Last weekend, UCSD Ultimate hosted their annual President’s Day Invitational Tournament, drawing the best teams on this side of the country to San Diego to hash it out over three grueling days of frisbee. Despite playing on their own turf, Dragon Coalition has not always been so successful, having made finals only once since the tournament began. This year, they were determined to show other schools that their host was a force to be reckoned with.

Play for them began Saturday on Warren Field, their home field for practice three times a week. They squared up first against Oregon, a historically illustrious program that has flown under the radar these past few years. As has become a routine this season, they took a little time to get into their playing groove. Once they brought the energy they are known for, the game was a piece of cake. They soundly beat Oregon 10-5. Their next opponent, UC Berkeley, would make them slow things down. A force-middle zone made big looks difficult, but thankfully the Dragons were patient with the disc, working it into the endzone to score. Knocking down the northern UC 12-7, the team finished the day at the top of their pool. 

Moving over to RIMAC fields on a breezy Sunday, their final pool play game was against Stanford. The high wind was reminiscent of their last meeting in Southwest regionals this past fall, where conditions were so blustery that conventional play was practically impossible. Relying heavily on their zone helped them on defense, but their offensive pressure was lacking. Getting outpaced by their opponents lost them the disc too many times, and they ultimately fell to Stanford 6-9. Thankfully, their efforts the previous day still managed to earn them the top spot in their pool and a trip to quarterfinals against Cal Poly-SLO. Recovered after their earlier game, the Dragons inflicted a beatdown in the first half, making it 8-0. Deciding to try different formations and lines in the second half, they took the game 12-5. 

Monday posed their biggest test of the season thus far in a game against UC Davis. An incredibly athletic and tall team, Davis did not drop the disc. DCo knew they would have to start strong if they were going to keep up, so that’s exactly what they did: getting three straight breaks to go up 3-0. Unfortunately, the tides changed once Davis was able to set up its zone offense which featured one of the biggest cups in women’s college ultimate. Davis earned the points that San Diego took early right back until both teams went back and forth with small runs. Huge plays were made by Abbi “Pierogi” Shilts, Maggie “Manta” Pierce, and Lauren “Linux” Hanna, helping San Diego pull out a huge 9-7 win. In the finals they saw their familiar foe, UC Santa Barbara. Tired from the grueling weekend, the Dragons put up a valiant fight, but ultimately lost 5-8. Taking second place in the tournament, UCSD is proud of its strong performance and is grateful to be able to share it with so many friends and family who came out to support them. This upcoming weekend, they look forward to heading up to Stevinson for the Stanford Invitational.