Monday Snitch: World Cup Edition
World Cup snitches pose | Photo by Kat Ignatova, Photo Editor
A lot happened this weekend, but there really is only one place to start. Your Division I World Cup Champions (as predicted by yours truly) are the University of Texas-Austin (Austin, TX). A 190*-80 victory over the University of California Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA) sent the first place trophy on a one-way flight to Austin. As I already mentioned, and will surely mention again, I saw Texas winning it all, but even I was surprised by how dominant they looked this weekend. All year Texas' signature has been winning by a huge margin, but the way they won was shocking. Texas didn't just keep all of their matches out of snitch range; they were up by no fewer than eight goals when the snitch was caught. Just for effect, here is a list of Texas' wins including the opponents' ranking entering the World Cup:
No. 3 University of California Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA) 190*-80 (Finals)
No. 21 Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, OH) 140-50* (Semifinals)
No. 1 Texas A&M University (College Station, TX) 200*-40 (Quarterfinals)
No. 28 Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, LA) 140*-20 (Sweet Sixteen)
No. 49 Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA) 190*-20 (Round of 32)
No. 92 University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS) 150*-0 (Pool Play)
No. 20 Tufts University (Medford, MA) 170*-50 (Pool Play)
No. 40 Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 130*-0 (Pool Play)
No. 50 University of Richmond (Richmond, VA) 130-50* (Pool Play)
Just let that sink in...those results are dominant.
Outside of Texas' performance, the story of the World Cup was Bowling Green State's run to the semifinals. I was down on the Midwest entering the World Cup. I thought that the region had a lot of depth, but lacked top-end teams. I was wrong. Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) and Kansas University (Lawrence, KS), who eventually reached the quarterfinals, topped their respective pools, knocking off a pair of favored teams from the Southwest: Texas State University (San Marcos, TX) and Baylor University (Waco, TX), respectively. Still, a few other top Midwestern squads struggled on Day 1. Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI) limped to the 25th seed despite being the heavy favorite to win their pool, while Bowling Green State earned the 31st seed and a play-in game matchup with Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville, TN). On Day Two, everything changed for Bowling Green State. If you haven't yet seen them, I encourage you to find video of Bowling Green State's matches; any description I give won't do their performance justice. Once again, we're going to let the results do the talking:8:00 A.M. Round of 36: No. 38 (32nd seed) Tennessee Tech University (Cookeville, TN) 130*-100
9:20 A.M. Round of 32 No. 11 (3rd seed) University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL) 80*-50
10:40 A.M. Sweet Sixteen No. 4 (14th seed) University of Maryland (College Park, MD) 90*-60
12:00 P.M. Quarterfinals No. 27 (6th seed) Lost Boys (Lomita, CA) 230*-210
That's four games in just over four hours. Total quaffle point differential: -10. While I don't have an official time, I would estimate that the contest with the Lost Boys went nearly 45 minutes. Bowling Green State proved themselves to be a team that just refused to lose. Daniel Daugherty was the breakout star for BGSU, playing both chaser and keeper when fatigue and injury shrunk the BGSU roster. His long-range shots and drives provided the aesthetics that create stardom. Even an own goal against Miami was a star-making moment, as he passed back to his own keeper from midfield...through his own middle hoop. However, and this is not to take anything away from Daugherty or any of the team's chasers, keepers, or beaters who all played fantastically, but in my opinion the real Bowling Green State star was seeker Sam “Sunshine” Roitblat. Mike Baillis made the deciding catch against Tennessee Tech, but the other four grabs belonged to Roitblat. He of course could never have done it if the rest of his team hadn't kept the games close and helped defend the snitch, but Roitblat bested three of the best seekers in the game in succession: David Moyer of Miami, Harry Greenhouse of Maryland, and Steve DiCarlo of the Lost Boys. Daugherty was the face of the Cup's Cinderella, but the midnight magic belongs to Roitblat. Kudos to BGSU for shocking the world; I don't think anyone saw them coming, but they certainly made the World Cup more entertaining.
