[quote]By Prashant Shankar
Online Editor
Photo courtesy of Kimberly Maloney[/quote]

The Metea Valley Ultimate Frisbee Team has had a successful season so far, and even brought home its first trophy from last weekend’s Knockout tournament, earning a silver trophy in the Silver division. With the season in full swing, the Mustangs have started off strong.

“I say we’ve done very well so far,” senior Ryan Adams said. “The varsity team has played 3 games, and we’ve won all three.”

The team entered the Neuqua Knockout tournament as underdogs, starting as the 24th seed. However, they ended the pool play at 2-1, upsetting Fisher, the #1 seed in their pool, and got placed in the silver division.

“There were about 72 different teams there, and 32 in our division,” coach Jonathan Ogrodnik said. “Our biggest win was definitely [against] the number one seeded team in our pool, Fisher. We came out strong against them and went up 4-0 to start out the game, so it was a little bit of a surprise to them. We ended up winning that game 10-8, and I think that was a big confidence boost to our players.”

The team made it to the Silver Division championship game, but ultimately fell to Iowa City West High School, losing 5-13. Despite the loss, the team’s still determined to move forward, learn from their lessons, and finish the season strong.

“[The team] saw that they belong with these good teams out on the field, and that if they run our offense and defense that we’ve been working on, they can have a lot of success.” Ogrodnik said.

Even after getting their first trophy, the team still has a long way to go, as they finish the season off with Geneva, Wheaton Warrenville South, and the state tournament.

“Our plan is to just keep up our hard work, play our game the way we know how [to], and win a lot more games before state,” Adams said.