Sports > February 28, 2008

By Connor Swarbrick | Asst. sports editor

Well-Oiled Machine Baby, otherwise known as WOMB, is one of the many club teams on campus comprised of students who play their sport not for the fanfare or the glory but for the love of it. WOMB is the ultimate Frisbee team; however, they simply prefer to call it Ultimate.

Their passion and enjoyment is evident when watching them play and their motto, “all love no worries,” exudes this.

Ultimate Frisbee is a game of seven on seven. One team starts out with the disc and throws it downfield; this is called the pull.

A team tries to drive the 70 yard field by passing the disc. A drop is a turnover.The objective: to get it in the end zone, which is 25 yards deep.

“Ultimate is an interesting sport with a lot of strategy and is one of the most physically demanding sports I have ever played,” junior captain Wilson Cauley said.

“The Ultimate community is also a huge bonus to playing. Most teams are full of great people that are fun, but also competitive, to play with.”

This year’s team is young and relatively inexperienced. There are only two seniors.

Fall semester is a time for the freshman to get integrated and for everyone to get in shape and learn the team strategies.

They competed in two tournaments in Wilmington and Richmond.

WOMB began the Spring semester with a round robin in Raleigh, N.C., with three other teams. They were winless. They proceeded to play a tournament at Clemson. There were 11 other teams in the tournament and WOMB went 4-3 on the weekend and finished fourth.

James Madison University was the site of their tournament Feb. 22-24. The team lost to Lehigh, Richmond Central Florida and Ohio State.

Ohio State participated in Nationals last spring. WOMB picked up victories against Mary Washington and Bucknell.

“Right now the team is showing a lot of potential, but also a lot of immaturity,” junior captain Wilson Cauley said.

“Dropped throws and bad decisions are hurting us, but the athleticism and passion are definitely there.”

WOMB’s next tournament is March 14-16 at South Carolina. They have two tournaments after that to tune up for sectionals.

They will play at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Ga., March 22-23.

Their final tournament is at UNC-Wilmington.

“The biggest thing that needs to develop for us is patience,” Cauley said.

“We need to learn where the throws are and where they aren’t. Too many times we rush a decision and it turns out to be the wrong one.”

WOMB will play in sectionals, which is comprised of just North Carolina teams.

If they play well, they can move on to regionals, which is the Atlantic Coast region.

The top two teams from regionals then move onto the nationals. WOMB has aspiration of being competitive in regionals this year.

“We need to work a little harder and get in better shape to really consider ourselves competitors for regionals,” Cauley said.