BOULDER (5/29/11) – The No. 2 University of Colorado men’s ultimate team Mamabird will play in the 2011 USA Ultimate Championships semifinals tonight against the No. 7 University of Wisconsin at 5:30 p.m. at the Pleasant View Sports Complex in north Boulder.
Colorado defeated No. 4 Pittsburgh 12-7 this morning to advance to the semifinals matchup. CU is 2-0 against Wisconsin this season.
In this morning’s quarterfinals game against Pitt, the Buffaloes jumped out to a 5-0 lead and their defense did the rest as they prevented the Panthers’ offense from getting into a rhythm all game long. Colorado was led by senior captain Jack McShane, who threw for eight goals, and junior Zander Padgett, who caught four discs in the end zone.
“We came out 5-0 and you can’t start a game much better than that,” said CU head coach Jim Schoettler. “That is all our defense. We are really, really confident in our defense right now, which is a great thing for us.”
Pittsburgh had defeated CU in the two school’s previous two contests during the regular season.
Like Colorado, Wisconsin advanced out of pool play with a 3-1 record and as the top seed. The Badgers took care of business on Sunday morning in their quarterfinals matchup as they defeated No. 9 Harvard 13-6.
If CU defeats Wisconsin, they will play the winner of the other semifinals contest between No. 1 Carleton College and No. 8 Iowa on Monday at 2 p.m. in the championship game
Admission to tonight’s game and tomorrow’s title game is free and open to the general public.
The Pleasant View Sports Complex is located at 3840 47th Street in Boulder. Parking in the main lot is $2 per entry, however there will be free parking at the Mountain View Memorial Park at 3500 Kalmia Avenue right next to the field. Free parking for Monday’s games will be available at the Calvary Bible Church at 3245 Kalmia Avenue, also right next to the field.
A live video stream of all semifinals and finals games will be available online at http://www.usaultimate.org/news/2011-college-championships--live-streaming-schedule/. The games will also be televised later on the CBS Sports Network on June 25 at noon and 1 p.m. MT, and on June 26 at 1 p.m. MT. The championship game will air on July 15 at 7 p.m. MT. Check local listings for more information.
Colorado Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jim Schoettler
General—“We came out 5-0 and you can’t start a game much better than that. That is all our defense. We are really, really confident in our defense right now, which is a great thing for us. Our offense needs to settle down a little bit. They get out there and they have all of the talent in the world, but they get a little bit nervous I think. That is something that we can improve on.”
On the defensive battle and long game—“For a score 12-7, the game should not have taken that long. That is our fault for not being more efficient on offense. We could have scored all of our offensive points in a minute or less and a lot of them took five minutes or so. That is something that we have to be aware of. In the end it kind of was who would outlast who. We knew that they would be tired and longer games favor us so it is not the worst thing in the world.”
On the difference today vs. Pitt compared to previous two meetings—“We changed a lot of stuff up. Our defense is a lot tighter, we know what they want to do having seen them before and I think our deep game on offense is far better. They were planning that we were going to play it under by the way that they were playing defense. Even though we didn’t hit all of our hucks, they were all open and they were all pretty good looks. We did hit some of them and those can be back breakers.”
On preventing the Pitt comeback—“I think our changes kept them on their heels a little bit. Pittsburgh is a team that can come back and from 5-0, they played us even so our whole focus was as long as our offense can send our scorers 80-90 percent of the time, that is great and they did that. I think we got broken once.”
On the Jack McShane and Zander Padget combination—“Jack is one of our best and calmest handlers and Zander is one of our best cutters. We put them out together, they hadn’t played on the same line a lot this year, but they both know exactly what they are doing. They were on the same page today and that certainly makes a big difference.”
Senior Jack McShane
On his game—“I thought I played alright. I was a little antsy and nervous, I mean it was a big game at the beginning so once I got that under control, calmed myself down, and it really it was our cutters doing the work, getting open and it makes it easy on the handlers, makes it easy on me.”
On the pace of the game—“It was a little slow. There were a lot of calls in the middle of the game. It slowed down for sure. I think they were real tired, they were real pouchy, and you have to be a little more patient when they are that pouchy. It slowed down a little bit, but I think that was too our advantage since we got a big lead.”
On the difference vs. Pitt today compared to previous meetings—“Just our defense, our defense came out fired up. They got five or six breaks in the beginning of the game and once you get up five or six points, it takes the other team mentally out of their game, they can’t work it under, and they have to go for quick scores. We experimented a lot during the season, tried to figure stuff out and I think we were set this time.”
Event website: http://www.usaultimate.org/competition/college_division/college_championships/default.aspx
Tournament results: http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#college-open/tournament/8928
CU Men's Ultimate website: http://www.mamabird.com/
