The next tournament the Hodags played in was Easterns, which is held in Wilmington, North Carolina and is commonly known as the most competitive tournament (with the exception of Nationals). The Hodags went into this tournament as the third overall seed and were placed in a power pool of five teams. Also in the pool were Colorado, Brown, Duke, and UNC-Wilmington. Following are short summaries of the games.

Game 1: Hodags vs. Duke

The Hodags came out of the blocks slow in this game. Whether that was due to overconfidence or having virtually two weeks off, no one knows, but either way Duke jumped out to a commanding halftime lead of 8-4. The Hodags fought back, with contributions from every player, and ended up overcoming the deficit and cruising to a 15-11 victory.

Game 2: Hodags vs. UNC-Wilmington

The Hodags faced UNCW here, and a substantial amount of wind, which meant this would be a game decided by which team could break the other’s zone defense by scoring goals upwind. The Hodags, led by an excellent handling core (Jonathan O’Connell, Eric Moore, Matt Anderson, Wei Lu, Michael Bluhm, and Michael Konopka), were able to break down UNCW’s zone defense. With the exceptional play zone defense of theier own, the game soon became a blowout. Final: 15-5 in favor of the Hodags.

Game 3: Hodags vs. Brown

The Hodags ran into a slightly more experienced and patient team in Brown than it had in UNCW, and as a result their offense was unable to score as often. The seemingly unbreakable defense discovered it had some holes. The Hodags traded points until late in the game when Brown went on a little run to win 13-15.

Game 4: Hodags vs. Colorado

The Hodags would face one of the toughest teams in the country in Colorado (by many opinions the toughest at this point in the season). Colorado had a great deal of experience stemming from many players that had been playing Ultimate for at least four years. The Hodags, however, did not succumb to Colorado early as they traded runs in the first half, with Colorado taking a one-point halftime lead 8-7. Despite some incredible plays by everyone including some improbable ones by some less experienced players, Tyson Park and Andrew Brown, the Hodags fell to Colorado 11-15.

Pre-Quarters: Hodags vs. UC-San Diego

This was supposed to be revenge according to UC-San Diego, but the Hodags had other plans as they once again refused to let UC-San Diego develop any offense by playing zone defense. As was the case in the first meeting, UC-San Diego could not break the zone effectively and fell to the Hodags in a blowout 15-7.

Quarterfinals: Hodags vs. Cornell

Cornell had the reputation of being a scrappy blue-collar team, a compliment usually paid to the Hodags because of their patient offense and lack of a great deep game. This game would come down to which team could make the best use of its talents and keep up its intensity throughout the game. The game, although close, never seemed to panic the Hodags as they constantly relied on their main deep threat Tyler Spindler to score goals. The Hodags ended up winning 15-12 and made their second trip to the semifinals in as many tournaments.

Semifinals: Hodags vs. Colorado

Colorado and the Hodags would once again trade runs in the first half (as in the first game), which resulted in a one point Colorado advantage at half, 8-9. The Hodags, despite some gutsy plays by everyone, were unable to capitalize after getting turnovers, possibly due to the effects of playing six games the last few days. Colorado went on to win 13-17, but the Hodags once again proved they belonged among the nation’s elite teams.

By Bryan J. Paradise

Easterns Photos | Past Tournaments