Ultimate shines at Starkville
Disconnected takes second in Cowbell Classic tourney at Mississippi State
The Georgia College Ultimate club team, Disconnected, took second place last weekend in its first tournament of the Spring season.
GC fell 13-11 to Louisiana State University in the finals of the Cowbell Classic 2012 in Starkville, Miss.
“It would have been good to get the championship, but second place was good. It’s about what we expected,” Blake Hannah, captain and senior marketing major, said. “We finished in second place and we went in seeded fifth and so we were happy with the result.”
The nine-team, two-day tournament was at Mississippi State University.
“I feel like we did really well, but it was just kind of heart-breaking that we lost in the final,” team president Sean Morris, a senior marketing major said.
In the windy weekend weather in Mississippi, Georgia College altered its strategy. Players threw close, short passes rather than long throws, which could be seriously affected by the heavy winds.
“Our team’s greatest strength was our skills and our endurance,” Morris said.
“The fact that we didn’t have too many subs and played all those games and only lost to one team is really good.”
Disconnected opened the tournament against the University of Mississippi, an 11-5 win. GC started strong and dominated, playing aggressively throughout the game.
Georgia College’s second game of the Cowbell Classic was an 11-0 win over host Mississippi State’s B team.
“Our defense has improved a lot this year,” Hannah said. “We’re pretty much shutting teams down early so that we don’t have to come back like we used to.”
In their third Saturday game, Disconnected’s undefeated run came to an end against LSU.
Though GC fought hard, LSU had more substitutes and was able to swap out players more often and won 11-7.
“The toughest challenge was probably our first game against LSU,” Hannah said. “It was very windy. They’re a tough team.”
Georgia College did not let its defeat against LSU affect its mindset in its fourth tourney game against Rhodes College, winning 11-4.
After their victory against Rhodes, Disconnected faced Mississippi State’s A team. The A team proved to be a bigger challenge, but just like in the game with the B team, GC ultimately came out on top in a 11-9 win.
“We’re starting to do well teaching each other skills,” Morris said. “Our catchers are starting to realize the skill levels of the throwers, too. We’re starting to flow together as a team.”
GC opened last Sunday’s tourney action against Auburn University with an 11-6 victory.
Georgia College won its seventh game of the tournament against the Florida State University B team, 11-7, to advance to the semifinals against Vanderbilt University’s B team.
Against Vandy, GC took an early lead and cruised to an 11-4 win.
In the finals, GC faced LSU, the only team it had lost to in the tournament, for a second time.
Although Disconnected played better against LSU the second time around, it was not enough and Georgia College lost 13-11.
“We just need to work on staying calm and making the right decisions because we’ve got people that are still trying to learn the game. We just have to play smart,” Hannah said. “I think it’s coming together. We’ve got nine or 10 guys that played together last year and we got some young guys coming in that are playing hard. … We should be good throughout the year.”
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