Yale Coffee Cup Recap

After it was postponed a week due to not clement weather in New Haven, the Yale Coffee Cup tournament hosted Dartmouth's newly-selected Pain Train, as well as our very own Discomfort Trolley and 4 other teams (several teams that had initially been signed up dropped out after the tournament was rescheduled). Due to the small size of the tournament, the format was changed to a single day of round robin play, so we had 4 games Saturday and then we were done.

This writeup will be for the Pain Train's weekend--the "Disco Troll" will (hopefully) get their own writeup online soon.

SATURDAY: (surprisingly warm, with increasing wind throughout the day)

Game 1: vs. WPI (Worcester Polytech)
After a sloppy first point, the Pain Train pulled together and put together some very solid ultimate. The O-line was running smoothly, the D-line getting turnovers and working the disc, and overall Dartmouth Ultimate took care of business.
Dartmouth 13, WPI 4.

Game 2: vs. UConn X
Our second game of the day pitted us against UConn X (equivalent to UConn B I think), another fairly easy matchup for us. Our O-line was again running smoothly, and we were getting turns on defense. We were far shakier than we should've been in the red zone (near the end zone), however, which is clearly something for us to work on. In the end though, we were able to punch it in on nearly every point and cruised to victory.
Dartmouth 13, UConn X 1.

Game 3: vs. Yale
This game faced us off against a much more competitive matchup than our previous games had, but we rose to the challenge in the first half. The wind had picked up noticeably, which was causing both teams' throws to behave poorly and extended points enough that, combined with starting the game behind schedule, lead to the soft cap going on during half time (we were up 7-6, after starting on D and getting a break in the first half; a "break is the term for scoring a point which the other team started on offense). But we came out of halftime looking unfocused and sloppy and gave up two breaks almost before we knew what had happened. It was only at this point that Yale informed us that soft cap (usually adding 2 to the highest score and playing to that number) at this tournament actually meant only adding 1 to the highest score and playing to that, and just like that we had lost the game. While it was certainly a shame that it had happened like that, we need to be better about staying focused and keeping our energy up throughout an entire game.
Dartmouth 7, Yale 8.

Game 4: vs. Amherst College
Coming immediately off the Yale game, we were out of it for the beginning of the last game of the day, vs. Amherst, and our O-line gave up several breaks right off the bat. From here, we got rattled and were unable to recover any ground through the rest of the first half. A big problem of ours this game was man defense, as we seemed to have a hard time taking away simple in-cuts. Our zone offense struggled as well, either being too hesitant with the disc or trying to hard to get it upfield quickly. We regrouped at halftime and were able to settle down and get a couple breaks in the second half, but the damage had been done.
Dartmouth 6, Amherst 11.


All in all, it was a good first weekend for the Pain Train. We got some experience playing together, did some things well, and found other things that we need to work on--pretty much all you could ask for from a fall tournament. We'll be heading down to Brown in a couple weeks to see if we can improve on our first showing and head into the winter on a high note. And a thank you to Yale for hosting despite the setback of having to reschedule the whole tournament.

Purple Valley Recap

It's been a week since the Tryout Train rumbled through Williams for the infamous Purple Valley tournament, but what is seven days if not the perfect amount of time to wait before writing a tournament recap?

Early on the monring morning of October 17th, a bunch of Pain Train tryouts rolled out of bed/Hanover around 6 am and headed down to Williamstown, MA for Purple Valley, a tournament hosted by Williams College every fall. This tournament has always featured a mix of teams who brought their A-team and come to win as well as teams like Dartmouth, who are still in the middle of the tryout process. We kept the subbing rotation open and gave our guys a lot of chances to play ultimate, and if the score sheet didn't look too great, so be it.

SATURDAY: (chilly with light wind)

Game 1: vs. UMass
Unfazed by the fact that we were unable to find out which field we were playing on until 15 minutes before the games started, Dartmouth Ultimate came out focused and ready against UMass, who was the 1 seed in our pool. After a few strong points to open the game, however, the inexperience of our younger guys and our open subbing rotation began to take its effect and we started slipping behind. Nonetheless, we saw a lot of promising play from our tryouts and playing against an A-team really showed us some things we could work on as well.
Dartmouth 5-ish, UMass 15.

