This October the Seattle Invite, an ultimate frisbee tournament, returned to Skyomish River Centennial Park in Monroe, Washington. The tournament in its third year contains teams from high schools all over Washington State as well as Oregon. Seattle Academy entered the Seattle Invite as the top 3 seed placing the boys as the 9th best team in the state. SAAS overachieved on that weekend, placing sixth. SAAS Varsity Ultimate is led by Senior Captain Tadhg Scully. A four-year member of the varsity squad, Tadhg excels at the handler position especially with his forehand that he can practically put anywhere. Fellow handler Mike Bartell, a junior, continued his phenomenal play at the tournament. The lefty is able to throw the disc as far as needed and leads the team in assists. The man Bartell hits most often is Alex Scoggins. A senior, Scoggins dominates opponents with his height, athleticism and most of all, his vertical. No one to date has been able to consistently out jump Alex Scoggins. Fellow seniors Jackson Gode and Josh Brown add their own talents which include athleticism and a knack for getting blocks and making superb deep cuts. Alongside the seniors, juniors Logan Chantelois and Bryce Barton, nicknamed the Burrito Boys, are a formidable duo on offense in the middle of the field. The team boasts a total of 13 upperclassmen, six of them being seniors. However, SAAS’ success is primarily held back by rival the Northwest School.
The Northwest School from Seattle entered the Seattle Invite having won the two previous Invites and riding a three-year undefeated streak. Heavy favorites, Northwest handled their group easily, winning all four games by a combined score of 66-12 and earning a bye in the winners’ bracket. Northwest cruised to the final where they beat Franklin13-6. Northwest, a school that breeds ultimate frisbee talent added another title for their dynasty. However, one Emerald City League (ECL) coach stated that Northwest can be beaten, but only SAAS has the athleticism and potential talent to beat them.
SAAS has a strong and very deep squad of 22 players. Head coach Alyssa Weatherford’s squad has continued to improve this season especially in the Seattle Invite. Captain Tadhg Scully summarized the Invite stating, “We improved a lot and we bonded as a team.” SAAS finished the group stage of the tournament 2-2 but only lost by a total of three points. SAAS made mistakes but their full potential was shown in the upset victory over Nathan Hale High School. Emerging as heavy underdogs, Seattle Academy stunned Hale by taking an early lead and holding off a comeback to win. The win gave light to SAAS’ true ability and despite the mistakes the Cardinals played like state champions. A loss to Lakeside followed by a close win over Ballard put SAAS in the 5th/6th place game. The battered Cardinals lost and took 6th place.
The performance in the Seattle Invite exceeded expectations for parents and other teams but not for the members of the SAAS varsity squad. With immense talent, experience and leadership, SAAS has very high expectations for themselves. Despite being huge underdogs the success at Seattle Invite showed how talented Seattle Academy is. SAAS’ improvement and cohesiveness at the Seattle Invite illuminates their enormous potential, suggesting that they might just be able to overthrow Northwest.