In dealing with the pressure, Barry notes that she has "had to learn that I can’t let my emotions affect my play.  By that I don’t mean that I don’t want to get pumped and play intense [defense], but that as a leader I can’t have freak outs that take my team out of it."

Finney commends Barry for having "made many strong connections with many of the young players, helping to stimulate interest and keep new players around.  With many of our top players graduating and Andrea being out with an injury, Katie has emerged from other players’ shadows and greatly increased her confidence on the field."  Jorgensen agrees, "It's always comforting to look down the line and see Katie in the middle of it."

Santa Barbara’s season has been very impressive, having finished sixth overall in the inaugural National Collegiate Ultimate Series (sixth at Trouble in Vegas, third at Stanford Invite and seventh at Centex).  Factoring in the large turnover from last year and Romano’s injury, the 2008 campaign is in many ways more impressive than last year's breakthrough season.  Barry is quick to credit her teammates and the emergence of their young players, but there is no doubt that without her stepping up, the Burning Skirts would have had a much tougher time keeping up with their regional rivals from UCLA (who have also been very impressive after a massive turnover). 

The Skirts' winner of the Spirit Award at last year’s Nationals, Barry, is well-regarded by her peers at other schools.  She developed her positive relationships outside of Santa Barbara during her time playing with club teams Fusion and Havoc, which included players from UCLA and USC.  This has put Barry in a unique position to address another tall task for the Skirts – improving the perception of the Skirts.  During their emergence onto the national scene last year, UCSB developed a reputation (warranted or not) as an overly aggressive team with questionable spirit.  Barry acknowledges that this perception of the Burning Skirts exists and addresses this issue in an impressive, forthright manner. 

"I am not saying that our team is perfect and that [the negative perception] was completely unjustified, but I think that the spirit on our team has improved greatly over the last two years and I do everything I can to help that continue...I feel like as a self-officiated sport, [Spirit of the Game] is important as a reminder to what a great game it is.  Having a knowledge of the rules that is deep enough to be able to debate a call, and in the same way to talk out and give credit to other players who have the same knowledge is an awesome set up."

Other teams have noticed a marked improvement in the Skirts' spirit this season and much of the credit is given to Katie and her influence as a leader.  She attributes part of her success as a player to her Christian beliefs, something that may seem clichéd in professional sports but is, by and large, a rarity in the ultimate community. 

"As a player... I am proud that I am known as a good clean player.  It means a lot to me that I can show that I work extremely hard and that I show how much I care.  I do my best in everyday life as well as ultimate to be the best that I can and in the same way to be a great person.  My faith is very important to me, and is a big part of who I am... There are not too many Christian ultimate players,... but I feel that my personal faith carries over to my sports life and in striving to live my life as a woman of God, that I am also that person on the field."

Barry also takes a great deal of pride in how the entire team has developed "from having to qualify for Stanford our freshman year, and now to be confident that we can win every game we play."  Their re-emergence as a national power was one of the big stories last year in women's ultimate and their victory over UCLA in the semifinals of Nationals was a tremendous win, beating their rival on the biggest stage and upsetting the team that was seen as the favorite coming into the tourney.  As big as this win was, Barry considers winning Centex last year as one of her personal highlights. 

"We almost didn’t get invited to the tournament so it was a great weekend to really show how hard we worked and to win was awesome.  The cow skull award is definitely hanging in our house.  The fact that our team stayed the week and hung out in Austin just made it that much better.  I got to know everyone so well and we rented a house and goofed off all week.  It definitely is one of my best college experiences."

After graduation, Barry plans on attending graduate school in physical therapy.  Having dealt with injuries at various points last year, she gained a new perspective on physical therapy and became drawn to a more hands-on career.  Her dream goal is to work with an athletic team as a trainer or therapist.  She is primarily looking at schools on the East Coast – with one year of eligibility remaining, she would be a huge addition to any team. 

The Burning Skirts' next tourney will be SoCal Sectionals on April 5-6.