Frisbee club goes 2-4 at Yale tournament
The USU men’s ultimate Frisbee club qualified for the champions bracket in its first time competing in a nationally-renowned tournament, the Yale Invitational, last weekend in New Haven, Conn. The Aggies finished the tournament with a 2-4 record.
“I thought we played really well as a team,” said USU captain Myke Bybee. “I think we definitely gained respect from all of the teams we played – high caliber teams.”
Playing against 25 teams, most from the Northeast, the Aggies went 2-2 in pool play on Saturday, qualifying for the champion’s bracket and a match-up against No. 11 Tufts University.
After falling behind 7-2 at half-time, the Aggies staged a late second-half rally before falling to Tuft’s 13-6. The Aggies had several other opportunities to cut into Tuft’s lead, but struggled to capitalize against Tuft’s zone defense.
Rice University went on to beat the Aggies 13-7 in the second game Sunday, eliminating USU from the tournament.
USU, notorious for getting off to a slow start on the first day of competition, opened pool play strong, defeating the Yale University “B” team 13-5. It was the Aggies’ first opening game victory of the season.
Building off of their momentum from the Yale game, the Aggies came out fired up against Harvard University – the eighth-ranked team in the country – taking an early 5-2 lead over the Crimson. But strong play and questionable infraction calls by Harvard propelled the Crimson to a 13-9 victory.
The Aggies battled back, beating Rochester University 11-7 in a game that secured the No. 3 seed in their pool and a berth in the champions bracket. USU lost its last game of the day, falling 13-9 to No. 29 Williams College.
With its performance at the Yale Invitational, USU improved its national ranking to No. 79. The Aggies are now 14-17 on the season.
Utah State will end its season Saturday when it competes in the Big Sky sectional tournament, held on the HPER Fields. Saturday’s tournament will be the Aggies’ first and only home tournament this year.
The Aggies will compete against Brigham Young University, Idaho State University and the Boise club team. The official start time of the tournament has yet to be determined.
On the season, the Aggies won their only game against the Cougars, though they lost to them twice in a November warm-up tournament. ISU beat the Aggies 14-12 in a closely contested game earlier in the month.
Bybee, a senior and captain of the team the last two years, will be playing in his final collegiate tournament.