2015 Season

2015 Spring Tournaments

  • Florida Warm Up
  • Midwest Throwdown
  • College Easterns
  • Illinois Conference Championships
  • Great Lakes Regionals

 

NUT’s 2015 campaign started in Tampa, FL in the middle of February for Florida Warm Up. Escaping the harsh Chicago winter, NUT traveled to Sahaj Kumar’s home for the three-day opening tournament to see sunshine and early season development. Many veteran players were injured or sick for this tournament, giving lots of reps to our talented, but somewhat inexperienced group of younger players. Despite not seeing immediate results in the win column, senior captain Yiding Hou emerged as a star handler, distributing the disc at will and running effective set plays to generate offensive flow. Many of our returning players will point to Warm Up as a significant period of growth for the team.

Midwest Throwdown in St. Louis, MO followed next in early March. Sunny skies and warm weather prevailed for this year’s Midwest Throwdown, and NUT regained its momentum by winning its pool (on a fantastic layout by Nathan Yeazel to beat Northern Iowa on DGP) and advancing to the bracket on Sunday. There, a strong Notre Dame team knocked NUT off in the semifinals by coming back from a 5-point deficit, using quick and disciplined offense whenever they forced a turnover. NUT went on to take 3rd place.

After a spring break week in Myrtle Beach, NC filled with fun and practice, NUT came into College Easterns seeded 17th out of the 20 teams in attendance, and last in its pool of 5. An incredibly talented field awaited, as Northwestern looked to show the world that it belonged amongst the top teams in the nation. Coming off slow against eventual national champions North Carolina, NUT struggled to maintain possession and allowed UNC to take an early lead and never managed to recover. However, Northwestern’s defense played well in a lopsided win over NC State, and Ben Spielman took over on offense to notch half the team’s goals in a tight loss to Florida State. The highlight of this tournament was an incredibly strong performance against regional rival Michigan, with a decisive win of 15-10, and a 3rd place finish in the pool. Sunday brought more tight competition, as NUT’s offensive zone off a turnover helped keep an early morning game close against Central Florida, despite a loss on DGP (14-15). With a win over Cornell and a loss to Carleton College, NUT finished the tournament ranked 13th. 5th year captain Alex Champe played tremendously the entire weekend, helping solidify his case for 1st Team All-Region in the Great Lakes.

Northwestern’s Conference Championships saw strong play from its defensive handlers, led by Sahaj Kumar, Jeremy Piech, and Leo Galbraith-Paul. With swift movement off of turnovers, NUT’s defense gave the offensive unit a comfortable cushion in every game. Statement wins over Illinois (15-9) and UChicago (15-10) led to NUT’s first ever conference championship in team history.

The Great Lakes Region had one bid to Nationals in 2015. Hungry for its first nationals appearance, NUT entered the tournament ranked 2nd, behind Michigan. A cold and windy Saturday brought instability to the games. Despite wins over Kentucky and Michigan B, NUT’s defensive unit struggled to convert break opportunities against Michigan State. MSU used a highly effective deep game to upset Northwestern (12-13) to take the pool, forcing an elimination pre-quarters matchup against UChicago. After digging in and winning a gritty and sloppy game, NUT found itself in a quarterfinals matchup against Michigan on Sunday morning. With both offenses finding rhythm early, and both teams playing tight lines, the score never became lopsided. A big sky from Kyle Condron gave NUT a late break, but some big defensive plays from Michigan allowed them to regain the lead. NUT ended up falling on DGP (14-15) which officially ended the season.