On a Memorial Field covered in thick mud and water, teams had to compensate for the poor conditions. Resiliency and determination to work as a team were crucial elements of every winning team's game.
"Passing and running the ball didn't work too well due to the rain and mud; the field was just like one big slip n' slide," said Audrey Knutson '07, who starred for KDE. "I'd have to say determination was really the key to victory. We just really wanted the [championship] game more."
In a closely contested championship game, KDE shut out Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority 6-0. On their way to the prize of a $50 gift card to Ramunto's and a golden football, they eliminated Sigma Delta sorority and took a forfeit from Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, who withdrew from the tournament. The sorority league originally had a field of six teams, but only five teams were able to make it to the rain-soaked field.
"Both teams obviously wanted to win and it was very competitive on the field," Knutson said of the championship.
"After the game, I think we were happiest about the fact that it was all for charity and we had fun doing it."
The money raised, which the Council estimates at around $1900, will go to Hannah House, a local organization that supports young mothers.
In another show of grit, the coed league showcased one match-up between the Choates and the Legacy team. The Choates edged Legacy by one point, 14-13, for the trophy. Only two teams were in the league.
Andrew von Kuhn '09 was one of Legacy's stars, catching a long pass for a score.
"I felt that the Choates played a good game," Kuhn said. "The Legacy came out and didn't play their best, but the Choates definitely deserved to win the game. The game was hard-fought."
One of the Choates team members, Brett Palm '09, had a slightly different take on the game.
"As a matter of fact, I knew we were going to win when I got out of bed [that] morning," said Palm. "The best part about [the game] was sportsmanship of both teams after the game. And the hamburgers after the game, definitely."
In the fraternity league, the Turdsquashers followed a road similar to KDE's to victory. In the first round, they eliminated the junior varsity baseball team, then accepted a forfeit from Theta Delta Chi, which was unable to make the tournament. In the championship, they dominated Chi Gamma Epsilon 13-0 to take the gift card and golden football.
Panhell was a winner in its own right, working wonders to make the event happen despite the odds stacked against it. In addition to the difficulties created by the forfeits by two teams in a field of 15, the Panhell had trouble finding a location to hold the tournament.
The tournament was originally planned to take place on the Gold Coast lawn. Panhell President Lauren Kaufman '07 had a permit and the space reserved for the charity event. Two days before the tournament, however, Kaufman received a Blitz from a College official asking that she cancel the event due to concern that play on the lawn would harm the grass.
"I was very upset because we had a permit [and] a reservation," Kaufman said, "but we didn't have a rain location."
Determined to follow through with the event, Panhell philanthropy chair Elizabeth Wild '08 and Kaufman worked the phones and managed to reserve Memorial Field.
"Our philanthropy chair, Lizzy, put a lot of this together," Kaufman said. "She handled it well."
In the end, participants said the event was a huge success despite the challenges Panhell faced.
"People had a really good time. For me, there were two things that make an event a success," Kaufman said. "One is that people had a great time. And the second thing is when people have an event, you should always try to raise more money than what you have taken out from the account to do the event. We, by far, surpassed the amount we put in."
