After falling short for 12 straight years, the Columbia High School Girls Varsity Ultimate Frisbee team, Sparkle Motion, won its second consecutive state championship on May 27.
Sparkle Motion played West Windsor-Plainsboro in a repeat of last year’s final, winning this year’s game 13-2 under the coaching of Donovan Hugel.
In its three pool play games the weekend prior, Sparkle won by scores of 11-3, 12-0, and 9-2. All in all, the team outscored its four opponents by a combined score of 45-7.
It was the culmination of another great year for Sparkle Motion, which made the championship bracket in three of its four tournaments during the spring season and was highlighted by a third place finish at the Amherst Invitational and its second straight state title.
Support and interest in the team continues to rise; In 2019 Sparkle had just one team and 17 players. Currently, Sparkle has two teams, a Varsity and Junior Varsity, consisting of 21 players and 24 players respectively during the 2022-23 season.
The Junior Varsity team, coached by Thea Cogan-Drew and Sarah Schillaci, showed immense improvement as well, scoring 37 goals this season compared to 21 last season. JV also won its second straight spirit award at the Amherst Invitational Tournament in MA.
Twelve players from Sparkle Motion were selected to the New Jersey All-State teams. First team selections included both of this year’s captains Irene Chen and Sandy Yang, as well as incoming captain Eileen Conway. Sabrina Mannion, another incoming captain, was selected to the second team along with seniors Sammi Dickson, Michelle Pisciotta, and Naomi Van Doornik. Selected as honorable mentions were Anna Roth, Ivy Bailey, Sara Dybner, Lucy Mahoney, and Neve Mahoney.
Chen was also named the NJ Player of the Year, marking the third straight year a Sparkle Motion player has won the state’s highest individual award.
Sparkle Motion is currently recruiting players for the 2023-24 season. Along with priding itself on being an open and inclusive program, Sparkle Motion has a no cuts policy and each interested player will be placed on the Varsity or Junior Varsity team after a fall tryout process.
If you’d like to get involved as Sparkle chases a third straight state championship, you can email their coaches and captains at chs.sparklemotion@gmail.com, or DM them on Instagram/Twitter at @chsparklemotion.
Below, you can watch the final point of this year’s state championship game:
The championship clinching point – congrats to @chsparklemotion on repeating at Girls State Champs! pic.twitter.com/Lgi2uTpo89
— DeVYL Ultimate (@devylulty) May 29, 2023
