Ultimate Frisbee team takes third

Senior Jan Riccius is barely audible as he speaks about the Men's Ultimate Frisbee Club's participation in the Mardis Gras tournament this past weekend. As a result of his verbal celebration of the team's "intense" victories this Saturday and Sunday, his voice is little more than a raspy whisper.\n"When you're on the field, it helps a lot to have people yelling, cheering you on," Riccius said. "We call it active sideline."\nRiccius is the co-captain of the approximately 35-member club, officially named Hoosiermama?, along with senior Jared Payne.\nThe team came in third overall out of 53 teams in the Mardis Gras tournament in Baton Rouge, La. after winning all four of its games in the preliminary bracket Saturday, but falling 15-14 to Texas during the semi-finals Sunday. Payne estimates Hoosiermama? is now ranked in the nation's top 20, though its official ranking won't come out for a few weeks.\n"It was the most intense game I've ever been in," Riccius said of the Sunday competition. "There were like 200 people watching. I've never had so much fun in my life."\nUltimate frisbee games are typically played to 13 points with a win by at least 2, and Riccius called the Texas match up a "universal point game" since it was played point-to-point to 15. Payne blamed the loss on a poor first half.\n"We fought hard," he said. "It was one of the best games we've ever played."\nMaking it to semi-finals was a feat in itself about which the team is proud, especially since the preliminary games included a 10-5 defeat on ninth-ranked Michigan and an 8-6 win against No. 18 Kansas, fourth-year team member and senior John Kolb said.\nKolb was a stand-out in the game against Kansas with back-to-back layouts, while junior Rob Greenberg brought the game to a tie and sparked the win with what Riccius called an "insane" catch.\n"He saw it and chased it down," Riccius said. "Everybody just got crazy pumped up."\nThe third-place finish was refreshing to the team after a poor showing at a Feb. 11-12 tournament in North Carolina, in which the team finished 17th, which Kolb called a "wake-up call." Still, he said the disappointment inspired more practices and assisted in their preparation before traveling to Louisiana.\n"It's basically what we were working for," Kolb said of the Mardis Gras finish, adding it's satisfying "to be the last team everyone sticks around to watch."\nNext up for Hoosiermama? is the Terminus Tournament in Atlanta on March 11. \n"We feel especially good about it (after this weekend)," Kolb said.