Miles and Miles of California Coast; Forty Yards of End Zone
By Sarah Ross-Viles '02 and Meera Shah '02

When it's too cold for ultimate in Rhode Island, Rhode Island frisbee players take off for California -- to the annual Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto. Disco Inferno touched down on the West Coast on March 1st, leaving behind a month of turf practices and indoor track workouts. Lead by their fabulous new coach Ted Munter, Disco took on the nations best teams -- Stanford, San Diego, Oregon, Carleton, UC Davis -- in an early season bout. Green fields greeted Brown on Saturday morning for an 8:30 game with UC Santa Barbara. Sunny, warm, breezy, no clouds…no Santa Barbara either. With no opponent for the first round, Brown took the no-show's time to work on their new plays and delve into zone, which proved to be a relevant last minute review for Brown's round two game.

UC Davis Pleides tested Disco's new zone and capitalized on gusty crosswinds against a Brown team that had been sitting too long. The Pleides scored several points right away, centering their offense around a few key handlers and a long game that Brown could not defend. Disco tried a backhand force and a very effective 2-3-2 zone to isolate and confine Davis' handler-based offense. The zone defense was like a wall, forcing Davis to make many throws and eventually lose possession to a block. Davis also threw a zone, with a threatening four-person cup and trap, forcing Disco's Meera Shah '02 and Jen Kim '04 to put exciting, but low-percentage passes over the top and into the wind. By switching between man and zone, the Pleides kept Disco from finding an offensive rhythm and scored off the resulting quick turns. However, despite a 10-4 loss at hard cap, it was a confidence-building game, in which Disco began to explore the new things they will try throughout the season.

Brown put this energy into their first point against next opponent, UC Santa Cruz. Ripping out a new play from the mind of Ted "You Don't Have to Live With my Mind" Munter, four passes took Brown to the end zone. Fire in the hole! Other successful plays followed in a game that turned into an exhibition of Brown's new power-cutting offense. Against a zone defense, the hammers of the handlers began to find receivers in poppers Rachel Weston '03 and Jessica Bloomer '05. It was Brown's game all the way as scoring machine Kira Lawrence GS pulled the disc down in Cruz's end zone again and again until it was 13-4, Brown.

The victory put Brown against Northwestern Gung-Ho in the tournament pre-quarters. A postage stamp size field made finding space a task for cutters. Jessica Guffey '02 made splendidly sick grabs in the end zone as an unfocused Brown struggled to half. After a talk from Ted, a regrouped Disco ran a short-field long game in the second half. Brown slid towards victory as Sarah "RV" Ross-Viles '02 slid over Callahan-hopeful Shelly Peyton in a bunk-bed layout. Peyton quarterbacked Gung-Ho's game as well as she could under guard of one of the nation's best defenders Pauline Lauterbach '02. The sun was setting as a hard cap closed the game at 13-8. Brown was in the championship bracket of their first tournament.

Sunday morning brought Disco up against first seed San Diego Psy-Caught-Its. The California team opened with huge hucks to layout scorers. Brown, with turf-burn fears lingering in their heads, could not match the tanned and tawny SD's physical game. With many able, speedy handlers, Psycho continued long game connections until half at 8-1. During half, Ted boosted the team and encouraged Brown to get out of the stack. Brown came back on the fields aggressively, going on a couple of runs against the fading San Diego, but running out of time for a true comeback. Brown's final score of the game was 15-6. San Diego went on to take the Stanford Invite Championship with a victory over UC Davis in the finals.

Brown came back to Rhode Island with smiles, tans, and a lot of homework to do. The weekend's most important gain was the confidence Disco built in their team and in their new coach. The lessons of Stanford fired up Brown for another round of chilly New England practices before their trip down to North Carolina, to another premier college tournament.