2007 UCLA MBA tourney

Over this past weekend (10/10/07), I traveled down to LA to join forces with the Kellogg soccer team (my MBA alma mater), who was traveling to UCLA for the 1st MBA soccer tourney of the '07/'08 MBA school year. We (the Kellogg team) went on an unprecedented run during the '06/'07 MBA year, capturing all 3 major MBA titles -- UCLA, Austin, and Tuck -- so naturally, we entered the tournament in high spirits. To help boost our morale, I was able to share 24 brand new Home (White) & Away (Purple) Nike kits with our team, which were generously donated to us by the head of US Sports Marketing at Nike, Joe Elsmore. Thansk Joe!! The kits were sharp -- the team was pumped ..and we were ready to pursue our 4th consecutive MBA title.

Before our first game, we posed to show off our new kits.
The all white is a classic look, made popular in recent times by Real Madrid

Our team was composed of two alumni (myself and one other), one 1Y (shown below), one first year, and 12 second years. The group of guys in the year behind me (i.e. the 2nd years) are truly an impressive bunch, and entered their 2nd year of play with an opportunity to finish out their entire MBA career undefeated in league play, something which has never been done to the best of our knowledge.


Javier, one of the many 2nd years, patiently controlled the center midfield throughout the tourney.


My Kellogg roommate, Tassilo (also now a 2nd year), took a moment to model the new white kits during halftime of our first game -- looking good my friend!

The tournament is composed of 16 teams in 4 groups. On the first day, the teams play round robin style within their group. Our first game was against MIT Sloan, who put up a strong battle. We won 3-1; the allowed goal was one of only two we would give up all weekend. Our defense is definitely a strength of this team, headed up by Brock Hilbert (Wake Forest) at sweeper and Juan Miguens (a Nike 2007 Adrenaline intern from Argentina) at stopper.

Phil Cooksey, showing off one of his many quirky side below, joined the Kellogg team for the first time at an MBA tourney, but had no problem stepping in and contributing to the back four. The team was clearly in top spirits right from the outset, and it was great to see the old crew bond once again.

After beating HBS in a hard fought 1-0 battle, we knew we were through to the 2nd round on Sunday. Before engaging in our last game of the 1st day against UCLA Anderson, we took a moment to once again show off our (slightly tattered by this point) Nike Home kits.

After an exhausting day, we ventured to El Cholo Mexican Restaurant off Wilshire in Santa Monica for a casual night out with the team. Good food -- great conversation -- good times! A few of us had visions of venturing out to a few bars after dinner, but after devouring a few too many carnitas, fajitas, enchiladas, and plently of Coronas, we ALL correctly decided to venture back to our hotel to rest, so we could properly defend our UCLA title the next day.

Our first game in the morning was against USC Marshall, who was also wearing white. No worries -- we had some fresh purple jerseys ready to go, and we were happy to sport the Wildcat look

This must be one of at least 100 balls our central midfielder, Richard Bode, won over the course of the tourney. He earned MVP honors in at least one tourney last year, and anyone who participated in the tourney would be hard pressed to argue against granting him this award once again.

We beat USC Marshall handily (3-1)in our quarterfinal match.

Due to an oddity of the tournament, we were forced to play HBS once again, this time in the Semifinals. HBS, dressed in burgundy below, put up another great battle, but Kellogg (mixed in our purple shorts and white tops) were not ones to shy away. In my mind, this was the best battle of the tourney; the field was clearly in bad shape, and two determined teams squared off in a classic blue collar, drizzly MBA battle. A fierce, clean clash took place all over the field, and there was no let up on other side. We managed a 'leaning' header goal (note: not diving!) early n the 1st half, and held on to the 1 goal lead for the remainder of the game. Over this past year, we have been able to prevail under just about every type of condtion, and this game was no exception.

For the Final game, we once again donned our purple / white mix, and faced off against Stanford GSB.

My 2nd year roomie was feeling good at the beginning of the game, and decided to strut his stuff for all his ladies back at Kellogg -- HA! Tass-man's warm-up exercises and motivational rants became part of Kellogg lore as the tourney progressed. WE PLAY TOGETHER, WE FIGHT TOGETHER AND WE WIN TOGETHER!!! our German teammate would yell in varying poetic verses in our huddle at the beginning of each game ...but thankfully, he did not ask us to die together! :-)

The battle was not as intense as the semifinal, and we dominated the majority of play. The final score was 2-0, and the outcome was never in doubt.

A sense of relief and accomplishment overcame all of us as the UCLA organizers handed us the 2007 UCLA trophy.

This is easily my favorite photo. In true, cocky MBA fashion, our entire team is surrounding the trophy, while announcing to the world (or the few spectators nearby) that this is our 4th consecutive MBA tourney. ..but if there is ever a team who deserves to show a little confidence, it must be this one. My hat goes off to all the members as this is truly the most enjoyable, talented, and supportive group of teammates that I've ever been around.

We cleaned up our act toward the end of our celebration and settled in to a classic championship pose, behind an unfortuntately, very small trophy.

The article below will be posted to the Kellogg Merger in next week's issue, and summarizes the weekend's competition --

The Kellogg Soccer Club team continues its unparalleled streak of success by winning the UCLA SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP a second time in a row. This weekend, 16 players travelled to LA to participate in one of the most competitive graduate school soccer challenges in North America. The tournament hosted 16 teams comprised of top graduate schools across the country.

Kellogg finished the group phase ranked first after beating Harvard (HBS), UCLA (Anderson), and MIT (Sloan). In the second day of the competition, the squad advanced by defeating USC (Marshall) 3-1 in the quarter final. Kellogg then faced Harvard (HBS)for a second time in the semi final. The traditional rivalry between the two schools resulted in a very competitive, but fair led encounter on the pitch. Once again, Kellogg was able to secure a gain, winning the game 1–0.After a challenging and extremely exhausting weekend full of intense games, the Kellogg Soccer Club Team won the final against Stanford (GSB) 2-0.

Kellogg soccer is now undefeated in 30 official MBA tournament matches and continues to embody the values of team spirit, passion, and support for every member of the squad. "In recognition of Kellogg soccer's athletic achievements, Nike Football (Soccer) US Sports Marketing has donated two complete set of of Nike kits to the team