West Coast powerhouses battled for early dominance despite some dismal conditions
January 28, 2025 by Grace Conerly in Recap
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Here we are, the start of the 2025 college season, and what better place to kick things off than sunny Santa Barbara?1 Teams from all over the West Coast – and as far east as the Keystone State, Pennsylvania – traveled to duke it out in yet another edition of the Santa Barbara Invite. Thanks to its position as one of the first high-level tournaments of the year, SBI is often a good litmus test to see who will be in bid-earning territory for both the Southwest and Northwest regions. This year was no different, with seven of the Top 10 teams in action, including #2 Colorado Quandary, #4 UBC Thunderbirds, #5 Oregon Fugue, and #6 Carleton Syzygy. So – time for a little recap: What went down? Who went off? And, most importantly, what does it all mean for the division at large?
Top Dogs Establish Early Hierarchy
UBC Thunderbirds looked the part of a championship contender this weekend with an early season tournament win. Despite losing three of four offensive cutters, their team looked polished and ready to compete, using their top to bottom throwing skill and commitment to their system to put away teams. Mika Kurahashi was borderline unguardable in the cutting lanes. Second year Claire Weng also looked tremendous on the UBC O-line as a continuation cutter and endzone finisher. Are they really the world-beaters that showed up in SoCal, though? Take a look at the last few years: UBC are historically very strong relative to the field in the early season, but the rest of the division has been able to close the gap by Nationals. Still… they look awfully ready for the big lights.
Too bad it wasn’t sunny on Sunday. It POURED folks. ↩
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