1998 NORTHEAST CLUB REGIONALS

"The biggest upset in NE History" according to one sideline observer. I won't make any such claims, having only played in the region for four seasons.

The upset in mind was Red Tide's 16-14 wildcard victory over Dark Horse, this year's name for the Connecticut/Rhode Island team that qualified for Nationals in 1996 and 1997. The scrappy Tide squad from Portland, Maine has been adding quality players to their roster every year. As a final push for the aging team, young-at-heart veterans Ken Dobyns and Eric Olson were recruited for roster depth. Dobyns' legendary status and big-game strategy crystallized Tide's determination to win this game. Dark Horse's younger players could not counter the gritty emotion of the veteran Tide line-up.

Let me retrace my steps, however, and begin at the beginning...

NE Regionals was again held in Purchase, New York. The weather was fair, cool and without much wind. Perfect for Ultimate. 16 teams from 5 regions competed in the Open division. 12 teams in the Women's division made the trip, and I think 3 Masters teams competed. Co-Ed play was to be held two weeks later.

The Open Division was seeded as follows: DoG, WSL All-Stars, Dark Horse, Ottawa, Red Tide, Montreal, Cornell, Orion's A-Team. The bottom 8 featured Dos Manos (from Boston/Connecticut) Trout (Boston) and Red Hook (Brooklyn).

DoG had little trouble cleaning up in pool play, qualifying for Nationals with a 5-point victory over Red Tide in semis.

Ottawa Wax, winner of this year's Canadian Nationals, and Montreal Mephisto had only sent half-hearted teams to New York. Neither was at full strength and both teams lacked incentive. Ottawa was upset by #13 seed Trout in the first round, 13—9, while Montreal narrowly escaped Red Hook 11—9. Both bowed out in the loser's bracket.

The local favorites, Westchester Summer League All-Stars, advanced without trouble to their first game-to-go, against Dark Horse who had also made it cleanly. They matched up in semis on Saturday and provided the crowd with great Ultimate.

Clean, spirited, exciting, intense. These words all describe the game and the players, many who seemed to mirror each other on the field.

Chicken Joe in WSL's huddle before the game, "A lot of people cut this team because they said they weren't having fun. Well, we've been working hard all season and there won't be any more fun than sending these _____ ______ home!!!"

Dark Horse' huddle, "Don't play their game, play OUR game. Don't be scared of these guys. We own these guys."

The first half was as crisp a game of Ultimate you're likely to see. I didn't count turnovers, but there couldn't have been many at 7—7 when the offenses had scored exclusively for each team. Finally, Dark Horse cracked on O and the All-Stars scored on D for the half-time lead 8—7 and the potential two-pointer when they received the pull. John "Babs" Babkow was everywhere for the All-Stars, catching 4 goals and throwing 3 more.

In the second half, WSL opened up a narrow 3-point lead at 10—7 before the patient Dark Horse team brought it back to 11—10 on a Fortunat "Forch" Mueller goal.

At 13—12, All-Stars, Corey Sanford came up with the big D block on Horse's Justin Safdie in the endzone, giving the New Yorkers an opportunity to take a commanding late-game lead. But Safdie came right back with a block on Sanford and Horse tied it at 13—13. The horn had sounded. Game to 15 for a ticket to Sarasota

Babs caught a goal for the All-Stars, Nathan Wicks put one to Forch for Dark Horse, and it was Game to 1, All-Stars receiving the disc. They called time-out.

Both sidelines were tense. Neither team wanted to plow through Sunday competition for a chance to play in the Betty Bowl. They wanted to win now.

Dark Horse may have been a little more nervous. The WSL veterans, several with multiple rings, were ready for victory. Dark Horse was hoping for another chance to be on offense.

The pull sailed out of bounds, allowing the All-Stars a chance to set—up. 5 passes later, running out of a traditional stack, they scored on a Joe McHugh to Babs to Walter combination, 15—14. The All-Stars would play DoG for seeding on Sunday while Dark Horse would have to win two more games before they could rest comfortably with their plane tickets.

The game was a great one and it was too bad someone had to lose. Both teams played awesome, spirited Ultimate.

Lady Godiva played up to expectations. They will not have much trouble until a rash of retirements allows room for other teams to rise to the top.

