Norman, OK (October 12, 2016) – The OU Curling team will compete in the Philadelphia for the first time in the program’s history. The Sooners are set to face off against the host team, and defending 2016 National Champions, University of Pennsylvania in the first round. Although several key players will remain in Norman to continue the Sooners winning streak in local competition, the Philadelphia team will be looking to upset several Region 2 powers. The competition field will include four of the Top 5 2015-16 regular season finishers (#1 RPI, #2 RIT, #3 Bowdoin, #5 Yale) and the 2016 National Champions (University of Pennsylvania). The tournament will be held on Oct. 15th at the Philadelphia Curling Club. Jeff Milne (Gr.-M.S.) returns to the skip position with OU’s freshman phenom, Noah Gordon, staying in Norman. Casey Cascio (Gr.-Ph.D.) will serve as the team’s vice skip; a role he has not held since the Dallas Bonspiel in April. The front end will be comprised of 2nd year veterans Dillon Kovar (So.) and Mark Preslar (So.) as the second and lead respectively. 2016 Philadelphia Sooner Team
Norman, OK (October 10, 2016) - The OU Curling Club kicked off the collegiate curling season by winning the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and St. Norbert College Season Opening Bonspiel at the Green Bay Curling Club. This marks the club’s second ever overall tournament event win, after they won the Denver Curling Club College Bonspiel in March 2015, and first ever overall win outside of their US Collegiate Curling Conference. The win further extends the club’s lead in USCA Collegiate Championship merit points (points current as of Oct. 12).
The weekend started with a scrimmage against Wisconsin-Green Bay. After going down big in the early ends, the Sooners chipped away at the UWGB lead before tying it up at 6 in the seventh end. Going into the final end needing to steal one, Sooner skip Noah Gordon (Fr.) played a brilliant guard strategy to force UWGB into attempting a difficult runback to score. The UWGB rock came up narrow and missed, securing the Sooners’ victory. The bonspiel itself started bright and early on Saturday morning, when the Sooners took on Wisconsin Medical College in the quarterfinals. The Sooners jumped out to an early lead, scoring two with the hammer in the first end. The Sooners built on their early lead, stealing in the next three ends before forcing WMC to score one in the fifth end. Having regained the hammer, the Sooners scored three in the sixth to take a commanding 7-1 lead. In the seventh end, WMC scored two, handing the hammer back to the Sooners going into the eighth and final end. Needing to steal a big end, WMC tried setting up guards that were cleared away by the Sooner front end of Alex Plotkin (Sr.) and Casey Cascio (Gr.-Ph.D.), leaving vice skip Jeff Milne (Gr.-M.S.) and skip Noah Gordon (Fr.) a series of straightforward hits to close out the victory 8-3. In the semifinals, the Sooners took on 2015 USCA College Curling Champions Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Following the pattern from the night before against UWGB, the Sooners fell behind early. After 4 ends, the score was 4-1, but the Sooners managed to score two with the hammer in the fifth end. After forcing UWSP to only score one in the sixth, the Sooners again scored two in the seventh, sending the game into the eighth tied at 5. Once again, skip Noah Gordon managed to pull a steal out of his hat. The Sooners again set up plenty of guards, and the UWSP skip was left with a draw through a narrow port to win. Her draw came up heavy, and Sooner vice skip Jeff Milne swept the UWSP rock far enough to let the Sooner rock count for the win. Going into the finals against Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Sooners were confident they could replicate their success from the scrimmage earlier in the weekend. The game started well, with the Sooners forcing UWGB to score one with the hammer in the first. The Sooners took advantage with the hammer and scored two in the second to take a 2-1 lead. UWGB responded by scoring two of their own. In the fourth end, the Sooners missed a few key shots, allowing UWGB to steal and take a 4-2 lead. In the fifth end, the UWGB skip executed a nearly perfect freeze with her last rock, seemingly forcing the Sooners to take one. The small gap left, however, was just enough for Sooner skip Noah Gordon to remove the UWGB rock and keep his rock in play to score 3 and give the Sooners a 5-4 lead. The sixth end turned into a battle of hits resulting in a blank end. In the seventh, UWGB scored two with the hammer, giving the Sooners the hammer in the eighth. Following some dramatic freezes and hits by both sides, skip Noah Gordon set himself up for a draw to score two and win the bonspiel. His draw came up just a few feet long, sending the game into an extra end to determine the winner. Once again, the Sooners needed to steal to win, and once again, skip Noah Gordon played a brilliant strategy. UWGB was left with either a tough runback or a narrow port to draw through to win. UWGB’s attempt at the draw came up just long, allowing the Sooners to score three and win the game and overall tournament 9-6. |
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