Seattle Tempest Fall to Colorado Alpenglow 15-16
By Becca Weinberg
Thornton, CO- The Seattle Tempest’s first loss of the season came on the last point of the game against the Colorado Alpenglow, with a heartbreaking 15-16 defeat. A turnaround time of less than 24 hours from their win yesterday against the Utah Wild led to some fatigue for the Tempest roster, and a tight matchup against a tough opponent brought the Tempest’s biggest test of the season so far. Impact players in this game include handler Cheryl Hsu with two assists and 255 throwing yards and handler Jamie Kauffman with four goals and four blocks.
First quarter: 3-5
A strong Tempest start to the game saw an interception from cutter Meg Manning on the very first pass of the game, with Manning getting the disc right back and threading it to wide open handler Jamie Kauffman for a quick goal. The Alpenglow settled in after that throwing error, and scored the next two goals efficiently. The other two Seattle goals of the first quarter came from a deep throw from handler Cherly Hsu to handler Cat Chung, and a layout grab from cutter Megan Louie off an assist from cutter Drea Baroma. The Tempest’s patient endzone offense has been a strong point of the team this season, and continued to help them keep this game close.
Second quarter: 8-8
It was apparent early for Seattle that this game would be different from their past two games against Utah in terms of taking advantage of mistakes. Mistakes conceded would be taken advantage of, and mistakes expected from Colorado would rarely come. A very close second quarter resulted in a tie game heading into halftime, with the Tempest closing their early goal deficit utilizing their patient offensive sets. Two goals from Kauffman and one each from Hsu, cutter Sidra Pierson, and cutter Anna Pette came through assists from handler Charlie Eide, handler Brogan Jones, handler Jess Spaulding, Manning, and Chung. An exciting 8-8 game brought the teams into halftime.
Seattle Tempest’s Drea Baroma attempts a pass during the teams 15-16 loss against the Colorado Alpenglow on April 11th, 2026 at Pinnacle Athletic Complex. (Photo by Sloth Jackson, provided by the Seattle Tempest)
Third quarter: 11-12
Seattle regained their first lead since the opening goal of the game to start the third quarter with Kauffman finding Pettee in the endzone. Both teams continued trading points, with goals from Lee and Baroma through assists from Hsu and Kauffman. Important blocks from cutter Ciona Antolin, handler Peixian Rong, and Lee kept the game close and began the fourth quarter down by one.
Fourth quarter: 15-16
Seattle once again scored the opening point of the quarter and tied the game back up at 12-12 with an assist from cutter Lauren Page to Kauffman. Both teams traded points until there were 26 seconds left in the game, and the winner would be decided on the very last point. Goals from Manning, Page, and Baroma with two more assists by Kauffman and one from Jones set the Tempest up for the winner-takes-all moment. Colorado received the pull, and worked patiently up the field to their endzone, where they caught the Seattle defense sleeping and punched one in for the win. The Tempest walked away with their first loss of the season but a lot from the game to be proud of.
Stat of the game:
In their fourth game of the season, the Tempest recorded 15 break opportunities, which means that they were able to force turnovers and subsequently create scoring chances 15 different times throughout the game. Seattle’s fast break abilities off of turnovers maintained a close game with the Alpenglow from start to finish.
What's next:
The Tempest will host the Oregon Soar for their Week 6 matchup on April 18th at 12 PM. Oregon is towards the bottom of the North Conference and will be coming off a bye week when they face the Tempest. Both teams matched up in their preseason Northwest Cup, but this will be their first meeting of the regular season.
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Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
Check out our previous Seattle Tempest articles here.
Check out our previous articles with writing for CSS by Becca Weinberg here, and her work with Lookout Landing here.
Cover photo and photos in this article by Sloth Jackson.
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