Behind a veteran line-up–tall, aggressive and all with superb disc skills–they crushed all comers on Saturday, advancing to Nationals with a 15—6 victory over Boston counterparts Twister.

The Massachusetts metropolis provided plenty of talented teams for this year's Regionals. All four teams calling Boston home made it to the final Six.

The women learned that the region had been awarded the Wildcard days before play. This was fortunate for the powerful New York team Ambush.

Last year Ambush eliminated Twister in the game-to-go after both teams lost to Ottawa's Stella. This year Stella remained at home and Ambush and Twister met in the semifinals on Sunday.

It should be noted that the schedule was quite grueling. Saturday consisted of 4-team pool-play, with the top two teams from each of the three pools advancing along with two wildcards. So that was three games there (figured it out yet?).

On Sunday, teams were paired in Quarters. A loss sent you to the loser's bracket with a chance to qualify for Nationals with three straight wins. The team winning the prized Wildcard would have to play seven games over two days.

Now back to semis. Ambush could not find a way to stop Twister's cuts back to the disc and dump-swings on offense. The large New York squad could not get untracked. Fueled on revenge and psyched to make a bid at this year's Big Show, Twister spun out a convincing 15—7 win.

In the loser's bracket semis, Ambush faced another Boston group, Nomar (the team sported Red Sox-styled shirts with the number 15 on the back, after star Right Fielder Nomar Garciaparra). Nomar played the New Yorkers tough, trading points in the first half before being overcome in the second for the final 14—9 score, Ambush.

On the other side, Portland's Undertoe also played an unexpectedly tight match with Boston's Tallulah, originally seeded 10th overall (Undertoe was seeded 6). Undertoe took a 6—4 lead and hoped to stretch it out before Tallulah's Sarah Russell responded with three straight goals (two catches) to give them a surprising lead, 7—6. Undertoe regrouped after that and finished with six to Tallulah's one for a birth in the final game of a long Sunday.

Ambush wasn't going to screw up a bid to Nationals. Their roster depth kept legs fresh for them. Utilizing quick handlers (Lani, Brenda, Buzz), experienced deeps (Katie, Bronywn, Amy Lief) and sharp-throwing middles (Amy Himelbau, Jessica, Missy, Judy, Everyone else), they defeated Undertoe fairly convincingly 15—8 (?).

Only two more games to talk about.

WSL All-Stars and Death or Glory matched up in a big-game showdown Sunday afternoon for first place in the region and a likely top seed (for DoG at least) at Nationals. The teams have met several times this season, but a late season full-squad match like this is a perfect barometer for Nationals.

Or is it? DoG has won this game three years running, but the last time they lost, against Cojones in 1995, they won Nationals convincingly.

DoG beat the All-Stars at the finals of Easterns and lost to them at Tune-Up with an incomplete line-up. Both teams were ready and willing for the rubber match.

Have the New Yorkers finally regained their place in the Ultimate elite, a position once synonymous with the Big Apple? They sure are close.

While Death or Glory has been taking care of business and winning the New Yorkers have been steadily rebuilding the team. That rebuilding is starting to pay off as a host of NYNY veterans have inculcated younger players on the proper winning attitude demanded of the city, and by extension, its Ultimate denizens.

They fear no team and relish defeating pretenders. And they still carry a grudge for anything Bostonian, from DoG to the Red Sox to all those preppie college kids.

Well, anyway, it was a tight, tight game that could have gone either way. Played to 17, WSL found themselves in familiar territory, tied at 16 with the game capped at 19. They had led DoG most of the first half and had a few points up at times in the second, but it was Boston that outlasted New York in this match. A turnover by a top All-Star veteran allowed DoG to score the crucial break-point 17—16. Another quick turnover from WSL's offense and DoG had the game in the bag with an easy score for the 18—16 victory. Good preparation for Nationals for both teams. It's winning those final points in a even game that make all the difference.

A DoG loss may have fired them up for Nationals or it may have given teams and extra edge of confidence to upset them. A WSL win would have alerted the nation to the team's rising strength.

