The UPA High School Western Championships showcase some of the best high school talent in the country and every field of the Skagit River Park in Burlington, Washington, was filled with girls pushing themselves to make spectacular play after spectacular play.  Saturday’s pool play provided numerous evenly matched games that came down to the wire and a few blowouts by the top seeds.

The Northwest School upheld their No.1 seed at the tournament convincingly, having only five goals scored against them all day.  NWS is fresh off of a win at the Washington State Championships a few weeks earlier and played crisp Ultimate even when the wind picked up in the middle of the day.  The deep roster is lead by two Annas, Senior Anna Snyder (#23) and Sophomore Anna Reed (#3).  One of NWS’ coaches, Vida Towne, explains that Snyder “really pulls the team together as a strong leader” and that Reed is known for her ability to “make big plays.”  Reed certainly had a number of impressive catches during the day on wind-affected throws.

Cathedral High School from St. Cloud, Minnesota, came into the tournament seeded No.2 in pool A, but did not win a game on Saturday.  Playing a lot of zone defense during the day, Cathedral usually had their most experienced players running in the cup.  When the disc turned over, these same girls then ran the offense.  Junior Nicole Torborg (#77) especially stepped up to handle the disc on offense and she and Senior Meghan Metcalf (#88) worked well together.  Despite going 0-3 for the day, the Catheral HS Crusaders stayed positive and supportive of each other. 

After upsetting Cathedral, South Eugene had a battle with Seattle Academy.  Seattle Academy held an 8-6 lead before South Eugene stepped up their offensive efficiency to score the next four points and win the capped game.  The combination of Senior Claire Powers’ (#11) confidence and disc-skills with Sophomore Adrienne Bovee’s (#80) speed and ups also proved too much for Cretin-Derham in South Eugene’s third game of the day and the Axemen finished its day with an unblemished record. 

Seattle Academy had a rough start to its tournament on Saturday as the team promptly went down 3-7 to the No.5 seed in the pool, Cretin-Derham.  After half-time, Seattle Academy’s Junior Bailey Zahniser (#10) completed a number of full-field hucks and Sophomore Katie Raynolds (#12) generated some defensive blocks.  Scoring four points in a row, Seattle Academy tied up the game at 7-7 and pushed the game to double game point.  Seattle Academy had been successful with their zone during the comeback, but on the last point of the game Cretin-Derham patiently worked the disc the length of the field to finish the game off. 

In their victory over Seattle Academy, Emily De Palma (#15) was a star for Cretin-Derham, handling in the zone, cutting effectively downfield, and taking the toughest defensive match-ups.  Alex Chlebeck (#5) was the team’s other mainstay handler all day, moving the disc with confidence and often looking deep to the team’s tall receivers.  A ten person roster could limit how far Cretin-Derham will be able to advance in the tournament, although the players work well together and have good chemistry.

The last round of pool play will be played on Sunday morning and includes some important match-ups.  Both undefeated on Saturday, South Eugene and NWS will have to face off for the number one spot in the pool.  Meanwhile, Seattle Academy and Cathedral will have to battle for the fourth spot in the pool and a berth in the quarterfinals.

As the No.1 seed in it pool, Churchill High School had an impressive start to the day by beating their first two opponents, 11-1 and 11-0.  Churchill’s next two games were as close as they get.  Churchill started out strong against Hopkins, but Hopkins was not willing to back down.  One of Hopkins captains stated before the game that her team was eager to face top competition and succeed.  Hopkins certainly held their own as the game was tied 10-10, pushing it to double game point before Churchill scored the last goal to narrowly squeak by, 11-10.  Churchill’s last game was against Nathan Hale, where they took half 6-3.  Nathan Hale made some adjustments in the second half, notably playing zone and getting defensive blocks on hucks with its 6’ deep deep, Junior Zoe Jacobsen.  Nathan Hale went on a 5-1 run and pushed into the lead at 8-7.  The game was capped to 9, and despite numerous chances, Nathan Hale couldn’t convert.  Instead, Churchill came back to win 9-8.  Senior Aubri Bishop’s (#24) breakmark hucks and Freshman Angela Tocchi’s (#25) aggressive go-to catches made the difference in the end for Churchill.

Nathan Hale had played two other close games before they matched up against Churchill in the last round.  The No.5 in Pool B, Bush, jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Nathan Hale in the very first game.  Nathan Hale increased its offensive efficiency and was able to gain a two-point lead towards the end of the game, winning 10-8.  Against Hopkins, Nathan Hale was again challenged every step of the way.  Both teams relied on a couple of core players backed by a solid cast.  In the end, Nathan Hale’s zone offense, lead by Senior Elizabeth Arakaki (#2) and Junior Zina Hurd (#22), helped carry them through to a 9-7 victory over Hopkins.

After losing two close games back-to-back, Hopkins’ small roster was exhausted for their last round match-up against Lakeside.  Junior captains Erin Curme (#9) and Erica Baken (#13) continued to lead the way, but Lakeside was able to jump to a sizeable lead that they steadily increased until a final score of 11-3.  Hopkins will have to beat Bush High School tomorrow morning in order to make the quarterfinals.  As making the finals bracket is one of the team’s main goals for Westerns, the team will no doubt come out fired up on Sunday morning to make that a reality.

The Lakeside team has a number of varsity athletes from other sports on their roster and the team matches up well in person defense against their opponents.  Lakeside’s main handler, Senior Maggie Fisher, runs the offense with precision and confidence and is a mainstay in the zone offense.  Her play was pivotal in leading the team past local rival, Bush, in a capped 9-6 game.  The team’s upset of Hopkins guarantees them a spot in quarterfinals although they will have the opportunity for one more shot at an upset as they play Nathan Hale in the last pool play game Sunday morning.

The Alameda Sweet Meat team is the only squad from California represented at the tournament.  This new team is full of young players; their roster is dominated by freshmen and sophomores.  Alameda’s lack of experience meant that they often struggled to advance the disc against some of the zone defenses they saw during the day.  Sophomore Maya Chapman (#08) was a key handler for the team, often serving as the hub in the zone offense, but the team wasn’t consistent enough to put many points on the board.  Although the team is now out of the running for a spot in the quarterfinals, the enthusiasm that all of the squad’s players showed at the fields was remarkable.  Having sideline support from the Alameda boys team, Dark Meat, helped to keep the girls’ spirits high.

Although Bush went 1-3 today, they showed that they can hang with many of the upper tiered teams at the tournament.  Surprising Nathan Hale in the first game with an early lead was a notable accomplishment for this team.  Bush also gave Lakeside a run for their money, only losing the capped game by a few points at 9-6.  The team’s heart and soul is Senior Fiona McKibben, who played for the U.S. Juniors Worlds team last August.  McKibben handles the disc for Bush and is an ever present part of the team’s offense.  In the last round, Bush clinched their first victory of the day against Alameda, 11-5.

The last round of pool play will be played out tomorrow morning before the teams are reseeded and the championship bracket begins.  Although all of Pool B’s games were to 11 today, all the teams played four games instead of Pool A’s three games to 13.  Given the number of close games played out, that extra game could be the difference on Sunday when games come down to the wire.