Can Yale Cup come home?

It was misting on Thurs., Apr. 11, and a group of Süperfly players stood in a circle on their practice field, sweat steaming off their backs, eyes down after a particularly sloppy point. "You can't just wait to pick up the intensity on Saturday!" Co-Captain Asher Price, TC '01, admonished his teammates. "You've got to start here, in practice. You have to play hard every single point." Heads nodded assent, and the players huddled, counted to three, and yelled, "Fly!" resoundingly.

COURTESY SUPERFLY Hoping for a strong showing against opponents from across the country, Superfly has worked to hone their skills for this weekend's Yale cup.

To succeed at this weekend's Yale Cup, Süperfly, the men's ultimate fris-bee team, and Ramona, the wom-en's team, will need to remember Price's words. Nearly 40 teams and 600 athletes will arrive on Fri., Apr. 13 from across the country for the biggest ultimate spring tournament in the Northeast.

The underachieving Süperfly will have to perform better than it has so far this spring in order to contend for the cup. With a 10-11 record compiled over three tournaments, Süperfly has not lived up to expectations. The team has been hard hit with injuries, but several key players will return to action this weekend, including handler Blake Greene, MC '02, and scoring threat Ameet Talwalkar, SY '02, a 6'3'' deep with good speed and strong athletic ability.

"Our roster has been changing quite a lot, because people have been coming off injuries who didn't play in the fall season," Price said. "We're getting used to playing together again." Greene agreed: "We've obviously had some tough breaks." "Now we have everyone healthy, so hopefully we can start to play up to potential."

The team had as many as seven injured players in the fall and winter. Now, Co-Captain Noah Kolman, MC '01, says Süperfly has to play in sync. "We need to play more as a team," he said. "We need to have more focused roles. Asher and I have been working on getting people used to doing a smaller number of things and doing them well."

Most of the top teams in the Northeast region, including Brown, Tufts, Cornell, and Harvard, will compete this weekend. Brown, the defending national and 2000 Yale Cup champions, poses the biggest threat, but many Süperfly players are hungry to face one team: Harvard.

The Red Line has already defeated Yale once this spring, at President's Day 2001 in San Diego, as well as twice last fall. As luck would have it, the Red Line and Süperfly share the same pool in Sat., Apr. 14 round robin play. "Historically, they've been our rivals," Price said. "Two years ago we beat them in the semifinals of Yale Cup. When it came to regionals, we had all the confidence, because we had beaten them two weeks before." Talwalkar was more blunt: "We really hate Harvard. I want to beat them more than anything."

With so many strong teams in the Northeast, Süperfly has found itself in an unfamiliar position during the last two seasons. Yale reached nationals in 1995, '97, '98, and '99, but the loss of some stars combined with a young roster (the squad will lose three seniors this year, matching last year's number) means that a team that was once a national title contender is still struggling to regain its form. Süperfly, however, isn't satisfied with that explanation. "I think last year we used inexperience as an excuse," Greene said. "But right now the majority of the A-team is juniors. It's a pretty experienced team."

Ramona brings a 6-12 record and, much like Süperfly, a spring season of inconsistency into the weekend. "At times we play a tough game and it really comes together," deep Jenn Christenson, BR '03, said. "Then there are times when we play a team that we can beat and we play down to their level." Handler Ashley Hayden, PC '01, one of the four seniors on the squad, believes that inexperience has been the toughest obstacle.

"We have a lot of new players who came out in the winter, which is awesome, but they're still trying to figure out the game," Hayden said. Ramona's 17-woman roster includes seven rookies and six sophomores.

With more depth than the team has had in some time, however, Ramona may soon reclaim some of the swagger that accompanied five consecutive trips to nationals from 1995-99. "I think we're definitely going to get better," she said. "Next year we should be able to show a lot of improvement."

Rookies like Rebecca Tucker, PC '04, Cheryl Conner, PC '02, and Shoshanna Woo, MC '04, have shown marked improvement since the winter. "Their throws are coming along quickly, and they're very dedicated," Hayden said. "I see them building a strong team for the coming year." Despite their lack of consistency this spring, the women are confident they can pose a threat to the Northeast's stronger programs. "I think that when we're on top of our game, we can play close, if not beat, the best teams in the Northeast," Hayden said.

Brown, Tufts, and Bucknell, all in the top 10 in the Ultimate Players Association college rankings, will be at Yale Cup. Number-five Tufts is the top seed in Ramona's pool and is coming off a 13-3 drubbing of Yale at last week's Chesapeake Invitational at Navy. Ramona knows it will have to play better this time around. "We need to play a little more conservatively and turn the disc over a little less," Hayden said.

Yale Cup represents a final opportunity for Ramona and Süperfly to gain some confidence before sectionals and regionals. "Yale Cup is critical," Price said. "All the Northeast teams are coming down, and they want to get in their opponents' heads before regionals in three weeks. We have to establish ourselves as one of the threats in the Northeast to go to nationals."

Kolman believes that winning at Yale Cup gives teams a mental edge heading into the most crucial part of the season. "Yale Cup is a tune-up for sectionals and regionals," he explained. "If you can beat a team at Yale Cup, you'll have a better chance of beating them the next time you see them." Christenson agreed. "I think our performance at Yale Cup will dictate how we play for the rest of the season," she said.

Both teams hope that Yale Cup is only the first step on the road to nationals—and a bit of lost glory.

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