On the weekend of March 22-23, SHUGx piled into their cars to Arlington, Virginia, returning home with a national qualifying win from a major East Coast tournament after winning 12-8 against Jordan High School.
“I saw my teammate go into the end zone and just chucking it, and when she caught it, I remember just standing there, taking it in and just crying,” spirit captain and senior Violet Abrahamsson said. “I felt so proud of the team. We had all these games with the sun beating down on us, and it was perfect.”
Bids for nationals can come in multiple forms, not just from winning tournaments in the systematic way other sports do. Last year, their ability to qualify for Nationals was based on ranking and analysis of previous games.
This year, they were determined to win the qualifying tournament instead of relying on ranking chances alone. According to team captains, seniors Lily Hodges and Katie Stack, YULA (Youth Ultimate League of Arlington) is the biggest tournament on the East Coast for high school frisbee. It requires an application and is invitation-based only.
“So winning this is insane. It’s really impressive. And I think Katie and I looked at each other, and there’s a photo of us, a really fun photo of me and Katie just screaming at each other in the purest delight,” Hodges said.
Ultimate frisbee player junior Tess Kelly had felt the pressure during YULA’s final game, even with their lead. The opposing team had been on a steady comeback since the score had been 10-5, Panthers.
“There’s always uncertainty,” Kelly said. “I think people got, at least, I got kind of scared when they started scoring three points in a row. We have one more point to go, and then this is done, but they keep scoring, so if they keep scoring, they’ll win.”
By the time the game was 11-8, they were approaching a hard cap. This meant the set time limit, which in this game was 80 minutes, was almost up. Even though the win had been cemented, the captains wanted to get just one more point.
“I told Katie, and then we purposely kind of kept it on the down low, because we just don’t want anybody to get in their head,” Hodges said. “We also want to finish out our game in a good way. And at that point, they had technically been on a comeback. So having the relief of the hard cap go on was very nice, but also it was like, at least in my mind, I wanted us to get the last point.”
On the sidelines, the boys’ ultimate frisbee team and spirit captain senior Tianyue Wang leapt off their feet to cheer for SHUGx when the final score was announced.
“I remember being like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to crash out,’” Wang said. “And then I found out that hard cap had gone out, and I just started like, it wasn’t sobbing, but I did tear up, because I was like, ‘Oh my god, we’re done. We’re going to Nationals. This is so exciting.’”
The High School National Invite will be held in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, from June 13-14.
