Brown Wins 2005 College Ultimate Championships
By Craig Remillard

“I think there are a few players we can rattle.  They’re not accustomed to teams that can match up with them.  We’ll plant a seed of doubt in their minds, and then it will grow.”

Nathan Wicks is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to ultimate.  As the coach of Brownian Motion, he has seen 8 appearances at the UPA Championships in the last 9 years, and one title.  Today, his team faces the defending champions University of Colorado Mamabird for the 2005 title.  Brown has yet to really be tested at these championships, with its closest game being 15-11 in the first pool play game against Texas.  They’ve only gotten better since.  Asked if the lack of a challenge is an advantage or disadvantage, Wicks said, “It builds our confidence, so it’s good.”  Brown is peaking right now, thanks to good coaching and a well-planned season.  “We have a specific way we approach each tournament, start to finish.  You can’t burn for that long, a whole season.  We were lucky in that we had a relatively weak region, so we could peak here.”  As far as any distractions from senior Josh Ziperstein winning the Callahan Award, college ultimate’s MVP award, he says “It’s not a problem – I’ve talked to him for years about the possibility, because he was always a great player.”

Catt Wilson is also a veteran at the national tournament.  Since its inception in the early ‘90’s, the Colorado men’s team has been on a steady uphill rise; Catt has coached them most of the way.  Last year, they won this game over first-time championship team UC-Berkeley.  When asked if this might lessen the motivation for another one, Catt balks.  “Don’t worry too much about motivation – we have guys like Richter [2004 Callahan award winner Josh Ackley] and JV [Colin Gottlieb] who need to win at everything, whether it’s practice or a National championship.”  Catt thinks Colorado’s strength is “Depth.  The starters match up well, but beyond that we’ve got a lot of guys after them that they might have trouble with.”

The two coaches have different approaches to the game – Catt rides the emotions with his team, and he’s pumped up in the opening huddle.  “Decide, ‘I’m gonna beat your ass this point… you’re mine.”  Colorado senior and energy source Gottlieb puts a wistful spin on it.  “One last charge of the Bird,” he says.

Wicks is playing the cool, calm, and collected leader.  He’s not happy just to be here, but he wants his players to treat this like any game, at least early on.  He starts out with some strategy talk, but stops himself quickly.  “You know what?  You’re ready,” he says and then walks out of the huddle.

Colorado starts a fearsome lineup.  Gottlieb, Adam Simon, Ackley, Beau Kittredge, and Jolian Dahl would all be the star on 95% of the teams in the country, and their supporting cast features some of the best backup players around, as they’re joined on the line by Justin Salvia and Jason Buckingham.  Brown is the first team this tournament to match every spot.  Ziperstein against Ackley’s speed and hops.  Colin and Neale Mahoney against Beau Kittredge and Jolian Dahl’s speed and height.  Dan MacArthur combats Gottlieb’s speed, and Will Arnold is the perfect defense for Simon’s all-around game.  They are joined on the starting line by Ben Sprung and Josh Champagne.
 
Brown pulls upwind to Colorado, which works the disc down the field with a horizontal stack.  Brown is laying out every throw, and Colin Mahoney gets a goal-line D on the left side of the Brown endzone on a disc meant for Colorado’s Kittredge, but his brother Neale bobbles a catch a few seconds later.  Ackley out-jukes Ziperstein on the goal line for the first point.  Ziperstein evens things up by beating Adrian Keyes to a 55 yard Paul Vandenberg throw.  That has been Brown’s opening play every game this weekend, and it has never failed to work.  Adam Simon and Jay Buckinham work it downfield to Kittredge for another score next point.

Ziperstein again cuts deep for Paul Vandenberg, but in the process of trying to lose Kittredge he fakes out his own handler, and Beau steps in to pick up the errant toss 30 yards out of the Brown endzone.  At this distance Beau’s speed and height is uncoverable, and he give-and-goes with Ackley to punch it in, 3-1.  Then Dahl reaches into a throwing lane for another close D, and again Kittredge scores, although this time he takes most of the stall count to drop Ziperstein’s tight D and get open for Josh Ackley’s 8 yard high release backhand.  This is a Colorado team that hasn’t shown itself earlier in this tournament:  efficient, intelligent, and ruthless, and it’s up 4-1.  This could be a short game.

The next point, Brown’s offensive line finds its groove against a Mamabird cup zone.  Brothers Paul and Mike Vandenberg break it around the trap side and Paul jams it to Ziperstein for the goal.  Kittredge answers back the next point when a huck from Simon floats in the downwind endzone.  Defender Will Arnold has position, but Kittredge has speed; he runs around Arnold and tracks down the falling pass at the back of the endzone.  Mamabird 5-2.  Brown’s O team is meshing, though, keeping hold of the disc despite vicious open-side defense by Mamabird near the Brown endzone.  Mike Vandenberg sees poaches into the lane and forces breaks around his mark.  This keeps CU honest and Ziperstein sails a pass to Jarrod Lynn going crossfield for the goal.  Brown’s defense is also stepping up, but it can’t seem to punch in a goal to break it back.  Will Arnold’s poach bid isn’t successful, but the downfield look to Jay Buckingham from Colorado gets overthrown due to the pressure, only to see Ben Sprung drop a catch.  Ackley hits Simon soon after, 6-3.

Brown is feeling the pressure as Mamabird clamps down the defense.  Both teams turnover during the next frame.  Mike Vandenberg eventually shoots a throw to Ziperstein, who is covered like a shadow by Nathan Flowers-Jacob all point.  The next point, Gottlieb of Mamabird hucks to Ackley, who is covered close by Ziperstein.  The crowd goes silent; this is a test of the matchup between this year’s and last year’s Callahan winners.  Zip gets a hand up to barely tip the disc before it reaches Ackley’s hands.  Justin Salvia gets a big layout D, though, and again it’s Kittredge scoring, this time outrunning Colin Mahoney to the back of the endzone.  Brown’s offense again battles through the suffocating marks of Colorado for a close strike from Zip to Reid Hopkins.  Mamabird looks to take it to half, but the next point is rife with turnovers.  Ziperstein has another outstanding block, coming from the help side and jumping for a huck way in front of teammate Mahoney and Colorado’s Beau, who both have about 6 inches height on him.  The man has ups.  It’s not to be though, as Adam Simon pulls an underthrown huck meant for Colin Mahoney from the air, and finds Kittredge in the transition from 5 yards out for half, 8-5.

Colorado is playing well, although they are throwing into a ton of Brown defenders.  Some are great plays, but some are just bad decisions.  Colorado has been having trouble with its offense all weekend, and it appears to be carrying over.  At several points in this half, they had opportunities to blow the game open but didn’t convert.  Brown, for its part, is clearly nervous.  They have had their own set of turnovers, especially the D line, which hasn’t yet found the endzone despite forcing several takebacks (and having several more drop in their laps).  “We’re getting the disc – now we need to convert,” Wicks says in a calm voice.  He exudes confidence in his players, hoping they will take a deep breath and take over this game.

Colorado pulls to Brown for the first point of half with a similar lineup to the starters, except with Clark Bishop, Anthony Duff, and Rick Hodges in place of Simon, Buckingham, and Salvia for defense.  Brown’s lineup is far more varied, and B-Mo in general is subbing everyone but Zip quite a bit to this point.  He is joined by the Vandenbergs, Alex Bowman, Reid Hopkins, Mike Pozar, and Jarrod Lynn.  Ziperstein streaks deep and Paul Vandenberg jacks a huck, but he is covered by Beau Kittredge.  It is called back for a foul, but a crossfield throw goes out of bounds, and Ackley, Kittredge, and Gottlieb weave into the goal for a 9-5 break out of half.  The game seems to be getting away from B-Mo, and flashbacks of last year’s Cal-Colorado finals blowout might be entering fans’ minds – Mamabird pulled away in that game around this point.

Brown does, in fact, seem a step slow, walking back to the line with heads down.  Colorado tries to vary the look by throwing a cup, and it works for a while.  Brown seems afraid to try the hammers that they’ve used all season to bust zones.  Leave it to a freshman who doesn’t know any better:  Mike Vandenberg goes upside down 20 yards upfield to Alex Bowman on the wing, then breaks a few throws later to Ziperstein for the goal.  Next point, Brown seems to come out with a second wind, as Colin Gottlieb lays out 5 feet in the air for two throws to keep the possession going, sprained-ankle-be-damned.  Hopkins hits Arnold for a much-need defensive score, 9-7. 

At this point, Brown needs another score to get at least one of the two breaks it will need to win.  However, the two teams settle into a rhythm of trading points.  Colin Gottlieb goes deep from the handler position to clutch a catch over Brown’s MacArthur.  Alex Bowman gets 5 yard score to Ziperstein, who muscles in front of his defender.  The next point, Colorado comes out of a goal line timeout only to be surprised by a zone defense and force back to midfield.  A frustrated Colin Gottlieb lofts a hammer to the corner, but B-Mo’s Ziperstein is baiting it and he materializes in front of Josh Ackley of Colorado to bat it away.  However, Brown’s defensive line again fails to retain possession.  They are squandering a lot of good plays – Kittredge gets another goal as Ackley reaches an inside-out flick around Josh Ziperstein from 5 yards out.  11-8.

It seems, at this point, that Brown’s defensive line is trying to make up its mind.  Half of it is playing to win, and half is just playing not to lose.  Brown’s offensive players are holding up their end of the deal, though, confident that their teammates will eventually wear through the Mamabird resistance.  Josh Ziperstein is playing on both lines, almost every point, but it’s not showing as he connects with Lynn for another one.  The D line finally gets its break, with Will Arnold pulling down a trashy throw.  After a timeout, Dan MacArthur gets stalled high on the right sideline.  Instead of choking, he makes the smart throw, floating it into the endzone in the vicinity of the tallest thing around, Colin Mahoney, who pulls it in for the score.  Then Paul Vandenberg floats a breakside upwinder to space to Alex Bowman.  Brown is within 1, 10-11.
Colorado stops the bleeding the next point, as Simon hits Kittredge with an inside-out forehand.  Kittredge was his usual unstoppable self all game, scoring 7 points and adding two assists and a handful of D blocks.  However, Colin Mahoney, who covered Beau most of the time, was the more effective than anyone in the tournament at not backing down, getting several skies and a few D’s on the big man from Colorado.  The soft cap is on, game to 15.  Brown’s Reid Hopkins jams a backhand to Alex Bowman just inches past a Mamabird defender the next point.  The next point, Colin Gottlieb, usually a big-game monster for Colorado, makes an uncharacteristic late game error by overthrowing Kittredge.  Ziperstein wafts a 50 yard slicing flick down the left side to Will Arnold, and the game is tied at 13’s.

