Acorn

The Drew University men's ultimate Frisbee team may be called "Drew Blood," but there was nothing gruesome about the team's victory over longtime rival Rutgers University.

The Blood beat Rutgers 13-10 at the Rutgers tournament, which took place on Oct. 21 and 22. Drew Blood finished seventh out of 16 teams.

"[The] best moment this semester was beating Rutgers," co-captain senior Vinnie Cavaliere said. "They beat us twice last year and are basically our biggest rival. I hate losing to them."

The men also beat Lehigh University 10-8 and Towson University 13-9. They lost to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 13-11.

The standout player of the tournament was senior Tyler Drake, a former Division I basketball player from the California Institute of Technology, Cavaliere said. "The kid can catch the disc over anyone, which gives us a huge advantage in the deep game," he said.

Drew Blood started the season with a tournament in Philadelphia on Sept. 16 and 17. Drew beat Carnegie Mellon University 15-11 and lost to the University of Pittsburgh 15-8 and Franklin & Marshall College 15-13.

"The tournament at Philly was basically a warm-up," Cavaliere said, "We practiced twice before it, and the outcomes of the games were not really as important as remembering what it's like playing together. We were basically playing the tournament for fun."

Drew Blood, together with the women's ultimate Frisbee team, hosted an annual alumni tournament last Saturday. Fewer alumni attended than in past years, junior Jesse Vanderhoef said. Rather than the usual dinner dance in Great Hall, the current players and the alumni went out to dinner.  This change in plans occurred because Associate Dean of Educational and Student Affairs Frank Merckx said a Public Safety officer and the ultimate Frisbee advisor-Director of Campus Recreation and Club Sports Tremaine Young-had to be present in Great Hall, Cavaliere said.

Drew Blood will play in the final tournament of the fall season this weekend at Franklin & Marshall College. "I want to have a strong showing at this tournament, but more importantly, get all the rookies fully assimilated to our team," Cavaliere said.

After the tournament, the team will spend the winter conditioning season indoors.

"In the spring, we want to be at our best and, as always, we want to make college regionals, something we missed out on by three points last year," Cavaliere said. The team's first tournament next semester will be in early March.

"The actual season for Frisbee is in the spring, so fall semester is just warm-up," Vanderhoef said.

The men's team has about 20 players, including 10 seniors and six rookies, Cavaliere said.

"Freshmen generally come along slowly because few people have played the sport before college," Cavaliere said. "[However], rookies with athletic backgrounds generally do well earlier because of their instincts on the field."

This year's freshmen are acclimating well, Vanderhoef said, but "it's definitely a different sport when you're playing for fun versus playing on a team."

Cavaliere doesn't just play ultimate Frisbee to get exercise. "I like being athletic and playing on a team that is working towards a common goal," he said.

Cavaliere does not see benefits of playing a club sport as opposed to a varsity sport.

"Varsity sports get a much larger budget and players are held responsible for being at every practice," he said. "If I had it my way, we'd practice five times a week, have a paid coach, get to ride in coach buses to our tournaments, have access to the trainer when we're injured, and most importantly, be respected as a real sports team on this campus. We want to win as much as any of the varsity teams, but the lack of resources hurts."

Since the ultimate Frisbee teams are clubs, they get funding through the Extra-Curricular Activities Board, Vanderhoef said. Several years ago, the Frisbee team had a coach, but now, the captains coach the team.

"The spirit of the game is to work with other players to solve problems," he said. 

This atmosphere is what Vanderhoef likes about Frisbee. "It's a chance to get out and run and have fun," he said. "But it's also still really competitive."

Article Tools