Hello Dragon Coalition Fans! We’re back with another tournament recap for your favorite UCSD Womxn’s Ultimate Team! This past weekend, the DCOs made the long journey up to Stevinson for the last tournament of the regular season, Stanford Invite. It was a long weekend with 7 games played over the course of those two days. After a luxurious breakfast at the Quality Inn (not a motel 6!), we headed over to the fields for our first game against UCLA. This game was full of amazing defense, especially by rookie Ananya “Pulse” Shaligram who had some awesome run-through Ds and by Josie “Bumpa” O’Toole who did a great job during zone defense. We started the day off strong, winning the game 12 to 4. We went into the next game with high spirits to face off against the University of Texas. Abbi “Pierogi” Shilts had an incredible game with a foot block and amazing hucks. During this game, the DCOs demonstrated our strong defense and strategic offense while playing in very strong wind, and we won the game 10 to 2. For our next game, we matched up against University of British Columbia, who always provide a challenge. Although we lost the game 11 to 6, we came out with some great experience playing against a strong competitor. This game also had some epic highlights such as a lay-out score by Emma “Arista” Smith. We ended the day with a final victory against UC Berkeley. Throughout this game, we had a bunch of team Ds as our zone defenses proved successful. Our offense had time to shine as well, especially Cassidy “Pharoah” Morgan who was able to come down with a bunch of discs in the end zone despite the strong winds. After a successful day (although very cold), the DCOs piled into a restaurant for some delicious Thai food and then headed back to get some rest before another day of games on Sunday!

On Sunday, we once again began bright and early, facing off against University of Vermont for our first game of the day. This game was filled with awesome offense and two awesome layout scores by both Audrey “BATS” Schneider and Emma “Capwn” Ellefson-Frank. It was a super competitive game but we unfortunately lost the game 7 to 10. But we kept our heads up for our next game against UCSC. This was a very close game full of great defense especially by Abbi “Pierogi” Shilts. Despite putting up a good fight, we lost the game on universe point 9 to 8. We finished the tournament with a final game against the University of Pittsburgh. With amazing offense, we grabbed the victory on universe point, winning the match 10 to 9!

All in all, it was a very successful weekend, despite the arctic temperatures and temperamental weather (especially for a team used to the mild San Diego weather). We finished in 7th place overall and it was a great tournament, filled with a lot of growth, learning, and cloud watching. Can’t wait to see what the DCOs bring to the rest of the season! DCO, you know!!