USC Men's Ultimate

Welcome back, Ghettobirds!

The new spring practice schedule is posted in the sidebar. Also, there is an informational meeting Jan 12th at 9pm. Location is TBA but likely ZHS163.

The first week of IM League was a rousing success. Here are recaps from several of this week’s games. If you’re wondering where your game is, be sure to tell your captains to write a recap for next week.

Monday:

Chi-Fran 8-7 Dshu-Zazu

Chi-Fran starts off the game with a quick 2 point run. The second point of the game was a true battle, lasting around 10 minutes. Both teams played intense d on either sides. After a timeout was called, a perfectly executed set play resulted in Brian catching a sweet dish from Sam for the score. The next couple points went back and forth and eventually Dshu-Zazu pulled ahead by a point. However, a late run by Chi-Fran gave them back the small lead that they held till the end.
Chi-Fran Highlights: Wendy on Chi-Fran made some houdini like one handed grabs. Sam and Brian formed the twin towers and effectively took out anything in the air. The highest flyer was Luke. He set the tone early with a huge 2 handed man grab to start off the game. He also had this “out-of-nowhere” sky d on “dark wonder” Chenu.
-Chi

Team Queso (Will-Bartok) > Manos-Blondie

Manos-Blondie started out strong, scoring several points to begin the game, aided by the expert tutelage of Grandmaster Dave Okaya. Team Queso rebounded, taking half 7-6 due in large part to rookie Alex’s huge forehand hucks to Stevezilla. Queso caught another break when Manos’ hammer to the endzone was disallowed due to the no-returner hucking rules. Lawrence and Kim also had some nice grabs for Queso. Ultimately, Blondie and Manos could not withstand the onslaught, and were defeated by the Queseros in a close game. ¡Olé!
-Will

Tuesday:

Team Q (terrence & Pandora) – 11~12 vs Team J (magma & chi) 7~8

Game started out quick with a sick toe the line catch by Charles. Team Q mounted a quick run that was punctuated with some crazy D’s by Mighten the Titan over a guy who was more than a foot taller. Both teams played hard as Team J made a run of their own. The Brenden/Brandon/Brendan trio had some great plays on both offense and defense. Rock-solid handing by Ethan and Morelle allowed our team to slowly creep ahead. The game was perhaps highlighted by a marathon point that lasted a good 10-15 minutes. Both teams had many great puts to the end zone; however, no team could convert. Amy had some great in cuts as she torched whoever defended her to get open, allowing Team Q to retain possession. Alas as it was not enough to win the point as Team J capitalized. The game ended with a massive all-team free for all with bodies falling left and right. Thankfully nobody was injured, overall it was fantastic game, and we were glad to get a win. Good game Team J!
On Team J’s end, we had some sick highlights as well. Lindar the monstar showed some sick hands. Joe had a nice bid attempt on offense that definitely resulted in some turf burn. Big message was sent by Chi. Warning to all teams: Chi will D a girl.
-Terrence and Chi

Sonic-Gabe vs. T-Tom-Sputi

Scrape Mode Squad SCRAPED. It was a good and fun game against team X, ending in craziness with all the players taking the field at the same time for the last few points.
-Sonic

Korn (Manos-Sixxi) > Zesty Zombies (Starz-Luke)
Team Zesty Zombies (Starz-Luke) had a rough start in their first game against Korn Like the Band (Manos-Sixxi), only scoring one point in the first half. They played some good points and had some great flow with the disc at times, but couldn’t quite finish with a score. Then, after some pointers at half time, the Zombies turned it around and played a much better second half. They made great cuts off one another, stepped up the intensity on D, and fought through some really long points for scores. In the end, even though the teams played quite evenly in the second half, it wasn’t enough to stop Korn, whose dominance of the first half really gave them the victory.
Zesty Zombies highlights: Just all around great play in the second half. We were down big going into the second half, but no one gave up. The entire team really stepped up their game, and worked together really well to get into a great rhythm to get back a couple points. The D really stepped up on a few points as well, generating turns left and right.
-Luke

Registration for our coed intramural league is now open! The league is 4 weeks long, and games are played weekly. Included in the $15 registration fee is a USC Ultimate t-shirt. The sign-up link is below.

Sign up for IM league!

Welcome back, Ghettobirds! A few updates for the new semester:

The involvement fair is this Wednesday from 11-2 on Trousdale. Wear your USC Ultimate gear and help recruit new players. If you’re new and interested in playing with us this year, stop by and check us out. We’ll be signing people up for our mailing list and the IM league.

