Travelling 11 hours to play just yards away from each other, the
Grand Canyon University Ultimate Men's and Women's teams both finished strong at the 2024 Southwest D-I College Regional Tournaments in San Luis, Obispo. The 8
th-seeded Lopes' Men's team completed a 2-2 tournament by defeating the University of California-Irvine, 12-8, to finish in a tie for 9
th place; while the 14
th-seeded Lopes' Women won two of their last three matches, including knocking off the University of California-San Diego's "B" team in the 13
th-place match, 8-5.
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The Lopes' Men have been so consistent at the regional level the past few years that they narrowly missed reaching the 7
th-place game for the third consecutive season, losing their first bracket-play match by a single point to Santa Clara University, 12-11. Before that, the Lopes started the match off being on the winning side of that identical final score in the pre-quarters against 9
th-seeded San Jose State University. That pitted them against not only the host team but the top-seeded team in the tournament, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, who tagged the Lopes with their first loss, 15-9. After the Santa Clara loss eliminated them from 7
th-place consideration, the Lopes rebounded well to dominate the Anteaters. The win finished a 12-6 season for GCU.
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For the Lopes' Women, a No. 14 seed going into the 16-team tournament was incentive to prove the seeding committee otherwise, and they came very close. Their first matchup in pool play was the "A' squad from 3
rd-seeded UCSD, who dispatched the Lopes, 12-7. Undaunted, the Lopes then gave 11
th-seeded San Diego State University all they could handle before falling, 7-6. The 0-2 pool-play mark placed them in the 8
th-place bracket, and the Lopes used the opportunity to aim higher than 14
th by holding archrival Arizona State University's offense in check in a 7-3 victory. The quest for a top-10 finish was dashed by 12
th-seeded Santa Clara one round later in a 12-5 loss, but the Lopes rebounded well to top the Tritons' "B" squad to finish 13
th in the event.