<< Front page Sports April 30, 2004

Club Corner: ’Cows advance to Regionals

Oberlin’s men’s Ultimate Frisbee Team, the Flying Horsecows, entered the East Plains Sectionals this past weekend third seed. The ’Cows arrived in Columbus, Ohio with a strong record of 33-13, determined to secure a berth to the Regional Championships in Detroit.

The first day’s greatest challenges proved to be avoiding both bad sunburns and Ohio State football fans as the ’Cows rolled through pool play by hammering Toledo (13-1), Denison (13-4), OSU-B (13-0), and a solid Miami of Ohio team (13-3). The team retired for the night satisfied with their play, knowing that far greater challenges awaited them in bracket play the next day.

The second day barely managed to dawn through the dark rain clouds that had descended on Columbus. The first opponent of the gray and wet Sunday was Ohio University, the ’Cows first true challenge of the tournament.

Oberlin exploited the speed and leaping ability of senior Will Miller to race out to a 3-0 lead, but OU countered with a zone defense that stymied the ’Cows. OU piled on the points amidst several controversial calls by both sides and eventually triumphed 13-7 in a very contentious game.

Before it was over, though, both sophomore Zachary Carter and senior Noah Hoskins-Forsythe demonstrated decisively that mastery of logic and the English language belonged to Oberlin.

Oberlin, disappointed at missing a chance to play OSU in the championship game, put in a lackluster performance in dispatching Ohio Wesleyan 15-11.

A similarly dispirited team performed poorly in the first half against Case Western, falling behind 8-4. At halftime the ’Cows rallied and traded points with Case until the score stood 14-10, Case (first to 15 points wins, but a team must win by two).

Facing imminent defeat and another disheartening loss, junior Edward Olds launched an upwind huck towards the endzone. As Olds released the disc the clouds parted and the sun shone through, bathing the soggy fields in warmth and revealing sophomore Dan Greif leaping high above two Case defenders for the score.

Oberlin’s spirits returned with the sun, and a renewed Oberlin offense led by the unstoppable Greif rolled off 5 points in a row, while Olds led the ’Cows defense in stuffing a now hapless Case offense. Down 15-14 and with the specter of disaster hanging before their eyes, Case rallied for only a single point before Oberlin scored twice more, slamming the door on a dramatic 17-15 win, the greatest ’Cows comeback in recent memory.

The glow of victory turned to raging flames of desire as Oberlin prepared to face OU once again (following OU’s loss to OSU in the finals). With the prospect of revenge before them, Oberlin’s handlers, juniors Henry Ladd and Keith Apfelbaum and seniors Jessy Lynch, Brendan Curran, Gabriel McCormick, Steven Kleinman and Olds pierced through the formerly impenetrable OU zone.

Carter, junior David Kreiss-Tomkins and Hoskins-Forsythe proved stalwarts on defense while Miller, Greif, senior Bryan Woliner and sophomore Ethan Witkovsky continued to power Oberlin’s offense.

The ’Cows established a 10-4 lead before tiring and allowing OU to close to 11-9. But the ’Cows received timely help from their bench in senior Michael Kramer-Duffield and junior Wilson Skinner to close out the game with a resounding 15-11 win.

The OU win gave Oberlin a 7-1 record for the tournament, second place in the section and a berth at the Great Lakes Regionals Tournament in Detroit, Mich. in two weeks.


 
 
   

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