February 4th and 5th, Midas, the women's ultimate B team, did double duty in hosting and competing in the President's Day Qualifier tournament at UCLA. Fighting wind and turf burn, the Bruins held their own against the visiting teams, placing 6th overall, with a 2-4 record.

Following a two-year hiatus during the intramural fields' reconstruction, the President's Day Qualifier tournament, fondly known as "Pres. Day Quals," returned to UCLA. Pres. Day Quals offers the winner a chance to compete at UCSD's annual President's Day invitational tournament, which takes place February 18-20.

Going into the tournament, one of Midas' 3 captains, Samantha "Fresca" Rustia, said, "Our coach has been really encouraging since the season has started, and she always says, 'If the disc goes down, you go down.' That's the kind of mentality that I hope every girl on our team adopts when we compete this weekend."

Captain Grace "Cobalt" Bronken mentioned hoping to see improvements, particularly when it came to zone defense. Midas competed in its previous tournament (the first of the season) after only 3 practices together. The Bruins headed into this tournament much more experienced and comfortable with each other's playing abilities.
 
Midas must have made both captains very proud this past weekend. Its zone defense caused an impressive amount of turns and marathon points, and the team was scrappy, bidding for everything. Kerrie "Puck" Tonking even nabbed a Callahan (meaning she scored on an interception).

On Saturday, under the advisement of coaches Meghan "Rho" Kemp-Gee and Liz Gupta-Harrison, Midas played Chico State (2-13), University of Arizona (4-9), and UC San Diego's B team (7-6). The last 2 games were both ended on a hard cap. On Sunday, Midas faced Sonoma State (4-13), UC Berkeley's B team (10-3), and UC Davis' B team (4-10). Chico State went on to win the tournament and an invitation to Pres. Day Invite.
 
Grace "Solar" Hubrig, third-year and veteran cutter on the team said, "We graduated a lot of seniors last year so the returners have had to really step up and fill different roles on the team this year. Our team chemistry really grew this weekend and the rooks played great!"

One such rookie was Megan "S.H.A.R.D." Haddad. Reflecting on the second regular season tournament of her rookie year, Haddad said, "I really liked how everyone was having fun, no matter what the score was, and that everyone was really supportive of each other. It was also really great how spirited all the teams were this weekend."

For a play-by-play on this tournament and future tournaments, follow Midas' Twitter account, @uclamidas. Midas will be back in action the weekend of April 8-9 at Irvine Invite.

Congratulations on a successful tournament, Midas!