The UCSB Black Tide took on visiting Williams College for the first time in team history on Friday, and did not back down against the East Coast powerhouse. Despite having little scouting of Williams, the home team came out with a 15-12 victory, led by senior captain Tim Beatty.

“We didn’t really know a whole lot about them coming in since they’re an East Coast team,” Beatty said. “They play a very different style of game over there. Instead of throwing the long passes every time, they tend to use a lot of different kinds of throws.”

UCSB came out slow, even giving up the lead going into halftime, but picked things up after the break with the help of senior Peter Burke’s passing.

“We came out pretty slow in the first half,” Beatty said. “But we didn’t get down. [Burke] was really solid with the disk, didn’t have a lot of turnovers and carried us for a while. Then we were able to pick up our game and pick up the pace and beat them with our legs, and that was the difference.”

For senior and co-captain Jeff Silverman, the team still has a few things to work on before heading to Trouble in Vegas, one of the biggest ultimate tournaments of the year.

“The best offensive flow is to swing it side to side and then have someone go deep,” Silverman said. “We needed to be a lot more relaxed on offense and make better cuts.”

Beatty echoed those sentiments.

“We just started learning a new type of offense,” Beatty said. “We still need a lot of work on that. Our flow isn’t as high quality as it needs to be.”
In the Las Vegas tournament this weekend, Santa Barbara will be seeded with some of the best teams in the nation, including Wisconsin and Florida. Captain Beatty isn’t scared.

“I expect that we’ll do really well and be able to match up against the top teams in the nation,” Beatty said. “It’ll be a huge test for us.”