USC Men's Ultimate

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