The men's ultimate frisbee club team, Brownian Motion, started its season off with a bang last weekend, making it to the semifinals of the highly competitive Stanford Invitational.
Though the team has yet to practice on grass this year, Brown went undefeated in pool play, defeating the University of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals before falling to host and eventual champion Stanford University.
"It was really exciting to play well and do well," said co-captain Josh Ziperstein '05.
Brown began the tournament with a game against the College of William & Mary, the top seed in their pool and fourth seed in the tournament. Brown, which defeated William & Mary at last year's national tournament, took the game 12-10.
The second pool game matched the team against the University of California-San Diego. San Diego had an effective deep zone it had used to great effect against Humboldt State University. Brown played excellent defense throughout the game, at no time more evident than toward the end.
After Ben Galeota-Sprung '05 dove to break up a pass that would have put San Diego in position to score, Brown took the disc and marched down the field to take the lead, which it would not relinquish en route to a 13-10 victory.
In its final game on Saturday, Brown faced the last seed in the pool, Humboldt. Though the team was tired from its two previous games, Brown shut down Humboldt's offense and prevailed 13-9.
By winning all its Saturday games, Brown gained a bye straight into the quarterfinals. The team would need all the rest it could get before playing defending the national champion, Wisconsin.
Brown jumped out to an early lead against Wisconsin, creating a three-point gap. As a team, Brown played excellent defense, with Neale Mahoney '05 contributing big stops on defense. Brown's offense was also productive, and the team cruised into the half with a comfortable 8-5 lead.
The time cap went on at the start of the second half, which would end the game when either team reached 10. Brown continued its excellent play on offense and defense, winning the game 10-7.
In the semifinals, Brown faced its rival Stanford, which has defeated Brown at every meeting in the past two years.
Brown and Stanford traded points at the beginning of the game, working their way to a 6-6 tie. But Stanford was able to string together two points in a row to take the half 8-6. Coming out of the half, the time cap went on and Stanford pulled away for an 11-8 win.
Although Brown made it to the semifinals last year at Stanford, it appeared to have the potential to go further this season. The team has picked up several strong new players, including Reid Hopkins '06, Michael Pozar '06 and Colin Mahoney '07.
The team returns to the field March 27 for the Easterns Tournament in Wilmington, N.C.
