Ultimate!

photos courtesy of Orange Turtle Photography


Ultimate Frisbee is back with another annual tournament hosted by CBC and this year hosting 9 teams. After a fun two team debut last year, CEC decided to field one consolidated team. The 7-on-7 format allowed for maximum 5 guys on the field and minimum of two girls. This year’s CEC team was a decent team on paper; with returning members Kevin Cheng, Kevin Chu, Katie Hsu, Natasha Hui, Lillian Lai, Brian Liu, and Don Xayasone; new comers Chris Changchien, Cindy Chu (former D1 athlete!!), Ryan Falomir, Lawrence Hui, and Rick Liu. Cal ultimate player Greg Moy and captain Jia Fu Cen would round out the final 2 spots of the 14 player roster.

With the team coming together in the last week leading up to the tournament, the team was correctly viewed as an underdog. A 5 man practice the week before was primarily used to teach rules and concepts of ultimate. Initial fear that a lack of practice and familiarity would be this team’s weakness surfaced early in pool play. Dropped catches, mis-throws, and miscommunication on defense had team CEC reeling early. A field of 9 teams meant one team would not make the playoffs.

The pool play schedule was certainly daunting. Game 1 pitted CEC against defending champions Harbor, game 2 was against a very competitive UCSD ultimate team, and game 4 would be against a CBC team that had played together on weekends for a few years. CEC’s glimmer of hope would be against GC2’s fun team who was there simply to support Hope Harvest International, the beneficiary of today’s tournament fundraiser.

Pool Play Schedule:
vs. Harbor 6-7 (Loss)
vs. UCSD’s Starridge Lost and Found 3-8 (Loss)
vs. GC2’s Where’s da Football? 7-2 (Win)
vs. CBC’s Life is Good 7-6 (Loss)

Playoff seeding after Pool Play:
1. CBC’s Life is Good
2. UCSD’s Starridge Lost and Found
3. CBC’s Green Team
4. Harbor
5. CBC’s Blue Team
6. CEC
7. UCSD’s Goldrath Gophers
8. Lighthouse

Suddenly the pool play schedule didn’t seem too bad as 2 of the 3 losses had come against the top two undefeated teams in the tournament. The path to the championship would have CEC face an undefeated 3rd seed, meet the UCSD (#2 seed) team again that had dominated CEC in pool play, and another rematch with CBC’s life is good.


Quarterfinals vs. CBC Green Team: 8-2 WIN
Semifinals vs. UCSD’s Lost and Found: 7-5 WIN
Finals vs. CBC’s Life is Good: 6-6 OVERTIME

In the finals, CBC blitzed out to a 5-1 lead at the half and looked to be a one-sided game. However, mirroring the pool play game, CEC rallied in the second half with a flurry of unanswered scores. CEC took the lead at 6-5 with a minute left but CBC forced overtime with a long pass deep in the end zone.

CEC would start the sudden death overtime with first possession and had a solid chance to score. An ill advised pass into the end zone by CEC was knocked out and CBC came back with the a perfectly placed deep pass by KuangKai Tai. 

After a long day which started at 8:30am and would finish at 5:45pm, CEC fell slightly short but by all metrics exceeded expectations. The upset of two undefeated teams enroute to the finals and pushing the last undefeated team into overtime would serve as the lasting memory of the day.

Highlight of the day goes to Don Xayasone who laid out superman style for a catch in the end zone against CBC’s Life is Good.


photo courtesy of Natalie Leung

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