Hello all-

Well, we did it. We qualified for Nationals. It's hard to describe how it feels to achieve something that, even if you quietly believed would happen all along, you absolutely doubted at various points along the way. There was something magical in the game to go against UMass... an added bounce in every step, a feeling that they would crumble any minute, a sense that we could accomplish anything that we wanted given enough hard work... It's good to be going back to the Big Show.

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This write-up is a bit of a potpourri. I got some help with it from Grant LeBeau '09, Drew Raines '09, and Jeff Ericson '09, who were both fortunate and unfortunate enough to be in my car driving back from Hanover. Here is what we came up with:

"Brown entered the tournament as the number one seed after some unexpected sectional results. UMass had lost to Amherst in the WNE Sectionals, Harvard had lost to BU in the Metro Boston Sectionals, and so despite UMass's two previous wins against BMo, BMo was seeded #1.

We were very confident coming in after playing well at Yale Cup and Sectionals, but nervous about potential match-ups against Massachusetts and Harvard. After all, UMass beat us twice at Yale Cup and Harvard nearly beat us that same weekend. We knew that we needed to play our game, and if we did, we would not go home disappointed.

Our first game of the day was against the 16th-seeded Vermont. They were decently talented and played a different style of ultimate than what we are accustomed to playing against. They reminded us a little of Conn College... lots of hucks and unexpected throws. We traded points in first half as we slowly found our legs. By the end, we were clearly the dominant team. Brown 15 Vermont 8.

We then faced 8th seeded Dartmouth and expected a competitive game. Mike Vandenberg '08 connected with Colin Mahoney '07 for the majority of our goals, but at half we trailed 8-7. We had gone up a break but had a conceded a break late in the first half to return the game to on-serve. Among the highlights of the game: Noel Fetting-Smith '09 threw a perfect deep huck to Andrew Miller '09 which Andy brought down with style. The cap went on when it was 12-12 and we responded with two breaks to take game, 14-12.

We then had a bye before facing 4th seeded Williams. We came out firing on all cylinders, taking an early 7-0 lead before it started to rain. Half was 8-1. Williams had a couple decent players. We let up early in the second half but then pulled it back together to win, 15-6.

We dined at Everything but Anchovies, which was delicious. It is unclear if we knew that it was truly Jeff Ericson '09's birthday when we ordered him cake, but nonetheless, the event was celebrated. Also, we'd like to send a big thank you to Mr. Fetting and the other parents for helping with the bill. We are poor college students- we are grateful.

Sunday morning. It never seemed like we got it together on Sunday morning. By the time the Harvard game had begun, it was confirmed that we did not have it together. Harvard scored efficiently, and quickly, and went up 1-0, and then 2-0, and then 3-0...and so it continued. The Brown sidelines did what they could to continue to believe, but the pessimism was infectious. It was 8-3 Harvard at half. At halftime, Mike Vandenberg '08 had us all take a deep breath. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Unfortunately, we needed much more than that. Harvard continued to run past us on O and to shut us down on D. While they were playing our style offense-- ruthless dumping and swinging-- we were mired in mistakes. Harvard 15 Brown 6. The only highlight of the game was Noel Fetting-Smith '09's ridiculous layout D in zone. Unfortunately, the overall negative tone of the game overshadowed this great play.

If you looked around our huddle before the game, you would see Reid Hopkins '06, Mike Pozar '05 Grad '06, and Dave Erickson Grad. You would see these fellows and think "this could be their last game of college ultimate". And, given the way we played in the previous game, there was little reason to be hopeful. Here we were coming off of a trouncing, watching Harvard celebrate, and getting moved from our field because of a children's lacrosse game-- all to end up playing UMass, the team that had beaten us twice at Yale Cup. But, looking around our circle, the prevailing sentiment was not "let's fold", it was rather, "let's give these guys another shot at playing... let's give this team another shot". After a quick pre-game chat, Coach Paul Vandenberg '05 invoked the classic "we owe these guys!", and we were off. Go big, or go home.

