here's the official recap of san diego 2002:

thursday and friday - we got to southern california and basically went on
vacation.  sleeping, eating, going to the beach, that was it.  and of
course a little van ride down to mexico, which is something like tradition
now.  by friday night, the Red Line was relaxed and ready to run.

saturday - first game vs. ucla, we went ahead early and held the lead.
very few Harvard turnovers, impressive for our first game outside in
months.  a great layout score by pat dolan gave us a boost in the first
half.  final score, 13-7, with contributions from everyone in the lineup.

second game vs. berkely, our big game of the day, since they were 2nd seed
and us 3rd seed in the pool, and a win would likely secure a spot in one
of sunday's power pools.  there was some rivalry too, since we beat them
last year in san diego to finish 9th in the tournament.  this game was all
about hustle.  after a couple huck scores by cal early on, we shut down
their deep game, and our defense was very strong the rest of the way.
taking a 7-4 lead into half, we came out with a smothering zone d that put
us ahead 8-4.  toby caught a nice huck for a goal with a defender tackling
him in the endzone.  and jeff had a spectacular layout d on an attempted
dump -- definitely the play of the game.  final score, 13-9.

next vs. colorado, something of a letdown performance after the game
before.  we came out slow and sloppy as mamabird took a 6-1 lead.  showing
a lot of determination, the Red Line came back to 6-4 ... then didn't
score again, final score 4-13.  last game vs. stanford b, a 13-3 victory
where a lot of the young guys played well.  the bad news in this game came
in the first point, when dave layed out and broke his right hand - a real
tough injury for dave and the team.

sunday - we're in the power pool with our first game vs. duke, a team we
didn't get to play at nationals last year.  the weather was a problem,
especially without kallin, as we had trouble moving the disc against a
tough wind.  after falling behind early, we tied things up 5-5, then
traded points until duke scored upwind to take a 10-8 lead.  we allowed
several huck scores in the second half that made things easier for duke,
and had trouble converting ourselves.  final score, 10-12 in a game we
definitely could have won.

and that was it ... the rain started falling, and after our second round
bye, we came back from the supermarket to find the rest of the day's games
cancelled.  that pretty much sucked, since it was going to be a great day
of ultimate.  but our spirits were raised by a well-timed krispy kreme
delivery from loyal fan angie chen, then our discovery that california
sells beer on sundays.  huge.  the day was salvaged, and at night, well,
all i can say is "andrew fleming gone wild."  can you "say down in one"?
a strong showing by all at the tournament party actually, including a
winning boat race vs. ucsd ... a little something to set the stage for the
next day's game.

monday - the now 6th seeded Red Line was matched against host UCSD, now
seeded 3rd, in the tournament quarterfinals.  this promised to be a good
matchup, and we quickly shook off any kind of fatigue/hangover to take a
2-0 lead.  san diego stormed back, though, taking a 3-2 lead, and
eventually a 7-5 lead into halftime.  too many unforced turnovers were the
problem here, and at halftime, we all promised to stop throwing the disc
away.  at first, i wasn't sure if we had a chance, as san diego widened
their lead to 9-6.  from this point though, our defense turned into
something like a brick wall, while our offense managed to work in some
goals.  then at 9-8, andrew fleming basically went on a mission, making a
game saving layout d in the endzone and a fantastic hammer catch on the
sidelines, allowing us to maintain possession and eventually tie the score
at 9-9.  on the ensuing pull, the first throw went to fleming's man, who
wound up for a backhand huck, only to be STOPPED COLD by a layout point
block.  no kidding, we even have it on video.  san diego was a little
shocked, and we went jugular.  skippy to will, like clockwork, and that
was the winning goal as the hard cap had gone on during the point.  Final
score, 10-9.

next up was 2nd seed oregon in the semifinals, and they came out and
played very well.  we were pretty tired from the game before, oregon
wasn't.  they layed out all over the place, we didn't.  and no surprise,
they kicked our butts.  final score 2-13.  colorado over oregon 15-13 in
the finals.

overall, lots of highlights and some lowlights from this tournament.  we
were 2-1 in close games, and 1-1 after dave got injured.  the team came
together very well, even as it was our first outdoor tournament.  sideline
support was excellent, and for the most part, everyone played well when
called upon to play.  the problems came against oregon and colorado, who
we did not match in energy or execution ... this can and will change, with
more game experience and hard work at practice.

get psyched for a great spring guys,
skippy