1997 COLLEGE EASTERNS

The 8th Annual College Easterns tournament was held in Wilmington, NC on March 15 and 16. I've got Hoosier blood and I primarily made the trip to watch Indiana University get smothered in pool play by wily East Coast teams. I faked my way into the reporting gig and arrived midway on Saturday to throw down with the heralded and hated North Carolina Ultimate scene.

SATURDAY OPEN POOL PLAY

I was quickly witness to the grisly process of point differentials. Wesleyan, Hampshire-Amherst-Umass, and Indiana all squared up at 2-2 at the end of the day, while Upenn placed fifth. Ever-vigilant tournament director Broc Adams had to make a quick decision for placement: "Let's see - how did we get screwed at Nationals last year?" The answer: Point differential amongst the three teams, then head-to-head. The Hampshire ringers stole second from Wesleyan and my Indiana boys got the boot to the B-bracket based purely on regional strength. Ouch, that's gotta hurt. No, that's not true about the regional thing.

The South did not disappoint. Florida surprised many, garnering second place after defeating a tired Yale team 12-9 in the final game of the day. They were seeded fifth. Princeton and Swarthmore finished out of the hunt while ECU came out undefeated.

The "Triangle in the Triangle" proved themselves to no one's surprise. All three teams with 'Carolina' in their name went 4-0 in their respective pools. Most impressive was UNC-Wilmington. Rangy and experienced they had little difficulty taking care of Oberlin, Appalachian State, Clemson and Occidental.

NC State, however, was lucky to escape a gritty Wesleyan team with a 13-12 victory after Bryan Snyder snapped a 65 yard forehand strike to Kevin Kusy in the end zone after Wesleyan stalled the disc 15 yards from their own goal line.

Other Saturday play went as expected, although Cornell, Colorado and Georgia were heating up the D pool with tight matches against each other. Cornell won the pool, with Colorado in second, Georgia third and Rutgers and Maryland rounding it out.

SATURDAY EVENING

The home of the North Carolina movie industry lived up to its hype. Sighted Hollywood stars included Robert DeNiro, Nick Nolte and Juliette Lewis sharing drinks by the fields and playing a hearty round of Fantasy Ultimate. The party likewise had its silverscreen connections as rumor spread that Dennis Hopper owned the bar where the festivities were being held. Apparently he was last sighted offering drugs to teenagers near the infamous "kibosh" gong. I wisely eschewed the kibosh for some excellent blues-reggae on the top floor. I think Hopper won the party.

SUNDAY OPEN

The first round of Sunday went according to seeding: Wesleyan squeaked by the first-year Florida team 12-10, Yale Superfly finished the pesky Hampshire combo squad 12-6, Georgia was able to beat a tough Appalachian State team 11-7 and Colorado smoked left coast cohorts Occidental 15-6.

Occidental might have been a little drained. They had cut classes to jump a plane out of LA-CA land only to discover that the flight had been canceled. Thinking fast they managed to bag another plane from their travel agent with threats of anarchy and found their way to Wilmington with no further trouble.

QUARTERFINALS AND SEMIFINALS

A Northeast donnybrook was established as Cornell faced Yale. Georgia was ready to play East Carolina and NC State began to prepare for their first game of the day against Colorado. UNCW began gearing up for Sunday play with the persistent Wesleyan team.

Yale came out strong. They went up 5-2 over the Buds and looked to return the upset favor they had been handed Saturday. But the Buds started smoking and took half 8-7. Points were traded for awhile before Cornell decided the fun was over and won 15-10 going away.

Similarly, underdogs Colorado had jumped out to a 5-2 lead over NC State. But Colorado was on a mission. A stolen game mission. They substituted freely and ran onto the field after hot scores, breeding a nasty infighting among the Jinx squad. The Mamabird swooped half 8-3 and finally soared to a 15-6 victory over stunned NC State. The rumors reaching the Carolina shore proved to be true: this was a team looking to ruffle some feathers and they had the talent to do it.

