Offense fails to live up to 'Clockwork' moniker

Clockwork (24-8 spring season) came into the tournament as the No. 9 seed, facing No. 8-seeded Cornell in the first round followed by the No. 1 seed Pittsburgh. The Cornell game was tight all the way, but Princeton prevailed in the end, 15-13. Pittsburgh proved to be a much tougher battle, and the Orange fell by a sizable 15-2 margin. With this defeat, Princeton faced a tough road to claim one of the two nationals spots. In the loser’s bracket, the squad met No. 10 Bucknell and underperformed. In the end, Clockwork pulled out a close 14-13 win in a game that could have forced an early exit from the tournament. Next came No. 5-seeded Edinboro, a team whose sheer size was worrisome to the Princeton squad. Princeton put up a respectable fight but eventually lost its chance at the national bid by a score of 15-9.

Inconsistency seemed to plague Clockwork all day. It brought focus and made smart plays to beat Cornell, though the score was a little too close for comfort. The winning score was made by senior George Brell with an impressive snag in the end zone to cap the 15-13 victory. The team lost that focus against Pitt, however. It seemed to be in the match at the beginning, but then simply could not answer Pitt’s systematic scoring. One of Princeton’s better players, senior tri-captain Ryan Corces-Zimmerman, was playing with an injured ankle throughout the day, neutralizing one of Clockwork’s weapons. Princeton was also disadvantaged when it changed fields for the second game. Playing into and against the wind in the first match, Clockwork had to contend with a crosswind in its match with Pitt. The strong crosswind greatly affected the accuracy of downfield throws, and the Panthers simply adjusted better. Though Princeton did lose the match quite handily, senior tri-captain Jonah Wagner made an impressive score with an all-out diving catch in the end zone, kicking up a thick cloud of dust and temporarily keeping Clockwork in the match. But it was just not enough.

“[Pitt is] obviously a good team,” Brell said. “They played us tight. We need to get our intensity back. We just played very lackluster.”

That lack of intensity continued against Bucknell — a team Princeton should have dispatched easily — but the first half ended with Princeton down 8-6. Deep into the second half, Bucknell scored to make it 12-11 just after the soft cap sounded, signifying that the game would be played to 14 because of time considerations. Princeton needed turnovers and consecutive scoring to win, and again it was Brell in the end zone for the game-winning snag to claim victory for Clockwork.

“We are a pretty fast team,” Brell said. “We just needed to get back to fundamentals.”

Against Edinboro, Princeton found it difficult to maintain its winning strategy, as Edinboro’s brute force style of play was not at all conducive to Princeton’s methodical offense. It was especially difficult to put Princeton’s patient swing-pass strategy into effect because Edinboro liked to huck, throwing the long deep pass, so its taller players could take advantage of Princeton’s relatively smaller stature. While the wind was still a factor, the height discrepancy was far more important, as it allowed Edinboro to make long-distance catches that Clockwork could not defend. As the points piled up, Princeton was able to score nine, but it exited the tournament on the final match of the first day of play.

Though this was the last chance for Clockwork Orange to make the nationals, it finished the season with an impressive record, a solid body of wins and a No. 58 ranking from the Ultimate Players Association. The team managed to sweep seven sectional matches to qualify for this tournament. Though ultimate is still not an officially recognized NCAA sport and is currently refereed mainly by players, the sport continues to attract athletes and grow in popularity at the high school, college and club levels.