The Ohio Ultimate Frisbee team traveled to the Rocky Mountain locale of Boulder, Colo., looking for a top-eight finish and a spot in the the Division I College Championship quarterfinals.
To get to that point, Ohio would have had to finish in the top three of their group, in a cluster that included Oregon, the top-ranked team that was expected to win the tournament.
But the Bobcats could not advance from the group stage, losing three of four matchups in their pool, which dropped them to the consolation bracket.
Ohio went into the tournament ranked 13th out of the 20 schools that made the trip to Boulder before falling to Minnesota (15-9), North Carolina (15-12) and eventually Oregon (15-10) in the group round.
“We were matched up with a pretty strong set of teams in the group round,” senior captain Andy Ball said. “The effort was there, and I’m happy with the way the guys performed out there.”
Ohio’s only victory in that stage of the tournament came against Georgia Tech (14-11), which was also the only team ranked below Ohio in the group.
After a disappointing performance in the group round, the Bobcats were put in the 13th-place bracket, where they were pitted against Minnesota-Duluth.
Despite a strong effort, the Bobcats were downed 12-11 by the Bulldogs.
“I feel like we did have a strong effort in this game, but it just didn’t go our way,” Ball said. “It was a hard-fought match and (Minnesota-Duluth) got the best of us.”
That loss pushed the Bobcats all the way down to the 17th-place game, where they defeated California-Davis 17-16.
For a team that was looking for a quarterfinal birth and more respect on the national stage, that result was not what the team was looking for, but Ball said it was nothing to be ashamed of.
“As a senior, this wasn’t exactly the way we wanted to go out,” Ball said. “But I’m really proud of what we’ve done this season and I feel like we’ve paved the way for teams in the future to compete at a national level.”
The tournament was won by Pittsburgh, who beat Wisconsin 15-10 in the championship game.
ch203310@ohiou.edu
