Stanford Open
This weekend, February 20th and 21st, the Psychos drove all the way to Morgan Hill for Stanford Open.
The first game against Colorado College started off well with the Psychos scoring the first two points and Kylie “Cinder” Shen getting a Callahan on the 4th. For those who are unaware, a Callahan is one of the most satisfying plays in ultimate; it means scoring when the other team has possession of the disc, usually when they make a mistake in their own end zone. Colorado worked hard, but the Psychos worked harder taking half 7-2 and ending the game 13-4.
Going into the second game vs Chico’s Chicas, the intensity stayed high as the Psychos played great defense and Julianna “Terra” Jordan made excellent defensive plays (got a layout D) and some awesome around breaks (great throws) from Rachel “Rue” Ling.
The final game of the day was to be the toughest against UC Berkeley’s Pie Queens. The game started out even with both teams scoring equally on each other, but the Psychos took off right before half and took half 7-5. After half though, the Psychos lost some intensity, and let Cal score (a break). Everyone fought hard but the Pie Queens took the game 10-9. It’s fuel to work on mental toughness for next time. Shout-out to Leanne “Muse” Go for stepping into a new role (as a handler) this tournament.
The next day started with a game against the Humboldt Hags and today’s goal, no team scores anything. To make the story short, in this game it was almost successful. Awesome defense by all put the final score at a 13-1 win.
The second game was a bit more competitive against Dvine from Sonoma State University. Maria “Fluxx” Zavala had a layout D, then later a nice heads up grab in the endzone. Terra had an interesting layout/somersault grab in the endzone, but she already got a mention so no official shout-out. Shout-out to Adelei “Hydra” Carman for a bookend (defensive play then a score) and to the whole team for a win 9-3.
The next game the Psychos faced the Claremont Greenshirts; of course they actually wear blue shirts. It’s a mystery. Anyway, the game started off well, and since we spent most of it on defense, everyone got a lot of D’s. Shout-out to the rookies and, as usual Dena “Chrome” Elimelech for great defense. The Psychos took half 7-3, then the game 9-4.
The last game of the day and the wind picked up. Santa Barbara is an athletic team with a long history, and they weren’t going to make the win to easy. The shout-outs for this game have to go to people already mentioned because they just played so well. Leanne “Muse” Go really took to handling growing in confidence as the game progressed and Rachel “Rue” Ling was always dependable in the upwind, even though wind is a notorious San Diego Achilles heel. That said, after letting Santa Barbara score the first two points, the UC San Diego Psychos hit the ground running sweeping the game 13-4. A reminder from the coaches, in every game on day 2, at least doubled their opponents score in every game.
