The men's ultimate Frisbee E-Men battled it out this past weekend at the Club Sectionals in Newport, RI. Though it ended up with a 1-3 record, the squad was still satisfied with its performance as winning was not the main goal for the Sectionals.
"We weren't expecting to win," junior Chris Healy said. "We just wanted to go down there and get better."
All of the returning A team members and several players form last year's B team, trekked down to Rhode Island on Saturday, only to face the frustrating news that the day's games were rained out due to the remnants of Hurricane Ivan. The E-Men turned around after warming up to return to Tufts until early the next morning.
The rainouts failed to dampen the E-Men's spirits, and the team was able to play a total of four games on Sunday. In its only win of the day, Tufts downed RIT, 13-7. The team then lost to rival Brown Universtiy and to Red Tide, a Portland club team, whom the E-Men played twice. In a field primarily made up of club teams, Tufts, Harvard and Brown were the only collegiate competitors.
"We did well considering it was our first tourney, and the other teams have been playing all year," junior captain Rob Spies said.
Sophomore A team member Chris Skipper agreed.
"[The fall] is a tune-up season for us and is also for teaching all the freshmen," Skipper said. "The other teams [in the tournament] were in the peak of their seasons."
Several E-Men stood out on defense on Sunday. Senior Blake Barnes had some solid defensive plays, and senior Sam Kortz laid out on several occasions to catch the disk.
No freshmen players attended the tournament, but several B team players stepped up to fill in gaps left by the nine seniors who graduated last year.
"The B team guys did really well," Spies said. "There are lots of holes to fill and I think they will do it well."
Sophomore Jake Becker has been happy with the team dynamic.
"We are getting closer as a team," Becker said. "It is hard because it is a new bunch of guys, but we are starting to learn each other's throws and preferences in what we are doing."
Since the Frisbee team's main season is in the spring, the team views the fall as a trial period.
"The fall season is about teaching and trying new guys," Spies said. "It's not about winning tournaments."
With positive attitudes and their eyes fixed upon the spring season, a poor record in a fall tournament will not bring the E-Men down, but rather help them improve for the future.
