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California-Santa Barbara |
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UC-Santa Barbara, one of the few coach-less team here at Nationals known as the Burning Skirts, seems to be the clear favorite going into the championships. Although they had a fifth-place finish at the President’s Day Invite, losing significantly to both UNC-Wilmington in pool play (5-13) and Cal in quarters (9-13), they came back with a vengeance, getting revenge on UNC-Wilmington by beating them 15-7 in the finals at Centex and also winning the Stanford Invite. One of the most impressive characteristics of the Skirts is their across-the-board athleticism and skill, despite being a relatively young team; look out for rookie cutter Brianna Miner’s quick in-cuts, accompanied by Shannon Bubb and Arianne Johnson, and also the on and off-field leadership of Marie Madaras and Carolyn Finney this weekend.
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Oregon
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Oregon, a long-standing top performer in the world of women’s Ultimate, is seeded second this year after winning the 2010 National title. Oregon has faced some significant challenges this year, losing a few players in the mid-season to injury and sickness: after going undefeated at the President’s Day Invite, for example, Oregon lost to North Carolina, UC-Santa Barbara, Washington, and Stanford at Centex, coming in eighth overall—and uncharacteristically weak tournament for them. Fortunately, Oregon’s injured players are no longer hurt, and the absence of some of their starters has allowed other extremely talented players, such as 2010 Junior Worlds teammate Sophie Dartch, to come into their own and gain some experience, undoubtedly deepening their line. Oregon will certainly look like a different team than they did two months ago; will they have fully recovered by this weekend and win it all for the second year in a row? |
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North Carolina-Wilmington
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UNC-Wilmington hosts a wide range of extremely talented players (Jessica Patrick, Anne Marie Wilson, Kelly Tidwell, Sara Casey, and Claire Chastain, to name a few) and has come out of their post-season with some really impressive wins under their belt. After winning Queen City Tune-Up, the team beat number-one seeded UC Santa Barbara at Centex 11-15 in pool play, while also soundly beating other Nationals-bound teams during the season such as Washington University, Virginia, North Carolina, Stanford, and Iowa. Although UNC-Wilmington was able to beat UCSB in pool play at Centex, they ultimately lost to them in finals 15-7; will UNC-Wilmington get a chance to show UCSB what they’re made of this weekend? Additionally, watch out for UNC-Wilmington’s first game of the tournament against Cal: the Kelly Tidwell/An-Chi Tsou match up should be a good one. |
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Stanford
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Stanford Superfly, a historically successful women’s team, has not made it to the championship game in four years but is certainly looking to reverse that this weekend. Seeded fourth, Superfly has worked incredibly hard this year to click together on the field, coming in first at both the Santa Barbara Invite (beating UCSB 13-9) and in their conference. Stanford has also had some important wins against other Boulder-bound teams during the season, playing close games against Oregon (9-7), and beating Cal both at Conferences and Regionals (13-5 and 15-9, respectively). Although Stanford is certainly in the running to make it to the championship, they have also lost to the three teams seeded before them this spring; does Stanford have what it takes to overcome their previous losses and win it all this weekend? |
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Michigan |
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Michigan Flywheel began their season with some tough losses against teams like North Carolina (3-13), Iowa (10-13), and Iowa State (10-11), but they knew that they could do better: Michigan came out with self-assurance at Centex, coming in fifth and only losing one game by one point (Iowa, 8-9) and has remained solidly undefeated since. Endowed with some extremely talented, athletic players such as Callahan nominee Becky Malinowsky (and others, too—watch out for big puts and smooth handling by 2008 Junior Worlds player Paula Seville and junior Vicki Chang)—Michigan has certainly shown that when they persevere and exhibit confidence in themselves, they are able to accomplish big things. Michigan is seeded second in their pool; the first seed is USCB. Will Michigan shake it up in a major way, or will their confidence issues hold them back this weekend? |
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North Carolina |
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North Carolina has done surprisingly well this year: after coming in second to UNC-Wilmington at Queen City Tune-Up, UNC Pleiades has had some major wins, coming in fourth at Prez Day after soundly beating UC-Santa Barbara (13-5), Michigan (13-3), and Ottawa twice (13-2, 13-4). UNC has played many a contested game with UNC-Wilmington, the third-seeded team at Nationals, this spring, beating them 13-9 at Conferences but losing to them 3-15 at Regionals; a North Carolina rematch would certainly be interesting to see at this weekend. Watch out for level-headed yet extremely intense handler and Callahan nominee, Leila Tunnell, and the sneaky defense and impeccable breaks of underclassman Shellie Cohen. |
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California
