Men’s Ultimate Frisbee starts strong in first tournament of the season
SUNY Geneseo Men’s Club Ultimate Frisbee (Snail) competed in their first matches of the season this past weekend, traveling to Youngstown, NY for the Theodore Seuss Geisel Memorial Ultimate tournament. Snail divided their team into two sections, X and Y, in order for each player to make the most of the experience. The two teams were able to enjoy the outstanding culture of the sport with other local teams looking to do the same.
Snail team X, captained by senior Jack Kirby, came out on Saturday morning and had two matchups against the University of Rochester and alumni of SUNY Fredonia, in which rookie Noah Ofri-Akman starred in the handling position. The team was able to win their first matchup of the tournament against RIT’s B team 10-0. Freshman Chris Arriaga stood out in his first tournament, helping the team push their way downfield. The team took a loss in their next match, falling to Colgate University 13-8. Veterans Zay Chaw and Trevor Farrell took over during the match, putting their bodies on the line to get the disc in the end zone. The team finished the weekend with one last contest against SUNY Oneonta on Sunday morning. A long connection between veterans Quintin Wall and Skylar Lumadue concluded the team’s weekend on a high note.
Geneseo’s Snail team Y started their weekend captained by seniors Jon Kelsch and Chris Ventre with a very close matchup against Carnegie Mellon Universities’ team Y. The team’s rookies started slowly but quickly picked up the pace in their first competitive matchups for the squad. The team moved on to their second matchup against South Harmon’s alumni, a match in which Snail were put up to the test against a very experienced group of players from the area. The rookies were again challenged as they were forced to defend against a zone offense, something for which they had not yet prepared for. The team came together, however, and broke right through forcing South Harmon’s players into a different style of offense. The team was then able to secure their first win against SUNY Buffalo’s B team winning 13-5 as rookie points (points in which a team of all rookies are on the field) contributed to multiple punches into the end zone. Snail ended their first day being cheered on by team X as well as the Women’s team (Escargot), in their 13-2 win over SUNY Fredonia. Rookie Colby Dreschler dominated throughout the day, finding the end zone multiple times after long passes from the team's handlers. The team concluded their tournament play on Sunday against the University of Rochester as rookie Jake Park forced multiple turnovers to help get the team back on offense.
Snail finished the weekend having gained meaningful experience for both rookies and veterans, as well as having come together as a group in their first tournament of the year. They will play next in a tournament hosted by RIT on Oct. 22-23 and encourage any students interested in joining to follow @geneseo.ultimate on Instagram or to come out to practices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 3-5 p.m. on the Letch Fields.