Meanwhile, both East Carolina and UNC-Wilmington had taken leads as expected. But whereas UNCW was able to keep a comfortable 3-4 points ahead of Wesleyan, the Irates couldn't hold their 5-2 margin over Georgia and soon became involved in quite a dogfight. UNCW won 15-8 and ECU......

....had a boisterous sideline unaccustomed to having little effect on their opponents. Georgia played without care and they played hard, never bothered by the ponytailed ECU team. Led by the backcourt trio of Will Deaver, Mike Altman and Rob Barrett, they fielded perhaps the most talented starting seven in the tournament.

At 5-3 ECU initiated a tough 5-man zone with some resemblance to a Clam. The zone was effective and forced some turnovers. But the Irates couldn't convert and Georgia was able to recover and patiently work 40-50 throws into the end zone to close within 1. They proceeded to knot the game at 5's and take half 8-7.

Points were traded to 9-8 after neither team could score on easy turnovers. The cap was then enacted, game to 11. Georgia was able to go up a crucial 2 points after the unflappable Mike Sweeney one-handed a hooking hammer and stroked a 40-yard inside-out to a waiting Jo-Jah player. After the pull Georgia somehow ended up with the disc again and called two time-outs within 20 yards of the goal-line in an attempt to insure a win. Georgia could not convert however and watched ECU pick up the turnover and hang a hooker to a poaching Sweeney, which he immediately sailed 50 yards straight to the turf, and then trotted uncaring back to the line after ECU put the pie in the oven to cut the lead 10-9.

The sideline was fired up though and suddenly it seemed the home state boys would get off their skateboards and pull out a victory. Georgia even tried to help them on their next possession, sending a huck that ECU's Jeff Plentl was able to beautifully defend with his left hand, then sending it to him again after recovering possession, which he again beautifully defended with his left hand, and maybe this time with his body. A foul was called and Georgia worked the disc up the sidelines where Deaver was finally able to chip it in for the victory.

Meanwhile the semifinals had started and Cornell sent the Seamen adrift with an early 4-0 margin. But UNCW came ashore quickly and took a 7-6 lead. Recovering a turnover near their goal line, the Seamen found an opening in the Cornell defense as a questionable throw (a 'bad seed') passed slyly through the Buds legs into the waiting arms of a-mother UNCW player for the half 8-6.

Cornell played physical, but the athleticism of UNCW and a sweet D by captain Broc Adams propelled the Seamen to 10-6, cap at 11. They eased up and Cornell added two more before UNCW got bored and whipped a 60 yard huck for the game, 11-8.

Georgia was burned-out after their hard-earned victory over East Carolina while Colorado had numbers and a plane to catch. The game was set to 12 to insure a timely finish and Colorado provided one by polishing off the Jo-Jah crew 12-4.

OPEN FINAL

It was a crisp sunny day for the start of finals, a slight crosswind blowing and cold in the shadows. The Open final started at 4:00, and though only a half-hour late, Colorado was forced to timecap the game at 4:45 in order to catch their flight. This certainly made play exciting as both teams realized there would be no second half.

UNCW started off in a loose four man amoeba zone. But Colorado was undeterred and at 4:20 the game was tied at 2's. The Seamen zone was soon shelved in favor of a more aggressive man-to-man as Colorado continued to make solid connections with the disc. The teams then traded points to 3's. Colorado was fortunate to score the next point after Seamen player Vinnie Biancamano made a great layout block in front of a diving Curtis Manning. But Manning called a foul and the disc returned to Mamabird, putting them up a point on UNCW. The Seamen returned the favor in due fashion after a hanging hammer from Tim Shipman found the target in the end zone, 4-4.

Colorado moved the disc up the field on the ensuing pull and called a time-out 10 yards from the end zone. A play was set up and they converted easily to take a 5-4 lead with a precious 10 minutes left until the cap. Again UNCW responded as Mitch Brown sent a 60-yard forehand Broc's way. He was only too happy to rise up in the deep corner and impregnate the disc to tie the game.

