After placing fourth in the Canadian Ultimate University Championship, Women’s Ultimate is ready to start a rigorous training regimen. Next up, preparation for the spring season in the United States.

Growth and improvement

While also finishing third in the Eastern division, U of T’s Toruntula has reached a high point in the program.

“This is the best season we’ve ever had,” said captain Lexi Marsh. “We’ve had the best practices and the rate the players grew was amazing. We became a strong and cohesive group.”

Marsh wants to focus on several things to help improve the team’s game for the coming seasons. Among these are creating more offensive plays, developing a good spread strategy, and working on the continuation of cuts, which are running plays that come after a completed pass.

Coach Erin Dwyer adds zone defence to the list, stating the team needs to work on its end zone play.

Tourney journey

Eleven schools were represented at the CUUP, which were played on Ottawa’s Sod Fields on October 13-15. Consisting of seven rigorous games, U of T lost three: once to Ottawa and twice to Queen’s. They placed fourth behind champion Ottawa and runner-up McGill.

Marsh admitted that the third-place game, in which U of T lost for the second time to Queen’s 10-11, was quite emotional.

“In the beginning, we were beating them,” she said. “Then, we were down six. Although we managed to score six more points, we lost by just one. Queen’s has a really strong offence.”

However, the team also had its shares of amazing wins.

In the second day, U of T faced a Saskatchewan team whose players were numerous and aggressive, their temperament matching the windy conditions at game time.

Torontula was behind most of the match, but managed to tie the score late in the game. Shortly after, U of T put down their opponents by winning 11-10.

Hard-earned respect

Established in 1997, the team has not been a steady participant in the ultimate scene. However, the team’s performance last year was promising enough to prompt Dwyte to try and make the players a “real” team.

“We had trouble recruiting before, but that was not the case for this season,” Dwyte said.

Out of 24 girls that tried out, 18 stayed. All but two are U of T students.

Dwyer and Marsh also began regular practice sessions, meeting five days a week in the mornings, as well as weekly competitions against another U of T ultimate team every Wednesday.

While registered in the club division by the Athletic Centre, the team is also member of the Toronto Ultimate Women’s League. However, aside from some funding allotted to them by AC’s club fees, the team supports itself, occasionally selling disks to make extra money.

Marsh estimates that each members shells out about $250 per year for the team.

She hopes that the success of this past season will help Torontula and ultimate in general become more popular.