New year, new season, new psychos! This past Sunday, Oct. 21, was the UCSD Women’s Ultimate’s first tournament - UCLA One Day at UCLA. Gearing up for this tournament, the returners were greeted by the smiling faces of our new rookies. Although not all of them could show up, the turnout was still pretty great. With over 30 girls attending, the psychos, like in past years, split into two teams: Team X, led by captain Stacy “Aero” Tran, and Team Y, co-led by the other captains, Kelli “Krypto” Iwamoto and Dena “Chrome” Elimelech. The whole tournament consisted of five games: three pool play and two bracketed games.

Both teams started the crisp Sunday morning playing UCLA’s team X and Y. The returners were excited to see the rookies put what they practiced into action and the rookies were excited to get a taste of what ultimate frisbee is like. Both teams started the day off rocky with losses to UCLA X, 6-11, and UCLA Y, 9-10, but after shaking off first round jitters, the Psychos’ team X and Y regrouped and ended the rest of the day with wins over their opponents.

For UCSD’s team X, the rest of the day looked up for them. In round 2 of pool play, they faced their San Diego rival, SDSU Y. In a hard fought game, the score was UCSD X 8- SDSU Y 5. With only about 10 minutes between each round, the UCSD team X replenished with snacks and hydrated to be ready to face SDSU X in round three of pool play. Similar to their game with SDSU Y, the game against SDSU X was even more of a battle. Both teams tired from the previous rounds, along with the hot LA sun shining down, still fought long and hard to get the victory over one another. The final score, 7-6 UCSD X, was well deserved. Going into round 4, team X had gotten a bit of a longer rest than previous. Those couple extra minutes were all team X needed because they came blazing out of the gates. Right off the bat, UCSD took the lead and kept it all throughout the game, only allowing their opponent USC, to score twice. Final score, 10-2, UCSD X.

For UCSD’s team Y, the first game was all about nerves with UCLA taking the lead in the beginning but once things started rolling, both teams were neck and neck. Ultimately, UCLA Y ended up on top with a 9-10 final score. Although the first round was hard fought, UCSD Y did not give up. In round two against USC, they also put all they had into the game. Rookies and returners from both sides, duking it out to get the point, but in the end, all that back and forth ended in a 6-6 tie. After an unfortunate loss in round one, and a good fight in round 2, UCSD Y had had enough. They were hungry for a win and did exactly that with a crushing victory of UC Irvine, 11-3. They were amped up from that win and went into round 4 with adrenaline and momentum, also beating their opponent, Occidental College, 7-5.

Although we did get many “W’s”, this tournament was not about winning or losing. It was about the rookies. They exceeded our expectations with their great cuts, amazing throws, and, incredible energy, making us super excited for the rest of the season and see what other cool things they are able to achieve in ultimate!