It was cold. It was rainy. It was windy. And it was muddy. The weather was similar to Frostbite of the past. But this year, Eau Claire's results were much, much different.
Eau Claire had the opportunity to play North Park for their first game, a solid team who had already recorded a win over Wisconsin this year. The game began with a battle between defensive zones, each team trying to take advantage of the strong crosswind. Eau Claire and North Park traded points until 3-3, when Eau Claire's zone began to cause trouble for the North Park handlers. A North Park stall nine high release backhand hit the wind wrong, and fluttered in the air just long enough for an Eau Claire defender to come down with the disc in North Park's endzone for the first break (and first callahan) of the day. Eauzone built on that momentum and took half, 7-4. Coming out of half, North Park got two quick breaks, bringing the game within one. Eau Claire answered right back with two breaks of their own, bringing the game to 9-6. After another turn from North Park, Eau Claire had a chance to punch their game total into double digits. An Eauzone handler put up a stall eight break throw into the wind, and an Eauzone cutter had a beautiful lay-out basket-style catch in the end zone, bringing the score to 10-6. But wait—a North Park defender saw it differently. This lead to the longest “discussion” of the day. Eau Claire and North Park argued back and forth for over five minutes, dropping key rules vocabulary like, “best perspective,” “possession,” and “outside of the playing field proper.” Eventually the disc was brought back to the thrower. Eau Claire turned the disc on the ensuing tap-in, and North Park capitalized on the mistake. North Park was able to sneak in one more point before hard cap went off, ending the game with an Eauzone victory, 9-8.
After their first win, Eau Claire was matched up against Arkansas, which may have been the game of the weekend for Eau Claire. Arkansas jumped out to an early lead, showing veteran handling and taking advantage of the holes in Eau Claire's zone, leading 2-6. Eau Claire needed something to happen, something big—preferably, a five point run to take half. Eau Claire scored not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, but 5 points in a row, doing what needed to be done, including yet another callahan, taking half 7-6. Similar to their first game, Eau Claire built on this mo, leading Arkasnas for another few breaks, to a score of 11-8. With victory in their grasp, Eau Claire began to look forward to the next game, and perhaps a few points too early. Arkansas fought back strong in a valiant effort to make up for the breaks they lost in the first half, but it was too little too late. Once again, due to the hard cap, Eau Claire won the game, 11-10.
Eau Claire's final pool play game was against Nebraska. A win here would solidify Eau Claire as the number one team out of their pool. Eau Claire fell short one break early, but did what they had to do to win the game at 9-5. Eau Claire's final game of the day lead them up against Milwaukee, whom they had seen this fall. Eauzone took that game with a 13-4 victory.
Eau Claire finished Saturday with a 4-0 record, beating some solid teams throughout the day. After the games, they found the local Cici's, gorged themselves on the never-ending pizza buffet, and went back to their hotel. There, they attempted to watch the filming of the North Park game, but Brian “someone walked in front of me” Franson's attempts at filming were...okay...so the team hung out for a while before hitting they hay.
Sunday morning came a little too early for some (day light savings), and before they knew it, Eau Claire was back on the fields. Their first game of the championship bracket was against Wheaton Ill, a team whom Eau Claire lost to a few months ago at Missouri Loves Company. If someone had a boom box on the sidelines, there would have been some dark, ominous music playing, because this was the worst Eauzone played all weekend. Wheaton and Eau Claire came out of the gate trading points until the score was 2-3. On the ensuing offensive possession, and Eau Claire handler put a throw up into the wind, and similar to the North Park game, it hit the wind wrong. It stayed in the air just long enough for a Wheaton player to come down with it in Eau Claire's end zone for a break and a callahan. Wheaton continued to rally, and took half 4-7. Coming out of half, Wheaton took another few breaks, and Eau Claire's offense could not seem to get going. The sidelines weren't in the game, and the players weren't in the game. Eau Claire was beating itself with silly drops and unforced throw-aways. Wheaton continued to score to game point, making it 6-12. Eau Claire put on their universe line in an attempt to make an Arkansas-style comeback, but it just wasn't enough. Eau Claire lost the game, 9-13.
Eau Claire had a lot to think about after their second loss to Wheaton of the year, but they had more games to play. Eauzone was to go up against St. Louis next. Eau Claire put their loss to the back of their minds and focused on the upcoming game. In a great turnaround of attitude, desire, and poise, Eau Claire beat St. Louis 13-2. Eau Claire was set to see Northern Iowa next, and played that game in the same style, winning 13-8. The final game of the day was against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but certain circumstances (a 13 hour car ride) lead to a Milwaukee forfeit.
Eau Claire ended the weekend at 7-1, taking 9th place in the tournament. They broke seed by two, and besides their one loss, Eau Claire played very well. Eau Claire learned something about themselves this weekend. They learned that they can win in close games, that they can get ahead a few breaks and not let teams back in the game. But most importantly (and possibly most excitingly), Eau Claire learned that even when down, they are not out, and that they can come back against some very good teams. Eau Claire is looking to take what they learned this weekend, bring it to the Chicago Invite next weekend, and improve on their Frostbite results.
