<ds of Plastic escaped the frigid north last weekend, jetting to sunny Santa Barbara, CA to compete in the UCSB Invitational. GoP put together an incredible first day of play, winning its pool by beating Stanford 12-10, UC-San Diego 14-12, and Arizona 13-12. All three opponents had been to nationals within the last three years. The magic ran out on Sunday morning, as the Gods fell to a talented UC-Santa Cruz team, 15-9 in the quarterfinals. The Goppers also suffered a tough 10-9 setback to UC-Davis, but salvaged the day by beating San Diego again, this time 13-9. GoP wound up taking seventh place in the tournament after entering the 12th seed. Many players contriubuted to the successful weekend, but particular high points included Ben Colwell's flick huck heating up with the temperature, and Martin Granick showing off the same kind of athleticism that will be on display during Ebony this weekend. Off the field, the Goppers sampled some of the best attractions of the area, including the Pacific Ocean, In-N-Out Burger 4-by-4s, Free Bird Quesaritos, and some truly miraculous team bonding at the Sandman Inn.
-Matt Hart
Meanwhile, Syzygy made the trek down to Iowa City to play in an indoor tournament last weekend, facing off against the top four teams in its Region. First up was Iowa State Women Scorned, a really fun and scrappy team. They started out hot, and Syz quickly found itself down 3-1 before remembering how to catch the disc and launching a comeback to win 14-12. Next up was University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire Sol, who is not quite the team they were last year when they took Syzygy nearly to game point in the game to go to Nationals. In fact, Carleton took half 7-0, before winning 13-3. Then Syzygy got to face its old nemesis, University of Wisconsin – Madison Bella Donna. Bella was two points away from making the finals at Nationals last year, but graduated most of their top players. Bella’s got a strong program, however, and they ended up winning 13-8 in a game that was closer than the score. Finally, Carleton got to play the hosts, University of Iowa Saucy Nancy. Saucy Nancy has really revitalized their program over the past year or so, but Syzygy played confidently and beat them 13-6. Highlights from the weekend included smooth offensive flow, sick hucks from Annas Reed, Poaster, and Snyder, Flannery McArdle, Bri Rick, Melissa Villars, and Liz Arakaki skying people right and left, and a layout D from possibly the most athletic player in college women’s ultimate, Marlena Hartman-Filson. It was a great start to the winter season!
-Laurel Schmidt