Despite hosting the tournament, Queen’s Ultimate teams ended up falling short at the Canadian Eastern University Ultimate Championships (CEUUC).

As a sport, Ultimate is similar to football as players progress down the field to score. It also has some resemblance to basketball in terms of passing and its defensive style of play.

Having the tournament take place in Kingston helped the Queen’s teams out by lessening the cost on the players.

“[Hosting] makes it cheaper for the team,” co-captain Nina Ramic said. “We don’t have to pay for hotels, we’re not paying for car rentals, so it’s a plus for sure.”

Held at Woodbine Park, the tournament featured teams from 14 schools across Ontario and Quebec, with several schools, including Queen’s, sending more than one team in both the open and women’s divisions.

After placing third in last year’s tournament, the Gaels women’s ‘A’ team finished seventh in the 12-team women’s division.

After finishing 2-3 in round robin play, the team went up against the University of Ottawa’s B team in the consolation round, coming up short by a score of 9-4. They later defeated Waterloo 11-8 to finish seventh.

The men’s team fared better, winning their pool, ultimately finishing third in the open division with an 11-10 win over the University of Toronto’s ‘A’ team.

Despite the losses, the team was supported by other students, thanks to the tournament’s Kingston location.

“This year we did a good job of trying to get spectators out to the field,” Gaels co-captain Chantal Badger said. “It’s too bad that it’s not closer to the school, but we did get quite few spectators out.”

By participating in the CEUUC, the team qualifies for the Canadian University Ultimate Championships, held at the end of October in Ottawa. It’s one of the few instances where the team takes part in interuniversity play.

The women’s team has been successful in previous years at the national tournament, finishing first two years ago after rallying from a 6-3 deficit against Western to prevail 8-6.