Last weekend, the men's ultimate Frisbee team traveled with the women's squad to San Diego, Cal., to compete with some of the best college teams in the country.
The tournament featured 30 teams organized into six pools, meaning that the first tournament day would include four games for each team, beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending close to dusk. Due to the extreme rain throughout southern California last weekend, official play was canceled on Saturday, but because many teams traveled from all over the country to play, informal scrimmages were held on public fields throughout the city.
Dartmouth took advantage of the chance to readjust to playing outside, where the wind makes throwing a disc much more difficult. After coming in a little rusty, the team was able to hold off the University of Chicago 13-10 but lost to top-10 program University of California, Santa Barbara. In a game that was originally played to 15 but required a two-point advantage for the win, Dartmouth ultimate fell 17-15.
On Sunday, pool play resumed with Dartmouth starting out as the No. 4 seed in its five-team group. The first game featured second seed California-Berkley, who lost in the national championship game last spring. The team had lost several key players but was still ranked 20th nationally.
Dartmouth took a quick 2-0 lead, fueled by a strong zone defense that made Cal's throwers uncomfortable. After giving up a 5-0 run, Dartmouth came back to take the lead at halftime 8-7, and in a hard fought second half, held on to win 12-9.
"In the past, this team has gotten into close games against great teams and folded at the end," said Andrew Hoffman '05. "This was an important moment for this team to knock off an opponent like Cal."
Dartmouth's next game was against No. 5 Cal Polytechnic, who had serious trouble with Dartmouth's man-to-man and zone defensive schemes. Worn out after a tight first game, Dartmouth's depth proved to be critical, as everyone from 1-16 contributed in a 13-7 win.
Next up came top-seeded Texas, who is currently ranked sixth in the nation. Dartmouth hung with a very athletic Texas squad through the first half but, in the end, was overmatched and took their first loss of the day, 13-9.
Standing at 2-1, Dartmouth had the chance to move up to second in its pool with a victory over UC Davis, who had outlasted Texas in an earlier game and was looking to win the pool outright. A tired Dartmouth squad went down 5-1 to start the game but was able to, as Hoffman put it, "find another level deep down inside ourselves" and come back to take the lead at 7-6 by half-time.
Neither team wanted to lose this game, and points were traded evenly until Dartmouth forced a turnover and capitalized to gain control. With the game capped after 90 minutes of play, Dartmouth made an impressive goal line stand on double game-point and scored on a deep throw in transition to win the game, 14-13.
"It was the greatest moment of my ultimate career," a sentimental Hoffman said later.
With the win, Dartmouth moved up to second in its pool and qualified for the 12-team elimination round on Monday. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and Monday's games had to be cancelled, leaving Dartmouth in a six-way tie for seventh place.
After the success of the California trip, Dartmouth ultimate is optimistic about its spring season, looking to return to the 16-team National Championship tournament for the second time in three years.
