Despite strong play in each game, the men’s ultimate Frisbee team failed to capitalize on their early successes in each contest, posting a 2-4 record Nov. 2-3 at the Huck-a-Hunk o’ Burnin’ Pumpkin tournament.
With the exception of a victory over Wesleyan in a consolation game, Superfly was unable to perform consistently in Seekonk, Mass., leading to losses against Boston University, Cornell, Princeton and Dartmouth in Brown’s annual tournament.
“It was a very frustrating weekend,” co-captain Brandon Wu ’06 said.
The team failed to achieve its goal of finishing near the top of the tournament standings, starting the weekend tournament with a 13-10 loss to Boston University. The game was filled with elementary mistakes on Yale’s part, which cost the team a game they should have won, co-captain Mike Steffen ’06 said.
“Everyone was just making a ton of mental mistakes,” Wu said.
Superfly initially rebounded, playing well against a tough Cornell team. When the squads were knotted at four apiece, however, the Buds pulled away for a 10-6 lead and the eventual victory when the game was capped for time.
“People started getting down on one another and Cornell was able to take advantage of that,” co-captain Mike Steffen ’03 said.
Victory came easily in Yale’s next contest against Brown’s junior varsity team, 13-3.
With two divisions of six teams and the top four teams in each division advancing to the quarterfinals, Yale’s remaining two games against Dartmouth and Princeton would be the difference between a playoff berth and the consolation draw.
Superfly, however, was unable to carry their momentum from their victory over Brown B into their match against Dartmouth, losing 13-9 to close out their first day of competition 1-3.
Against Princeton on Sunday morning, Yale again started off strong, taking a 4-1 lead early.
“We were playing very inspired, clean ultimate,” Steffen said. “Those points were probably the best points we’ve played all season.”
However, Yale was unable to sustain their success as Princeton overcame the early deficit and won 13-10.
Superfly saved its best overall performance for last, against Wesleyan, winning 13-11. Wesleyan, though in the consolation round, had played a strong tournament and missed out on the quarterfinals because of a tiebreaker, Steffen said.
“It was nice to finish the season with a win,” Steffen said. “That win demonstrated that this team has the talent to beat contenders in the region.”
The team struggled without Kyle Dunn ’03, who was unable to play for personal reasons, Steffen said.
Despite Dunn’s absence, Superfly benefited from a full contingent of substitutes for the first time all season. With the availability of substitutes, several players, especially Gregg Tripp ’04, contributed to the Superfly’s success Sunday, Steffen said.
Ending the fall season with a record of 12-15, the team will spend the winter training and playing in an indoor co-ed ultimate league. The team looks forward to the return of two key players, Sasha Waring ’03, who is recovering from a torn ACL, and Dan Kaminsky ’04, who is studying abroad this semester, Steffen said.
“The primary thing in the winter is for us to get faster,” Wu said.
After the winter, the more intense spring season begins, where the goal will be to be one of three teams from the northeast to qualify for nationals, Steffen said.
“I think that judging from how we ran things this weekend if we can clean up the mental mistakes,” Wu said. “We will certainly be in contention for nationals.”
Although they have high expectations for the spring, the team recognizes that they must improve over the winter as they have done throughout the fall season, Steffen said.