October 23, 2016 marked the second tournament for the UC San Diego Women’s Club Ultimate Frisbee team. With over 50 players in total, our team divided yet again into teams X and Y to take on the surrounding competition. Our two captains, Maria “Fluxx” Zavala and Rachel “Rue” Ling, led each team composed of both returners and rookies alike. The whole tournament consisted of five games: three pool play and two bracketed games. Overall, the two teams fought long and hard but did not end up in the championship bracket.

To start the day off, team X found themselves facing plaid clad players with trousers and ties. Confused at first, we later found out that the team dressed under the theme of “dads” even going as far as chanting “Dad Beach!” instead of “Long Beach!”.  Their disguises must have given them some advantage, for they managed to take the game point and win by one. Despite this loss, the team turned it all around and came out victorious for the next three games against Claremont, UCLA X, and USC X. This winning streak came to an end when battling against SDSU Y in the wind.

Team Y on the other hand started off with a bang, beating their first two opponents, Occidental (12-1) and Claremont (11-3). After these exciting wins, the team matched up against UCLA Y, SDSU X, and USC Y.  Although we did not end up with the “W” for these last few games, there was no lack of effort.

With this being their second tournament, the whole day was dedicated to giving them the most playing time and experience as possible. For only four weeks of practice, our rookies exceeded our expectations.  Quinn “Pigu” Fujii and Marina “feta” Donaldson shocked us all by laying out for the first time and scoring. Madison “Dash” Tenny, consistently beat her defender deep to push our team closer to the end zone while Winnie “Kirby” Chen caught disc after disc in the end zone scoring over half of the points in one game.

Despite not coming out on top, this tournament was not about winning or losing; it was all about our rookies, and they did not disappoint.