Game 2: vs. UConn
UConn was another strong team in our pool, who had shown up with an A-team and were in it to win it. This game featured some zone defense (and therefore zone offense) from both teams, which was a great opportunity for us to improve at zone, which we had only practiced a little so far this year. Our tryouts played very well throughout the game, standing toe-to-toe with a solid fall A-team.
Dartmouth 5-ish, UConn 15.

Game 3: vs. Williams B
Our last game of the day squared us off against Williams B, a much less serious and competitive team than the two we had played so far. Results-wise, this game went much better, but we started to get a little sloppy and complacent towards the end, giving them more chances than we should have and not valuing the disc enough when we had it. Nonetheless, a fun game and a good way to wrap up the day.
Dartmouth 15, Williams-B 3.


SATURDAY NIGHT: (dark, not warm)
What happens at Williams stays at Williams.


SUNDAY: (Forecast: highs in the 30s with a 100% chance of rain/snow; Actual weather: temperature in the 50s, with only a slight drizzle in the afternoon)

Game 1: vs. Wesleyan
Day 2 started on turf fields for us, with a good game against Wesleyan. They appeared to be in the same situation we were, in trying out players, and as such it was an even game with several good points. We went up early in the game thanks in large part to the strong play of the members of the class of 2011, but sadly gave up our lead soon afterwards and went into halftime down a couple. All of our guys played well this game and we saw some real talent from the underclassmen tryouts. Though the final score didn't go our way, this was a great game from our perspective (as a tryout team).
Dartmouth 11 or 12, Wesleyan 15.

Game 2: vs. Middlebury
It's hard to know what to expect from Middlebury ultimate; as a program, they seem very much on the side of fun ultimate over ultra-competitive ultimate, yet for all that they have been a good team in recent years. Last spring, in fact, they came in 3rd in the New England region. For this game, we went through our entire warmup without seeing any trace of the Middlebury team, and then right when the game was supposed to start they materialized on the field behind an array of tables and cardboard boxes that we couldn't recall being there earlier. Once the game had actually started, however, we played highlight ultimate, making plays all over the field as well as in the air. Unfortunately, in our excitement we often immediately threw away the disc after such plays, but we'll fix that by the spring.
Dartmouth 9 (?), Middlebury 15.

Game 3: vs. ???
We technically had another game scheduled, but our opponent had apparently left already, and we had (home)work to do back in Hanover as well, so we piled back into our vans, got lunch, and headed home. And a big thanks to Williams for hosting a solid tournament and providing us with a place to stay Saturday night!

Cornell X/Y Recap

This past weekend, the 26th & 27th of September, found 19 intrepid Dartmouth upperclassmen braving Ithaca and a 6 hour drive to play at the Cornell X/Y tourney. Since it was an X/Y tourney, there were no full A-team rosters at the tournament--instead, teams were generally a mix of veterans and rookies, and those in between. These tournaments give teams a chance to see their underclassmen in action on the field, while giving those underclassmen experience playing higher-level ultimate. Win-win!
As for us, the Pain Train brought a team of mostly sophomores (2012s) and juniors ('11s), and they did not let us down! Despite having only a few handlers with us, we were able to put together a bunch of solid performances that speak well for the future.

SATURDAY: (Sunny, some wind)
We started off our tournament Saturday morning with a game against Cornell X (Cornell fielded an X and Y team, as well as their B team). A good game with several flashes of brilliance from our young guys, but the Buds solid play and a couple extra errors on our part meant that we were always a little behind on the scoreboard.
Dartmouth-X 10, Cornell-X 13.

The wind picked up a bit for our second game, this one against UConn X (UConn brought an X and Y team), so we decided to try out our zone defense, which we have yet to practice this year (due to just starting classes last week). Despite that, our young 'uns stepped up and we were able to cause lots of turnovers, many of which we eventually converted into scores of our own. This game was also good experience for us in dealing with wind on offense, and despite the fact that we won 13-4, this game took almost the full 2 hours.
Dartmouth-X 13, UConn-X 4.

