UBC Women: 2008 Women's UPA College Champions

Nation,

To steal a phrase from a 1992 World Series game, The UPA Women's Title "will fly north of the border!".

UBC Lady Thunderbirds are UPA college champions. It is good for Canadian ultimate, and it is good for college ultimate as a whole.

Why?

Because this was a great spring series in which none of the many fans and players sitting at home could not predict the outcome. Many teams that made the trip to Boulder could have taken home the title. Alas, only one did, and was able to win in fashion fitting of a deserving champion.

The 2008 Womens UPA Champ didn't even win their sectionals. A sign of how great north west ultimate is at this time, and of how much UBC and their coach developed this spring. That is awesome.

Hopefully we will get a breakdown from the team itself, but we can tell you this
-The team allowed no more than 9 points in any game
-The team beat the very best on the way to the title
-UBC was able to beat the very same teams that tripped up Ottawa in pool play (Santa Barbara) and in the playoffs (Washington).

Congratulations to the champions. I think that the significance of this victory will be understood much better in the future.
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Quick condolences to the Lady Gees of Ottawa. As the UPA reporter stated, they have a lot of future stars who already excel at the women's club level, and they wanted nothing more than to win.

I won't make any excuses for a great team. I would like to say congrats to all the team members who helped build the Lady Gee Gees into the powerhouse they now are. Players like Shannon Becker, who suffered through the performances at Canadian nationals when the team wasn't very good at the national level, can be proud at the system they have built.

Great job gals.
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Just to show I'm not sexist, there was also a men's tournament and it proved to be a great championship as well.

Wisconsin, the flavor of the year for much of the college season, suffered a heartbreaking Centex tournament in March. Losing games to Michigan, Pittsburgh and Florida at that tournament, fair weather fans jumped off their bandwagon at a broken ankle speed. Suddenly their cool documentary of the season seemed sophomoric, and the focus turned to Florida as the next UPA champion.

Fast forward through an undefeated sectionals and regionals, and the Hodags were poised to redeem themselves at national finals. They did, going undefeated and besting Florida 15-9 in the championship game. Except for that Centex tournament, the team didn't lose a game all year. The crowd loves a hammer, but they also always love schools from small states who battle some adversity to win it all.

Let's just hope they kept the cameras rolling, and we can all see how they managed such a great comeback.