Ultimate team soars over Edinboro

This was one Pitt game that didn’t fall flat.

Pitt’s Ultimate team beat Edinboro University… This was one Pitt game that didn’t fall flat.

Pitt’s Ultimate team beat Edinboro University – which is near Erie, Pa. – at home 15-13, improving its A-team’s record to 15-7 for the fall season Wednesday.

The ultimate Frisbee team is actually just called “Ultimate,” according to those who play the game, because they do not play their games with that brand of flying disc.

Edinboro scored a quick point 30 seconds into the game to take a short-lived lead, but Pitt scored in quick succession to lead for the rest of the first half.

Halves in Ultimate are not timed; they last until one team reaches eight points. The game ends when one team reaches 15 points.

Pitt’s Ultimate team ended the first half on top, 8 to 5.

“It’s a little closer than we want it to be,” said sophomore Nick Kaczmarek, who was filming the game because of an earlier injury. “We’re not playing defense well against what they’re doing.”

Pitt fields two 7-player groups, one for offense and one for defense.

The Ultimate field is 70 yards by 40 yards, with each end zone 25 yards deep. Pitt’s Ultimate team played this game in the Cost Center behind Sutherland Hall, utilizing an indoor football field.

Players are not allowed to run with the disc once they catch it and there is no contact between opposing players. A player can only hold on to the disc for 10 seconds before he or she is forced to turn over the disc.

David Vatz, president of Pitt’s ultimate team, knew exactly what his opponents were up to.

“They play an offense called a horizontal stack,” Vatz said. “I think if we make some adjustments we’ll be fine.”

Pitt’s offense spread its scoring out among its players, with everyone involved in an assist, scoring a point or in a drive to Edinboro’s end zone.

Vatz began playing Ultimate when he was a freshman in high school.

“It consumes my life,” Vatz said. “I spend all my time doing it.”

“I like how it’s player-controlled and it’s player-refereed,” Vatz said about the lack of officials on or off the field. “It’s just a great sport.”

Vatz sees the fall season as training for the upcoming spring season, when the team will participate in a series of tournaments that will lead to a western Pennsylvania tournament.

“This fall is a chance to teach the new players how to play,” Vatz said. “I see us having a great spring season.”

A victory in the tournament will result in a trip to the regional tournament, which takes in teams from places like New York, Delaware, Maryland and even parts of Ontario, Canada.

The top two teams from that will advance to nationals, where 16 teams from across the country will compete.

Pitt went to nationals last year and finished 13th.