Nine teams descended upon Mankato Minnesota Easter weekend with four bids to Appleton awaiting them. Three teams participated in the Developmental Conference Tournament (which had procured a bid to D1 regionals), and six teams participated in D1 Conferences for the other three. Minnesota, Carleton, Duluth, Winona State, Mankato State, and North Dakota State participated in D1 while Minnesota B, St. Olaf B, and Carleton C participated in Developmental.
The Developmental tournament was very straight forward. Three teams, two games each, one bid up for grabs. A late start had Minnesota B facing off with Carleton C in the first game of the tournament. Insane gusts were blowing straight upwind downwind all game long making it nearly impossible to move the disc towards the upwind goal. The Ugly Ducklings lost the toss and pulled upwind to start the game.
They strategically split their team into upwind and downwind lines. Franklin, Burke, Jones, Walker, Graham, Ranji, and Brad composed the upwind line while the Laven brothers, Breyen, Brian, Stebbins, Chris, JayTay, and DJ formed the downwind line. Both teams enacted a huck, play defense and stuff strategy. Downwind defense was made irrelevant due to the wind. Carleton C played zone when Ugly went upwind while Ugly played straight man to man defense. The ducklings controlled play from the start.
Swapping scores the Ducklings scored upwind on a beautiful up line cut by Burke to take a 6-5 lead, and that was all they needed. Carleton was within thirty yards of the endzone only once before Jack hammered a turnover all the way back down field. The Ugly Ducklings took half 7-5 and held the rest of the way through to win 10-8 by the cap. In their second game the wind was gone, but their momentum held through. The Ducklings kept their same lines and led 2-1 before break training their way to a dominant 13-1 victory.
Former Crimsanity Captain DJ Rekstad extended his dominance in conference tournaments with an undefeated run at the Northwood Development tournament. In two games, he played every single downwind point for the ducklings (nine vs. Carleton, seven vs. St Olaf). He was a plus 16 and led the team in assists and overall scores. It was clear after the final game that this was the best he played all year. He will not play in regionals for the Ducklings, and ended his Redshirt Freshman campaign with an excellent spring by improving every tournament. With an entire offseason to improve it will be exciting to see where his college career goes.
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