Sunday morning dawned chilly and overcast as the girls’ teams warmed up for the last round of pool play.  Despite the early hour (the first round started at 8:30 a.m.), excitement was palpable in the air on many of the sidelines. 

For most of the teams, the last pool play game would finalize seedings going into quarters.  For Seattle Academy and Cathedral, their pool play game would determine which team would make it into quarterfinals.  Cathedral started out the game playing zone on the first two points, but in the calm weather Seattle Academy was able to find open receivers downfield on hucks.  Cathedral switched to person-defense and was able to score, bringing the game to 1-2.  Seattle then went on an 8-0 run based on the strength of its defensive play.  Cathedral scored four of the last seven points of the game, but it was too little too late and Seattle Academy won 15-5.  The rest of the first round went to seed, although Bush put up a fight against Hopkins and kept the game within just a couple of breaks.  Hopkins ended up on-top, and able to advance to quarterfinals, with an 11-8 win.

Bush, Cathedral, and Alameda were left to play for 9^th through 11^th place as the rest of the teams prepared for quarterfinals.  The reseeding set-up quarterfinal matches of the Northwest School versus Hopkins, Cretin-Derham against Nathan Hale, South Eugene versus Lakeside, and Churchill against Seattle Academy.

The Northwest school continued their domination through the tournament by going up on Hopkins and maintaining their lead through the end of the quarterfinals game.  The Hopkins team had hoped to make a repeat appearance in the semifinals of Westerns this year, but it was not meant to be.  Reflecting on losses during the tournament, Junior Erin Curme (#24) stated, “I’m proud of the way we played.”  She explained that the squad had been focused on “trying to play as a team...—to come together.”  With just one senior on the team, the learning experiences for the newer players should prove to be invaluable for the program’s improvement.

Churchill and NWS were the only two undefeated teams going into quarterfinals, and Churchill beat Seattle Academy by a wide margin in their quarters match-up.  Seattle Academy scored the first point against Churchill’s zone defense, but struggled to score again when Churchill set their cup.  Junior Bailey Zahniser (#10) completed a number of hucks all game long, but Seattle Academy couldn’t string enough passes together to convert their offensive attacks into goals.  Meanwhile, Churchill took advantage of turnovers by attacking quickly and moving the disc well.  Freshman Emma Kahle (#44) caught all three of Seattle Academy’s goals and the final score was 15-3.

The other two quarterfinal games were extremely close down the stretch.  Lakeside earned an early lead and took half by a wide margin at 8-3.  South Eugene was not deterred and battled back to tie up the game at 9-9.  South Eugene’s 6-1 run was made possible by their pressure defense and the inspired play of their small roster.  All ten girls put everything they had into the comeback, although a lot of the offensive burden was on the shoulders of Senior Claire Powers (#11) and her breakmark throws.  In the end, Lakeside was able to put in the last point after the hard-cap to win the game 10-9.

The Nathan Hale match-up against Cretin-Derham had a similar progression.  Nathan Hale jumped out ahead and took half at 8-4.  Early in the second half, Nathan Hale still maintained its three-point margin, although Cretin-Derham had reduced the gap to two points by the time the soft cap horn sounded.  After trading points, Cretin-Derham scored just moments before the hard time cap, allowing them one chance to tie the game up and push it into double-game point.  Cretin-Derham had been successful looking deep off of Alex Chlebeck’s (#5) throws, with Natalie De Palma (#1) and Emily De Palma (#15) both making clutch catches.  Although these three players were able to tie the game up, they couldn’t convert the very last point and Nathan Hale came out on top. 

Entering the tournament as the No.7 seed, Lakeside’s semifinals appearance indicated a significant accomplishment.  Once Lakeside made it to the final four, they found themselves outmatched by Churchill.  These two teams had played in the first round of pool play the day before, with Churchill coming out on top, 11-1.  The margin was not much different in the rematch as Churchill won 14-2.  Churchill played zone defense for most of the game, which generated numerous turnovers.  As Churchill’s deep deep in the zone, Senior Autumn Tocchi (#7) was able to get a number of D’s and quickly start the offense with her inside-out forehand breaks.  While Senior Maggie Fisher (#12) was able to move the disc against the cup, Lakeside was unable to string enough passes together to consistently work the disc up the field.  Senior Mary Padden (#34) made some impressive defensive blocks for Lakeside, but it wasn’t enough to stop Churchill’s fast paced offense. 

