Our second time at UC Santa Cruz's Big Wave Dave tournament was a blast. We went with only 10 guys, but we played hard and ended up claiming second place.

Our first game on Saturday was against Monterey Bay, and it was a fun warm-up game. The competition was not very tough, and we pulled to an early lead from counter attacks and strong whole set play. Our second game that day was another comfortable win. UCSC's B team played a solid team, but our counter attack and center Joshua Wang were consistently effective.

Sunday brought real competition, real early. At 9:50 AM we played the UCSC Club team, a mixture of experienced master’s players and college students. It was a tough game from start to finish, and our small roster struggled to keep up with the hard shots and strong swimmers of the other side. We lost but were proud of how well we had competed with so few players.

Our second game on Sunday was the highlight of the tournament. Evenly matched up against UCSC's A team, the game was close all the way through. In the fourth quarter, with 3 minutes left, we were down 9-12. With big shots from Joshua Wang and some clutch 6 on 5 opportunities, we were able to tie the game with 45 seconds left. We stopped UCSC's attack, but were unable to score in our last possession, taking us to golden goal overtime. In a three minute quarter of crazy intensity, steals, field blocks, bad passes, wild shots, screaming crowds, and clutch stops by Sophomore Goalie Sachin Okuma, nobody scored. In the second golden goal quarter, UCSC won the first sprint but we stopped them. With both teams just trying to get ONE goal, the game fell apart into counter attacks and one-on-one play. Finally, Junior and newly elected captain, Jack Harper broke free from his defender and headed for goal. We got him the ball, he rose up, and slammed a skip-high-corner ringer to end the game. It was a fantastic way to end the tournament and a ton of fun.

Thanks to UCSC for hosting, and we hope to return next year!