When this year began, there were questions coming from all over the Western Region about the numerous losses of veteran players from UCSB. The rumors were all the same, that the Tide was weaker than it had been in years and this was everyone’s chance for a little payback. Fortunately nobody told us about the rumors, and we made a clear statement about our team by beating every collegiate team we played except for two over our five month pre-season. Led by Glenn "Jethro" Paufler and Todd Blacher along with Mike Croft, Matt "Scrappy" Owen and Dale Hutchison, the veteran Tide players along with the young superstars earned a precious spot once again at the U.S. National Championships while simultaneously quieting all of our critics and opponents.

Our young squad pulled off the greatest game of our season when it mattered most by beating Cornell 17-6 in the last game of pool play at the Championships. This game decided who played the next day in the semifinals and whose season ended. Statistically we had to win that game with a margin of 7 points to advance; intelligently, our spiritual leader "Scrappy" informed us we had to win by 9 points before the game began. Once again, we put our lives on the line for each other and played the best "D" of our season to pull off a completely lopsided win against a great team from the East coast. Most amazingly in this game, Dale Hutchison threw seven of our goals (all "flicks") and Jason Seidler got 8 D’s to lead the slaughter. This game was definitely the pinnacle of our season because we faced Stanford the next morning in the semifinals and we had already lost to them three times previously in the season. Not surprisingly, we were pretty psyched out and lost the game before it ever started. They beat us and ended our season, but we learned more from our last loss than any other all season.

From that point on, the young Black Tide members would mature and accept the leadership to take the team forward next season. We clearly understood the huge amount of mental strength necessary to be successful. We learned to never give up, never die, and never stop believing we can accomplish anything we want to if we have the desire.

 1994 UCSB Game Scores:

01/22/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 U.C.Santa Diego 3
01/22/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 Stanford 12
01/22/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 Cal Poly-SLO 1
01/22/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 Stanford-B 0
01/22/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 Los Positas 4
01/23/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 15 U.C.Santa Cruz 12
01/23/94 Stanford 17 U.C.Santa Barbara 11
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02/19/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 11 U.C.Berkeley 2
02/19/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 11 U.C.San Diego 7
02/19/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 15 U.C.Davis 11
02/19/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 17 Los Positas 10
02/19/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 11 Pomona-Pitzer 5
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03/05/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 Sacramento State 3
03/05/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 12 U.C.San Diego 8
03/05/94 U.C.Santa Cruz 12 U.C.Santa Barbara 9
03/06/94 Los Positas 14 U.C.Santa Barbara 12
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xx/xx/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 15 UCSC B 7
xx/xx/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 11 Oregon 10
xx/xx/94 Stanford 7 U.C.Santa Barbara 4
xx/xx/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 15 U.C.San Diego 8 (Quarters)
xx/xx/94 U.C.Snata Barbara 15 Stanford 9 (Semis)
xx/xx/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 14 Humboldt 12 (Finals)
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SECTIONALS:
04/30/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 Redlands 0
04/30/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 Arizona 0
04/30/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 15 Pomona-Pitzer 4
04/30/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 17 U.C.San Diego 7
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REGIONALS:
05/07/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 U.C.Davis 3
05/07/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 13 U.C.Santa Cruz 10
05/07/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 8 Oregon State 6
05/07/94 Stanford 13 U.C.Santa Barbara 9
05/08/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 15 U.C.Berkeley 13
05/08/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 15 Los Positas 14 - (Semis)
05/08/94 Stanford 17 U.C.Santa Barbara 9 - (Finals)
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NATIONALS:
05/28/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 17 Texas 12
05/28/94 Wisconsin 17 U.C.Santa Barbara 12
05/29/94 ECU 17 U.C.Santa Barbara 12
05/29/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 17 Kansas 10
05/29/94 U.C.Santa Barbara 17 Cornell 6
05/30/94 Stanford 19 U.C.Santa Barbara 10 - (Semis)

From: "Kathy and Kevin Norris" <norrises@dnet.net>

I was a graduate student at Tulane in 1994. My wife and our two children drove up to Baton Rouge to watch some of the games. Some of the Tide players virtually adopted our children, feeding them cheerios and playing hide and go seek with them, so we made a point of staying to watch the game that USCB played against Cornell, needing to win by 7 points to make semis. At one point, a Tide player laid out for a throw in the back corner on an endzone. He was in such a position that neither players nor spectators could tell if he had actually made the catch. Despite the importance of the point differential, he called it a turn and the spectators started cheering. That's why USCB is the most successful college ultimate team. I teach high school English (and ultimate) now, and I always use that story to illustrate the true meaning of spirit of the game.
Wish the guys our best at Nationals in Boston in 2001. Go Black Tide.