Saturday morning in Burlington was not exactly as forecasted, but a chill and calm in the air promised good Ultimate.  Throughout the day, the temperature shifted dramatically from chilly to warm as the sun was hidden or exposed by the eerie overcast sky and the wind's intensity shifted from calm to consistently making an impact to non-existent.  In short, game conditions shifted from game to game throughout the day.   

Pool A was certainly the most evenly distributed strength of teams.  The difference between the seeds seemed very even, since the adjacently seeded teams won their games by nearly equal margins.  As the No.1 seed, it's no secret that The Northwest School is the heavy favorite to three-peat as champions.  They backed up their reputation early by rolling over Lakewood and Crescent Valley, allowing just three points combined in their first two games.  The surprise in pool A, however, was Cretin-Durham Hall sticking with The Northwest School until very late in the game when three quick points by The Northwest School ended the game 15-9. 

Crescent Valley was the only open team in the tournament with girls on their roster* and they played key roles on the team, one of them being a go-to handler for the team.  Lakewood Coach Jeff Berget had just one thing to say about his team's game against Crescent Valley: "A lot of fun has been had."

Although Pool B finished to seed, things very easily could have gone down differently.  In the first round, despite some great defense by Hopkins (layouts underneath, point blocks on the mark, etc.), Churchill was able to take advantage of Hopkins numerous miscues and win the game easily.  Lakeside went on an 8-1 run after being down to Cherry Creek early in their game to go on to a comfortable win.  After the bye, the third round featured an exciting battle for what would determine the No.2 seed.  Hopkins fought back from a 6-2 deficit against Lakeside to tie the game at 9-9.  Lakeside received the pull, marched down to the goal and called a time out.  Following the time out, a scramble in the middle of the field left Chris Pigott open for the game winner.  The tough battle appeared to deflate Lakeside, though, and after having been ahead 5-4 in the game that would determine the No.1 seed, Churchill then scored 11 of the next 12 to win the game handily.  Hopkins, too, controlled their final pool play game to secure the No.3 seed.

Pool C proved to be the most volatile and exciting pool and featured the game of the day.  Rockhurst and Seattle Academy faced off in the first round point trading affair.  Finally, at 10-10, with the soft cap on, the game slowed down for a bit.  After a failed Greatest attempt by Rockhurst, a time out was called.  Seattle Academy punted coming out of the timeout, prompting two players to layout and hit the ground hard.  An injury stoppage that required a cart called to the field lasted long enough for the hard cap to be sounded.  Game to 11.  After a few failed hucks by both teams, Seattle Academy applied a zone defense to Rockhurst.  A few throws in, there was a scary moment for Seattle Academy when Jimmy Hooper was down on the ground for a few minutes.  After the disc is put back into play, Seattle Academy gets the point block and Jimmy Hooper, showing no signs of injury, launches a hammer into the end zone for sophomore Simon Montague to come down with the game winner.

Berkley had a frustrating start of the day facing a tough and patient South Eugene squad.  To add to the frustration, they had a few drops in the end zone.  The day did get better for them as they went on a strong late surge against Seattle Academy to cut it to within one before Seattle Academy stepped up to score the final four points for the win. 

In what was another exciting game with seemingly nothing but long hucks, South Eugene faced Seattle Academy.  Most were quick points (four or five throws at most sometimes), which accounted for the teams combining for the second most points scored in a game all day with 26.  In the end, it was the big upwind backhand hucks of South Eugene's Senior John Bloch that sealed the victory and the free pass to quarters for South Eugene.

Nathan Hale might have had the easiest pool play of all, never allowing more than six points and just 14 overall.  Cathedral, making their debut at Westerns, proved they belonged here, taking care of the No.2 and No.4 seeds in pool D, including an excellent game against Alameda, perhaps the most intensive defensive team so far at the tournament.  The game was an interesting one where Cathedral played a very solid possession game until Alameda made a great defensive play.  Then, very oddly, Alameda would often throw it deep to no one, then earn the disc back on an intense defensive stand.  Cathedral's possessive offense came out on top, however, in what was the best game of the pool.  Junction City's success rested in the fate of their hucks.  While they completed a high percentage of them, it was the shorter passes they had difficulty completing.  Their opponents were quickly making the adjustments to allow for fewer hucks and force the shorter throws.

Pre-Quarters
By pre-quarters, the wind had really died down and the sun was peeking through just enough to turn the day from cool to warm.  Tempers in the Rockhurst vs. Lakeside game followed suit and observers were called into action, after which there was very little arguing,  With tempers simmered, Lakeside made a big charge after being down 8-4 at half.  Rockhurst's big hucking was just too much for Lakeside, and the 11-9 upset puts Rockhurst in the quarters against the powerhouse that is The Northwest School on Sunday morning.

Seattle Academy, as expected, continued their long game right off the bat, scoring on Hopkins on a long backhand right off the pull.  Hopkins quickly fell behind 4-1, but surged back quickly with an offensive strike and then an upwind Callahan to make it 4-3.  A momentum stopping time out by Seattle Academy, in which they also planned out an answer for the clam defense, put Seattle Academy back in the driver's seat.  Though the clam slowed down Seattle Academy's hucks, it allowed for some easy movement across the middle and on the break side of the field.  This free movement allowed them to slowly pad their lead throughout the game and run away with it at the very end.

The Lakewood and Cathedral pre-quarters game was the only one featuring a lot of zone.  Cathedral came out of the gates fast to an early 9-3 lead when they got timid and Lakewood's zone D really picked up.  Not surprisingly, these two possession teams combined for the highest scoring game (28 points) when Cathedral's complacency and apprehension allowed Lakewood to creep back into the game, falling just short, losing by merely two.

The Cretin-Derham Hall and Alameda game featured no zone at all.  The first half of the game was hard fought man defense that resulted in Cretin-Derham Hall breaking Alameda for half.  Alameda continued to run their questionable long throws, allowing CDH to throw their high octane offense into high gear.  Once CDH got their offensive ball rolling, the second half was theirs for the taking.  Scoring four of the five second half points, CDH becomes the second Minnesota team in the quarterfinals.