Horsecows do fine as Oberlin reps in Arctic Vogue Tourney

The spring season for Oberlin's men's ultimate team, the Flying Horsecows, kicked off on a halfway seasonable note over the past weekend. The teams traveled to the Cincinnati for the annual Arctic Vogue Tournament.

For four days previous to the tournament it seemed as if spring had come early to all of Ohio, and even at midnight on the way to Cincinnati the temperature was a blustery 68 degrees. By the time the well-rested Horsecows traveled from the McCormick Bed & Breakfast to the site of the games, Ohio proved true to its expectations. The temperature plummeted 35 degrees. This proved to only bolster spirits, as senior Andrew McCormick pointed out to the team, "ass weather builds Horsecows."

The weather was not the only obstacle in the way of playing the games. The phenomenally unorganized tournament directors who showed up late and failed to realize what teams would have to play where, added insult to the impatient Frozen Horsecows.

After the logistics were worked out and the layers were piled on, the first Vogue game was ready to begin. The opponent was the number 12 college team in the country, Indiana's Hucking Foosiers. Oberlin came out a bit slow against the Foosiers, unable to capitalize on scoring chances close to the end zone as well as allowing the Foosiers to jump out to an early 3-1 lead.

Eventually the 'Cows were able to hold Indiana's offense in check with a specialized zone defense called the "plow," trapping movement on one side of the field. But Oberlin's offensive woes kept up through the rest of the game, with many drops in the end zone.

The two point deficit stayed in Indiana's favor for most of the game, until the end, when Indiana went on a run, and closed out the game with an unprecedented skyhook pass from one chump to another, breaking nearly every single law of aerodynamics in existence.

With the bitter taste of losing to a school from Indiana still fresh, Oberlin ventured to find the next field and their second opponent, Big Red Ultimate (yes, BRU), a club team hailing from Illinois. BRU was much less of a threat, and the strongest blow struck by them came before the game, when they forced Oberlin to break out their new white jerseys. The pasty white "I spent the winter in northern Ohio" color helped to blind offense and defense alike.

Oberlin jumped out to an early lead, and despite a slight lack of intensity near halftime which almost let BRU back into the game, Oberlin was able to close the game out, 15-9. Utilizing the highly sophisticated "throw it to the tall guy" offensive strategy, the Horsecows used first-year Todd "Twinkie" Daloz and sophomore Ben G. Grubb repeatedly, much to BRU's dismay.

The final game of the first day was against the young and inexperienced University of Miami of Ohio's Nameless Team. The Horsecows were able to use their bench extensively and effectively. Two stand-out's were Sophomores Sandy "space monkey" Bilus and Grubb, who both stepped up and laid waste to the hapless U of M of Ohio team. One of the most entertaining points of the day came as Bilus wound up and sent one far downfield to the sprinting junior Jim Woodroffe, who out-jumped the two men surrounding him to come down with the floating pass. Woodroffe then subtlety removed another defender from his throwing path to send a somewhat dangerous pass to first-year Eric "tickticktick-boom" LeBlanc. LeBlanc then surpassed the danger of the original pass with a sharp pass right by another Miami defender into the waiting arms of fellow first-year Seth Lepzelter.

Thus the first day of play ended and Oberlin was able to experience the other bits of southern Ohio which make Arctic Vogue special. First was the distinct lack of solid college teams in attendance, mainly due to the fact that few college teams had the foresight to want to play in southern Ohio during freezing conditions. The accommodations were an even larger and more influential difference. Instead of trying to sneak 18 people into the double room of some scary roadside shack with hourly rates, the McCormick household Bed & Breakfast opened its doors to the weary men and women ultimate players.

Possibly the most important tradition of the tournament is the party thrown the night after the first round of games. "Winning the party" is often viewed as more important than winning the tournament itself, so the Horsecows sent senior captain Matt "Meisenhelder" Brady and McCormick to assure an Oberlin victory. Matters were taken care of swiftly when Meisenhelder nudged the tournament director into the Ramada Inn pool.

The director also happened to be the captain of the club team Lemon, who were not only hosting the tournament, but coincidentally were also the number one seed. The "pool incident" was undoubtedly taken into consideration for the second day schedule, and the 'Cows were placed head to head with first-ranked Lemon in the first game despite Oberlin's 2-1 record.

Another factor stacked against the Horsecows was the loss of three starters. Seniors Mike Dwyer, Tim Learmonth, junior Nachie Castro and first-year Jonathan Curley were all lost to various injuries. Fortunately, the youth and exuberance displayed by the younger players made up for the lost starters. For the first half anyway.

After scoring a grand collective total of three points against Lemon over the past two years, Oberlin made the unprecedented leap to an 8-7 lead at halftime. The shock of having the 'Cows score so much plus added reminders of the "pool incident" pushed Lemon's play to a level a wee bit past Oberlin's. They ended Oberlin's second day with a final score of 15-8.

The next tournment on tap for the Horsecows is this Saturday, hosted by the University of Miami, Ohio's team. Due to the expected competition, Oberlin will send their "B" team, also known as the ever unpredictable "Horing Flycows" squad. "They should sufficiently be able to take care of buisness," said Meisenhelder.

Discourse is written by members of the Ultimate Frisbee team.