Seattle Tempest Defeat Bay Area Falcons 12-10 to Remain Unbeaten in 2025

By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker

Oakland, CA - In a back and forth battle between two evenly-matched teams, our Seattle Tempest defeated the Bay Area Falcons by a final score of 12-10 to remain undefeated this season. Tempest built on their successful offensive flow and handler movement from the previous game to secure an impressive comeback and an away win in Oakland. Impact players in this game included handler Cheryl Hsu with four assists, and handlers Julia Hasbrook and Cat Chung with three goals each.

Sights from the Seattle Tempest road win over the Bay Area Falcons on Saturday, April 5th, 2025 at Fremont High School in Oakland, California. (Photos by Jammie Phea)

First period: 2-3

The Tempest opened the game with a clean offensive point utilizing their upline cuts, with great handler movement from Cheryl Hsu to find hybrid player Drea Barroma on the open side of the field for a goal. The Falcons responded quickly with a powerful deep throw that Tempest defenders were unable to catch up to. The following point would become a back-and-forth marathon with 13 combined turnovers from both teams, and timeouts from both sides to substitute in fresh legs. Throughout the long point, many of the turnovers were unforced errors from rushed offense or low-probability throws. Tempest defenders allowed their offenders too much space, as the Falcons were able to dictate the cutting space rather than being forced around a defender. On offense, Tempest had great field vision to find open players but were unable to connect their throws. 

The nearly nine-minute point eventually ended in a Falcons goal off of a deep throw. However, many Tempest players stepped up in big moments to keep the point going. Cutter Sami Dellapenta had an impressive layout catch to keep the offense moving, cutter Lauren Page had a massive goal-line block to stop the Falcons from a scoring opportunity, and handler Ikran Elmi had quick handler movement in the backfield. 

In the following point, Tempest responded with a beautiful deep throw from Hsu to handler Julia Hasbrook, who jumped over multiple Falcons defenders to secure the goal. A composed offense after fighting through long points would be key to their success the rest of the game. 

Second period: 7-6

Although the second period began with a few more back and forth points, Tempest would put up a huge comeback this period to score four goals in a row and lead at halftime. 

The Falcons scored first after a Tempest turnover due to miscommunication, but Seattle responded next with a deep throw from handler Brogan Jones to handler Cat Chung for her first goal of the game. 

The Tempest and Falcons traded points once again towards the middle of the second period, with the Falcons continuing to beat Tempest defenders to the deep space. On offense, Tempest cutters were forced to cut into the same spaces and clogged up the lanes for the handlers to throw to, yet were able to find a solid offensive flow later on to string multiple points together. Hsu connected with Chung on a nice floating throw into the corner of the endzone for Chung’s second goal in a row, and Hasbrook came down over multiple defenders on a huge deep throw from cutter Alexa Kirkland in the next point, who found Hsu to hit a wide open Baroma for her second goal of the game. Cutter MJ Mahan continued the Tempest scoring with an over-the-top throw to hybrid player Anna Cauchy for the third Tempest goal in a row, which tied the game at 7-7. Seattle scored one more before half, with a solid floating upline connection between Page and cutter Anna Pettee. 

Third period: 9-9

Coming out of halftime, Hsu continued to dominate the handler space, generating many of the Tempest endzone opportunities. The third period included another long point with multiple turnovers from both teams that the Falcons ended up converting, but Seattle once again responded right away. Page recorded her second assist on a slotted throw into the corner of the endzone to Cauchy to take the Tempest lead back. 

The Falcons responded with another offensive point utilizing their downfield speed to tie the game back up, but Chung had other plans, as she scored off a deep throw from Kirkland for her third goal of the game. 

Fourth period: 12-10

If there weren’t enough marathon points in this game, the fourth quarter had another one. This time, the Tempest were able to convert the goal with a perfectly placed throw from Kirkland through multiple defenders to Hasbrook for her second goal of the game. Tempest scored back to back points, as cutter Penny Nguyen hit Page for a massive layout catch to put Seattle up 11-9 after a huge defensive grab by Pettee to retain possession. Seattle appeared to be playing with much more urgency this period, yet still able to keep their composure and connect throws after forcing turnovers. The final Tempest goal of the game was a dominant point by Delepenta, who’s throw-and-go handler motion blew past Falcons defenders and found Hasbrook for her third goal this game. 

Stat of the game: 

In their second game of the season, Seattle recorded a 64.3% red zone efficiency. In a game where every point mattered, Tempest utilized their efficiency in scoring chances to convert the majority of their goal opportunities. 

What’s next?

The Seattle Tempest will return home to host the Utah Wild on April 12th at 5PM PDT. Utah is yet to win a game this season after two home losses against Colorado Alpenglow and San Diego Super Bloom. The Tempest will look to continue their unbeaten streak, with the game streamed live on the WUL Youtube Channel for Seattle fans looking to catch the action live. 

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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.

• Photos in this article by Jammie Phea.

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