We came out fired up, but so did UMass- our sideline was rowdy, but so was theirs. As was mentioned in the Regionals preview- every team wants to be the one to send home National Champions. With the game tied at 4-4, Jon Greer '04 MD '08 had a go-to layout block at midfield, knocking the disc clear into the crowd. Brown promptly scored after a couple of passes and took the lead 5-4 with our first break. Fired up from that first break, Brown went on to score three in a row to take half, 8-4. The UMass crowd was silent.

After half, Brown continued to pour it on, taking the lead at 12-4. Every time we pulled to UMass, it was only a matter of time before our suffocating D would force a turnover. One too many UMass players tried to be a hero with his throws. After a lull, UMass scored a couple to make it 12-6. The final score was 15-8 with Jimmy Lowe '08 throwing to a diving Greer at the front cone to win.

There were some spectacular plays in this game. A huck to Andy Miller '09 appeared to almost be D'd by a UMass defender, but the disc made a weird parabolic trajectory after the contact... Andy stayed focused and chased it down while his UMass defender lay "helpless" on the ground. The UMass defender called a foul (at this point several Brown players had already rushed the field in celebration), which Andy immediately contested and went to the observer. The observer overruled the foul call... goal! Colin Mahoney '07 also had a sweet point block (we do not get many of those!), which was certainly the cherry on top of the proverbial delicious sundae of a tournament for Colin. We cannot forget Jeff Ericson '09 's multiple goals against UMass. Jeff made quite a splash this weekend on the O-line, getting lots of touches on the disc and scoring a bunch of goals. Lastly, it cannot go without saying that Mike Vandenberg '08 was our rock for this past weekend. Mike V. establi! shed himself as a young leader on this team, leading by both instruction and by example. Mike's steady play was exactly what we needed in an at-times frenetic weekend, especially in our games against Dartmouth, Harvard, and UMass.

After the game, there were hugs abound-- and, of course, sprints. Shortly after a few minutes of celebration with our loyal fans, we ran our annual Regionals sprints, running nineteen cross-field sprints to cap an up and down but overall great tournament. It was definitely exhausting-- but we all had a little extra to give that day."

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I'd like to thank the parents that came out to watch us. Besides the sandwiches, water, and gatorade, you all provide an intangible- emotional support. Every game you were right there, cheering us on... it really means a lot. I'd also like to thank some of our alums who came out to watch us-- Alexander Bowman '05, Joshua Champagne '05, and Daniel MacArthur '05, along with Disco alums Jen Kim '04, Blake Spitz '04, and Krissy Loening '05-- and some of our B-team guys, Daniel Beswick '06, Andrew Schwartz '07, Benjamin Frank '07, Craig McGowan '07, and Aartik Sarma '08. I hope I haven't left anyone out, but thanks to everyone who came out.

So, some other stuff:

Check out an article in the Brown Alumni Magazine about our team, the sport of ultimate, and our 2005 Callahan Award winner, Josh Ziperstein '05 (now known as "Coach Zip"). The article can be found here: http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/storydetail.cfm?ID=3098.

I'll send out an e-mail in a week and a half detailing our trip to Columbus. We are slated to play Oregon, Georgia, and UCSD in pool play: http://www2.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=122&id=2178. The website for the tournament can be found here: http://college2006.upa.org.

If you haven't contributed yet to our team, now is the time! Now that we are in the process of booking flights and hotels, your donations are more important than ever. Maybe you were holding out to see if we would make it? If so, well, we made it. Maybe you were holding out to see if you would get a tax return? Well, maybe you did, maybe you didn't... either way, donate! As many of you know, it is a privilege (and really fun) to play for this team and it should remain just that-- a privilege (and fun)-- and not a financial burden. Here is the link for that: http://www.sportsfoundation.brown.edu and select Men's ultimate.

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Our win against UMass may have been our best game of the season. One of the things we learned in that game was that it takes a team, a whole team, to wear down the opponent. UMass deserves a lot of credit for giving us one heck of a game. But, I think we deserve more credit... we deserve more credit for shaking off a dismal performance and going after UMass... we deserve credit for holding our heads high while Harvard players surrounded the winning goal scorer... we deserve credit for looking around the huddle at Reid, Po, and Dave, and resolving to win it for them. And win it we did.

Best,

Jon