Club Sports: Pitt wins first Ultimate Frisbee national championship

The Pitt Ultimate Frisbee team accomplished something that the University’s football and… The Pitt Ultimate Frisbee team accomplished something that the University’s football and basketball teams haven’t done since 1976 and 1930, respectively: win a national championship.

On Monday afternoon, with a 15-10 victory over Wisconsin in the final round of the 2012 USA Ultimate Division I College Open Championships in Boulder, Colo., Pitt recorded its first-ever title win in the club sport.

The path to the title for En Sabah Nur — the nickname of Pitt’s Ultimate program – was not an easy one.

Pitt, the No. 2 overall seed entering the tournament, went 3-1 in Pool B of the preliminary round, beating California-Davis, Luther and Texas before losing to Michigan. A dominating quarterfinal win over Minnesota on Sunday morning set up a marquee semifinal matchup for later that day between Pitt and defending national champions Carleton College.

Carleton took a seemingly commanding 8-3 lead early, but En Sabah Nur staged an incredible rally to oust the 2011 title winners with a 14-12 triumph, sealing a place for Pitt in Monday’s final.

With senior Alex Thorne leading the way, Pitt avoided a similarly slow start against Wisconsin as the team jumped out to 4-0 lead and never looked back.

After assisting on and scoring several of Pitt’s points, Thorne completed the game with a scoring pass to his brother, freshman Max Thorne, that clinched the title for En Sabah Nur.

For a more complete story on Pitt’s first Ultimate Frisbee national championship, see Wednesday’s edition of The Pitt News.