A Throw Away From Champions

For just the third time in its roughly 30-year history, Red Line—the Harvard men’s Ultimate Frisbee club team—qualified for the Ultimate Players Association College Championships, which will take place May 27-29 in Corvallis, Ore.

The Harvard team won their bid to nationals with a second-place finish at the New England Regionals last weekend, highlighted by a come-from-behind victory over Dartmouth in the final game.

Though the Red Line lost an early game to Williams in last weekend’s tournament, they then went on to win five straight games, capped off by a 14-13 victory over Dartmouth, to secure the Nationals berth.

“After we lost to Williams in our second game, we were in despair and thinking we had no shot,” co-captain Jack M. Marsh ’06 said. “But we regrouped and turned it up. We just played great on Sunday.”

Marsh’s right-hand man, co-captain Dennis Chira ’05, also attributed the team’s success to a great Sunday performance that came in spite of wet weather and tough odds.

“Our legs were just dead at the beginning of the game and the ground was wet and muddy,” Chira said. “Dartmouth outplayed us in the first half. Going down by that many goals in that kind of weather can be tough. But in the half time huddle, we looked at each other and got focused. We knew that we wanted it, and had been fighting too hard to lose it.”

Red Line sealed its victory with a goal in the final moments of the game.

While its most recent tournament may have meant the most in terms of standings, the team cited the dedication of the players during the long fall and winter months as key to its success.

With a lineup composed of graduate students, experienced ultimate players, and novices alike, the Red Line came together with a high level of focus and commitment through the fall scrimmages and busy spring tournament schedule.

Since adding two volunteer coaches last season, the eclectic mix of players has blended well and brought its game to the next level.

“We’ve had a lot of talent and tons of returning players after losing only two seniors last year,” Marsh said. “But the difference this year is that we’ve been more organized and focused on our goals than we have been in the past.”

As a club sport, the Red Line must fight for field space and financial support, using fields or the indoor track at night, and constantly appealing to the College and Undergraduate Council for funds.

While these two bodies do lend some financial support, much of the money for lodging, gas, or rental cars for tournaments comes out of the players’ pockets.

If they cannot gain some financial assistance for the trip to Nationals, they say, each player will have to pay upwards of $1000 each to finance the trip. But the team still has high hopes for Nationals.

“Our goal was to make Nationals,” said Marsh. “We’re not just going and thinking that we’re going to lose. If we play our hardest and play well, we have a good shot against any team.”

Chen shared this sentiment.

“We want to appreciate that we’re at Nationals, but we can’t be content with just showing up. The season’s not over. We’ve still got a lot of work to do.”