UPA 2003 COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Williams College
How they got here:
2nd in New England Region
Scouting Report
After a successful UPA Fall Series (beat UMass at sectionals, played well against DoG and LoG at regionals) and some other solid fall tournaments (their only college loss was a rematch with UMass), Williams proclaimed itself a contender for one of the Northeast's three Naionals bids. Cynics were unimpressed by the fall results, and indeed Williams got off to a slow start at College Southerns and Ultimaxx. But to Williams' credit, they continued to improve throughout the spring, and they finally broke through in a big way at Regionals, beating Harvard soundly twice and defeating UMass for the Northeast's #2 spot to Nationals.
With 15 seniors on its roster, and a playing rotation of 16-18, Williams has often been characterized as a "faceless army", but several individual players deserve mention. Among Williams' plethora of athletic big men, Ian Warrington (#13) and Jeremy Redburn (#55) stand out. Look for them to make plenty of plays on both sides of the disc. Krishna Kannan (#19) and Chris Durlacher (#46) are solid handlers. Other players to watch include Nick Borja (#7) and Rob Gonzalez (#69) on offense and Hal Kronsberg (#20) and Pablo de los Santos (#28) on defense.
As might be expected, Williams will rotate plenty of fresh sets of legs on offense to keep running, especially for the long throw. But where their depth and teamwork really shine is on defense, where Williams mostly plays a man defense with lots of switching and fronting. Any set of defenders Williams puts in is capable of operating as a unit and communicating appropriately.
Since Williams is in the B pool, Oregon will be a doozy, but Williams should be happy about their chances against Ohio State and UPenn. Williams certainly has an opportunity to break seed and advance to the prequarters of the championship bracket. But for the 15 seniors on the team, will that be enough?
Self-reported stats
Big season wins:
"Building the whole season ... no really big wins until regionals. Close
games with UMass at sectionals and Yale Cup, Williams and Mary at Ultimax
and Brown in a scrimmage at UMass."
Big season losses:
None reported.
Players to watch on offense:
Chris Durlacher, 5'11", Senior, 46
Rob Gonzalez, 5'6", Senior, 69
Ian Warrington, 6'2", Senior, 13
Nick Borja, 5'10", Junior
Krishna Kannan, 5'6", Senior
Players to watch on defense:
Jeremy Redburn, 6'4", Senior, 55
Hal Kronsberg, 5'11", Senior
Pablo de los Santos, 5'10", Senior