by Jones Oliver

Day one of the UPA High School Championship Tournament in Corvallis, Oregon saw a bit of everything.

In the morning, the wind favored no team as it blew from the south and cross-field over all twelve games. With the mix of “partly sunny” and “blustery rain”, it was a classic Oregon tournament weekend. By the fourth round of play, the wind had shifted down field, coming in from the west.

Saturday pool play saw Amherst, without surprise, go undefeated. The team’s closest game was their first in the morning as they faced Oregon’s Lilith, from Eugene. Lilith scored the first two points, but Amherst came back to tie the game at 2-2. That game closed at 11-6. As for the rest of the day, Amherst only allowed four more points over the next four games.

Also in the first round, Deluge had an early lead over Yale, 4-0, but in cap, Yale prevailed 10-9.

The surprise in the A pool was Lilith. Lilith went 4-1 on the day with strong play by senior Leighanna Eickhorst. In the second round, with the game tied at soft cap, 8-8, against Seattle’s Deluge, Lilith went up by one. With Deluge pinned in their own end zone, Lilith’s team SOTG captain sophomore Caitlin McKimmy scored the winning point with a Callahan. Dog pile ensued.

Pool A’s pre-seeding was jumbled after Saturday, Amherst retained the top seed going into the Championship bracket for Sunday, however, after that, not much held. As previously mentioned, Lilith (Sheldon) went 4-1, Yale, 3-2, Deluge, 2-3, Cretin-Durham Hall, 1-4, and Stuyvesant, 0-5.

Pool B was a bit less chaotic. Andover, pre-seeded first in the pool, also finished first. However, it wasn’t until a close last game of the day against Amherst JV, at cap, did Andover retain that top spot. The middle of the pool was a bit flat, as Amherst JV, Nashville, and Memorial all went 3-2. The Northwest School went 1-4 and Storm, making their first appearance at nationals, went 0-5.

For the consolation bracket, at 8:30 Sunday morning, Storm will face Cretin-Durham Hall and Stuyvesant will see The Northwest School.

In the Championship bracket, the eight teams will be Amherst, Amherst JV, Andover, Deluge, Memorial, Nashville, Sheldon, and Yale.

The Sunday forecast: more wind, rain, and zone defense.