueled by their star player Leah Rehill. Coupled with UNC-W Callahan candidate, Nikki Miani, UNC-W can quickly knock a team off balance and then bury them before they have a chance to recover.
The Brown women have traveled extensively this season and have played many of the top teams - including two games against UNC-W. But they lost both of these games, along with most of the other games they've played against teams that qualified for the Championships. It'll be up to the Brown coach, Lori Parham and what's likely to be a large, partisan crowd of supporters, to keep Brown from getting off to a fatally slow start. The UNC-W coaches, the excitable Andrew Zeldin and level-headed Pete Schuhmann, will try and get Seaweed primed for the kill - if UNC-W can take four of the first five points, this one's going to be over.
Picking which men's games to watch is going to be equally tough and many of the most exciting games will feature lower seeded teams valiantly trying to avoid elimination. Best bets are likely to be (****) Oregon (#3) vs. Cornell (#6) and (***) Carleton (#4) vs. Wisconsin (#5).
The Oregon vs. Cornell game will be decided by less than three points - you can bet your last dollar on it. Cornell's best player, without a doubt, is senior (and Callahan candidate) Nate "Sideshow" Eisinger and he's a non-stop highlight film of layout defensive bids. Oregon features defensive star, Joseph Kleffner, so expect to see plenty of intense defense from both sides. Oregon and Cornell have already played twice this season (the world of top-flight college ultimate teams is pretty small) with each game being decided by a couple of points. Oregon is bringing 23 players to the tournament and Cornell should have around 17, so give Oregon a slight edge. But Cornell's a perennial qualifier, so they've got the experience. Overall, it's probably a toss-up. Neither of these teams are exactly shoe-ins to make the final four, but this game's going to be non-stop fun.
Carleton vs. Wisconsin is a rematch of their Regional Championship game won in convincing fashion by Carleton 15-6. This game isn't likely to be so one sided, but with Wisconsin having just finished what should be a close game against UNC-W, Carleton is going to have a significant edge. Wisconsin is led by Callahan candidate and captain, Jonathan "Opie" O'Connell (#8 -- 5'10"), who's not only a great player, but who's leadership has brought Wisconsin back into the ranks of ultimate powers. If nothing else, check out this game to marvel at Alex Nord's ability to cover players on short offensive cuts (his foot work and quickness is outstanding) and the number of quality athlete assembled on one ultimate field.
Finally, don't forget games like UNC-W and U Penn (#13). These games featuring lower seeded teams will be every bit as intense, as two cornered teams fight for their lives.
Conclusion
But perhaps the best part of the day will be after the last round as players and teams get back together to eat, drink and compare injuries. Although the competition on the field will have been intense, think back about how smoothly the day went, about how few foul calls you saw, and how few of those calls were contested. Here at the College Championships, with North America's best teams playing under intense pressure for a championship title, sportsmanship still thrives.
2001 UPA College Championships
4th Annual Spectator's Guide