The squids came out hot at the recent LA tournament, finishing fourth overall. Having regrouped from spring break as a very different team, bringing up a number of guys from the B team to bolster their numbers, the beloved Squids came together as a team to face their admirable adversaries. The first day proved to be light work for the Squids, as demonstrated by a dominating 4 wins in a row. The second day began with a fantastic win, followed by two hard fought (yet very unfortunate) losses in the semi finals and 3rd place games.

The Squids started the southwest showdown with a win over USC’s B team 12-8 and Loyola Marymount 10-8. New and old players built chemistry during these early victories and took the following bye to bring the energy level up. Each game was used as a building opportunity to get better at playing with each other with the ultimate goal being the upcoming sectionals and regionals tournaments. After starting off hot, the Squids had a one round break to relax before their next two games of the day. In order to make it into Sunday’s bracket play, the Squids would need to place top 3 out of their pool of 5 teams, so they were well on their way starting off 2-0. Following the bye, the Squids blew through a shorthanded Texas-B squad to take the win 13-3. The benefit of their newly bolstered numbers showed, as the Squids were able to rotate in a fresh set of players after each point to grind down Texas with hard offense and defense. A similar story unfolded with the last game of the day against Cal Poly SLO-B. Against a team that had just finished playing to universe in the previous round, the Squids struck hard and fast jumping out to a comfortable lead. Again, the Squids benefited from having numbers at the tournament, which allowed them to keep the pressure on and close out the game 13-3.

The second day began with a game against a school with a very young frisbee program, where the squids fortunately were able to come away with the victory. Cal Baptist came into the game looking confused against the Squid’s zone, but still managing to score off of hucks and athletic plays. Moving onto the semi finals the squids faced Claremont, which usually plays in the separate D-lll division. Against the Squids who still had not gotten moving for the morning, the Claremont defense and handlers made quick work of the Squids in the first half, scoring effectively after turns for numerous breaks. After arguably the worst first half in squid history, the squids picked it up in the second half, taking consecutive breaks at the end of the game to bring it to universe, only to fall short at the very end. After such a tragic loss the squids were headed to the third place game, where they proceeded to lose to Arizona, a team the Squids will be looking to get revenge against at Regionals. After a disappointing showing, the squids look forward to sectionals where we hope to not make squid history by being the second team ever to not qualify for regionals.