And then there was the final men's game, the upstart, grizzled, aggressive, motley fellows from Maine against the uniformed, talented, college kids from Rhode Island. The college kids had done well for themselves in the course of the season. Field General and genuine good guy Forch had made College Nationals Semifinals with teammate Justin Safdie. In August, Safdie, Forch, Nathan "Smarmy" Wicks, and Dan Cogan were asked to play with DoG at Worlds. The invitation was open for them to join the elder statesmen, but they declined and returned to their old team.

But in the end this Dark Horse wasn't going to get a chance to live up to their namesake. Horse had beaten Tide twice already this year. They knew what they were facing, but they just didn't know how to handle this particularly tense game.

According to EO, describing Tide's strategy, "We decided early on to go for their throats." Captain Adam Steinman knew that Horse had more depth, younger players, and a good solid offense. So Tide countered with the opposite. They kept key older players in the game, played an aggressive offense with a green light to put the disc in the endzone, and looked for big poach blocks to stop Horse's tight offense. Oh yeah, and they weren't afraid to show a little more attitude.

Benji Usadi, Mike Friedland, EO, Dobyns, Wani and Wado all pulled down big cranks for the team, several amongst crowds of defenders and each one more crushing than the last. Tide really set the tone for the match while Horse failed to project their attitude.

An uplifting point for Red Tide gave them the half-time lead at 8—7. Horse opened the second half displaying some firepower of their own as Tommy Stoughton sent a deep huck off the pull to Forch for a score. Tide answered back, however, and scored another when Horse could not hang onto the disc. But Horse remained patient, hoping to wear out Tide late in the game. They finally tied it at 11's and it looked like they were ready to take charge.

But another big endzone play by Tide (it seemed as if all the big plays went to Tide in this game), this one a strong Benji catch on a hanging hammer, and Tide was rejuvenated. Horse recovered to score and tie at 12's but time was running out. Tide had too much confidence too late in the game. They were no longer underdogs and Horse started seeing the unthinkable. Their confidence started to ebb and their emotion was still several levels below Red Tide.

In quick succession, Tide capitalized on the vibes. Preying on Horse's inner nervousness and fear of losing, Matt Bates came up with a huge hand block and Tide scored. On the next possession all Horse's fears seemed to materialize when they threw away the first pass on the pull and Tide again scored easily to move within game point at 14—12.

Horse regrouped and scored. Tide was presented with one of several chances to finish the game, they didn't, and Horse scored on a huge grab by Forch to send the game to a cap at 17, 14—14 all.

Tide was unfazed and scored quickly on three touches when Patrick Hennessey sent a beautiful forehand put to Benji in the endzone. The pressure was again on Horse to score on offense.

They couldn't. It didn't help their morale when Dobyns plowed over Forch in an attempt to go through his torso to make a block. Forch was crushed to the ground and appeared to be hurt. Fortunately for him he happens to have the same muscular build as "cornerback" Dobyns and he walked off the field OK. Horse drove the field with Tide laying out on every pass. They had the disc to tie on the goal line. Cuts were clogged, there were no good throwing lanes one foot from the line, and suddenly it happened again. Either Matt Bates made another hand block or Horse just threw it away–but there was the disc on the ground, in the goal, with no hand attached.

Tide would not give up this opportunity to put the game away. They moved it upfield before Mike Friedland called a time-out within 20 yards of Sarasota. The call was made, a hammer to Dobyns in the short corner. That's a good look. A good cut for Dobyns, a nice placement, I would have done the same. But Horse was not looking for the throw. Dobyns had 5 feet on his man when the disc went up. Game to Red Tide, 16—14.

Dark Horse was stunned.

Had they prepared for Tide's attitude and determination? Were they fully into this game?

"Obviously not." responded crestfallen captain Mike Jones. Responded a starter, "We knew we had to play tough. We knew we had to step it up."

I don't want to put some bullshit media pressure on them. This is, after all, Ultimate frisbee. They played excellently all tournament but Red Tide played a step better in that final game. Congrats to both teams. Again it was well-spirited. I don't know if Horse was given the Spirit award, or even if there was one, but they should.

See ya'll next year.

This was published in the UPA Newsletter.

ARCHIVE HOME

1996–1998 • 1999–2000 • 2001–2003

OTHER LINKS