After making the 17-hour drive down to Georgia, the Ultimate Frisbee team made sure that its annual spring break trip was more than just a party.
After going 7-1 in the College Southerns at Georgia Southern University, the E-Men went 7-1 in the Spring Ultimax tournament at Eastern Carolina University and drove home with a No 20 ranking in the nation.
"We played extremely well," senior handler Evan Ream said. "It's early in the season and so a big part was just getting confident and used to playing outside. I would say we definitely did that. We got a lot more comfortable playing together as a unit."
The tournament culminated with the E-Men earning a chance to battle No. 5 William & Mary in the Spring Ultimax Championship match. Tufts was able to hang around with William & Mary and trailed by one at the half, 8-7, after a key break by William & Mary. The Jumbos could not pull off the upset, however, dropping the match 15-12.
"That was an amazing game," senior captain Rob Spies said. "William & Mary is a really good team. Going into that game, we knew it was going to be a battle and it was."
Despite the loss in the final, the E-Men exited the tournament ranked 20th, according to the Ultimate Players Association, and 23rd according to the RRI, both computer-generated statistical analyses.
In both rankings, Tufts is second in the region behind Harvard, but the E-Men aren't letting their numbers affect their attitude.
"Rankings are pretty arbitrary," Ream said. "Our mentality is that when we're on the field we can beat anybody. It doesn't matter if they're ranked first in the country."
The E-Men showed that confidence when they entered the College Southerns ranked ninth in the tournament and third in their pool, upsetting several higher seeded teams en route to a 7-1 record.
Tufts got off to a fast start, matching up against Davidson, a team that entered the tournament with a No. 2 seed and a top-five ranking in the country. The E-Men pulled off a 13-10 upset over Davidson that marked one of the highlights of the tournament.
Davidson came at Tufts with a zone defense, which the E-Men found their way around easily.
"They actually played zone defense pretty much every possession we had and our offense was very effective against it," junior Chris Skipper said.
The win was a big confidence-booster early in the tournament.
"Beating Davidson was a big win because they got a lot of hype as being a good team," Ream said. "The confidence was definitely there and we played our game and basically dictated the play. We took the game easily."
Following the win, Tufts pulled off a close victory over Duke, then moved past Oklahoma and Virginia before dropping its first game of the tournament, a 15-13 loss to Richmond.
"It was kind of a sloppy game," Skipper said. "There were a lot of turnovers by both teams. Both teams were playing aggressive defense, playing hard. It was a good wake-up call for us to know we had to play more efficient offense and take care of the disc."
The E-Men listened to that message and won their next 10 games, including two over regional rival Williams, before running into William & Mary in the final of the Ultimax.
The E-Men have lofty goals for the rest of the season, and the week's success has given them every reason to believe they can meet them.
"I would say we have as strong a chance as any of getting to Nationals this year," Spies said. "Our mentality is to take it one tournament at a time and to take it game by game and not look that far ahead, but I would say our goal is to win our Sectional and then place in the top two at Regionals. I think we have a great chance at doing that."
