This weekend, the UC San Diego Psychos braved the wind and rain in Santa Barbara for the Santa Barbara Invitational Tournament. The first game began bright and early with an 8am game against Santa Clara. Despite a rough start and learning points early on, the Psychos took half 7-3. The wind picked up as the morning continued, but some great defense and offense by Rebecca “Fasa” Ellis, Maria “Fluxx” Zavala, and the rest of the team of course, the Psychos won handily 13-4.

In the second game vs. University of Arizona Scorch, the wind picked up a little but by this time the Psychos had learned how to play in it and despite some hard fought points by Scorch, the Psychos won 13-0. Kudos to all the rookies for two well played rookie points at the end.

The third game proved to be the toughest yet. University of Victoria took an early lead 0-2, but Julianna “Terra” Jordan and the rest of the defensive lines brought their enthusiasm and hard work both on defense and offense, and the Psychos found the energy to play, ultimately winning the game making the Psychos undefeated for the day.

Day two opened with rain and wind starting early in the morning, and the grass fields were closed forcing changes in the schedule, but after some shivering and adventures in Santa Barbara’s gym warming up, the Psychos finally started the day playing UC Berkeley’s Pie Queens just as the rain let up. Whether it was wind chill or lack of competitive drive in the wind and rain, the Psychos did not start the game well losing half 3-7. After some inspirational coaching however the Psychos remembered their drive and conveniently, how to actually play their game as well. The tension of the field grew as the Psychos caught up point by point bringing it finally to a universe point (the point where the team that scores the point wins the game) at 9-9. After a hard fought point (and a great deal of hair pulling on coaches part) the Psychos won the game to advance to the semifinals with a final score 10-9.

The semifinals game against UCLA’s Blu started out windy and only got windier. There were excellent hucks (long throws) from both teams, particularly between Julianna “Terra” Jordan, Dena “Chrome” Elimelech, and Han “Heist” Chen from UCLA and some very long points, but the Psychos ultimately lost their first game of the season 5-6, and tied for 4th with UC Davis. Lesson learned. Practice throwing in the wind.