This weekend (1/13-1/14 2023), UC San Diego Men’s Ultimate B- and C-team, LITE and SELECT,  went to UC Santa Barbara to participate in the annual Santa Barbara Qualifiers to attempt to qualify for the Santa Barbara Invitational later this season. The tournament format was pool play on the first day and bracket play on the second day. 

The B-team played three games on the first day. The first was against the UC Santa Cruz C-team, Ooze, who we beat with a score of 11-2 at full-time. The second game was played against the UC Irvine B-team, Bedtime, who we beat with a score of 9-1 at full-time. Our relentlessness in our zone defense created numerous turns through sloppy throws and miscommunications from Ooze. Regrettably, the third game against the UCLA B-team, Smoke, was a tough fight from both sides, eventually leading to our defeat with a final score of 5-6. After this defeat, we were hungry for more, knowing that we would hopefully play them in the finals the next day.

The B-team also played three games on the second day during bracket play, where we were seeded 3rd from our pool play performance. The first game was against UC Santa Barbara B-team, Black Out. We started off slow, due to some absence of effort and discipline. But by the second half, we picked up the energy and went on a 5-1 scoring streak, leading to a score of 10-5 at full time, taking us to the semifinals. The second game was our anticipated rematch with Smoke. Expecting another tough fight, we started off by forcing a few breaks, but Smoke responded with their breaks. By the end of the match, the score was 6-6, another universe point would determine the outcome of the game. Both teams put in their best players and headed into the final point, expecting the best from each other. At the end of the day, we bested Smoke with a final throw from NFT to the endzone, our captain DiGiorno caught the game-winning goal, ending a nerve-wracking game, beating Smoke with a score of 7-6, taking us to the finals. In the finals, we faced USC’s B-team, Blockdown. Expecting them to come out in zone defense and hucking downfield, we prepared as best we could to defend that playstyle, but our effort in this game wasn’t matched to what we put in against Smoke. Eventually, LITE lost 6-8 in the finals. The team wasn’t happy with the outcome, but we all put our best effort into being placed where we were. Moving forward, we know what we need to do to beat the teams we lost to and perform how we want to in the tournaments.

The C-team played 3 games on the first day. The first game was against UC Santa Barbara B-team, resulting in a loss with a final score of 4-9. The second game was against the University of Southern California B-team, resulting in a loss with a final score of 3-11. The final game of the day was against California Polytechnic Pomona, which resulted in a loss of 4-9. There was an abundance of effort from the players, and great improvements were made by the end of the day. 

The C-team also played 3 games on the second day. The first game of the day was against UCLA’s B-team, smoke, which ended in a final score of 3-12. The second game was against UC Santa Barbara B-team, with a final score of 5-13. Finally, the last game of the day was against UC Irvine’s B-team, which was a close fight but ended in a score of 5-7, resulting in a loss. Many more improvements were made, and a lot of the players on the B-team have begun to understand the way the offense is run. 

Overall, we made great strides in terms of teamwork and actual in-game experience. Seeing as it was many peoples’ first tournament ever, the results are overwhelmingly positive.