Western Cup Overview
The first Western Cup was in 2010 and it featured one day of play between five teams in Moorpark, CA.“This year is obviously a little different,” said Mitch Cavender, coach and chaser for No. 20 University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA), who were last year's winners of the Western Cup. “We're playing for World Cup spots now, and every place you finish matters. This year it's the top six take all. The championship is important, but at the end of [the] day, what's most important is getting a spot [in the] World Cup.”
Another new feature of this year's tournament is that the IQA has partnered with Placer Valley Tourism to help organize the event. Gameplay will begin at 10:30am on Saturday the 16th. The day will consist mainly of pool play. Sunday will consist of bracket play with the finals set for 5:30 that evening. A live stream of the games will also be available when matches begin on Saturday morning.
Dan Hanson, captain of No. 42 The Lost Boys (Lomita, CA), said his team has been doing specific drills to prepare for the tournament. “We've been running a half court drill where we'll try to simulate an offense we don't use [to] prepare for teams that might do that. We want to get our defense and offense ready for different things,” explained Hanson. He also hopes his team can demonstrate that they should be taken seriously: “We really want to prove ourselves in a competitive environment. We want to show teams all across the country that we're for real.”
Alex Browne, keeper for No. 5 UCLA (Los Angeles, CA), has attended the last two Western Cups. “Last year we hosted it, so this year it will be nice to just go and compete. This time the teams are more familiar [to us] and the bracket system looks nice.”
Some players are looking forward to playing specific teams because of established rivalries, such as that between the Lost Boys and the No. 8 Silicon Valley Skrewts. “The Skrewts are our rivals and we're excited to get revenge after losing our last match against them. We love playing UCLA too. They're our best friend team and we want to try to beat them for the first time,” said Hanson.
With so many teams and two days of competition, there is plenty of room for some potential upsets. The stakes are also higher this year, as only the top six teams will qualify for World Cup VI, so those following the tournament can expect to see each team playing their absolute best in an effort to gain one of those coveted spots.
The teams vying for the World Cup spots are:
Arizona State Sun Devils (Tempe, AZ) Golden Snitches (Berkeley, CA) Hollywood Harpies (Los Angeles, CA) The Lost Boys (Lomita, CA) Moscow Manticores (Moscow, ID) Northern Arizona University Narwhals (Flagstaff, AZ) Oxy Doxies (Los Angeles, CA) Remus' Riverside Runners (Riverside, CA) Santa Barbara Blacktips (Santa Barbara, CA) San Jose State Owls (San Jose, CA) Stanford (Stanford, CA) Silicon Valley Skrewts (Mountain View, CA) University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) University of British Columbia Quidditch (Vancouver, British Columbia) University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, CA) University of California Los Angeles Quidditch (Los Angeles, CA) University of Southern California Quidditch (Los Angeles, CA) Utah Crimson Fliers (Salt Lake City, UT)