A Men’s Ultimate and IM League info session will be held Thursday, August 25 at 6pm in THH102. We’ll be talking with new people about what the team and sport are all about, and about the upcoming IM league. Afterward, we’ll also have a discussion for returners about the team this year.

Also, be sure to check out our facebook fan page!

EDIT: If you got one of those flyers at the involvement fair saying that the informational meeting would be on “Thursday the 24th,” please ignore it. The meeting is really on Thursday the 25th, 6 PM, THH 102. As you can see, the brightest of minds didn’t create the flyers, so sorry. But see you guys there!

After a relatively successful Saturday, the Ghettobirds found themselves in the championship bracket, and first up was Reno. Unfortunately for Reno, the Birds really wanted to win this tournament and many team members went to bed early at the Ghetto house the previous night (this may or may not have been a result of the carryover effect from the prior evening in Vegas). As a result, many players were well rested and came out firing. It didn’t take long for the Birds to put away Reno, and the final score was 13-7.

[Read more →]

Here’s a highlight from Saturday’s match against Western Washington. Mongoose hucks it deep to Chi to help USC to a 13-6 win!

Here’s a highlight from Sunday’s game at Trouble in Vegas. With SLO up 3-1, the Ghettobirds do a nice job dumping and swinging, leaving a wide open Tall Will Price to gather a swing and huck it to freshman sensation Nick Manos for the score!

Last weekend, the Ghettobirds traveled to Vegas to participate in the last rendition of the storied tournament, Trouble in Vegas. There were questions about whether the tournament would be put on this year after it rained the last three years and thus, everyone tore up the fields, but thankfully UNLV stepped up and hosted it. And thankfully they did so as it was a glorious, sunny weekend!

Onto the action, the Birds started off strong on Saturday morning. Facing a new foe in Utah State, Ghetto started off slow considering it was an 8:30 am start, but got things rolling in the second half, advancing with a 13-9 victory.

The second game proved to be more troublesome. The Ghettobirds faced a familiar opponent in Cal Poly Pomona, who we hadn’t played in a tournament since sectionals last year when we prevailed in the game-to-go to regionals. Pomona always provides a tough game and this proved to be no exception. Pomona played strong defense, and the Birds just struggled to get a flow going offensively. A scary moment came when freshman Spits went down with dehydration and cramps, but would miraculously return to play in the last game of the day. Also, grad student Ty Smalling injuring himself on a layout and would be out for the remainder of the tournament, which was a huge loss for the Birds. Ghetto still fought hard but couldn’t hold off Pomona, losing 13-11.

The Birds then went on to face Western Washington, who traveled a long ways to get to Sin City and it showed. Ghetto took a strong hold from the start and held Western Washington at bay the entire game.  Rookie junior Luke Vollherbst was phenomenal in his deep cuts and sophomore T Tom put some good shots deep to stretch the game out as Ghetto won 13-6.

The last game of the day came against Wyoming. The Birds were exhausted, having been playing with only 13 people the majority of the day, and it showed in the first half. Ghetto came out flat and slow as Wyoming pretty much did whatever they wanted on offense to take half 7-3. But you can never count the Ghettobirds out and this game proved it. They could’ve mailed it in, but instead the Birds rallied, sparked by some great deep hucks from junior Tall Will Price (TWP) and a momentum turning bookends from senior captain Jas Smogorzewski. The Ghettobirds went on a 5-1 run to bring the game within 11-10. But sadly, that’s as close as they got, as they dug themselves too deep a hole and Wyoming came out victorious 13-11.

Special shout out goes to Mario’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Platzer, for coming all the way from the e

We’re back at school and getting back to practice. Practice for both A and B teams starts this week. The A team will be practicing Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights (at least until we can get some morning field time). The B team will be practicing on Tuesday nights. We’re very happy that our own Ghetto alum Matty Erstling is going to be coaching the B team this year. Thanks Matty!

We’re also still looking for more players! If you want to come out and play with us this semester, we encourage you to come out on Tuesday nights and join the B team. We’ll be meeting at 9:30 to warm up on the Cromwell track and then moving to the IM field for practice at 10. Please bring running shoes, a white and a dark shirt, water, and football/soccer/lacrosse cleats.

Both teams will be travelling to tournaments this semester. The A team will most likely be going to Santa Barbara Invite Qualifier, the PresDay qualifier, and the Stanford Open. The B team tournaments are yet to be finalized but we’re looking at going up to SLO and down to San Diego. Let’s get ready to work and have a great season. Das Bird!

Check out this incredible layout catch from rookie freshman Nick Manos at San Diego State a few weekends ago!

(skip the first 50 seconds)