By Christian Cullen, Staff Writer

Before last week’s tornado began on Wednesday night, the local titans, Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati, met at Nippert Stadium for the Ultimate Frisbee Crosstown Shootout.

BLOB, Xavier’s men’s ultimate team, and Ignition, Xavier’s women’s ultimate team, played against Ultimate Cincy and Cincy Toxic, respectively. While BLOB fell to Ultimate Cincy 17-11 and Ignition fell to Toxic in a 10-9 loss, both teams felt optimistic about the remainder of the season.

“This game was the closest it’s ever been the entire time I’ve been here. It was 13-0 two years ago, so to be that close in my last year is awesome,” Ignition captain and senior Lucy Michel said.

“This is a D-1 team that we went up against today. Our goal today was to make the most of what we had. We went out there and scored multiple times against their starting D-Line and broke them multiple times. It was a great performance of grit and effort, which is what this team is really about,” junior Jonas Dargis said about BLOB’s performance.

Ignition roared to a first half-lead, supported by an active and loud alumni section. While the momentum stalled in the second half, Ignition did score the final point of the game to cut the lead to 10-9. Unfortunately, the game was called at that point due to time. 

“We’ve really had consistent improvement over the spring semester. Two tournaments ago, we finished fourth out of nine, and last tournament we were third out of eight. What really clicked for us is that we had five or six new rookies that came in from the fall to spring semesters, and their athleticism combined with our upperclassmen experience and leadership,” junior Roz Thompson said.

BLOB got off to a physical start with Ultimate Cincy, with multiple stoppages in play and a few injuries. The game was tight initially, but Ultimate Cincy did stretch the lead to 9-5 at halftime. BLOB fought valiantly, with senior Aidan Dwyer making one or two impressive diving catches and senior Andrew Templeton anchoring the defense deep. 

They were unable to overcome the deficit, but did score some late points to get the final score to 17-11. Junior Aidan Foley was also undeterred by the result, staying positive throughout.

“I think this shows the character of this team. We’re a really young squad, with 10-12 guys who’ve never played this sport before. That’s better than we did last year with a lot of veteran guys. It feels really good to have positive results like that at this early stage for them,” Foley said. 

Similar to the future St John’s-Xavier matchups, this game was a family affair. Senior BLOB captain Brian Huber faced off against his little brother CJ, giving the already heated rivalry matchup a little extra stakes. While CJ won this game, both brothers expressed their joy at getting to participate in the sport they love against each other.

An unavoidable part of the game was that it was the last Crosstown for many of the players. 

“I am obviously a little disappointed that we lost, but I had such a great time. The vibe of this hasn’t changed over the past four years. We just have a lot of fun with each other on the sidelines and on the field. It’s a great, supportive bunch that I am happy to be around every year,” Dwyer said, reflecting on his experience in his last Crosstown game.