To the Red Line,

Here's a quick recap of our weekend in Maine:

saturday, game 1 vs. Youth-and-age-ia --- This game unfortunately got
started way behind schedule, since our opponents showed up really late.
And that hurt us when we went down 3-0.  Our offense was kind of sloppy,
and our defense kind of lazy, but we managed to pull even at 6, with the
game capped at 8.  We then gave up two deep scores, though, and finished
with a disappointing 8-6 loss.  A second disappointing loss was Fleming,
who got taken out by an out of control defender ... we missed his deep
cuts all weekend.

game 2 vs. Red Tide --- This would be our toughest opponent of the
tournament, the host team, eventual tournament runner up, and a bunch of
really solid athletic ultimate players.  We definitely weren't intimidated
though, as we came out intense, especially on D, and traded the first few
points.  Their zone gave us trouble at the end of the first half, and Red
Tide was up 8-4 at the break.  It would have been easy to tank it then,
but we came out and scored the first 2 points of the half.  After that,
the game got capped, and we wound up losing 10-6.  Still, the intensity in
this game really set the tone for the rest of the day.

game 3 vs. Swell --- Our weakest opponent of the day, 5th seed in our
pool.  We won easily 15-4, but the reason it was so easy was because we
came out intense on defense and played really smart offense.  Our
opponents scored more points in their other games, but we never let them
get in the game.  Great work by everyone in this game, including the "all
future team" that won a few points.

game 4 vs. Brown --- There's all kinds of great things to say about this
game.  Bottom line, we turned the disc only 6 times in 25 points, led the
entire game, and answered every Brown score with one of our own, winning
convincingly 15-10.

This game was all about intensity and focus.  Great defensive pressure
starting from the first point forced some early Brown turnovers, and gave
us great field position on offense.  And when we got the disc, we had
great concentration on our throws.  A kickass game for everyone, but
special mention for mr. layout, "Jeffe" Listfield for really leading our
defense.  Everyone though, try to remember your mindset for this game, and
work on recreating it for next tournament.  Because that intensity is what
it takes.

the party --- several boatraces ... i'm pretty sure we came away with a
winning record, but my memory isn't all that.  and breakfast beauty
contest winners ... the lovely pat dolan and the pre-breakfast favorite,
piotr "hot potatoes" dollar

sunday, game 1 vs. Red Tired --- These guys were pretty good, but true to
their name, slow and lazy.  Missing Andrew, Will, and Pat though, we
needed everyone to step up and really play.  After a slow start trading
points, we started to put some points together, eventually running away
with a 13-7 victory.  Great contributions from everyone in this game!

game 2 vs. Brown Alumni + Friends --- This was the tallest team I remember
ever playing against, with no kidding, about 6 or 7 guys over six feet.
And they were pretty good, with a few Brown guys from their national
championship team of two years ago.  We had our chances in this game, but
too many early turnovers created a hole we could never quite dig out from.
We were down by 2-3 points all game, and eventually lost 12-9 in a
cap-shortened game.

Overall, a successful tournament, and definitely a lot of fun.  But what I
walked away with was knowing how hard we have to play to beat good teams
like Brown.  If we don't play hard, winning is a big struggle.  But with
this team, we can win every game if we want it!

Skippy