Trouble had been brewing for the Carleton Ultimate Team since last year’s Nationals tournament. Neither CUT nor the University of Wisconsin-Madison had particularly impressive showings among the sixteen teams at Corvallis, Oregon, and as a result the Central Region was not awarded the strength big that usually gives it two bids to Nationals. Because Ultimate Frisbee does not have a size bid, this meant an impending showdown between CUT and Wisconsin, both easily among the top ten teams in the nation, for the lone bid. Either Wisconsin, a consensus pick for the number one team in the country by collegeulti.com, or CUT, who has gone to Nationals seventeen years running, would be ending their season earlier than they were used to.
Things began to look a little brighter as CUT’s season progressed, with a 6-5 victory in an abbreviated game at a tournament in late winter. CUT continued to gain momentum, rolling through Sectionals unchallenged, and seemed poised to again be a thorn in Wisconsin’s side, having repeatedly bested the Hodags in recent Regionals.
This year’s Regionals were held in windy and rainy Iowa City on Saturday and Sunday April 29th and 30th. CUT got off to an auspicious start, mowing down the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 15-3, St. Thomas 15-4, and Winona State 15-7 to win their pool. They continued to cruise through quarterfinals, where they knocked off Luther 15-10, and avenged last year’s Sectionals upset by University of Minnesota with a solid 15-7 victory.
Wisconsin-Madison also had little trouble in pool play, despite a sound heckling from the Gods of Plastic, and met CUT in the finals on Sunday, with the bid for Nationals at stake. Throughout the game a wicked wind gusted from one endzone to the other, and it quickly became apparent that the game would come down to who could score more un-wind points.
For several points the two heavy-weights traded down-wind points, but Carleton began to mount sustained drives upwind, and finally managed to put one through, as Greg Marliave ’06 found a diving Jacob Goldstein ’07 for the score.
With the pressure now on, Wisconsin dug in and put together their first sustained upwind drive, tallying an upwind break and shortly thereafter notching another to make the score 8-7 at the half.
The teams continued to trade blows early in the first half before Wisconsin scored a third upwind break to make the score 13-10. The prospect of being down two upwind points to a team that many consider the best in the nation seemed like an insurmountable burden for the Carleton, but the handling combination of Chris Rupp ’06 and Goldstein began to fight back. Supplemented by Leon Schneider ’06, the two made a long push against the wind, and managed to take back an upwind break on a terrific diving catch by Ben Hahn ’06 to bring the score to 13-11.
CUT took the next downwind point on another amazing layout, this time by Gabe Hart ’08, cutting the score to 13-12. Riding the momentum, CUT made an incredible defensive stand on the next point. Hahn first laid out to swat away a disc in the endzone, then, just moments later, dove to deflect a short throw and give CUT back the disc. Goldstein, Schneider, and Rupp went back to work, grinding their way to within just 15 yards of an upwind break that would have tied the game. But then Rupp was bumped by a Wisconsin defender as he pivoted to throw a break, and his throw sailed incomplete. A foul was called, but after a long discussion with the observer it was determined that Rupp had created the contact himself, the foul was overturned, and Wisconsin regained control of the disc. They quickly took advantage of their second chance and of Carleton’s dismay at the questionable overrule, scoring a quick downwind point, and then took the disc back and scored upwind to end the game 15-12.
Though the spirited play of Rupp, Goldstein, and Hahn will likely net each of the players a spot on the seven-person All-Region team, the heartbreaking ending of CUT’s seventeen-year reign of Nationals appearances makes the achievement a sour one, especially for seniors Hahn, Rupp, Marliave, Carson Thomas, and Noah Mann. CUT’s exclusion from the tournament also means that Nationals will be entirely made up of Division I schools for the first time in history. The growing popularity of Ultimate Frisbee means that this may be an inevitability, but CUT will nevertheless be rooting for Wisconsin to win and earn the Central Region the strength bid it could so desperately have used this year, allowing Carleton to assume its uncanny role as an Ultimate dynasty.
"CUT Down: Streak Stops At 17" was originally published in The Carletonian on May 5, 2006. Reprinted with permission of the editor.