USA Ultimate

Feature: Fugue’s Rise To The Top

Over the past few seasons, Oregon has made a steady climb to the top of the college women’s division.  According to coach Lou Burruss, the breakthrough moment for Fugue was their win over Stanford at Northwest Regionals in 2008, when they came back from 7-11 to win 13-12, eliminating Stanford and qualifying for the College Championships for the first time since 2002.  While Fugue lost to Wisconsin in pre-Quarterfinals and dropped a consolation game to Maryland to finish 13^th overall that year, qualifying for the Championships out of the ultra-competitive Northwest Region was no small feat.  Last season, Fugue made another appearance at the College Championships and defeated Ottawa 15-12 in Quarterfinals to finish the season tied for 3^rd.

Burruss says that the biggest factor in Fugue’s rise has been the addition of a ridiculous amount of talent in players like Jess "Venus" Huynh, Julia Sherwood, Tina Snodgrass, Morgan Zajonc, Claire Sharman, Kimber Coles, Bailey Zahniser, Malina Wiebe, and Katy Craley.  These additions to the existing talent of Molly Suver, Shannon McDowell, Jenica Villamor, Christina Norton, and Clare Gordon have made for a very strong Oregon Ultimate program over the past few seasons.  Many others point to the addition of Burruss as a coach as pivotal to Fugue, as he has brought elite playing and coaching experience and an unmatched understanding of the game to a team already loaded with talent.

While Fugue had a nearly flawless season this year and entered the College Championships as the 1 seed, they also know how to have fun.  When asked how they balance competitive play with all of the fun they seem to be having, Burruss gave me a cryptic answer: clown tent.  Captain Tina Snodgrass describes the clown tent as the core of the team’s identity- trust in each other to make the right decisions, an acceptance of each other no matter what the team is doing, and the ability to make light of situations that would otherwise stress them out.  Snodgrass says that for Fugue, "team is about individualizing everyone- letting each person do what it is that makes her happy in that moment and then putting that happiness into the Fugue love mixing bowl."

This year, Fugue has also put a lot of effort into working on their team’s SOTG and it has been evident to those who have watched them play.  Snodgrass says that the team’s clown tent mentality extends beyond Fugue and that the team trusts other teams and other players to play with spirit and to be themselves, and that Fugue makes every effort to embrace that.