Frisbee Competes at Hampshire College

An early morning start, chilly weather, and a layer of frost on the ground were not enough to deter the Holy Cross Purple Heys as they competed in their final 2005 Ultimate Frisbee tournament at Hampshire College on Saturday.

The Heys began their day with a rematch against the home team, Hampshire's Red Scare A, whom they had beaten in their previous tournament. Holy Cross looked a little flat at the beginning of the game, and the Red Scare took advantage and pulled ahead quickly. The Purple Heys soon came together within the offensive and defensive lines. Making his return from a painful ankle injury, sophomore Cassidy "Bluto" Edwards helped keep the team in the game with key grabs and solid layout defense. Sadly, though, not even the Heys' best efforts could keep them from falling to the Commies, 12-10.

Next Holy Cross faced the experienced and talented squad of the Hampshire Alumni. Again, the Heys seemed to get off to a disappointingly slow start. Even a second-half surge was not enough to close the lacuna that had been created early on; Holy Cross fell to the Hampshire Alumni as well.

The Purple Heys found time to regroup during the lunchtime cookout. While enjoying hotdogs, burgers, hot chocolate, and cookies, the team kicked back and mingled. A group of veterans, led by senior coach Dan "Gopher" Portnoy, reorganized the team into three distinct squads in an effort to ensure more playing time for all. Additionally, some of the more talented vocal artists on the team kept everyone entertained with hearty renditions of classic '70s and '80s ballads broadcast via the team megaphone.

Next the relaxed and happy Heys faced the formidable foreign Canadian force of Bishop's College, who coincidentally also wore purple. Thus donning their "Wimbledon Whites," Holy Cross finally found their groove in this game. Each of the Heys' three squads coalesced nicely as they brought their awesome American wrath against the Quebecois. Especially clutch performances were had from the girls (Julie "Swiss Miss" Barry '06, Theresa "B Knight" Neumann '06, and Steph "Change/Annoyance" Landry '09), who played hard every point despite the nonexistence of female subs. The Purple Heys handily beat the purple Canadians 14-8 for their first win of the day.

For their final game, Holy Cross faced Southern Connecticut, who had beaten them at URI three weeks ago. The game was tight at the beginning, with the teams matching each other practically point for point. However, solid all-around playing from Zach "Mugs" Donahue '09, Kevin "Big Bird" McCarthy '08, and Craig "Scrappy" Lowell '06, as well as sick d-blocks from Corey "Lo Cal" Evans '08, soon helped propel the Heys to a sizeable lead. Also, guest appearances from Scrappy's cousin, Brigit Ferry (possible class of 2020) and the Burger King (a.k.a. Tim "Otter" O'Malley '09) provided much-needed boosts of energy, for as Big Bird put it, "We play better when we're having fun." The game ended fittingly with an almost entirely senior line and a final point by Swiss Miss; the Heys beat SoCo 15-11.

After the tournament, the Heys proudly accepted the Spirit Award (this year re-christened "The Most Awesomely Fabulous Team" Award) for the second year in a row. Exhausted, yet veritably drunk with happiness at their latter successes, the Heys headed home for the final time this 2005 season. Says Coach Gopher: "This fall season went really well for us. We had our biggest recruiting class ever and all of the rookie players have really improved. As we continue to practice this winter, HC Ultimate should be stronger than it ever has been for the spring season."

Look out for the Purple Heys this spring when they compete in co-ed, open, and hopefully a few all-men's and all-women's tournaments. For information about joining the team, check out the website:

http://college.holycross.edu/studentorgs/frisbee/index.html.