April 22, 2003
This weekend Brown A, B and C teams played at Sectionals in Wesleyan.
Brown A
Brown A entered this year's South New England Sectionals as clear favorites. But as last year proved, nothing is certain. This year Brown took care of business and regained its title as Sectional champions.
On Saturday we were never challenged. The games were used as an opportunity to practice some of our offensive plays and to work on the fundamentals of defense. Players also got an opportunity to play in roles that were new to them and gain confidence in things that they were working on.
Brown A 13-0 Holy CrossOn Sunday we played in the elimination portion of the tournament. Brown played well in all their games. We were missing some key players on offense and defense, but in something that’s becoming expected on our team, other players stepped up to fill the empty shoes. Players also did a great job working on their weaknesses in the easier games on Saturday and contributing in those new ways in the higher intensity games on Sunday.
Brown A 13-0 Wesleyan B
Brown A 13-1 WPI
Brown A 13-7 Conn College
Brown A 15-1 Roger Williams (Quarters)
Brown A 15-9 Wesleyan (Semis)
Brown A 15-10 Yale (Finals)
Brown B, aka P-Funk (co-written with Vinay Ganti)
On Saturday, the games went as expected. Although Brown B put up a strong fight against both Yale and Wesleyan, the veteran teams managed to pull out the victories.
Brown B 13-5 Roger WilliamsThis put Brown B in the quarterfinals on Sunday against WPI with a bid to Regionals going to the winner. After scoring the first point, our opponents went on a 5-0 run. With a raucous A team cheering us on from the sideline, we roared back. Unfortunately the time cap came to WPI's rescue and they eked out the victory, 12-9.
Brown B 7-13 Yale
Brown B 2-13 Wesleyan
Brown B 13-1 Trinity
This put us in the chump bracket for the final bid to Regionals. In the chump semis, we rolled past Wesleyan B 15-0. In the finals we were pitted against Conn College. Hoping to avenge our defeat from last year's game-to-go, we put it all on the line. Both teams were on form, with P-Funk playing some of their best ultimate and Conn matching them point for point. The teams traded points until 7-7 when Conn broke for the half.
Coming out of halftime, Conn made a push. They stretched their lead to 12-8. With their dreams of a Regionals birth slipping away, Brown B played as though their lives were on the line. They cut Conn's lead to one at 14-13. P-Funk came up with another huge D but were unable to punch it in. Conn finally capitalized, securing their victory and the last Regionals bid.
Brown C
Brown C played on Saturday only. They had a small roster of mostly inexperienced players but battled all day long against their tough opposition.
After struggling against Yale and Wesleyan, Brown C made a strong showing against Roger Williams but found themselves overmatched against their more experienced opposition, eventually falling 13-6.
In their final game of the day, Brown C battled against Trinity College. The offense started to find a rhythm and on the defensive end the C-Funk players started running past their opponents for blocks. I witnessed double game point. Brown C received the disc and worked it up the force side. Trapped on the sideline, they turned to hit the dump, who put up a break mark huck to a streaking deep receiver for the game-winning score!
Regionals are in two weeks in Amherst. I’ll keep you posted.
Sincerely,
Neale Mahoney