Colorado responded when Manning caught a topper in the short corner for the score after Dave Remucal preserved possession with a crucial snag in the grass. With the score now at 6-5 and 4:45 on the clock, the cap was initiated - game to 7.

UNCW was not about to let the game slip away. Throwing crossing hammers down the field they found themselves close to the end zone with a chance to score. Not wanting to upset this effective offense, Biancamano found Doug Christie with another hammer to tie the game at 6's, next point wins.

Perhaps Colorado felt some hometown pressure when they moved the disc up the field in an attempt to take the game and the 100 discraft discs. After a series of layout bids by the Seamen, an exuberant Biancamano was able to eat some plastic and suddenly UNCW had the opportunity to win one for Wilmington. An overthrow that sailed out of bounds seemed to erase those thoughts, but a foul was called and the disc returned to Shipman. With nary a moment's thought he lofted a nice crossing topper to a wide-open Adams and the Open final belonged to UNCW.

Both Adams and Manning recognized the game's shortened duration and agreed that the spirit was commendable. Manning commented that the length of the game "sucks for us and sucks for them" while Adams "wished we could have played longer." Manning was nonchalant about the surprises his Colorado team had provided by reaching the finals and almost defeating the favorites: "We didn't come here to lose, we came here to win." Such professionalism exhibited by happy-go-lucky college teams? When are the sponsorship packages going to start rolling in?

WOMEN POOL PLAY

There was very little question about who was in charge of the Women's circuit. Both UNCW Seaweed and Cornell Wild Roses had little difficulty marching through pool play en route to the finals. On Saturday, UNCW placed first followed by East Carolina, Rutgers, Yale, Oberlin and Wesleyan. Cornell also took the top seed, followed by Upenn, Columbia, Indiana, Appalachian State and Maryland.

Sunday's quarterfinals saw UNCW defeat Indiana, East Carolina over Columbia, Cornell over Yale and Rutgers defeat Upenn, setting up ECU's Helios with the Seaweed and Rutgers' Shakti with the Wild Roses in more regional rivalries. Helios was able to surprise some people, playing tough in the first half before falling to Seaweed's consistency. Whether they are "the most improved team in the region, possibly the nation" remains to be seen. Rutgers played Cornell strong, but were finally taken down by the experienced Wild Roses team.

WOMEN'S FINAL

Quite opposite to the Open final, the women were involved in a long title match to 17. Seaweed managed to build a sizable lead over the Wild Roses, 13-9. But Cornell had plenty of talent to come back, if only they could find their groove. A sideline player muttered "they're taking our game out of us" which aptly described the UNCW effect. Cornell could not properly cope with the no-nonsense attitude of the talented Carolina women, but perhaps it was just one particular player that derailed the Wild Roses' potent offense.

Seaweed's Amanda Taylor appeared to have a fixation with feet and felt it her duty to make sure everyone else did too. Whether Ultimate is about feet or hands is something that should perhaps be examined a little more closely. Regardless, she found a way to call travel nearly 50% (or more) of the time her woman threw the disc. This actually resulted in several point swings as scores were called back due to those bad, bad feet. Even the UNCW sideline could recognize the obvious. One woman commented, "[she] needs to ease up a bit."

UNCW finally took the game 17-12 to win the 50 discs and share the title with their Seamen classmates. Expect a vigorous Nationals showing from both of these teams. UNCW shows no signs or slowing down, having recruited a varsity basketball player and starting a talented sophomore, Kim Bryant. Likewise Cornell has all but two of their players from their Club Nationals appearance eligible and are lead by the very strong Melanie Carr.

I had just quit my job in New York and decided to go watch some Ultimate. I've always been fine with the pen, and I had noticed over the years that no one was writing anything decent for the Newsletter, so I filled up the gas tank and hightailed it to Wilmington to write my first-ever Ultimate piece for the UPA Newsletter.

ARCHIVE HOME

1996–1998 • 1999–2000 • 2001–2003

OTHER LINKS