HMF Log: 10/24/04

We came in as the 3 seed in the tournament behind Brown and UMass alums

Saturday was 3 rounds of pool play and the first round of the bracket.

First game was against Vermont, the 4 seed in our pool.  We come out cold
and tired, squeaking to the half 7-6.  We turn it up a notch and roll
through the second half, winning 13-7.

Next up is the 3rd team in the pool, and Mike MacKenzie's arch-rival,
Yale.  They have a small team with a couple strong players, but we
out-match them despite a sloppy second half and win it 13-8(ish).

Last pool play game is the home team UMass.  We get fired up for this one
and come out gunning.  They're an athletic team but we force a number of
bad decisions and hold onto the disc well.  We take half by a couple
breaks and keep up the intensity through the second half to run away with
it.

Pre-quarters set us up with Brandeis, another team from the Metro Boston
section.  We are never tested in this one and win handily.

For dinner we go to Fatzo Burger in Amherst.  Lbs and lbs of burgers are
demolished, while lbs and lbs of chili cheese fries go uneaten (if you
ever find yourself there, keep in mind that the small chili cheese fries
is fine for two people).  Sadly we lose the play of Willie, Mike Mac, and
Brooks and the sideline support of the injured Adi to necessary Sunday
engagements.  The rest of us go watch the Red Sox dispense of another team
in heartbreaking fashion.  Jeez someone needs to stop these guys.

Sunday morning sets up a quarterfinal matchup with sectional rival, BU.
We had just played them last Sunday and then again on Wednesday, splitting
games.  They always come out fired up against us, and this game was no
different.  We went up a break early and then traded points for a while
before giving up two breaks to let BU take half 8-7.  In the second half
they came out zone on us and we had a lot of trouble with it.  We made
lots of mental errors, lots of execution errors, and had miscommunication
problems.  On top of that, we failed to play inspired defense after
turning it over, and they rattled off a number of points on us right out
of half.  BU runs away with the game 15-8.  The silver lining in this game
is that it showed us how hard we'll need to work to achieve our goals in
the Spring.  Have no doubt that we'll get there, but it'll be thanks to
much mental and physical preparation.

We move on from the BU game to face another sectional rival, MIT in a
consolation game.  Things look better on offense and defense and we jump
out to an early lead, taking half 8-2 and keeping the lead through the
rest of the game.

The final matchup was a game of 2on2 flutter-guts, Marsh and Lei v.
Albacker and Jin.  Needless to say, the smooth hands and physical defense
of Marsh and Lei dominate, and they win it 11-8.

A grande burrito from Bueno y Sano and the two hour drive back to
Cambridge.

Jack