This past Sunday, Squid LITE headed to the University of San Diego for Turkey Tax. With finals under way and the quarter coming to an end, the tournament was a chance for them to shake off the academic stress and get valuable reps against familiar local teams, while testing new systems that had only just been introduced at practice.

The first game of the day was against Point Loma, who rolled out a unique 5 person zone defense that LITE had not seen before. As it was so early in the season, they had not practiced their zone offense, and were out of their depth. There were flashes of success however, with a few possessions and hucks nearly leading to scores, but consistency was hard to come by this early in the day. Despite the final score of 1-13, which looked brutal on paper, the effort on the field told a different story.

Game two matched LITE up against the hosts, USD. Having already gotten experience with zone in the earlier game, they came into this one more prepared and far more composed. From the opening pull, the offense looked more comfortable. The early points were  back and forth, and at halftime, the game felt within reach. But as the second half wore on, the Squids’ inexperience with zone began to show. USD’s zone stiffened, and a couple of rushed throws and drops from LITE turned into costly breaks. Though they continued to fight and generated several chances to claw back late, they couldn’t quite convert into a win. The final score was 6-9.

After lunch, the Squids faced UCI, and with them, a welcome shift back toward LITE’s usual offensive system. The Squids were finally able to run the horizontal stack sets they’d been drilling in practice. From the start, it felt like an entirely different type of game. Neither team could pull away, with a few brutally long points testing both teams. The game marched all the way to universe point. With a chance to win, LITE worked the disc down patiently, but a missed huck gave UCI the disc back. One clean possession later, UCI punched in the winning score, handing the Squids a heartbreaking loss in the most competitive game of the day. Final score: 7-8

The final matchup of the tournament saw LITE facing off against Cal Poly Pomona. The Squids came out of the break a little too relaxed, and Pomona immediately punished them. Pomona’s cutters attacked deep early and often, using their speed and physicality to punish any hesitation, in addition LITE’s offense, still shaking off the post-break lull, struggled to find flow in the opening points. But as the game wore on, after half-time the Squids found their second wind. Slowly but surely, the gap stopped growing. While the early deficit proved too steep to fully overcome before cap, the second half showed a different LITE. The game ended with a final score of 4-11.