We’re back with another tournament recap for UCSD’s own Dragon Coalition! This past weekend, our favorite DCO’s made the long and treacherous trek all the way down to our very own RIMAC Field for the first home tournament of the 2023-2024 season. DCOs were putting in 100% effort and worked nonstop for all of the 6 games that were played over the course of those two days. After waking up early to help set up the fields, we started off with an 8 AM game against SDSU. After a super spirited game, we came out with a 10 to 5 win! Right after, we had an awesome and competitive game against UC Santa Barbara Y where second-year Audrey “BATS” Schneider had an amazing foot block. The game was neck in neck but the DCOs pushed on and ended up grabbing the win on universe point with an incredible rookie point. That ended the game with a final score of 9 to 8. We got right back to work with our next game against UCSB X, which we unfortunately lost 2 to 9. Nevertheless, the DCOs were not discouraged and kept their heads held high. We ended the day ready to eat some good food, get a good night’s sleep, and keep working hard during our second day of games. 

Sunday morning, our DCOs began the day energized and well rested, with an extra hour of sleep thanks to our good friend daylights savings, and headed over to the fields for our first game against USC. The game was filled with epic plays, like when rookie Sophie “Flo Rida” Toussaint managed to grab the disc with three defenders on her! We snatched the victory with some awesome runs and catches by rookie Porsche “Rouge” Noble, closing the game with a final score of 11 to 8. As the sun continued to creep up over the fields, we started our next match against San Luis Obispo. Despite some terrific plays such as an epic layout by third-year returner Abbi “Pierogi” Shilts, we unfortunately lost this very close game 7 to 9. However, we kept spirits high into our next and final game for third place, where we were seeing a familiar face, UCSB Y. Although we lost the match with a final score of 6 to 9, it was a super energized and competitive game filled with epic plays. Parissa “Tunez” Teli had an incredible, high layout right in front of the end zone and rookie Yariel “Bean” Perkins skied a Santa Barbara player that was much taller than her! 

All in all, a terrific tournament filled with great plays, lots of competitive energy, sportsmanship, and tons of improvement by everyone! DCO ended the tournament in fourth place and after a long day of games, they went out for some well-earned shawarma. Can’t wait to see what our DCO’s bring to USC One Day in two weeks! DCO, you know!