Pre-Series Record: 16-2 Series Record: 10-2
End of Season Standing: eliminated in New England Regional Backdoor Final (8-11 to Middlebury)
Coaches: Mike Zalisk, Dan Forrester, Mike Bright, Jeff Brown
Recent History:
2010 Tournaments: Trouble in Vegas, 1st at Terminus, 3rd at Yale Cup, 1st at Metro Boston Sectionals, 3rd at New England Regionals
While the E-men suffered only two losses in 2010’s regular season, the year ended in disappointment for the team that made pre-Quarters at Nationals in 2009. Tufts won Terminus over Middlebury, but unfortunately missed out on playing out-of-region fellow attendees Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Cornell. The E-men finished 3rd at New England Region preview Yale Cup and beat Harvard at Sectionals, but when they met Redline at Regionals they suffered the same fate as everyone else: they did not have throwers who could handle the wind, and Harvard did. In the game-to-go against Middlebury, Tufts tied the game at 8-8 after being down 3-8 at half, but after missing a chance to break upwind to make the score 9-8, Middlebury rattled off three points in a row to eliminate the E-men by a score of 8-11.
Roster Turnover and Offseason Club Experience:
Tufts loses nine players from 2010, the biggest being captains Andrew Hollingworth and Colin Harari. Also, captain Jay Clark went down with tears to his ACL and MCL this past fall and will miss the 2011 season.
Returning for Tufts are captain Alex Cooper, along with handler Ben “Prancer” Nelson, cutters Adrian Banjerji and Piers MacNaughton, and athletic defender Jack Hatchet. The rest of Tufts’ junior class is strong, and the team continues to benefit from a B team that consistently challenges some of New England’s A teams. Joining the team is cutter and deep specialist Sam Kitross-Schnell, a transfer from Oberlin that was a member of the 2008 Junior Worlds team and a member of the Northwest School class of 2007 that won three High School Westerns championships.
The E-men didn’t get very much club experience this past year outside of playing together under the name Tufts U Club, but what it did get was of very high quality; K-S played with Sockeye, and Banjerji played for Bodhi.
Strategy:
Similar to many college teams, Tufts runs a horizontal stack on offense and a vertical stack after its defense earns a turnover. When running horizontal stack, the player at the center handler position varies depending on the other team’s defense: if they are forcing straight up, Nelson mans the post because his strong break throws allow him to distribute the disc well on both sides; when the defense forces one way, Cooper is in the middle.
On defense, Tufts can be expected to run a blend of man, clam, and zone.
Fall 2010:
Tufts attended three tournaments this fall: UMassacre, the UOA Ivy League Championships, and Huck a Hunk O’Burning Pumpkin. The team won comfortably at UMass, with the offense giving up zero breaks in the final against Dartmouth. The UOA tournament did not go as well. Clark tore both his ACL and MCL in the first play of the first game against Yale, K-S was in Sarasota with Sockeye, and others were injured. At Burning Pumpkin, new players were given an opportunity to step up, as both Cooper and K-S sat out. Hatchett led the team to victory over Harvard and a tournament win.
2011 Schedule:
Tufts will attend Terminus, possibly Southerns, and Yale Cup before the Series.
2011 Outlook:
Tufts is likely to remain among the best in New England on the strength of a quality coaching staff and an experienced core of juniors. Clark’s injury will hurt, as he was one of their best cutters, but picking up K-S is huge. He and the rest of the team will need to avoid injury, and Tufts’ handlers will need to continue to develop.
Harvard looks to be the cream of the New England crop, and this region is at a disadvantage because it won’t have as easy a time securing extra bids in the beginning of the season. Tufts will help itself out a lot if the team can post wins against non-New England opponents when it travels south.
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