College Regionals at Princeton, 4 & 5 May, 1996

Tournament report by Mark Parris

Straight to Individual highlights

To be honest, this was all just a haze. I couldn't get to sleep Friday night and wasn't thinking real clearly on Saturday.

This was Darkside's first trip to regionals and our longest trip ever and it was during exams. Normally, this might mean a short handed squad but not this time. We took 14 men along with 2 members of Pleiades to cheer us on: Alan Hoyle, Dave Luebke, Ryan Brown, Cory Barlow, Carl Erikson, Shane Greene, Aron Hall, JJ, Bill Mark, Albert Monroe, Mark Parris, Cliff Reinhardt, Chris Rodning, Andrew Ross, Margo Hasselman, and Emily Larson. Alan and Dave were playing in their last college tournament. Ryan's season ended during our game with UNC-W. More on that below.

Well, Darkside made the long drive to NJ on Friday and, after braving the New Jersey U-Turns (I didn't say Turnpike Cliff) which consist of 5 lefts and a right we arrived at times ranging from 1:30am to 4:00am. Andrew and Ryan, ignoring Margo's sage advice to look for us, chose to sleep in the car. Since Aron and I were going to share the room with them (we left discs in the window) we got the room to ourselves! The next morning we made our way to Princeton to find fields covered with pee wee league lacrosse and soccer. We had to deduce our seed but we think we were seeded 10th and scheduled to play CMU (#7). It was about then that Ryan realized he had left his cleats at the hotel so Margo and Emily took off to drive the 40 minute round-trip back to the hotel. About the same time, Shane locked up his Bronco with the keys inside (and we found we had to drive to the other fields.) A bit of crowding got us there though. While we warmed up I sought out Matt "I'll be 30 my next birthday" Weiss to determine which of us has claim to "oldest player in college ultimate". His birthday is over 6 months away though so my claim (I'll be 30 May 20th) remains unchallenged. Besides, this is his last year of eligibility. I know you all are deeply concerned about this so I wanted to explain it at length. Before the game Cliff also unveiled something most of thought we would never see, his new pair of cleats. (We were pleased to learn he could still fly with them - must not be the shoes).

So, the game began. We started out taking a quick lead but then they fought back. It was close throughout as we tried a variety of defensive strategies, zone, clam, man, more zone. Ryan tried several different pairs of shoes before Margo and Emily returned with his cleats. Carl gave an excellent defensive performance using positioning against a taller and extremely athletic player that he knew from college, managing to defend 5 or 6 hucks to 1 or 2 completions. I'm pretty sure they had the lead around 11-10 or so. The cap was at 13 and we took the lead 12-11 but they answered to tie the game. We had the disc and worked down the field when I saw Carl down the sideline. I put up a flick that went well over Carl's head but Ryan was there to save the day sliding in on his knees to avert disaster with a catch just in front of the endzone. As the stall count climbed, the defenders poached toward the front of the endzone and Ryan spotted Cliff standing open in the back corner. A high looping forehand and a sky-climb by Cliff won the game, 13-12. As we shook hands after the game Matt Weiss said, "you know what comes now." "Sumo?," I asked and "Sumo!" he replied. CMU's cheer invited the match. This was to be no ordinary Sumo match. Matt began to strip off almost all unnecessary clothing, right down to his compression shorts, just like the ones I wear. He even has the same tan lines (he hiked up the shorts' legs to make them basically briefs.) Having just read up on Sumo, I knew that psychological warfare was a big part of the match so I made sure he was watching when I pulled off my hat to display my top knot and then informed him of my recent trip to Japan and readings on Sumo. By this point both teams were getting loud and grabbing cameras while the games on the adjoining fields stopped to puzzle over what exactly we were doing. Unfortunately, my studying was no match for his 40 lb. mass advantage and after toying with me he easily rolled me over his hip as he pretended to give ground. He gave me a second chance (so more folks could take pictures) but he simply beat me with the same manuever. He has mass. I have age. And my team got to play UNC-W (that was a reward?).

So, we moved over to face UNC-W. I was really proud of the way we played in this game. I've felt in the past that we've allowed ourselves to be intimidated by certain teams, UNC-W among them. I didn't see that on Saturday. We traded points to 2-2, refusing to back down on calls, and working the disc well. There were cheap plays though. Holding the disc against Dave Luebke's chest while the cup caught up and then simply saying "yes it was" when Dave called "Foul" was one of the most blatant examples.

However, the most disturbing had to be the disregard for personal safety exhibited by the player covering Ryan as he cut for a score. Ryan sprinted to the disc and his body was completely between the defender and the disc so the defender laid out into Ryan's back (one arm on either side of his neck). They went down and as he rolled over Ryan he twisted Ryan's shoulder in a way that was never intended (and then contested the foul). Fortunately, EMT Vic Kahmi was watching the game and with the assistance of a Swarthmore player (also an EMT) they were able to give Ryan proper care until he was taken to the hospital. We originally thought his shoulder was dislocated but it was actually torn ligaments (neither of which is good) and Ryan will probably have surgery after meeting with a doctor here.

We continued the game, with UNC-W agreeing that there was a foul (sheesh!). We scored twice more including a finger tip catch by "the boy" (Aron) that was followed by a walk around stare down of the player who had been taunting him through out the point. Hmm... The final score was 13-4. As always, it's worth mentioning that not ALL of the UNC-W players seemed to be jerks. One even called a foul on himself. They do have a significant number though.

This loss moved us into the elimination bracket (it was a double-elim format) and we moved back to the original fields for a match with Penn St. Duke gave us some info on the Penn St. squad and we tried to match up wisely. We played this game for Ryan and we came out hot, leading 6-4 but they went on a run to take the half 8-6. We made some defensive adjustments, putting Carl on their amazingly quick handler and doing a bit of poaching and narrowed the score. Ryan returned from the hospital to watch and our spirits bolstered but we still found ourselves looking at a 13-12 deficit with the cap at 14. We sucked it up and moved the disc down the field until a swing to Shane led to a nice flow pass to Chris who was cutting across the endzone to tie the score. So, game point with us pulling to them. Both teams turned the disc over once before their second turn-over put us on the sideline about 20 yards from the endzone. I picked up the disc and called Shane to Alan to Carl (I thought we were further away). They forced me backhand down the line and Shane made a cardinal cut down the line to run down a coasting back-hand for the game winner. 14-13.

This left us playing Princeton for the right to advance to Sunday. We were exhausted. Several folks had dropped out or were getting limited playing time due to injuries. They used a zone to man-to-man transition very effectively to keep us from running a set play off the pull. To be honest, the game turned into a rout. We never gave up and had some beautiful sequences but we also had lapses, mental and physical that allowed them to go on runs. As they led 16-5 (game to 17) we did manage to come through for our "seniors" as we put Dave and Alan back into the game and they both involved in our final score; so what if I threaded a needle, bounced it at a right angle off of Alan's hands and into Dave's before he threw the score to Carl - they were still both involved! The final score was a frustrating 17-6. I believe the score would have been much closer (and possibly the other way) earlier in the day. I hope we will all recall this game as the one that demonstrates the value of conditioning and mixing defenses as we prepare for next spring.

Darkside finished another tournament with a .500 record and did better than we were originally seeded. Our final season record was 13-11 against college teams, 15-12 overall. Here are the scores I have:

DateWinning teamscoreLosing teamscore
03/16/96North Carolina15William and Mary 9
03/16/96Carleton15North Carolina3
03/16/96Williams15North Carolina6
03/17/96North Carolina15Guilford College11
03/17/96North Carolina17U. Penn.14
03/17/96Macalester15North Carolina8
03/30/96East Carolina13North Carolina4
03/30/96North Carolina9Guilford College6
03/30/96North Carolina14Davidson6
03/30/96North Carolina8S.U.N.Y. Purchase0
03/31/96Appalachian State11North Carolina7
03/31/96Appalachian State12North Carolina4
04/13/96North Carolina11Lehigh8
04/13/96William & Mary Alumni *13North Carolina6
04/13/96North Carolina10Maryland4
04/13/96North Carolina13Drew5
04/14/96Clemson11North Carolina9
04/14/96North Carolina13U. Penn.8
04/14/96North Carolina13La-de-da *2
04/20/96North Carolina15Occam's Razor *13
04/28/96Appalachian State13North Carolina6
04/28/96North Carolina13Virginia7
04/28/96Duke13North Carolina8
05/04/96North Carolina13Carnegie Mellon12
05/04/96UNC-Wilmington13North Carolina4
05/04/96North Carolina14Penn. St.13
05/04/96Princeton17North Carolina6
Totals:
Spring 1996Opponents279North Carolina264

* = Club team

Throw in our forfeit wins over Johns Hopkins, Davidson, and (who?) and we were 18-12. Personally, I think we were 15-12 and I'm very happy with that; we were 9-18 last year. We lose only 2 players (major contributors though they are) and I am really looking forward to next year. It should rock. BTW, my fellowship was renewed so I *will* be here. :-)

It's been a good year Darkside. And next year will be better.

It should be noted that our final result put us tied with Dook for 7th/8th in the Mid-Atlantic region. They also lost in the last round on Saturday (against U Penn). NC State and UNC-W go to Nationals as 6 NC teams finish in the top 8.


Individual highlights

Individual highlights with help from Carl. (Ok, so Carl wrote it and Mark just made a couple of additions, ok?!)

Ryan

Picking up swill, throwing the game winner to Cliff against CMU, sacrificing his body for the team (not that he did it intentionally nor was it a highlight), returning from the hospital to cheer us on.

Mark

Getting hit in the Wilmington game, deep throw to Chris Rodning, up the line pass to Shane for the game winning score against Penn State.

Carl

Matched up on the hurdler against CMU and kept him in check. that guy would have destroyed us in the past. Cuts to bail us out all over and long, hard running in the Penn. St. game. Figured out how to get some D on the little guy from Penn St.

Dave

Getting hit in the Princeton game, inside out deep throw score against CMU, quick reflexes for the pass that bounced off of Alan.

Chris

Layout D's, especially the one against Princeton where he flew over the guy's back to knock the disc away when they were almost about to score. Nice cuts, especially flow in the endzone.

Andrew

Consistent catching, liked the D where he ran half field to barely knock a hammer away in the Penn State game. Good cuts.

JJ

Ran down a huck in the CMU game and scored and then kept on running into the bandstand area.

Albert

Skied in the CMU game with 3 CMU people around him to catch the disc in the endzone.

Cliff

Skied over 8' people for the disc, skying machine, intercepted a huck about 15 yards in front of their tall receiver, going UP!

Bill

Consistent catching, good judgement with disc, as usual. nice cuts back to the disc.

Aaron

The one handed grab in the endzone against Wilmington and then "the boy" showed some attitude.

Cory

The sky in the CMU game where he caught it with one finger (rock climbing I guess) and then held it aloft as he came down. Backing up into the big Redneck at the toll gate in Delaware. "Boy, you can't drive worth shit!"

Shane

The game winning score against Penn State - he knew he had it all the way, the Intimidator

Alan

Layout D when a pick was called, nice deep throws, good judgement, great pulls, also layed out some. The Dog which relieved itself on his foot as Penn St. cheered us.

Emily

Cheering

Margo

Cheering.

Billy

Cheering us on, (made sure we knew we needed to stop the run).


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Last modified: 8 May, 1996

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