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PURPLE HAZE TEAM HISTORY
| The New York University men's ultimate team, Purple Haze, enters its eighth year of play in 2005-2006. In its first few seasons, the team struggled to recruit players, men and women, and teach them the basics of the game in a city where fields are extremely hard to come by. |  |
| Purple
Haze - Dartmouth 2000 |
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The team's breakthrough year was 2001-2002. Aided by an influx of several experienced grad student players, Purple Haze compiled a 29-20 record, with a third-place finish at Metro NY College Sectionals - one spot away from qualifying for Regionals. Also that year, the team made its first-ever trip to the High Tide tournament in Georgia for Spring Break, where it won the B-division, winning 9 of 10 games. At High Tide, senior captain Dusty Rhodes got the most All-Star votes of any player in the tournament, while Zac Roy, Kevin Moriarty, and Ken Chen also made the All-Star squad. Rhodes was voted team MVP for the second time in two years, beating out Jeff Ho who won the award the year before. Both Rhodes and Ho were recently the first NYU ultimate players to have their jersey numbers retired (3 and 00 respectively). Rhodes currently plays for the elite New Jersey club team, "Pike." Ken Chen was voted Rookie of the Year. '01-'02 was also the first year that women of NYU ultimate split to form their own team, "Bust" (now called "Violet Femmes"), led by Karen Lee, who finished fifth in the Callahan voting in 2003. |
| Two
time MVP Dusty Rhodes |
| In 2002-2003, the team was led by captain Jimmy Bendernagel and Zac Roy (2001 Rookie of the Year), and star senior Jeff Ho. Haze had a solid fall season in which it defeated its uptown arch-rivals from Columbia for the first time ever en route to a Division-2 Metro NY Club Sectionals championship. After a disappointing rain-filled spring break trip to Georgia, Haze rebounded with an strong performance at Yale Cup. At Yale, Haze went 2-2 in pool play by beating its rival Princeton for the first time ever, signaling a changing of the guard in the Section. Due to a lack of field space, Sectionals was a one-day, seven-game marathon tournament. Haze again defeated Princeton in the semifinals, before losing to Columbia in the Sectional Finals. In the backdoor finals (the seventh game of the day), Haze lost a heartbreaker to Princeton to once again finish third - one place away from Regionals for the second consecutive season. Ho was voted team MVP for the second time in three years. Eric Kuo was voted Rookie of the year. |  |
| Two
time MVP Jeff Ho |
 | The 2003-2004 season was filled with many question marks, as the NYU squad struggled to replace Ho and Bendernagel, but several talented freshmen who were stars on the Juniors circuit helped the team greatly. More experienced grad students, including Alex MacArthur from the elite co-ed club team, "B+", also help the team's progress immensely. The team faced more obstacles as the closest fields to NYU were torn up, leaving Purple Haze with no where to practice during the spring. Surprisingly, the NY Metro East Section received three bids in 2003-2004, but Haze was unable to secure the final bid, as they faced a very tough Princeton squad and Rutgers had improved greatly from the previous season. Che Liu was named Rookie of the year and Zac Roy, former Rookie of the year, was awarded the MVP honors. |
| Purple
Haze - Haverford 2003 |
| Losing nine players, notably Zac Roy, John Patterson, and Alex MacArthur in 2004-2005 (seven graduated and two studying abroad), Captains Ken Chen and Blake Redding struggled to find able and willing bodies to play ultimate in NYC. With a lot of eager, but inexperienced freshmen, and only one very experience grad student, Jason Woody, Purple Haze entered the spring season somewhat less than optimistically. With a short squad at Sectionals, due to other obligations and injuries, Purple Haze was unable to make it to Regionals. WSN article on season |  |
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Once again losing a great deal of experienced players, the Purple Haze began their '05-'06 year as a rebuilding one. With the loss of veterans Blake Redding, Ken Chen, Jason Woody, Bob Harrits, Jon Gormon, Elliot Carvalho, and others, the Haze has had to build themselves from the floor up, relying a great deal on their younger members. Lead by Eric Kuo, Usman Chaudhary, and Ted Sangalis, the team has made great strides in learning how to play more cohesively and to utilize each others strengths. The team, now mostly comprised of sophomores and freshman, look forward to their performances in years to come. Next year nearly the exact same young squad will take up the field, this time exponentially improved and sights set on sectional victory. As for the remainder of this year, the Haze look to continue improving and to show that they are still a force to be reckoned with. And a force to reckoned with they were, pulling near a upset against Columbia and playing an intense game against Rutgers and Drew. The Haze played with an intensity not seen anywhere else but at club national championships, and they finished the season with heads held up, ever looking for their next challenge. |
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| Purple Haze Captains
1998-1999: Andrew Chan
1999-2000: Andrew Chan and Dusty Rhodes
Andrew Chan, Dusty Rhodes, and Jeff Ho
2001-2002: Dusty Rhodes
2002-2003: Jimmy Bendernagle and Zac Roy
2003-2004: Zac Roy and John Patterson
2004-2005: Ken Chen and Blake Redding
2005-2006: Eric Kuo, Ted Sangalis and Usman Chaudhary
2005-2006: Alex Kuo, Zach Mahone, Zach Finkelstein
| Awards
1998-1999
1999-2000
2000-2001
2003-2004 MVP: Zac Roy Rookie of the Year: Che Liu
2004-2005 MVP: Ken Chen Rookie of the Year: Alex Kuo
2005-2006 MVP: Eric Kuo Rookie of the Year: Zach Finkelstein
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RECORDS 1999:
(0-7) last in section 2005: (12-9) 4th in section |
Retired Numbers
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| Zac Roy | |
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