Ultimate Team Competes With Northwests Best at Spring Reign

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Jon Hayduk Photography

Grade 12 Yoshi Matsubara focusing in as he catches the disc

On April 27th the Tight Sr. A Ultimate team traveled down to Burlington, Washington to compete in one of the biggest ultimate tournaments in the world, Spring Reign. The team consists of 12 Saints boys and 10 York House girls. The trip was Friday to Sunday and the games started early Saturday morning.

In their first game Tight squeaked out a 10-8 win vs Charles Wright largely as a result of capitalizing on early turnover after turnover by Charles Wright. Tight took a 7-2 lead and while Charles Wright fought back they were unable to close the gap by the end of the game. In the second game of the day it was Tight’s turn to play from behind as they started the game down 3-0 to BAM.  The boys and girls of Tight rallied hard but finished just short losing 9-8. Tight would have to win their third game of the day in order to make the winners bracket Sunday. Unfortunately, Tight was dominated start to finish by a solid Ingraham team losing 11-5. Throughout the game Ingraham’s girls were unstoppable deep and Tight had no answer.

On Day 2 Tight found themselves in the loser’s bracket. In their first day they played a very physical and athletic Cleveland team who battled close with tight all game long. At one point the game seemed to be getting out of hand with a lack of spirit showing on both sides. After a lengthy timeout and conversation between the coaches the game resumed. Up 8-7 with time running out Tight surrendered a long point to Cleveland sending the game to universe. Cleveland would score again to win the game and send Tight into the tenth place game. In Tight’s final game they faced off against their North Van rivals Sutherland. Tight was able to take the game 11-9 and capture tenth place.

Spring Reign is traditionally the tournament where the team takes a big step, and this year was no different. Alex Ference, Tight’s tournament MVP, said “the last trip of my Saints career did not disappoint.” Even while the results on the field may not have been what the team wanted, the trip represented a bigger step in their season, one step towards that elusive provincial championship. The newly appointed captains Karim Jamal, Tristan Johnson, Hannah Samuel, and Kyra Lee look to lead this team through the rest of the season, and as the temperature rises the team looks to elevate their play as well.