Santa Cruz nab their first invite title of the season with a complete game against Stanford
March 11, 2026 by Kiana Hu in Recap
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Stanford Invite has long been a staple mid-season tournament in the college women’s division, drawing teams from across the country looking to play the best of the west. With five Southwest teams in the top 15 and all in attendance this past weekend, high-caliber competition was the expectation, and out-of-region teams made the trek in search of sunny weather and potential strength bids. When the Bay Area fog lifted, it was top-seeded #3 UC Santa Cruz Sol who took home the crown and cemented their place in the elite contender tier. The rest of the coast may not be far back, though for the moment they appear to be a step behind the apex.
Sol Shine Brightest
Even coming off a finals appearance at Presidents’ Day Invite, there were still some doubts about UCSC. After all, this is a team that only recently burst back onto the national scene, finishing with a respectable but uninspiring top 13 at the 2025 College Nationals. That’s all in the past now: they’re done being overlooked.
Improving upon their previous result in each subsequent tournament, a championship at Stanford Invite seemed almost inevitable after a semifinal appearance at Santa Barbara Invite and a final showing at Pres Day. Merely taking the title wasn’t enough for Sol, however, they stormed out to an unshakable lead early in the final and never looked back in a resounding 13-8 victory over #2 Stanford Superfly.
The opening point—in hindsight—was a foreshadowing of the rest of the match-up. Superfly did not do their homework thoroughly enough on UCSC and gave up a 10-second offensive point. Fielded pull, centering pass to Rachel Chang, huck to Kai Agueros with yards of space, done.
Sol’s efficiency on offense allowed their players crossing over to defense to play with fresh legs. Zane Bird Smith and Goodness Nwakudu quarterbacked the UCSC D-line, which took advantage of two backfield miscues from Stanford and excellent downfield coverage from Bird Smith to punch in a break and go up 2-0. Not leaving anything to chance, Sol loaded up another defensive line and Agueros delivered with an immediate run-through block and assist to Ruby Gholston, 3-0.
The woes continued for Superfly, with the next point plagued by more unforced errors. A Nicole Lambert handblock on the endzone pass for UCSC saved what would’ve been a disastrous four-point deficit, and Stanford was able to stabilize and score the other way with a scoober from Harper Baer to Sage McGinley-Smith.
The next score for Sol was another short-lasting affair, with Chang dialing up a massive hammer over the zone to hit Viola Deszily in the end zone, which was bobbled three times before it was finally secured. Used to being able to make up ground on over-the-top throws to the deep space, Stanford simply gave Sol too much space and was unprepared to challenge the speed at which Chang’s throws were able to find their receivers.
The final was as much a story of Sol’s excellence as it was of things going wrong for Superfly. A confusing foul call on UCSC that ended up giving them advantageous defensive positioning resulted in another backfield turnover for Stanford, this time with pressure from Allie Lehrer, who immediately burst deep and set up another Sol break, 5-1.
The UCSC offense continued to be pristine as Stanford was unable to answer the athleticism and throwing prowess across the board for Sol. Yet another missed execution for Superfly—a swing throw caught just out of bounds—was the nail in the first-half coffin as Sol went up 7-2.
Having established a five-point advantage, all Sol needed to do was maintain that lead, which they did easily. The few break chances they gave Stanford in the second half went largely unfulfilled, and everything continued to click for UCSC. A smack-down handblock from Lexie Buckley and a low layout save from Gholston brought the score to 10-4.
Superfly managed to get one break at 11-7 on a lofted throw, but it was too little, too late. It only took two more Chang backhand rips to put the matter to rest. The game ended the way it began: Chang to Agueros, completely blowing by their defender on the very first cut.
“It feels really good to come here and fight hard and earn it,” remarked Bird Smith, a senior on Sol. “Our coach was saying that it might be the first time we’ve won a regular season tournament in maybe 20 years.”
UCSC looked crisp and confident throughout the tournament, heralding promising things to come for the program. Their defense seemed dialed into Superfly’s strategy, denying the pull-play hucks and applying steady pressure to both primary and secondary options. “Seeing and observing and being adaptable was really our game plan,” said Bird Smith.
Allie Lehrer had a standout game, often drawing less matchup attention but stepping up in crucial moments. The focus and intensity from the entire Sol roster proved decisive in their final game of the regular season.
Looking beyond the tournament, Bird Smith wanted to highlight the message from #16 UC Davis Rogue: “I want to shout out Davis’ warm ups, the Ice Out shirts that Carleton started. I really appreciated those.”
Stanford can take solace in the fact that most of their turnovers came from miscommunications that are easily amendable. Esther Filipek may still be reintegrating into the Stanford playbook, but her speed and reflexes got the disc back several times for her team. First-year player Freya Spiekerkoetter1 also made an immediate impact as a defensive ace, and showcased uncanny disc skills with several non-dominant lefty throws.
Stanford will once again face stiff competition at Northwest Challenge in a few weeks, and perhaps Superfly will be thanking Sol for uncovering the screws that still need tightening up.
Second-Half Surges
UCSC and Stanford came into the weekend as the clear one and two, and their strong semifinal results proved that. For much of the first halves, however, it looked like both games might produce dramatic finishes. #11 UC San Diego Dragon Coalition and #5 Washington Element hung close with the top seeds all the way to 7-6 and 6-5 respectively, but the favorites locked in after the halftime rest.
The rematch between Superfly and Element began with an eight-minute long point. Turnovers were plenty, resulting from both miscues and rushed execution. After that initial marathon, the teams settled into a rhythm and traded points until Stanford pounced with a one-throw break to go up 4-3.
