North Bay's Women's Masters Ultimate Frisbee team came home with an impressive 6th place finish at their first Nationals event.
"We had an amazing time and really came together as a team," said Kelly Smirle, a member of the local team nicknamed the Psycho Cybernetics
The North Bay squad started the event with three games on Saturday and then three more on Sunday in scorching hot conditions in Ottawa.
"On Saturday we played one of the top teams in the world, StellO from Ottawa, and took a run at getting some points on the board.
"We had hard-fought games but came up short on Saturday."
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Smirle says on Sunday the team was stronger and was hungry to prove what North Bay could do,
"We began the day playing the top team in Canada, MaQramee from Montreal and Quebec.We came up short, we took the loss but learned so much in this game," she said.
The next contest the North Bay team edged Lore, an experienced Toronto team, 6-5.
They then moved onto the quarterfinals where they faced Quasar, a team from Quebec which they lost to 15-2 on Saturday.
"This team was shocked when at half we battled to 6-4 for them and had a run on them," said Smirle.
"Unfortunately weather conditions and lightning ended our day landing us in a proud 6th place Canadian finish."
Smirle says despite the loss, the competition showed North Bay lots of respect.
"The spirit of ultimate showed as many teams congratulated us on or finish and win," said Smirle.
"They recognized that pulling a team together in eight weeks and showing up to compete at a national level is amazing. There is no doubt that by Nationals 2023 our team will be even stronger and place above our 6th place finish."
The sport of Ultimat Frisbee was created in New Jersey back in 1968 and was more recently recognized by Sport Canada (2012) and by the International Olympic Committee (2015). Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, North Bay consistently sent teams to represent the North Bay at this National event. The city has sent teams in multiple divisions; Open/Men's, Women’s, Mixed, Junior's, and Men's Masters. However, this is the first entry for a local Women’s Masters team.
Team members include coach Jeff Smith, Kelly Smirle, Shannon Falconi, Krista Corbett, Erin Fitzgerald, Amanda Meighan, Alisha Looper, Holly Lovatt, Amelia Roscoe, Katie Sloat, Marissa Rodger, Heather Stuart, Jessica Jacques, Stephanie Chartrand, Nadine Vander Wall, Elisha Townshend, Alexandra Lacarte.