On Saturday, November 19, the Tritons played in a tournament held at San Diego State University. For new team members, this was their first tournament as part of Squids Lite, and for many new players, a first chance to play against different college teams.

Our first match was against USD. Since many of the new Squids were inexperienced in a tournament setting, we started by losing two points. It did not discourage us at all and we ended the first half winning 6-4. We then kept up the good work and finished the game with a 9-7 win. A great and encouraging result for the team’s first match together!

We carried the thrill of our first victory in our second match that day against Cal Poly Pomona. At this point, we discovered how good victory felt and held on to that feeling, dominating Pomona with a final score of 8-4. As a team, many of the new players were starting to see how official matches really played out at the college level.

However, our hopes of remaining undefeated that day were taken by SDSU. The Federales were only able to match our team by using their best and most seasoned players. Caught off guard by their athleticism, we lost that match with a final score of 6-10. Even so, we took that loss and molded it into motivation for the next matches to come.

The loss against SDSU did not discourage us, as our team spirit and chemistry grew with every match. We proved that during the fourth game, with a strong 9-5 win against Fullerton. The new players started feeling the game and made great progress in comparison to the first match. With such high morale and players’ disposition we felt no fatigue and were ready for the final game - a rematch against SDSU.

This rematch presented a new wrinkle, since SDSU merged both its A and B teams for this match. It did not matter though, as we showed all the skills we acquired during the day. With Haiku proving he can play all roles on the field, and many new players wanting to prove their skills, we took the game home. SDSU managed to take us to universe point, but we secured the game by winning 11-10.

To sum up this tournament, it was a great event and an opportunity for new players to feel the game and gain very valuable experience. Overall we placed second, losing the standings to Clairemont (lucky for them, they avoided playing us), but frisbee is not about tournament position, it’s about having fun! (aaaand maybe winning with the Feds from time to time…)