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!
