British Columbia set themselves apart from the division with a dominant road to a tournament win. But semifinalists Oregon and Colorado aren't far behind, while UC Santa Cruz made a name for themselves with their own run to semis
February 19, 2025 by Graham Gerhart in Recap
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San Diego, CA – In most years, Presidents’ Day Invite either confirms the early season pecking order, or flips it on its head. 2025’s tournament didn’t just confirm the results, it underlined them and added a few exclamation points for good measure. #1 UBC Thunderbirds rolled through the competition so definitively there’s now no question they’re the team to beat, not just on the West Coast, but across the entire division. Only #4 Oregon Fugue were able to make it to double digits against the Canadian conquerors, but UBC’s offense was too clean to give Oregon a real chance at winning it all. So while Canada now has another reason to celebrate its success over the US, the rest of the division also had some questions answered. The pecking order in the Southwest is a little clearer, the “is it BYU or UCSD-B” conundrum was cleared up, and the brewing rivalry between Colorado and Oregon added another chapter to its tale.
UBC Isn’t Playing Games, They’re Winning Them
It’s a slow burn, witnessing UBC pick apart an opponent. There’s no flashy zone at play, no special phenom thrower winning games off hucks alone, not even a singular style that defenses can’t quite crack. Instead, UBC won their games at PDI the same way they have all year: by making hundreds of small, smart, good decisions. The team can win a million different ways because they trust each other to do everything they can to help the team, no matter who is on the field.
Monday’s final against Oregon was no different. Sure, you could point to a few massive plays from Mika Kurahashi as being the x-factor for the team, but by and large it was a full roster effort to bring about their win over Fugue. It was not as if Fugue were just going to let them have it, either. The Eugene squad pushed themselves to their very limit to keep in competition with UBC. The two teams faced off against each other in the final at SBI, too, so they knew their matchups and win conditions. For Oregon, a lot of it came down to establishing their downfield offense early. UBC’s defense was ready and willing to bring the blindside help defender into the open space for blocks, so Oregon needed to stretch the field as best they could. It took a heroic layout grab from Trout Weybright on the very first point to net Fugue a hold, but it sent a message: they had to be respected deep. Poaching on unders wasn’t going to be a solution.
UBC took that to heart. Their offense had a bumpy start which gave Oregon a break chance, only for it to be their reset defense that earned UBC the disc again, not their downfield traps. From there, establishing the ability to break the mark with around throws set the Thunderbirds up for the rest of the game. Oregon, needing to respect the around, left UBC room to operate in the center of the field, departing from their original gameplan. Coming into the game, Fugue noted their focus was on dictating where the offense was throwing the disc. “We want to be in control of where they cut,” said Weybright, “pushing them into spaces we want them to go in.”
Both defenses were having trouble establishing themselves initially, though. It wasn’t until the twelfth point of the game that the cracks started to show for either team. That’s right, the teams traded hold for almost the entire first half before any separation was made between the two. Oregon’s offense had spent a lot more time on the field than UBC’s but they had also been able to win yardage off of the deep shots they had been trying to set up from the beginning. UBC’s ability to move the disc laterally from one side of the field to the other without much pressure had also given them plenty of space to operate, but they had also thrown more turns than Oregon.
Something had to give. Unfortunately for Oregon, it was their offense.
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