Hi all-

I will be sending out two e-mails today, if you can believe it, so just hang tight. This first e-mail is a recap of Sectionals action. It includes content about our A, B, and C teams, with a spotlight on the B team (with special guest author, Craig McGowan). I know there are a bunch of PFunk alums on this listserv so I wanted to give them some love. I'll send out another e-mail detailing Regionals- where it is, what we're doing, etc. shortly thereafter.

Brownian Motion has won the South New England Sectional championship, with victories over Roger Williams (15-2) and Wesleyan (15-6) on Sunday, following a 4-0 day of Pool play the previous Saturday. We will be playing in Hanover, NH, at Dartmouth, this coming weekend (more on this in the 2nd e-mail).

Our B and C teams were out in force these past two weekends. CFunk finished its season with an 8-13 record. By the way, 8 wins is the most wins by any C-team in the country. After losing to Yale and Conn College, CFunk rallied in its next two games, to beat Hartford 13-1 and Connecticut-B 7-5. After losing to two straight A teams, WPI and Clark, Brown C rolled Hartford yet again, 10-5. Congrats to the men of Brown-C for a great season, and good luck at Burple Valley this upcoming weekend.

PFunk fell just short of qualifying for Regionals this year, following their 7th place finish last year. Craig McGowan '07, a veteran of PFunk, is our guest author for today. His write-up is below.

Best,

Jon

PFunk Sectionals -

Polyester Funkadelic came into Southern New England Sectionals looking to gain a bid to Regionals for the second year in a row. PFunk entered the tournament as the fifth seed and, with only four bids to Regionals, had its work cut out for it.

Seeded second in our pool, we played our first game against the eleventh seeded University of Rhode Island. PFunk came out flatter than the state of Iowa, and URI quickly ran out to a 4-1 lead. After a timeout, PFunk went on a 4-0 run before trading points to the half, which URI took 7-6. The game continued to go back and forth, and the cap went on with Brown up 10-9. However, URI refused to go away, and the game was tied at 12 when Rich Nicholson '07 took over. After torching his man for a huck to put PFunk up by one, he simply outwilled his defender to get open at the cone and score the winning point and give PFunk the 14-12 victory.

That game was a real wakeup call for the team, who had expected to roll over URI and Bryant University in our first two games. We kept the intensity high in the beginning of the game against Bryant, jumping out to a quick lead on several monster D's by Tom Murphy '09 and Kareem Reda '07. PFunk took half 7-3, then proceeded to let Bryant work its way back into the game. After some brief inspirational words from captain Andrew 'Moose' Schwartz '07, PFunk dominated the rest of the game, winning 13-9.

These games simply led up to the marquee matchup of the day, pitting #4 Roger Williams University against #5 PFunk. PFunk kept the intensity high and RWU matched it. RWU scored several quick points off hucks by Teddy Brower-Jarus, one of the best players in the region. PFunk kept it tight even as RWU took half 7-4. We knew we were playing the best ultimate we had all day, and knew that we needed to take advantage of RWU's minimal subbing and simply run them into the ground. PFunk exploded in the second half, as Dan Beswick '06 simply shut down Teddy on the mark while the downfield defense suffocated the cutters. PFunk pulled to within 9-8, but some goal line turnovers spelled doom for Brown, and RWU pulled away for the 13-8 victory.

Finishing 2-1, PFunk drops to the 2nd/3rd bracket for next weekend's conclusion. Our first game is against Holy Cross, a team we beat 13-1 at Lemony Fresh. If this weekend has taught us anything, however, it's not to look past anyone, and we look forward to taking it to them and fighting our way back to Regionals for the second year.

Holy Cross Purple Haze came out ready to play with an effective force-middle man defense, taking half on PFunk 8-5. The realization that this could be the last game of our season was right in the front of our mind as we started the second half. Our defense stepped up big and our handlers kept it chilly as we worked our way back into the game, tying it at 13 - universe point. PFunk received the pull on universe point and worked it up to the goal line, where a stall 9 push pass from Ben Frank '07 to Andrew Schwartz '07 gave PFunk the 14-13 victory.

The victory put us in line for our big rematch against Yale. Last year at Sectionals, PFunk dismantled Yale 13-9 in the semifinals. This year, Superfly was out for blood. There was a strong wind the length of the field, and the game was even to 5 when Yale got a big upwind break. They followed with a downwind break, and took half 8-6. Coming out of the half, Yale got another big upwind break to lead 10-6. PFunk finally got an upwind point to bring the game to 11-8, but Yale was able to pull out the 14-10 victory. PFunk played suffocating defense the entire game, but too many unforced errors ultimately spelled doom. Bad luck didn't help, as Kareem Reda '07 had three point blocks that were held aloft by the wind and ultimate caught by Yale.

The loss dropped us to the 4th/5th bracket. With only four bids to Regionals, we needed to win the next two games to keep our season going. Connecticut College was the first team in the way of that goal. Cheered on by our supporters and BMo, PFunk fought through Conn's four man cup and kept it close, down 8-6 at the half. Some shaky PFunk marks at the beginning of the game let Conn get an early lead, and they never looked back. The game was marred by some suspect calls by both teams, and Conn ultimately prevailed 14-11. In the game to go, Conn defeated RWU to get the last bid to Regionals.

Even though our season is over earlier than we would have liked, we think it's important to keep it in perspective. PFunk is a B-team that regularly competes with A-teams, earning an invite to Ultimax this year and playing some of the nation's top teams. We look forward to improving over the summer and fall and coming back to Regionals in 2007.