Seattle Tempest and Cascades Win Northwest Cup, 27-16
By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
Eugene, OR - In a Pacific Northwest preseason showdown between Seattle and Oregon’s professional ultimate frisbee teams, Seattle toppled Oregon with a commanding 27-16 win. Much to the dismay of a rowdy Oregon crowd, the Seattle Tempest and Cascades won all three periods to clinch the title.
In a unique format for this year’s Northwest Cup, teams played three periods of 16 minutes with a two-minute media timeout in the middle of each period. The first period included a women’s matchup of Seattle Tempest versus Oregon Soar, the second period included a men’s matchup of Seattle Cascades versus Oregon Steel, and the third period featured a mixed matchup of a combined Tempest and Cascades team against a combined Steel and Soar team.
First period: Seattle Tempest Defeat Oregon Soar 11-4
The Seattle Tempest came out with a lead early in the first period and never gave it back. The team’s ability to capitalize on the mistakes made by Oregon Soar proved to be the difference in the game, with most of their goals coming off turnovers. Tempest utilized the speedy deep cuts of rookie Ciona Antolin and Tempest veterans Jamie Eriksson and Drea Baroma, and unguardable handler movement from Cheryl Hsu and Ikran Elmi to break through the Soar defense. Seattle was able to connect passes through seamless cutter movement, and the team’s great offensive flow combined with strong downfield defense held Soar to only four goals throughout the first period.
Second period: Seattle Cascades Defeat Oregon Steel 8-7
In a much closer, back and forth matchup between the Seattle Cascades and Oregon Steel, the Cascades secured the win in the final few minutes of play. With the always reliable downfield option of veteran Cascades cutter Jack Brown, and shifty handler Tony Goss running the show in the handler space, the Cascades offense was hard to slow down. Each point of the second period included multiple turnovers from both teams, but the Cascades were able to capitalize on their break opportunities more efficiently than Oregon. Rookie handler Gabe Nobis’ layout block in the endzone proved to be the difference in scoring, and solid handler defense and quick fast break opportunities with a deep option helped the Cascades secure the win against the Steel.
Third period: Seattle Tempest/Cascades Defeat Oregon Soar/Steel 8-5
Seattle entered the mixed period up 19-11 on Oregon, with the third period determining the winner of the Northwest Cup. Tempest players Jamie Erikkson, Drea Baroma, and Cascades cutter Spencer Lofink were unstoppable in the red zone, and impressive throws form their handlers led to many different scoring opportunities for Seattle. Although a challenge to play with new teammates in a competitive setting, Seattle kept their composure throughout the third period to secure the Northwest Cup win.
The trophy was presented to nominated Players of the Game Drea Baroma, Cheryl Hsu, and Spencer Lofink who expressed excitement for being able to come to Oregon and secure the win. When asked what led to the team’s dominant victory, Baroma said “that’s just what we do.”
Both the Seattle and Oregon teams will surely look different once the regular season gets underway, as they’ll have the chance to build more team chemistry, but the initial look of both the Tempest and Cascades shows they’ll be in strong contention for a deep postseason run.
Tempest will host Soar in their first regular season game on March 29th, and Cascades will open their season with an away game on May 3rd against the Oakland Spiders. Seattle has amazing talent on both teams, and will have two very exciting contenders to watch this season. But for now, they’ll get to enjoy the joint team victory of the 2025 Northwest Cup.
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Check out our previous Seattle Tempest articles here.
Check out our previous Seattle Cascades articles here.
Check out our previous articles with writing for CSS by Becca Weinberg here, and her work with Lookout Landing here.
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