This past weekend, we attended Santa Barbara Invite in, where else, Santa Barbara, CA. After a long drive and a relatively good night's sleep (other than some snoring teammates), we were ready to finally play some other college teams. Up until this point, we hadn't played in a tournament this season, so SB Invite would be our first time playing all together, as well as our rookies first time at an ultimate tournament.
When we arrived at the fields, I grabbed my usual tournament bagel and banana pre-game snack, pulled on my pink cleats, and was psyched to play on some nice green grass. (If you don't know, the grass is pretty dead in Tucson, so we regularly play on dirt, a few rocks, and a lot of dried up grass). Every team had their speakers bumping their favorite warmup songs. Ours included repeats of All I Do is Win, Wavin' Flag, Waka Waka, lots of Black Eyed Peas, with a sprinkle of Ke$ha.
Saturday
First Game: Sonoma State
We came out for this game with a few butterflies, but played ok. I don't remember all the details, but Sonoma State is a very good team and they came out on top with a final score of 12-8.
Second Game: UCLA
We've had many run-ins with Blu over my four years on Scorch, and this one was similar. They always have a strong team and can do a lot with their players. The first have was pretty tight, with them winning half by a few points. However, we somehow got caught on our heels and stopped playing good ultimate. Thus, they won 13-7.
Third Game: Cal-B
For this particular game, we came out a little slower than we would have liked. Our offense wasn't as smooth has before and our defense was lacking. In the end, we still pulled out with a W. Final score: 13-6
After Saturday's games, we showered and went out for pizza, shared really annoying riddles, recited YouTube videos, and played lots and lots of slackjaw. It has been a tradition over the past year or two to get fro-yo, as well, so we stopped by a Yogurtland for some delicious dessert. Oh yeah, and Jessi and I were the only two to take an ice bath that night... :)
Sunday
First Game: SDSU
This was by far our toughest game. We started off strong and with a good lead. After half-time, we started to lose our momentum a bit, allowing the Cha-Chas to catch up. By the end to the game, we were trading points. The score was 14-13, in our favor, when the horn for hard cap was heard. This particular point had to be one of the longest I've played because of the amount of turnovers caused by both teams. SDSU pulled down the disc for a score, tying it up at 14's. Both teams agreed to a quick time-out to allow the players to catch their breath. So there we were. Facing another Universe point game that we had become so familiar with the year before. But this year, we're different. We have more experience; we have felt the disappointment from losing a game on Universe and didn't want to feel that regret again; we have a much larger team, meaning a much louder sideline to help the 7 on the field. Seven went up to the line, finding the energy they needed and ready to put out whatever they could to win the game. We received the pull, moved it across the field, but a throwaway on an in-cut. SDSU with the disc, they try to throw it up field, but the wind catches, putting the disc a little to high for the receiver, allowing Jessi to grab it. Then, with a couple throws up the sideline, the disc got to Gerene, who put it into the endzone for Courtney to grab point to win! We finally won on Universe point :) 15-14. Great game by the Cha-Chas.
Second Game: Occidental
After coming off a big win, we had a good amount of momentum going into this game. We expected Occidental to come out strong, as they did, but we pulled away and we're able to keep our lead, winning the game 15-7.
Third Game: Long Beach
Hearing that we were up to play Long Beach next freaked out one of our newest teammates, Gerene, as she played for No Regrets the past four years. We were able to get her to calm down a little, and she gave us a lot of good pointers going into the game. It was a great match-up and we were able to joke around with LB throughout the game because we had a common teammate. This was a very spirited game all around and we came out with the W with a score of 14-3.
The tournament is over, we do a cool down lap, take off our stinky cleats, stretch out our sore muscles, and do a final chat. After our tradition post-tournament shout outs, we took a couple team pictures, changed into some cleaner clothes, and hit the road for a long ride home.
Next stop for Scorch: PresDay!
When we arrived at the fields, I grabbed my usual tournament bagel and banana pre-game snack, pulled on my pink cleats, and was psyched to play on some nice green grass. (If you don't know, the grass is pretty dead in Tucson, so we regularly play on dirt, a few rocks, and a lot of dried up grass). Every team had their speakers bumping their favorite warmup songs. Ours included repeats of All I Do is Win, Wavin' Flag, Waka Waka, lots of Black Eyed Peas, with a sprinkle of Ke$ha.
Saturday
First Game: Sonoma State
We came out for this game with a few butterflies, but played ok. I don't remember all the details, but Sonoma State is a very good team and they came out on top with a final score of 12-8.
Second Game: UCLA
We've had many run-ins with Blu over my four years on Scorch, and this one was similar. They always have a strong team and can do a lot with their players. The first have was pretty tight, with them winning half by a few points. However, we somehow got caught on our heels and stopped playing good ultimate. Thus, they won 13-7.
Third Game: Cal-B
For this particular game, we came out a little slower than we would have liked. Our offense wasn't as smooth has before and our defense was lacking. In the end, we still pulled out with a W. Final score: 13-6
After Saturday's games, we showered and went out for pizza, shared really annoying riddles, recited YouTube videos, and played lots and lots of slackjaw. It has been a tradition over the past year or two to get fro-yo, as well, so we stopped by a Yogurtland for some delicious dessert. Oh yeah, and Jessi and I were the only two to take an ice bath that night... :)
Sunday
First Game: SDSU
This was by far our toughest game. We started off strong and with a good lead. After half-time, we started to lose our momentum a bit, allowing the Cha-Chas to catch up. By the end to the game, we were trading points. The score was 14-13, in our favor, when the horn for hard cap was heard. This particular point had to be one of the longest I've played because of the amount of turnovers caused by both teams. SDSU pulled down the disc for a score, tying it up at 14's. Both teams agreed to a quick time-out to allow the players to catch their breath. So there we were. Facing another Universe point game that we had become so familiar with the year before. But this year, we're different. We have more experience; we have felt the disappointment from losing a game on Universe and didn't want to feel that regret again; we have a much larger team, meaning a much louder sideline to help the 7 on the field. Seven went up to the line, finding the energy they needed and ready to put out whatever they could to win the game. We received the pull, moved it across the field, but a throwaway on an in-cut. SDSU with the disc, they try to throw it up field, but the wind catches, putting the disc a little to high for the receiver, allowing Jessi to grab it. Then, with a couple throws up the sideline, the disc got to Gerene, who put it into the endzone for Courtney to grab point to win! We finally won on Universe point :) 15-14. Great game by the Cha-Chas.
Second Game: Occidental
After coming off a big win, we had a good amount of momentum going into this game. We expected Occidental to come out strong, as they did, but we pulled away and we're able to keep our lead, winning the game 15-7.
Third Game: Long Beach
Hearing that we were up to play Long Beach next freaked out one of our newest teammates, Gerene, as she played for No Regrets the past four years. We were able to get her to calm down a little, and she gave us a lot of good pointers going into the game. It was a great match-up and we were able to joke around with LB throughout the game because we had a common teammate. This was a very spirited game all around and we came out with the W with a score of 14-3.
The tournament is over, we do a cool down lap, take off our stinky cleats, stretch out our sore muscles, and do a final chat. After our tradition post-tournament shout outs, we took a couple team pictures, changed into some cleaner clothes, and hit the road for a long ride home.
Next stop for Scorch: PresDay!