Chicago Machine will make a short trek to Rockford, IL next week for the USAU Club National Championship Tournament. The tournament features the top 16 teams in the country from the Men's, Women's, and Mixed divisions, and takes place over the course of 4 days (Thursday September 30th - Sunday October 3rd).
Machine enters as the 5th overall seed, putting them in a pool with Denver's Johnny Bravo (#4), Houston's HIP (#9), and Vancouver's Furious George (#16). Pool play games kick off on Thursday, followed by bracket play on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. (Full USAU Score Reporter Page)
Within the pool, Machine has only played Johnny Bravo previously in 2016. Bravo won that matchup 13-10 at the Pro-Elite challenge in Denver in early August.
New for 2016, the Nationals tournament format has been adjusted so that the First place finisher in each pool receives a bye directly to quarterfinals. Second and Third place finishers advance to pre-quarters, and Fourth place finishers are eliminated from the championship bracket.
Machine will be bushwhacking 27 deep, as the full roster is in good health and expected to attend.
Given the proximity to Chicago, spectators are encouraged to come out and watch the best men's, women's, and mixed teams compete. The field complex is at Mercy Sportscore 2 in Rockford, and tickets can be purchased in advance: https://www.ticketriver.com/event/21036.
Machine plans to have team flags marking their fields for spectators, and will be selling discs on our sidelines and Machine gear/jerseys through DiscStore's merchandise tent. In the meantime, if you would like purchase gear beforehand, you can do so online via our team store at DiscStore.
None of Machine's game's are currently slated for live streaming, but select Semi-Final matches, and all Finals games will be streamed by USAU through ESPN3.
For those interested in attending the tournament party, details can be found below:
