Tufts bounced the Pain Train, the men's squad, in the semifinals on double game point.
Princess Layout, Dartmouth's women's team, soundly defeated all who stood in its way, winning the region and a bid to the national tournament.
The women came into the tournament as the top seed in the women's division and lived up to expectations, winning games against Colby, Vermont and MIT by fair margins before defeating Tufts, 13-10.
Dartmouth thrived on the strong play and leadership of its co-captains, Liz Middleton '06 and Lakshmi Narayan '06, as well as solid efforts from several of its younger members, a good sign for Dartmouth's future on the ultimate field.
"Our team has worked really hard all season." Lydia Islan '08 said, "So, it was really great to see us come together and show everyone what we can do."
Tufts defeated MIT in the loser's bracket game, 15-9, to go on to take the second bid to the national tournament.
The Pain Train came into regionals as the eighth seed, but results at earlier tournaments had shown all of the top teams in the region to be vulnerable, leaving the two bids to nationals relatively wide open. After a first-round win against Middlebury, Dartmouth came up against Brown's top-seeded team.
The Brown game was well played, with both teams' offenses successfully dealing with the other's defense throughout. With the game capped for time at 12-12, both teams were just two scores away from victory. Dartmouth started with the disc, but Brown broke the Train twice in a row to take the win, saddling Dartmouth with a loss and placing the team in the loser's, or backdoor, bracket.
Dartmouth proceeded to roll through the rest of its games on Saturday, defeating MIT and Amherst to earn it a spot in the quarterfinals of the backdoor bracket on Sunday.
Dartmouth took on Tufts in the quarters. Although the Train was seeded lower than its competition, Dartmouth was fired up by strong sideline support from a number of students who made the trek to Sachem Field for the event.
The Pain Train scored two points going upwind to take an early lead and went into halftime up 8-3. However, Tufts battled back in the second half, taking the lead briefly before Dartmouth forced a 14-14 tie and "universe point," where the next team to score wins. Dartmouth created a Tufts turnover, but couldn't convert. Tufts then moved the disc upwind to score and eliminate Dartmouth.
"This weekend embodied everything that our team hoped we would be," Peter Bonanno '08 said. "We played hard, running with the best teams in New England. We played like a team, energetic and fired-up to push each other on, and we played with smiles on our faces, because it's hard to avoid falling in love with ultimate, your teammates and the beautiful weather at a tournament like that."
Men's captain Adam Sigelman '05 expressed similar sentiments about the team. "It has always been an honor for me to be part of Dartmouth utimate, this year -- my last year -- especially. To sweat together, to suffer together, to feel the same emotional ups and downs as 23 other people in a quest for greatness."
The Pain Train will graduate a fair number of solid seniors, including Sigelman and co-captain Dan Yi '06, but next year's team will be in solid hands, as Nate Raines '07, Sam Routhier '07 and Chris Cahill '07 have all been chosen to lead team, which will retain many of its younger stars.
Harvard defeated Brown 15-6 to win the tournament and earn the first bid to nationals. After the loss, Brown defeated UMass 15-8 in the backdoor finals to capture the second nationals bid.
With its regional victory, Princess Layout will head to Columbus, Ohio, to play in the UPA College National Tournament against 15 of the best teams in the country on May 26-28.
The women have qualified for nationals in each of the last two years, finishing ninth in 2004 and 11th in 2005.
