Here are some brief results from this weekend’s early season West Coast tourney:
Open
After a 2-0 Saturday, the UBC Thunderbirds took out Championships contender teams like Cal-Davis and Santa Cruz to beat out Sectional rival Washington Sundodgers in a close 13-12 final.
The Sundodgers had a strong weekend as well, beating out UCSD and the San Diego Federalis handily. With two NW teams in the final and no losses to any California teams on the weekend, the Northwest may be pretty strong this year.
The San Diego State Federalis went into this tournament as the 3-seed and did not disappoint. With a 3-0 Saturday including a 13-10 win over a Cal-Davis team who would beat Stanford later that day, and a 13-9 quarterfinal victory over the Santa Barbara Black Tide on Sunday, the Federalis would fall to Washington 15-9, but not before proving they can play with some of the region’s big names.
Though coming out on top of some tight games against tough competition on Saturday, Carleton GOP ran out of steam on Sunday, losing to Santa Cruz in the quarters.
Poor Saturday performances left Stanford and California, two typically top tier teams, out of the Championship bracket on Sunday. Though Cal has a strong pickup in Carleton’s Sam Kanner [who we understand was not at the Invite], a turnover of 6 of their top players may have them still figuring things out. Stanford, who did not qualify for the Championships last year, may still be in a rebuilding phase. However, this being the first tournament of the season, it is still far too early to say anything definitively.
Women’s
This year’s invite saw three teams stand far above the rest: Cal-Berkley, Stanford and home team/2010 runner-up Santa Barbara. With no team scoring more than 5 points against any one of them on day one, the three found their way to semi-finals along with Sonoma State.
Santa Barbara continues to look like they’re on a path to the Championships after a hard fought victory over the ever-dangerous Pie-Queens 11-7 in the semis. But the day would belong to Stanford Superfly as they trounced Sonoma 15-5 in the semis and knocked out the Burning-Skirts for the gold, by a final score of 13-9.
Saturday’s Photos by Freeheel Images
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