The Women's ultimate team showed up to play in Belleville this weekend to participate in the Canadian Eastern University Ultimate Championship (CEUUC), with fire in their hearts, after being so close to a bid to division one nationals last weekend at the Ontario Qualifier. Having lost to the University of Toronto in the finals, the team was hungry to earn their bid, and secure their spot in division 1, among the 8 best teams in Canada.
 
The tournament had two bid available for Nationals, and included a schedule setup that almost always required teams to win a game to earn a bid to nationals format, which resulted in multiple back door opportunities to get to the game-to-go (a game where the winner will go to division 1 nationals). Starting on Saturday in pool play, the team was decisive in their vision, and won 1^st in their pool, despite a very close game against Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). However Sunday is where the action would happen.
 
Sunday started at 9am in full force, with a semi-final against our season rivals,  the University of Toronto, who were returning from a tournament win, and with more reinforcements. Queens showed resilience, but ultimate fell to this seasons top contender, 12 - 09. This did not mean the end of the road for Queens due to the tournament format, and instead meant that a long day was in store, with 3 more games required to earn a bid to nationals. The next three games had only 30 minutes between each game, and would result in 4 straight games, starting at 9am, and ending at 4pm.
 
The first contender standing between Queens and Nationals, was the University of Guelph, a bit of an unknown, but who had just come off a win against last years finalists, McMaster University. Despite a firing Offensive Line, and huge Defensive pressure, a one point loss for Queens left them at 0-2 to start the day. Following this game, Queens rallied with a decisive win against Western University, with rookies Celine, Karina, and Alyssa leading the charge from the defensive line with massive blocks in crucial moments. The game was over quickly with a final score of 14-08.
 
With 2 bids to Division 1 nationals available, both McGill and U of T in the top 4 (who already had bids), and the University of Ottawa claiming one of the bids by finishing 2nd, there was still 1 bid remaining, which would be awarded to the 4^th place team. And just like that, a rematch for 4^th place was set for Queens and Guelph, exactly what Queens wanted. We weren't satisfied with a one-point loss, and were not leaving this weekend without our place in Division 1 Nationals. Queens started the game with more intensity that any of the previous games, as if the team hadn't just played for almost 5 hours straight. Ellie Munro was a brick wall on defense, deny all of Guelphs attempts at downfield throws, with captains Ryan Yeung and Rachel Oleschuk connecting all other the field with deep shots into open receivers on offense. Queens was unstoppable, ending the game with no breaks against, and breaking the Guelph O-Line twice, to end the game 11-8 and earn their bid to Nationals!
 
Incredible shoutout to the teams perseverance, and to coaches Kirsten Craig, Rachel Minor, and Sally Franks, who led the team through the rollercoaster of a tournament, to bring home the bid!