Hi Everyone,

B-Mo and P-Funk and Disco Inferno (our Women’s team) just returned from Spring Break in North Carolina where we had a grand old time. After trekking down in a coach last weekend, B-Mo and Disco competed at the Ultimax tournament at Eastern Carolina University (ECU). It was a great weekend, as B-Mo emerged victorious and Disco finished second.

On Saturday we played four pool-play games. We started off with the Horse-Cows of Oberlin (they had a funny cheer that went “Horse – Cows, Horse – Cows, Horse – Cows, Waffle – House”) and played relatively smoothly and efficiently and won 15-5. Next, we faced Mary Washington College. We played one of the worst halves of ultimate I’ve ever been involved with. We got roasted deep and turned the disc over on easily throws and cuts underneath. The defense was cheese-like (holey) and we went down 8-5. After a rather inflammatory half-time gathering, we went on a 10-1 run and won the game 15-9. On an interesting note here, we weren’t ‘on fire’ in the second half, we just played fundamental offense and a lot of a zone that stymied our opponents. Our final two games were pretty uneventful, as we defeated Pittsburgh and Tennessee 15-8 and 15-6 respectively. As was the case throughout the day, we played up and down with sloppy moments balanced by spectacular plays. Particularly memorable was the way Dan Macarthur and Michael Buff dominated Tennessee’s main handler, shutting him down on cuts and then roasting him on the turn. DanMac, especially, silently destroyed (as he always does) this loud-mouthed and call-happy opponent and made him look quite foolish.

We started off Sunday with a pre-quarterfinal match-up with our local brethren from Williams College. Solid play all-around led to a 13-8 win. Next we faced Dartmouth, and fueled by some silly sideline cheers (including one about “Spring Break Shark Attack,” an absurd CBS feature movie, where we’d run on the field yelling the aforementioned title with shark fins on our foreheads) we took a 13-4 lead and held on to win 15-10. Neale Mahoney made an amazing come-to layout block in this game and RISD freshman Jonas Levy also skied a host of players with a sweet grab. Again, as was the case on Saturday, these games were inconsistent and we were still seeking that ‘complete game’ that Jarrod had set as a weekend goal. In the semifinals we came closer then we had all weekend. Zip returned from Team-USA World Games practice in California (he’s on the National Team!!) and his super play added another dimension to B-Mo. Our defense stepped it up and shut down Harvard’s cutters and our O scored with ease. The final score was 15-9.

In the tournament finals we faced Florida, a talented team that had made the finals at Centex the previous week and were the ranked #1 in the country! After getting broken twice to start the game (our O struggled initially with their zone) we began to play like we hadn’t all tournament. Our D-team started to outwork their tired, short-manned O-team and our O began to score easily and efficiently. Suddenly B-Mo was getting breaks and Florida was fading. Many D-team hucks to Colin Mahoney and Ben Saper and O-line cuts by Jarrod Lynn resulted in goals. Despite some successful hammers and scoobers by the gung-ho Florida players B-Mo used consistency to emerge as Ultimax Champions in a 17-13 victory.

We spent the next week at a beach house on Oak Island, NC. The highlights of this trip will not be shared as they are quite wild. It was really fun, though, and it was great to relax and play on the beach.

So now we have to focus on our schoolwork and prepare for this weekend’s Yale Cup. We will be practicing outside and are chomping at the bit to get out there on grass and improve. We will. The Yale Cup can be followed online at www.scoreomatic.com although the exact details are not up yet.

Best wishes to all,
Colin