May 6, 2003
Regional Champions!!! This weekend, B-Mo swept through the field at New England Regionals, bringing home a berth to Nationals and their first Regional Championship since the 2000 season.
The format was double elimination on Saturday and triple elimination on Sunday for the six teams who made it. The tourney was held at UMass.
Our first game on Saturday pitted us against the bottom seed, Bates. Final score, 15-0.
In the quarters we played against BU. BU had just come off a double game point win over Wesleyan. We came out strong and they couldn’t match us. Our offense turned it over very rarely and our fundamental defense left them with nowhere to cut. Final score: Brown 15, BU 4.
Our semifinal game was held late Saturday afternoon. Williams had crushed Harvard 15-3 in their quarters matchup and now faced us in the Regional semifinals. The game started with 65 yard put from Paul Vandenberg to a flying Josh Ziperstein. Our efficient offense continued throughout the game and our d-team came up with some stuffs and subsequent scores. We took half 8-4. Williams got a break back early in the second half, and with the sidelines steadily filling with both Brown and Williams supporters, it looked like this might be a game. The B-Mo offense held a three-point advantage until 14-11. On game point Ross Loomis forced a huge turnover. Brown punched it in, taking the semis. Final score, 15-11.
Seeding held for the finals match up. Brown vs. number two seed UMass in the finals. Both teams had relatively easy Saturdays, both outscoring their opponents 45-15 on the day.
The Regional final was a great game of ultimate. UMass and Brown play contrasting styles of Ultimate; Brown’s offense is based on aggressive cutting, breaking the mark, and continuing up the back side of the field, while Zoodisc’s offensive relies on aggressive throws to their talented receivers.
Zoodisc jumped out 3-1 lead to the start the game; their risky deep shots were paying off. Brown battled back to take a 5-4 lead, relying on trademark breakmark throws and hard cutting. Before half, an awful collision occurred between a Brown player making a post cut and UMass player poaching off to get the d. My friend Isaiah Robison, a former star of the Amherst High team and currently a top player for UMass, broke his leg in the collision. My teammates and I wish him the speediest of recoveries.
Side note: this is the second very serious injury I’ve seen in my two years of college ultimate. Both occurred when a defender poached off his man to make a play on a dump player cutting up field to catch the disc. I hope that all of you who play ultimate will think twice before attempting to make a heroic play in this situation.
After a thirty-minute delay for the medics and ambulance, the game resumed. Brown continued their strong offensive play, taking half 8-6.
After halftime, Brown stretched their lead to 12-9. UMass rallied back. Led by an absolutely amazing catch by Jeff Graham on an errant hammer and another on a poorly thrown huck, Zoodisc tied the game and 13-13. With the pressure mounting, Brown’s offense became flawless. They scored every time they received the pull. It was up to Brown’s defense to win the game. Brown got a turnover on UMass with a 15-14 lead, they marched it down to UMass’ endzone but a mishap on the goal line gave Zoo the disc and they scored to tie it up. Brown’s offense scored again. The defensive line got another turnover on a long huck that I managed to get a fingertip on. This time we got the game-winning goal. Senior Jake Keeler cut from the back of the endzone to the front cone and caught the gaming-winning goal at waist height. Final score, Brown 17-15 over UMass.
Our B team went 0-3 at Regionals but has reason to hold their heads up high. Along with gaining valuable experience, they played great Ultimate and showed their region that Brown has a strong program, not just a strong A team. The high point of the weekend for Brown B was the first five points against UMass on Saturday morning. They came out of the gates fast and hard, trading the first two points. Soon Brown fans lined up to support P-Funk. The team earned a turnover when Ari Lucas’s mark stalled the thrower. Capitalizing on the turnover, Brown B went up a break against the #2 seed at regionals. Other stand-out performances came from Elliott Jones, with two heads-up catches on deep throw deflections, and all-around contributions from Mike Buff and Dan Beswick.
Final scores:
UMass 15-4 Brown B
MIT 14-5 Brown B
McGill 12-9 Brown B
Brownian Motion is headed for Nationals! I’ll send out an email later this week with information for those who might come to Austin to support us, and those who want to help with the financial side of things.
Excited about Austin,
Neale Mahoney