USA Ultimate

@TripleCrownTour Scoreboard

The theme for the first Elite-Select Challenge in Triple Crown Tour history should be parity; that is, if things go as planned. The tournament is designed to provide competitive interaction between the lower tier of Nationals teams and those teams with dreams of getting there this year. While the field of 16 includes 10 such Nationals hopefuls, it also includes defending champion Doublewide and Terminus 2013 (Pro-Elite Challenge) champion PoNY. These two squads come into the weekend favored to meet in the finals, with a reloaded Johnny Bravo squad looking to build on a 4-2 Pro-Elite Challenge performance and break into the finals. Colorado has been unseasonably cool over the past week, but that cool spell looks to end this weekend and give way to temperatures in the mid-80s with a constant threat of thunderstorms. Winds are predicted to be mild, around 10mph, but when those storms roll in, and they inevitably will, look for winds to kick up and cause fits for the less dexterous throwers. The silver lining here is the cloud cover itself—any reprieve from the altitudinous Colorado sun is typically a welcome one.

 

Pool A

A1		A2		A3		A4
Austin Doublewide		Columbus Madcow		Raleigh Cash Crop		Lancaster

 

Doublewide heads up Pool A – a squad depleted of its Florida influence, with the exception of star Kurt Gibson, who is still recovering from off-season knee surgery. It’s unclear whether he will return for limited reps this weekend. Regardless, look for Doublewide to cruise through their three pool play games on Saturday against Madcow, Cash Crop and Lancaster. And of course, you’ll always get your money’s worth from the Tyler DG/Alex Thorne goal-scoring machine alone. The rest of this pool, as will likely be a theme for the weekend, is up in the air. Will some college-heavy squads leave some of their young studs at home to save on a plane ticket and pick up an extra shift at the 9 to 5? Results will depend on it.

Pool B

B1		B2		B3		B4
New York PoNY		Santa Barbara Condors		Seattle Voodoo		Florida United

 

While New York’s impressive Terminus performance has some buying their stock in bundles, caution may prevail as they start the weekend atop the toughest four-team group in the tournament. It includes Florida United, who currently sits at number two in the USA Ultimate rankings after a dominating performance in late June’s Old Dominion Qualifier – SAVAGE Summer Series. No team scored more than eight against the Florida United team that pulled Chris Gibson and Cole Sullivan away from Doublewide. Why decline the chance to defend your title? They must have found something very exciting about this Florida group and will be looking to make a statement to the club world that they are for real. What better way than to derail the PoNY express? Voodoo and the Condors round out this pool, two squads that have lived on the periphery of the top 16 for the past several years. The Condors appear to be as hungry as ever, having already logged two tournaments this season, one of which included a 15-14 win over Voodoo. Keep an eye out for that rematch.

Pool C

C1		C2		C3		C4
Denver Johnny Bravo		Madison Club		Dallas Plex		Chicago Club

 

Hometown Johnny Bravo headlines Pool C, followed by Madison Club, Plex and Chicago Club. Rematches from 2012 abound in this pool. Bravo and Madison Club played a hotly contested showcase game at last year’s Colorado Cup with Bravo emerging as the winner. The teams were slated for a rematch in the finals, but lightning struck and split the crown between the two. Now, a year later, Madison gets their chance at redemption in Colorado. Look for the team to be more focused with leader Hector Valdivia back with the team after helping coach the U.S. U-23 men to a gold medal. The first game of the pool pits Plex against Bravo, a rematch of the game to go from South Central Regionals last year. While Doublewide continues to pull some of Plex’s Dallas talent down into Austin, they come back this year with a renewed focus and hunger to take their game to the next level. Captain David Richardson will have the squad playing gritty, aggressive defense, and he’ll run the ship from the central handler position on offense. And finally, don’t count out Chicago Club. This self-proclaimed "alternative to the second tier in Chicago" already notched a few nice international wins at the U.S. Open and, perhaps more importantly, has already seen the best teams in the country. They’ve seen what it takes to play at the highest level – now can they do it themselves?

Pool D

D1		D2		D3		D4
Washington, D.C. Truck Stop		Portland Rhino		Ottawa Phoenix		Kansas City Prairie Fire

 

Finally, Pool D features two perennial Nationals teams in Truck Stop and Rhino. Truck Stop is coming off of a solid Terminus performance, though it is slightly bolstered by an inconsequential (to the tournament, anyway) 13-11 win over PoNY.  A skeleton Rhino squad made it through Terminus at 2-4, but will most certainly be a different team in Colorado with a rested Dylan Freechild ready to dominate and a more complete roster making the trip. Phoenix comes in with 13 sanctioned wins, all against relative unknown Canadian teams. But you can bet the Ottawa group is chomping at the bit to try their hand against stronger competition. If Truck Stop or Rhino has a lull and lets either Phoenix or Prairie Fire gain some momentum, both teams can be dangerous. And that is really the beauty of this tournament.

---

Have any questions or comments? We welcome community feedback and discussion made in a respectful manner. Please refrain from profanity or personal attacks, as such public comments negatively reflect on our sport and community.

​