Improbable targets in ultimate are often conquered by breaking them down into smaller pieces, whether it’s the mechanics of a scoober or a comeback against an elite team.  Coaches often speak of “winning the games to three.”  String together enough of them, and any deficit is surmountable.  Brown has come back from down 5-9 after half with just such a focused strategy – 3-1 and 3-2 they won the first two mini-games, and now they’re up 2-1 in the decisive game to go up before game point.  In the words of Nathan Wicks, games like this often come down to whose superstars make the plays at the end.  Colin Gottlieb streaks deep for beautiful throw, wide open.  But here comes 6’ 3” Neale Mahoney, coming on help from the back side and getting his torso above Gottlieb’s rising shoulder to bat the pass away.  On the other end, he throws a stall 9 floater from 20 yards out to Colin Mahoney, but Beau brushes it with his finger tips high into the air.  The disc blades down and Brown’s Will Arnold tries to handle it, but it bounces out of his hand… right into the diving hands of Josh Ziperstein, who trailed the throw to help.  After playing almost every point of the game, Zip is still doing the little things that it takes to win a game like this.

Colorado’s offense finally keeps it away from Brown’s D for a point, Ackley toeing in a sideline pass to save possession.  Chants of “Martin! Martin!” come from the Mamabird fans in the Crescent Valley High School stadium stands, reminding the Colorado boys of their fallen comrade Martin Cochrane, who suffered bruised ribs and punctured lung on Friday while attempting a greatest.  Adam Simon and Beau Kittredge give and go to score, 14’s.  Brown gets the disc going upwind into a slight breeze, and Dan MacArthur takes off.  Alex Bowman doesn’t even pause, pushing a backhand 70 yards past his mark and Colorado defender Adam Simon.  Brown wins, 15-14!  

Colorado, for its part, sits somberly on the sideline after shaking hands.  Coach Catt offers an analysis:  “I was pleased with our D, but our offense just couldn’t move the disc all weekend, and we couldn’t work it out.  On Brown’s part, I thought their O was very efficient, but their D relied a lot on calls to interrupt the flow of the game.  Still, we’ve seen that before and it’s no excuse.”  Wilson’s lament was also picked up by the fans during the game, who counted out loud the number of calls (by both sides) as the game went on.  The tally reached well into the 70’s.  Gottlieb offers some perspective though.  “I love these guys,” he says, referring to his teammates on Colorado.  “It’s not about this, this game – it’s just the color of the ribbon on the medals we get.  It was an amazing season, and that look you see in a teammate’s eyes when the game is on – I saw that look a few times this year.  That’s what’s important.”

In the end of game Brown huddle, Nathan Wicks offers some advice.  “The next 20 minutes are going to be the best 20 minutes of your life,” he says with a hint of truth.  The game looked a little hopeless early in the second half, so what turned it around?  Wicks offers his take on it, “We were staying close and we felt we had more legs.  They were playing their main guys a lot, and we were more rested when it mattered.  Then we made the plays, like Neale’s block at the end.  Maybe because we wanted it more, because we hadn’t tasted it yet.”  Senior Will Arnold agrees.  “They couldn’t run with us all game.  It was like when I played football when I was in fifth grade, I would just keep coming at the bigger linemen, and eventually they didn’t want to face me anymore.  We just kept rushing them all game, and felt the flow at the end.”

Colin Mahoney, who did a better job than anyone has been able to yet on Beau Kittredge, talks about Brown’s evolution through the game.  “We had some jitters, and it took us a long time to get back from there.”  Callahan man Ziperstein agrees, “We stayed calm, and kept running them.  Every turn may not have gotten us a point, but it got us another yard on our cuts as they tired.  You’ve got to have confidence that you’ll score eventually in those situations.  I think, in the end, we wanted it more.”

That line of desire may be a fine gray one, but Brown crossed it to earn its first championship since 2000.  The program rebuilt around this year’s seniors after its last winning class graduated, and this was truly their year to shine.  Colorado, for its part, expects to be back next year in force:  Mamabird is only losing four players, and has a healthy young base of freshmen and sophomores on which to build.  For some of the teams that came here, this was the peak of an ultimate lifetime; for other is was just a stop on the road to what Brown experienced today.  They will battle again to be in Columbus, Ohio next year.  Until then, Brownian Motion holds the title of defending UPA Champions.