Ashley Ferguson
Contributing Writer
Wooster’s men’s and women’s ultimate Frisbee teams topped off their spring play last weekend with excellent showings in regional competition that represented one of the program’s most successful seasons yet.
RamJam Ultimate gleaned several winning performances at the Ohio Valley Division III College Regional competition in Allentown, Pa. Some upsets at the conference tournament in Columbus left the men seeded ninth out of 12 teams, but by the end of the weekend, they had rallied up five places to finish fourth, a rare feat in Ultimate.
On Saturday the A team suffered two losses, the first a close match against Haverford (10-8) and the second a tough fall to Shippensburg (11-6). However, they quickly turned it around, taking down the trio consisting of Susquehanna (11-6), Swarthmore (11-8) and Xavier (11-7), good for a third-place finish in the pool.
Then on Sunday, the team made history as they trampled last year’s powerhouse Messiah College, seeded third going into last weekend’s competition. Senior leaders kept scoring tight throughout the game, with big plays coming from Dan Lynch ’17 and Emilio Bartlett ’17. In sudden death overtime (universe, in Ultimate-speak), Garo Matossian ’17 blocked a deep throw from Messiah after a quick turnover. The men worked the disc back up the field where Michael Herman ’17 tossed the game-winning point to Clark Wang ’18. The team’s 15-14 win secured their place in the semifinals, a first in the program’s history. Their record was 17-15 on the season and they carried above a .500 winning percentage for the first time in RamJam history.
Betty Gone Wild played Messiah at the start of the tourney in Allentown. Despite Messiah’s 8-5 lead at the half, the Betties charged back with another point, with a successful pass from Hallie Scanlon ’17 to Ellie Kahn ’20. After a hard fought game, Messiah eventually took the match 15-9. The Wooster crew took on Swarthmore next, tying nearly every point scored until a quick turn near their end zone game the Betties a 6-4 lead. The battle continued with a 7-7 tie just before halftime, when the Warmothers snagged another point to pull into an 8-7 lead. Tied at 9-9, the game went into universe, and a block from Kayleigh Dietz ’19 combined with a successful toss from Thea Kwan ’17 to Mara Sheban ’18 clinched a satisfying victory for the Betties. The team ended the day with a loss to Allegheny to finish 1-2 on Saturday.
On day two of Regional play, Wooster played Oberlin, falling out of the bracket with a 14-8 loss, but celebrated wrapping up the season ranked seventh in the Ohio/Pennsylvania region with a 14-6 win against conference opponent Ohio Wesleyan. Caitlin McCombs ’17 scored the final point.
Both the men’s and women’s teams had success in numbers, with both their A and B teams making valuable contributions. “Overall, this was the most successful team in school history,” said Herman. “We had a strong senior class (10 seniors), key contributors from our younger players and great spirit on and off the field.”