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The UC-Berkeley Pie Queens have narrowed their roster this year, playing with a smaller, tighter-knit squad than in years’ past in order to accentuate and develop team chemistry. In addition, many of Cal’s players this year have been playing together for three or four years together, heightening their players’ senses of awareness and roles. Although Cal takes pride in the well-rounded nature of their team, individual leaders certainly stand out: fearless leader and Callahan nominee An-Chi Tsou’s huge throws and versatility in both handler and cutter positions has made her invaluable to the team this year; Palak Shah’s incredible break throws and bids keep the team’s energy high; Emily “Pebbles” Prader’s wide range of throws and fantastic defending skills has kept Cal scoring against teams like Stanford and British Columbia. |
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Iowa |
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Iowa came out hard this spring, starting off their season by winning both Midwest Throwdown and Easterns. Centex proved more challenging for Saucy Nancy, losing two games at universe point to UNC-Wilmington and Tufts; Iowa proved that they could ultimately pull ahead in close games during the post-season, however, beating Iowa State 7-5, Carleton 10-8, and Wisconsin 8-7, and coming in first over Carleton at Regionals. Iowa boasts the strongest team they have had in years; will Iowa further surprise the Ultimate community by upending their pool? |
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Tufts
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After losing the bid to Nationals to Middlebury in 2010, Tufts Ewo is back with a vengeance. After completely upending the seeding at Centex this season—Ewo was placed in Division II yet came in third overall, beating teams like North Carolina, Carleton, and Iowa—Tufts has proven that they can compete with and overpower college teams that exist within the upper echelon of Ultimate. The influence and growth of players such as two-time Junior Worlds player Claudia Tajima and Hailey Alm, combined with the addition of five experienced and dedicated freshmen, have heightened the abilities of their team to new proportions; injury throughout the season, however, has held them back. Will Tufts bring the often-overlooked New England region some glory this weekend, or will injury get the best of them? |
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Ottawa |
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Ottawa has had a very successful season, boasting an impressive seasonal record of 28 wins and four losses and having won five of six attended tournaments this spring. Ottawa’s season wasn’t painless, however: the President’s Day Invite served as an eye-opener for the Canadian team, losing by large margins twice each to UNC and UC-Santa Barbara. Since then, however, Ottawa has remained undefeated, focusing on improving their mental attitude and offensive strategy; experienced superstars such as Anne Mercier, Kathryn Pohran and Sonia Komenda—all three of whom have traveled to college and club Nationals multiple times, and also have played at Worlds events—make for a formidable leadership and on-field presence. At the same time, the rest of Ottawa’s team in inexperienced: only five of their players have been on the team for more than two years. It will be interesting to see how the team’s disparity in experience plays out this weekend in Boulder, as well as to see whether Ottawa has what it takes to shake up their pool. |
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British Columbia
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UBC started the season off with many losses to teams that are competing in Boulder this weekend, most notably Michigan, Carleton, Stanford, Cal, and Oregon; as the season progressed, however, the Canadian team was able to pull off a universe-point win against Oregon at Northwest Regionals, thus asserting their competitive capability. Key players include Callahan nominee Hannah Epperson, Rachel Moens, and Catherine Hui; watch out for Epperson’s shining leadership skills and positive attitude, Moens’ dominant cuts and big throws, and Hui’s speed this weekend. |
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Washington |
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Washington has dedicated time and energy this season to amping up their defensive skills, refusing to rely on turnovers and instead staying confident and relentless on D. This season, Washington has played some close games with top Nationals contenders, losing to Oregon 10-11 at Northwest Regionals and 11-13 to Tufts; even more interesting is their close losses to both Stanford and Iowa, two teams seeded ahead of Washington in the same pool. Will Washington be able to pull it together and beat Stanford and Iowa in pool play? |
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Colorado College
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Colorado College’s Lysistrata boasts one of those inspiring success stories that gives hope to small schools and new Ultimate programs all over the country: over the past two years, the DIII-sized school has gone through thick and thin to build up their program from one that had little competitive drive into one that now is truly a force to be reckoned with. Although they have face difficulties on and off the field this season—facing some tough losses in the season to Pittsburgh and North Carolina, while the quarter system of their school often inhibits players’ commitment levels—the team has done incredibly well, coming in first at South Central Regionals by a landslide (the final score against Rice was 15-4). Leadership of the incredibly devoted and intense player, Sophie Herscu, has pushed the team to new heights; also keep an eye out for the literal height of Lysistrata, as most girls on the team are taller than 5’7”. |
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