One field over, Nathan Hale and the Northwest School were having a full-fledged battle in what was the game of the tournament.  Nathan Hale and NWS are local rivals who had just played each other two weekends before at the Washington State HS Championships.  NWS won that contest, 9-8, but Nathan Hale was playing with Senior Drew Johnson.  Despite having played with Nathan Hale for her entire high school career, Johnson was deemed ineligible to play with Nathan Hale at Westerns because she is home-schooled instead of a regular student.  Nathan Hale’s coach, Chris Forsberg, said that “last year, Drew was the best girl in high school Ultimate,” so her absence was notable.  Senior handlers Zina Hurd (#22) and Liz Arakaki (#2) stepped up accordingly and were the cornerstone of Nathan Hale’s success this weekend.  Both teams were eager to test themselves against one another for a chance to make it to the finals.

Despite playing their starters extensively in the quarterfinals, Nathan Hale’s girls started out the semifinals with endless energy.  One of the team’s coaches, Sam Chatterton-Kirchmeier, exclaimed that the team was in “phenomenal shape,” which he attributed to the fact that the players practice five days a week during the season.  Helped by a hucking game that was clicking, Nathan Hale took half 8-4.  After half, NWS scored two points in a row and Nathan Hale’s offense looked more labored with stagnant cuts.  Hale finally scored when Arakaki caught a blade and threw a goal to the team’s outstanding freshman, Barbara Hoover (#18).  NWS strung two more points together after a layout D by Junior Andrea Loh (#20) and patient zone offense.  Nathan Hale’s horizontal offense was having difficulty getting off the sideline, making their dump passes and open-side cuts more closely contested.  After multiple turnovers, NWS tied the game with a connection between the two Annas, Senior Anna Snyder (#23) and Sophomore Anna Reed (#3).   After a Nathan Hale drop, Reed was involved in another goal, putting NWS in the lead 10-9.  Nathan Hale stopped NWS’ run with their zone and the game was all tied up at 10-10.  The next three points were epic affairs, with multiple D blocks, endzone turnovers, and exciting plays.  Junior Minn Stockdale (#10) was cutting well for Nathan Hale and Arakaki racked up numerous Ds, but it was all for naught as the Northwest School put the last three points in to win 13-10. 

After the emotional and thrilling semifinal game between Nathan Hale and the Northwest School, the final was anticlimactic.  The one-sided affair saw Churchill cruising to an easy victory of 15-3.  Churchill was definitely more rested than NWS going into the final, and perhaps fatigue played a role in the number of unforced errors that NWS had during the game.  Although there wasn’t much wind present, both teams played almost exclusively zone defense during the game.  While NWS has been known for its effective zone offense, things didn’t seem to be clicking in this game.  Churchill also had a height advantage over NWS, which came in handy on a number of 50/50 deep shots.  At 5’11” Freshman Angela Tocchi (#25) was especially valuable in the air for Churchill and Senior Aubri Bishop (#24) used her long reach to get around or over the cup. 

Two of the most amazing things about Churchill’s team are that (1) the team was basically self-coached at the tournament and (2) the team has only been around for two years.  Luke Johnson coaches both the Girls’ and Open Churchill teams, so the girls’ captain called the team’s substitutions and implemented its game-time strategy.  The fact that Churchill has been able to develop such skilled players in such a short amount of time speaks volumes about the level of enthusiasm the girls have for the sport.  Bishop described the team as a “vivacious crowd of girls who really love the game” and mentioned that the team’s great connections off the field are a big part of its success.  Bishop is referring to the siblings on the team as well as friendships stretching back to middle school.  After such a successful tournament, Churchill has proven itself as a top high school team in the nation.  With only two seniors on the team, it is poised to remain in the top tier for years to come.