The Santa Barbara Qualifiers began Saturday, January 15, 2022, at 8 AM.  As a team, we arrived at the fields at 7 AM to put on our cleats and begin warm-ups. After an hour of stretches and drills, we took to the field against our first competitors, Santa Barbara High School (SBHS).  With rotating lines of players and well executed plays, we were able to outscore SBHS to win when time was called.  After a quick debrief of the game, we relocated fields to prepare to play against our next competitors, Cal Poly SLO’s B team (SLO B).  

In this match up, many of our players started off slow due to the little recovery time between games.  SLO B was able to capitalize on our inexperience in little recovery time and pull ahead before the half.  As we began to make our comeback during the second half, time was called before we could fully catch up.  

Our third competition of the day was against Gunn High School.  They proved to be tough competitors with an arsenal of plays up their sleeves.  After a hard fought hour of adapting to plays unseen by many on the team, time was called and Gunn High School secured their victory.  The rest of the Saturday was spent doing team activities on the beach which included Spikeball, swimming, and throwing the disc around.  

On Sunday, we had two games slotted.  Our first competitors were UCLA Team B (UCLA B).  We started off the game slow, but ramped up our level of play to make it a close half, with UCLA B leading by three points.  Unfortunately, in the second half, both teams had found their stride and UCLA B was able to maintain their three point lead.  As time was about to be called, the squid captains called for an entire rookie line to take the field against UCLA B.  As it would turn out, the rookie line had phenomenal chemistry and were able to score the last point through a diving play.  

Our final opponents were UC Santa Barbara Team B, Black Tide.  Similar to the game with UCLA B, Black Tide was able to come away with a couple breaks that they were able to maintain for both halfs.  What resulted was a very close game that left both competitors with a smile and budding, friendly rivalry.