Gordy swings to Simonelli

Sam gets around his mark to Tom

Ripling leg muscles!

Tom looking smooth

Matt getting big

Recap hopefully coming soon!
Thanks to Anderson Ultimate for some of these pictures


High Tide
March 10-12, 2009
Jekyll Island, GA

Tournament record of 6-1, placing 5th-8th.
UPA counted scores shown below:

Birdhouse

Chicago Invite was held in Naperville this year, which seemed like our backyard after spring break. We left dark and early Saturday morning, arriving at the polo fields tired but ready to play. Our first day proved to be a long one; with our pool six teams deep we had our work cut out for us.

Game 1: Our bitter cross-town rivals, MSOE. They’re still a young program, and though their college boasts a 10:1 male to female ratio their roster was not particularly deep. They were clearly missing Andy-Pandy, who decided to show them what they’d lost by scoring all over their faces. Overall intense play rewarded us with a 13-3 victory.

Game 2: We faced Wisconsin-TIE in the late morning. The captain admitted to me that they were an intramural team out of Madison and the Chicago Invite was there first tournament. That being said, they showed a lot of potential and were a good spirited bunch. Our experience won out, however, and we closed the game 13-2.

Game 3: Uh oh, old dudes. The North Park Alum team, joined by turncoat Andy Patton, brought a level of skill and experience we had not yet seen that day. The game got a little intense, but Birdhouse kept its head up and walked away victorious, 13-7.

Game 4: We finally got rid of Mikail, which helped us in our fourth game against Bradley. Based out of Peoria, they were frankly no match for our strong, beautiful team. We kept them on their heels all game and won 13-2.

Game 5: Our last game of the day was against DePaul, and while it was the same name as the team we saw at Arctic Vogue they had a significantly improved roster. Luckily, an angel draped in heavenly light descended on our sideline bringing tidings of hope and joy. And twizzlers. And a beard. Yes, our sweet Beaudoin had been returned to us. Charged with his almighty spirit, we surged ahead and finished off our last game with a 13-4 victory, ending pool play with a perfect 5-0 record.

Saturday night tomfoolery….

Championship Sunday

Game1: Nebraska-Omaha. This game started out about 15 minutes late because Nebraska apparently thought they would just roll through us so they showed up at 9:10. We started a little slow but then we found our groove and that’s when the game started to get a little chippy. They got into our heads a little bit which made us realize that we need to stick with our game and stay under control. 13-7 final with the final score a 100 foot blade from Mikail to me.

Game 2: Michigan State. It was nice to finally play a school that is nationally recognized. We came out real hot to go up 3-0. We caught them off guard but they came roaring back. Some solid defense helped propel us to a 15-10 victory.

Game 3: St. Johns. These guys are always a tough game and this was no different. This time we came out sluggish and got down early. It was tough but with some more stellar defense we fought back into the game and ended up winning once again on universe to St. Johns. 15-14.

Championship game: North Park. Eight games had been played and our legs were pretty tired and sore, but after Tiger Balm rubdowns we came out and played like it was the only game of the tournament. We traded points for most of the game and when we finally broke them upwind it wasn’t mikail that led us up the field, but Luke and 2 freshman. Like I said at the end of the day, “We really do have the best freshman class in the country.” We played some long points in this game so it got capped with the score 12-11. We played the game to 14 and ended up with a Championship in our pocket, 14-12.

Overall, great weekend.

PEACE,

compiled by TOMB and HANK...

Huck Finn
April 4-5, 2009
Chicago, IL

Tournament record of 5-2, placing "who knows, its a cultimate tournament".
Scores shown below: