fitting how the coldest day of the fall happened to be the same day as an
ultimate tournament.  this weekend's red line squad, brave guys as they
were, braved the elements and their hangovers for the early morning drive
to new haven.

we arrived late, faced with a game against so-called big rivals yale, who
seemed fresh after no traveling at all.  yet continuing the trend from
last week, the red line punished the inexperienced yale team, scoring
several upwind goals and finishing with an 8-1 victory.  next on the day's
agenda was vassar college, hailing from either colorado or new york.  
their team, also hurt by inexperience, fell victim to the red line attack,
11-1.  the final game of pool play was against top-seed yale alumni.  
after two noncompetitive games, the harvard boys were eager for some real
competition, yet it was not to be.  the red line took half 6-0 behind some
chilly upwind offense and a stifling zone, and went on to a 9-3 (?)
victory.

at this point, the troops were really getting restless.  i mean, why would
we wake up butt early to play in butt cold weather for easy ultimate
games?  hopefully we thought, wesleyan would bring some game to the table.
unfortunately, the windy weather hurt wesleyan's deep game, and coupled
with utter domination on both offense and defense, harvard blew out to an
8-0 lead.  of note, will and pat, both wearing jersey #17 scored the
game's first five goals.  coincidence?  final score, harvard 10-4.

which brought us to the tournament final for the first time this year. the
opponent, williams, considered among the best teams in our region.  it
looked like more of the same in the first half, as the harvard zone forced
many turnovers deep in williams territory, leading to several easy goals
and a 6-1 halftime lead.  but desperate for at least some competition
before the day was over, the red line loosened up a bit, allowing williams
back into the game.  williams went on a long run, eventually taking a 9-7
lead in the game to 11.  our backs were against the wall, but for the
second week in a row, nobody wanted to give in.  a solid offensive point
led to an upwind goal, and then after several harvard goals and several 
dubious williams calls bringing them back, jon pulled in a hammer to
tie the score.

at 9-9, the 2000 coffee cup championship was up for grabs.  the williams
women's team showed up and screamed their support.  on our side was loyal
red line supporter and emergency sub dan ratner and dunster blockmate
tammy, both of whom needed rides home after the game.  harvard forced a
turn shortly after the pull, and after a few short throws, the upwind goal
was ours.  10-9, and i for one, felt confident.  our defense, having
switched to man, was operating shut-down style, and williams seemed
discouraged.  yet it took at least one series of turns before a textbook
offensive play developed.  myself to shankar to dave to ... jeff streaking
toward the endzone ... getting tackled ... holding onto the disc!!  
harvard wins!!  the crowd goes wild!!

a fine way to end the day.  first tournament victory of the season, and
first of my career as far as i can remember.  play of the day candidates:
jeff's catch of course; ken made a really tough sliding catch against
yale; at least one of will's middle middle layout d's should be up there;
and hats off to the defense, we couldn't have done it without you.