The third game of the day faced us off against Williams X (the only team Williams sent to the tournament). Nothing seemed to go right for us in this game, as WUFO jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and we were never really able to recover. Many of our problems in this game came from simple execution errors, dropping passes or throwing it away, and Williams didn't give us enough second chances to recover our confidence. They were ready for our zone as well, and their extra practice time so far this fall (we had practiced twice, total, before this tourney) showed as they ran away with the win.
Dartmouth-X 3, Williams-X 13.

Game 4, and the last game of Saturday, matched us up against UConn Y, who gave us many more problems than UConn X did. The wind was again strong in this game, but UConn Y's handlers were ready for our zone and they were able to score on it consistently. On offense, we had a mixed bag--some points were like works of art, where we were able to move the disc beautifully and score quickly; others were sloppy and featured several drops and off-target throws, usually leading to a UConn score. In the end, we didn't have enough of the good points and UConn pulled away.
Dartmouth-X 8, UConn-Y 13.


SATURDAY NIGHT: (Dark, rainy)
Everyone was tired and not interested in getting rained on, so we stayed cozy in a house the Cornell women's team was kind enough to let us use (they were at a tournament in Buffalo). Thanks Cornell women's ultimate!


SUNDAY: (Overcast, rainy)
Sunday got off to a delicious start with breakfast bagels at a place which is nearly identical to Hanover's own Bagel Basement, except this place (College Street Bagels, perhaps?) was not in a basement. Our first game was against Brown X (the only team Brown brought) and we came out playing very solid ultimate across the board. In addition to some big plays by the upperclassmen, including several bids by co-captain Alex Kell '10, a slew of '11s and '12s stepped up for us in this game. Among them, Garrett Simpson '11 played well all-around and had a tremendous layout D in the endzone, and Scott Sottosanti '12 was a rock-solid handler for us in a close game where each possession mattered.
Dartmouth-X 13, Brown-X 9.

After the Brown game the rain started to fall, and we found ourselves playing against Cornell's B-team. Our zone D had holes that need patching (practice!) but our man-to-man D was stifling and despite some miscues and wet-disc-related mistakes, we were able to punch it into the endzone on most points. We displayed definite improvement through the course of the game--it was a great game for showing what we can do, what we need to work on, and for getting our players a bit more comfortable with a wet disc.
Dartmouth-X 13, Cornell-B 3.

The rain continued through the last game game of the day, this one against Cornell Y. The fields at this point were a torn up mess of mud and wet grass, which made sharp cutting more difficult. Our lack of handlers became a more serious handicap in the rain also, as we had trouble connecting on deep shots. This allowed Cornell to really pressure our in-cuts and we struggled to drive down the field on offense.
Dartmouth-X 4, Cornell-Y 11.

With our last game of the weekend over, we changed into dry clothes, piled back into cars and headed towards Hanover. A big thanks to Cornell for hosting and running the tournament--it went smoothly and was a lot of fun and good experience for the team.

Attention Freshmen!

Ahoy class of 2013! Chances are, you're reading this because you're interested in playing Ultimate frisbee at Dartmouth. Luckily for you, you'll have several opportunities to do so even before classes begin!

•Firstly, throughout orientation we're going to do our best to be tossing on the green as often as possible. Join us! We'd love to meet you and toss a disc with you.

•Secondly: the weekend of the 19th-20th is Western New England Club Sectionals, a tournament for club teams (non-college affiliated teams--the club season is in the fall, our main season is in the spring). However, Dartmouth hosts this tournament at nearby fields and we field two teams: an upperclassman team, for returning players who are on campus, and a freshman team, for you guys! Literally no experience is necessary, it'll be a lot of fun and we'd love to see you out there (rides to the fields will be provided). If you think you'd like to play, blitz MUF@dartmouth.edu and let us know!

•We'll also have a much more comprehensive informational meeting about Dartmouth Ultimate right around when classes start, so keep your email-reading eyes peeled for more on that.

Have fun on trips! We can't wait to meet you!

~The Pain Train & Discomfort Trolley