Ultimate Frisbee team dominates Sectionals

For the first time since 2004, the men's Ultimate Frisbee team won Sectionals this weekend. And it wasn't even close.
    The Tufts players -- known as the E-Men -- gave up no more than five points in any game over the weekend at the Metro College Open Sectionals at Goddard Park in Warwick, R.I. The top-seeded and nationally ranked No. 21 E-Men defeated six teams in the field of 18, including a 15-3 beatdown of MIT in the tournament finals.
    On Saturday, Tufts won its four games by an average score of 13-2, including a 13-2 win over the Tufts C team, which finished 13th, while the B team came in 10th. Then on Sunday, the E-Men surrendered all of five points against fourth-place Bentley before moving on to take out MIT.
    "It was an amazing tournament because we played well and were never challenged by any opponents," said senior co-captain Tyler Bugden, who sat out much of the tournament with a torn hamstring. "It was the first time since 2004 Tufts won Sectionals, and the team is looking super strong. We lost 10 seniors last year who were all very important, and since this is my senior year, it was really exciting for me as the captain."
    "We played really well and those are good teams, but we really took it to them," junior co-captain Andrew Hollingworth added. "This was one of the first times all year we've gotten to play in nice weather for a full tournament. The team was eager to take out some of that pent-up frustration on other teams."
    No. 22 Harvard came into the tournament as Tufts' biggest rival, having defeated the E-Men in Regionals last year, and Tufts' biggest competition, as the Red Line finished fifth last year at Nationals and came in nationally ranked one spot behind the E-Men. Tufts beat Harvard at the Brown Invite on April 12, however, and while the Red Line beat MIT in the opening round of Sectionals, MIT eked out a 13-11 win over Harvard in the semifinals. Yet MIT, which was without its star senior co-captain Andrew Ji for much of the game, did not have the same luck against Tufts.
    "We have an efficient offense, a good defense and everyone on our team can contribute," Bugden said. "Everyone runs hard and doesn't turn over the disc. We play a possession offense, and on defense we generate tons of turnovers. It was a windy day, and we have lots of really good throwers who can throw in the wind. So when you go up 5- or 6-1, it really flusters the other team. It puts pressure on their throwers to make plays, and in the wind, it was difficult for MIT to make plays."
    "Everyone was working hard," Hollingworth said. "We brought a lot of defensive intensity. We put pressure on other teams and forced them to take their second, third and fourth, options on offense versus what they prefer to do. On offense, we took care of the disc pretty well. We had great efficiency outside the end zone, in particular in the red zone, which is something we've been working on."
    The top five teams at Sectionals qualified for Regionals, which will be held May 2-3 in Hanover, N.H., and teams need to place in the top two to advance to Nationals, which will be held May 22-24 in Columbus, Ohio.
    "We're undoubtedly the top team in the region," Bugden said. "It's a tournament format, so anything can happen, but we're a great team and we just have to keep grinding. We need to focus on our imperfections and staying in shape. If we do all that, it'll be like going to the bank and cashing a check."
    The E-Men, composed of 21 members, practice two to four times a week and work out twice a week as well. Bugden stressed the team's need to work on end-zone efficiency, resets, transition defense, marking and responding to unfair calls.
    "I think everybody's pretty honest, but in high stakes, tempers get heated," Bugden said. "Sometimes, you need to take a step back and realize what actually happened. You need to deliberate with composure and come to a rational conclusion, and that's difficult to do. There are teams that definitely make unfair calls. I'm not going to call anybody out, and we're expecting to play them, and we're expecting them to make unfair calls. We need to be able to respond to that."
    The top-seeded team at Regionals will be Middlebury, ranked No. 10 in the nation. Middlebury has not traditionally been an Ultimate powerhouse, but the Pranksters have proven themselves this year, having beaten Williams three times this season. Williams, ranked No. 23, will be the other team at Regionals seeded above Tufts, and the Williams team handed the E-Men their last loss by a single point.
    Both Bugden and Hollingworth said that the goal of the season was to qualify for Nationals. The E-Men would have to place in the top two at Regionals to earn a bid.