Senior handler Rian Fitzpatrick sent off the game’s first pull on a sun-kissed Thursday afternoon, and the Pumas ultimate team kicked off a crucial league game against defending league champions Northwest on April 24 at Shoreline Center Park. Despite a late offensive surge, the team lost 11-8, and their record dropped to 2-5 on the season.
“At its core, ultimate is really about having fun and embracing the spirit of the game, and despite the result, I think everyone did that,” Fitzpatrick said.
UPrep was the first to strike, after a block by senior cutter Sadie Hollon set up her first point of the game, assisted by senior cutter Cate Fitzgerald. Hollon secured another point minutes later, assisted by senior handler Sara Jackson after a block from Fitzpatrick.
“They threw a zone defense at us, and we just cut right through it,” coach Taylor Kanemori said.
The House stormed back to tie the game at two, before sophomore cutter Mica Wolf found ninth-grade cutter Julia Cutting in the back of the endzone to put the Pumas on top.
“We made some fun plays, and even though I don’t do much in the games, I try to show up and support that,” ninth grade handler and cutter Keylly Garcia said.
Northwest then went on a 5-1 run, and the Pumas went into halftime trailing 7-4.
“We need to spread out more on offense and not crowd our handlers, and make sure we use the whole field,” Garcia said.
Northwest continued the momentum out of the break, scoring two more before the Pumas strung together eight consecutive passes, culminating in a dart from Jackson to Hollon for UPrep’s fifth point.
“We had good communication throughout the game, and did a great job setting up our stack plays to get where we needed to be,” Garcia said.
After Northwest scored again, Fitzpatrick capitalized on an incompletion deep in House territory and found Hollon in the front of the endzone. Minutes later, the two combined again, this time for Fitzpatrick’s first point of the game, which put the score at 10-7 in favor of the House.
Hollon finished the day with four points, one assist and six blocks.
“Sadie has had some really good defensive games this year, and she was all over the place today,” Kanemori said.
After a Northwest point, with time ticking down, Fitzpatrick unleashed a bomb downfield for Cutting, who climbed the ladder at midfield, dished it off to Fitzgerald and found the endzone.
Cutting finished with two points and seven blocks.
Time would eventually run out on the Pumas, sealing their fifth loss on the year, which puts them in fourth place in the league. The team now looks ahead to their senior night game at Shoreline Center Park against Eastside Prep on April 30, which will end the regular season.
“Eastside Prep is a really talented squad. They have a lot of frisbee-specific athletes, whereas ultimate is a secondary sport for most of our team,” Kanemori said. “We need to control what we can control, and worry about the process instead of the result.”
