D-III Nationals Recap

This weekend the Gobies traveled to Division III Nationals in Versailles, Ohio. We had a slightly disappointing turnout, having only 9 players on Saturday and 13 on Sunday. The extra help of two ladies, Kumi and Kari, and Kevin's friend Justin was much appreciated.

Our Saturday went like many of our Saturdays of this past season: we underperformed and we knew it. We lost our first two games against Rice and Vassar, and won our next two games to finish the day off at 2-2. It was apparent that we had the skill and talent to win our pool, but the offseason definitely took a toll on our team chemistry and physical conditioning.

Due to our win in the crossover game, we barely made it into the championship bracket as the last (18th) seed, and were due to play the 1 seed, Los Positas. They were definitely a solid team, but at the same time, I think our sectionals team could have beat them. Our biggest problem as a team (in my opinion at least), the inability to convert on the goal line, was shown this game. Los Positas took half at 8-2 or something similar, yet there were at least three points that we turned over on the goal line that they in turn marched down the field and scored. If we had converted those three points, suddenly it's a tie game at 5-5. It's disappointing: we work so hard at that part of our game in the spring, yet it still plagues us in game. I think if we can solve this issue for next year, we will see huge improvements in tournament results. We must be doing something wrong, we just have to figure it out.

Our first game in the 13th place bracket was against Kalamazoo (I think). We started off strong, then fell apart mid game, and then finished great with our backs to the walls, but fell short in the end to lose 13-11.

Other than the first two games of Saturday, our play was pretty solid. We definitely need to learn to play our best on Saturday and Sunday, not just Sunday, which seems to happen all too often (such as High Tide). Even so, our play was impressive considering all of the key players that were not in attendance for the weekend.

Notable performances. We finally used Kevin Vick's height to our advantage, as he skied many chumps throughout the weekend on hucks. Evan, the MVP of the weekend, came down with at least a few clutch grabs with defenders all around him. He's a fun-loving guy and jokester off the field, but he always brings intensity and heart to the field when it matters. He will be sorely missed on and off the field, as this was his last official tournament as a Gobie. He was never ashamed to show his bro-love to all. Bro, you're our bro, bro.

- Mark