Ultimate frisbee wins Boston Sectionals in front of home crowd

The Tufts E-Men can officially call themselves Boston's best collegiate ultimate frisbee team after winning last weekend's sectionals championship held at Tufts' very own Cousens Fields. The E-Men did so in dramatic fashion as Tufts trailed Harvard at the half, but later pulled together to clinch a 15-10 victory.

Junior Ariel Santos led the Tufts offense in the second half of the finals, assisting on four of the team's eight goals. Senior Simon Kates also had an impressive goal, "skying" over two opposing defenders to catch the frisbee and land safely in the end zone.

The E-Men defense turned in a strong second half as well, allowing only two Harvard goals. Seniors Ian Schneider and Josh Weisstuch, junior captain Matt Abbrecht, and speedy freshman Rob Spies all made important defensive plays and helped to hold the Crimson offense at bay.

Abbrecht called the championship game the highlight of the team's weekend.

"We've struggled to beat Harvard in the past, and lost to them in a nail-biter a couple of weekends ago," Abbrecht said. "Sunday, we came out in the second half and took the first three points and never looked back from there."

According to junior deep Zach Geller, Harvard is a traditional rival, and this made the E-Men's victory especially sweet.

"We never want to lose to them," Geller said. "We take out the hate stick against Harvard."

Team members also said they were pleased with the fan turnout for their games.

"It was great to see so many people out for the game," Geller said. "It was really exciting to see everyone getting into the game and enjoying it and cheering for us,"

In the tournament, Boston area teams competed for the title and four spots in the upcoming regional championships, to be held at UMass-Amherst next weekend, and the top three or four teams of regionals earn berths to the National Championships in Austin, Texas. Tufts has attended Nationals the last three years.

On Saturday, the E-Men dominated their first contest, beating Boston University's B-team 13-0. The squad followed that victory with an exciting match-up against rival MIT's A team, a game which was attended by President Larry Bacow and his wife Adele. The couple's Tufts spirit was tested as they watched the E-Men compete against their son Jay's team.

According to Geller, the Bacows are regular spectators at E-Men games.

"I think that Larry cheers for us and Adele for them," Geller said, "He's a fan of ours."

At halftime of the MIT game, Tufts led the Engineers by a slim 7-6 margin.

The turning point of the game came in the second half when Abbrecht made "an impressive lay-out D block." In that play, Abbrecht dove superman-style in front of the player he was defending, snatching the frisbee, and gaining possession for his team. The game ended with Tufts winning 13-11.

Tufts enjoyed two more victories on Saturday, handily defeating BC 13-2 and shutting out the Harvard B-team 13-0. During those games, younger players saw more time on1 the field.

"Games where we're ahead are a good opportunity to get them in and playing key roles where they can really get a chance to shine, to handle the disc more, and be big players," Abbrecht said.

In Sunday's semi-finals, the E-Men faced off against BU. In the first half, Santos assisted on six of the seven Tufts goals. By the end, Tufts walked away with a satisfying 13-7 victory, which set them up for the face-off against top seed, Harvard, in the finals.

Tufts' second team, the "B-Men," also saw action at the sectional tournament this weekend.

The B-Men continued their dominance of B-teams all over the country, finishing 7th in the section.

The squad opened the tournament with a win over Wentworth Institute of Technology's A team. After being down 7-5 at the half, the B-Men went on second half tear, outscoring Wentworth 8-1 to take the victory, 13-8. After dropping its next contest to Brandeis A, 13-5, the team of almost all freshman and sophomores came out and dominated MIT B, 13-4. In their final game on the first day, the B-men came out and gave Harvard's A team a run for their money but ended up falling 13-6.

The B-Men came out on Sunday with one last shot to keep their shot at regionals alive. A five point win over BU's A team would prolong the B-Men's shot at regionals, but the squad ended up falling 13-2, ending its chance to advance. In its final game of the tournament, the B-Men got revenge on BU, routed its B team 13-3.

Although the team did not qualify for regionals, the B-Men can proudly say that they are one of the best B teams in the nation.

"This year they really came together as a team and played with a lot of pride," Abbrecht said. "They played with a lot of heart and beat a lot of good teams."

During the A-team's finals match against Harvard, several B-men sat on the sidelines still wearing their cleats.

"They knew that when they took their cleats off, the season was not over," Abbrecht said.

While the B-Men may be done with competition for the year, the E-Men look to carry their season all the way to next month's Nationals. In just over a week, they will face stiff competition at the regional tournament, from such powerhouses as Brown, UMass, and Williams.

"We'd like to win regionals," Abbrecht said. "There are some pretty good teams out there but we've been working hard and it's been our goal all season -- so I think it's pretty achievable."