Last weekend, the Jabberwock, Colgate’s Ultimate Frisbee team, began its fall season with a weekend tournament at Fort Niagara State Park. The tournament, hosted by SUNY-Buffalo, included 20 teams from New York and Pennsylvania.

Colgate began the tournament with a disappointing showing against SUNY-Albany, losing by a wide margin. The Jabberwock showed its resiliency in the next round, however, by shocking Syracuse University, the pool’s top seed, with a 13-11 win.

Colgate’s third game ended quickly, a 13-2 blowout win against SUNY-Geneseo’s B-team. After a close first half against SUNY-Buffalo’s split squad, Colgate pulled away in the second half, winning by a score of 13-9. Since Syracuse and Buffalo had both defeated Albany earlier in the day, the Jabberwock took the pool’s top seed into the winner’s bracket on Sunday.

After receiving a first-round bye, Colgate took the field against the University of Rochester. Despite throwing the disc out of the back of the end zone numerous times, the Jabberwock took a tenuous lead into halftime. In the second half, however, Colgate increased its intensity on defense and quickly turned a close game into a lopsided victory.

In the semifinals, Colgate played a club squad for the first time in the tournament. Composed mostly of former college players, club teams typically perform better than collegiate teams. Thanks to a tight zone defense, Rochester’s club team was no exception. Colgate’s early lead disintegrated as Rochester’s defense forced numerous turnovers. The Jabberwock clawed back in the second half thanks to senior Nicolo Giorgi’s deep runs, but the team could not make up for its many first half mistakes.

Colgate looks forward to improving on last weekend’s performance during a co-ed tournament hosted by Skidmore College beginning tomorrow afternoon.