It wasn’t until after half that Superfly really pulled away, capitalizing on a few Washington looks that were just a bit too far or a bit too low. Filipek was virtually unstoppable, punctuating the match with a picture-perfect power position put to Amelia Hawkins. Element played much closer to their ceiling than their previous 13-1 encounter with Superfly, and big contributions from rookies Rachel Joy-Rocha and Zi Chau indicate they have even higher to go.
Sol and DCo played a much cleaner game, with both offenses looking quite comfortable in the fairly windless conditions. Throwers like Chang, Nwakudu, and Deszily had no problem hitting whatever angle they wanted with a variety of hammers and blades, and no combination of zone-to-person defense could really stymie the dynamic UCSC schemas.
DCo similarly looked like fish in the water playing against the Sol zone, showcasing some of the quickest release points across the board and rarely holding onto the disc past stall two or three. Margot Nissen, Nicole Moran, and Sam Medina easily bumped and chiseled their way upfield, if not gaining quick yards through the middle to Mars Bau and Sanam Rozycki-Shah. UCSD had considerably more difficulty with the match-up defense looks, missing on a few deep opportunities that UCSC was quick to capitalize on.
Bid Chances Slip Away
Out-of-region teams had their eyes on another prize: a rare strength bid, in what could be considered a bid-drought situation even with the imposed bid cap. With five projected bids for both the Northwest and the Southwest, the eight other regions are left fighting for two remaining strength bids. Enter #12 Vermont Ruckus, #20 Texas Melee, #21 Northeastern Valkyries, #22 Minnesota, #23 Wisconsin Bella Donna, and Virginia Hydra: all within striking distance and everything to gain.
At the end of the Sunday, only one team (or maybe two, depending on how you look at it) boarded their plane having accomplished that goal: round of applause for the Valks, who likely have done enough to secure the much-needed second bid for the Northeast, and taking down their regional opponents Vermont in one fell swoop. The rest of those teams will face the daunting task of upsetting top teams — #1 Carleton Syzygy in the North Central, #5 Colorado Quandary in the South Central, or #8 North Carolina Pleiades in the Atlantic Coast — an unenviable task to say the least.
Pour One Out
- #15 UCLA BLU: The underdog team of the Southwest has been quietly making their presence known this season, giving UCSC their closest game of the tournament in a 12-10 quarterfinal loss. Sabrina Belkin was one of — if not the best — players at Stanford Invite, hitting on all her deep shots and going every-other with Mya Mitchell or Kasey Parks to give the Sol defense absolute fits. Ultimately, BLU wasn’t able to do enough to stop UCSC’s clean offensive looks, and their bracket run came to an end. UCLA lost steam after their run-in with the eventual tournament champions and took a tough 13-7 loss to UC Davis, but finished out the weekend with a respectable 4-3 record.
- #17 Cal Poly SLO Motion: Another Stanford Invite, another Cinderella story for SLO Motion, who came in seeded 12th in the tournament but won out on Saturday to earn a bye to quarters. Daylight savings proved to be their undoing as they fell to a strong UCSD contingent in quarterfinals and ended Sunday 0-3. Despite a less-than-thrilling tournament finish, Motion have lots to be excited about with an abundance of young talent in Zsa Zsa Gelfand, Nora Snyder, Coco Blakemore, and Caelum Ritzdorf.
- #10 Victoria Vikes: The Canadian squad came in at the top of Pool D on the backs of impressive early season results, but succumbed to the pool play chaos which pushed them into an unfavorable quarterfinal with in-region rivals Washington. Element’s person defense proved too strong to overcome as the Vikes started making unforced errors later in the match-up, resulting in a 13-8 loss. However, their only other loss on the weekend came in the opening round against Cal Poly SLO 9-8, which they later avenged 10-8.
- Northeastern Valkyries: With the hopes and dreams of the Northeast region pinned to their performance, the Valks made a credible run up until the very last point of their prequarter round against UCSD. They had the eventual semifinalists on the ropes, but with perhaps a bit more prime time experience, DCo got the better of Northeastern in the end. Relegated to the ninth place bracket, the Valks won out with an impressive string of wins: 9-1 over #20 Texas Melee, 8-7 over #12 Vermont, and finally 10-6 against #22 Minnesota for the ninals title.
- Vermont Ruckus: This was a tough outing all around for a Ruckus team coming off a semifinal appearance at the 2025 College Championships. Playing without starters Annie Pozzy, Tatum Cubrilovic, and Caroline Stone due to injuries, Vermont showed flashes of brilliance throughout the weekend but was unable to close out either pool play game against UCSB or Cal Poly SLO where they led 11-8 and 7-4 respectively, dropping out of bracket play and ending in the 11th place game. Ruckus certainly will have some reconfiguring to do before Northwest Challenge, but they have all the pieces in the handling talents of Katie Stack and Meribel Collin and the elite cutting of Ella Monaghan.
All-Tournament Line
Esther Filipek (Stanford)
Sabrina Belkin (UCLA)
Sanam Rozycki-Shah (UC San Diego)
Rachel Chang (UC Santa Cruz)
Ruby Gholston (UC Santa Cruz)
Lia Romeo (Cal Poly SLO)
Lucy Tanner (Washington)
All-Defense Line
Advika Basden (Texas)
Anna Pettis (Washington)
Kai Agueros (UC Santa Cruz)
Reilly Wagner (Wisconsin)
Sara Bauman (Northeastern)
Zane Bird-Smith (UC Santa Cruz)
Zsa Zsa Gelfand (Cal Poly SLO)
Technically she played one tournament in 2024 ↩
