When sophomore Kali Pace realized that UW-Eau Claire didn’t have an ultimate Frisbee team, she found people to play, went through the paperwork to make it a club sport and formed the team that took second place in its own tournament last weekend.

The team has played in four tournaments this fall, including last weekend’s, which was the first ultimate Frisbee tournament Eau Claire has ever hosted.

“We played probably the best we ever have as a team – which was very exciting,” Pace said.

Nine teams played at the tournament at the soccer complex on Hamilton Road.

Carleton College of Northfield, Minn., took first place in the tournament.

“Carleton is an amazing team. They go to nationals every year. Hopefully we can achieve their status some time,” Pace said.

Brian Babbitt, a sophomore and Frisbee team member, said they made a six-point comeback in Sunday’s championship game against Carleton when his teammate, sophomore Eddie Arpin, broke his arm.

The score was 9-7 in favor of Carleton, when Arpin broke his arm, and the final score was 15-7.

“We weren’t as focused after (he broke his arm),” Babbitt said.

Ted Tripoli, a freshman, said his team didn’t play as well after that, and it didn’t help that the other team got to rest so much.

“It was kind of weird,” Tripoli said. “It was the first time I ever saw an injury that bad in a Frisbee game.”

Pace has played ultimate Frisbee for four years, and wasn’t about to give it up when Eau Claire didn’t offer the sport.

“The sport itself is relatively unknown, but it is growing fast,” Pace said.

She said she began forming the team last fall by rounding up people to play weekly scrimmages among themselves. She decided to make it a sports club after seeing the amount of interest in the increasingly popular athletic event.

“I guess you could say it is a little bit like soccer, but with a Frisbee instead of a ball,” Pace said.

She described the sport as a fast-paced game with seven members from each team on the field at a time. The object is to pass the disc to get it into the end zone.

About 20 tournament team members and more than 100 non-competitive club members are participating this semester, Pace said.

“I think we have a lot of interest for being such a new addition to campus,” she said.

Ultimate Frisbee is open to anyone, Pace said. Practices are held from 10 p.m. to midnight Sunday and Monday.