Huck of the Irsh Champions

The fields in Baltimore were deemed unplayable by the Baltimore County Rec and Parks Dept. on Wednesday afternoon, causing the tournament to be relocated to Salisbury, MD, about 2.5 hours away from the original site. The additional drive forced several teams to drop in the days leading up to the tournament including Ohio Sate, Ohio U. and Wentworth on the open side.

Wind on Saturday was about 20mph steady, with sustained gusts of 30+mph, which meant lots of zone defense. Weather got better for Sunday, as the temperature rose to the high 40's for parts of the day, and the wind returned to much lower speeds.

Mothership HOTI History
Queen's-Kingston: Returned for their 3rd straight HOTI appearance, must have been glad to see NC State would not be appearing this year after losing to State in the finals in 2003 (17-16), and last year in the semis (11-10). Lost 4 starters from last years team, which lost in the game-to-go at ME regionals.

Saturday Results: 4-0

Sunday Results:
Prequarters: Queen's over Carleton 13-2
Quarters: Queen's over Mary Washington 13-2
Semis: Queen's over Oberlin 13-4
Finals: Queen's over Delaware 13-5

Finals Synopsis (Queen's vs. Delaware)

Rematch from Saturday pool play with similar results. Queen's moves the disc really well, with Adam Melnyk keying their offense. Tons of give-and-go's leading to long hucks. Several players with solid break mark throws, and confident receivers. Delaware came out a little flat in the finals, starting out down 3-1. Sideshow seemed to have left some of their trademark intensity two fields over where they beat Maryland earlier. Nick Purfico led Delaware with several layout d's and big receptions, even when the score had gotten out of hand. Queen's takes home the trophy and the tourney fee waiver for next year's tournament.

Written by Dave Branick, HOTI TD