USA Ultimate

Pool A

A1	A2	A3	A4	A5	A6	A7
Austin Showdown	Denver Molly Brown	San Francisco Nightlock	Seattle Underground	New York Bent	Philadelphia Green Means Go	Minneapolis Pop

Austin’s Showdown leads up Pool A, followed by regional rival Molly Brown. Showdown has only played in one tournament this year but, since it was the U.S. Open, other than Pool B’s Phoenix, still has the most exposure to high-level competition. But they haven’t played any of the other teams they’ll see this weekend while many of their competitors already have match ups against one another under their belts from Terminus in July.

Molly Brown had a tough time in pool play at Terminus but won some big games when they counted on Sunday. After suffering a heavy dose of roster turnover, they have a very young squad in 2013, including quite a few members who played their first club women’s tournament just a few weeks ago in Atlanta. With the hometown advantage on their side, they should field a much larger and stronger team this weekend. 

Nightlock and Underground are both up-and-coming teams from San Francisco and Seattle, respectively. Nightlock had a strong first run last year that led to a Nationals trip. Their time in Sarasota included a couple big wins over Ozone and Brute Squad and a 10th place finish. They lost some big names this year, the biggest of which was Michela Meister, and didn’t have the best showing at Terminus. Nightlock finished eighth with a 2-4 record. Underground lost Erin Crider to Safari this year, and they’ve had a difficult start to the season. They’ve only won three games across two tournaments so far. Maybe they’ll turn things around this weekend. 

Bent narrowly missed out on a bid to Nationals last year. They avenged their loss to Brute Squad that kept them out of the 2012 Championships at Boston Invite in June but haven’t played another tournament since. Along with Green Means Go and Pop, they’ll be hoping to pull off an upset of one of the pool’s Elite Flight teams, and they could certainly make it happen.

They’ll be missing Cara Crouch this weekend, but based on talent alone, Showdown should have the upper hand in their pool and come out on top without many problems. Their most exciting game will likely come in the third round against Molly Brown. The locals’ athleticism could easily make Showdown work for their points. 

Pool B

B1	B2	B3	B4	B5	B6	B7
Boston Brute Squad	Madison Heist	Portland Schwa	Raleigh Phoenix	San Diego Safari	Boulder Jack Wagon	Eugene Further

Heist finished just above Brute Squad at Terminus (they went four and five in the final standings), but the seedings are flip-flopped for Colorado Cup. Brute Squad will start the weekend as the one seed in Pool B. Most are aware of Heist’s incredibly successful run in the 2012 season before finishing 11th at Nationals. Although they’ve seen some roster turnover this year, most notably in the form of Courtney Kiesow (now with Brute Squad) and Chelsea Twohig, their squad has remained pretty consistent in their second year. Superstar Georgia Bosscher is back again and has surely been bringing pearls of wisdom learned from her time with the World Games team back to Madison. They’ve also added a new coach for 2013 which could make a big impact on the sidelines and mid-game. 

Brute Squad’s new additions of Leila Tunnell and Courtney Kiesow will undoubtedly play a big role this year. Assuming the whole team travels, they’ll also have Hailey Alm, Claudia Tajima and newcomer Julie Eagle (from Phoenix) back from the U-23 World Championships. They missed Terminus to be in Toronto; their absence was surely felt in Atlanta. Despite the close finish at Terminus, Brute Squad and Heist never met. Both teams were missing some important people, but with them back on both sides this weekend, their match up should be a good one.

Schwa and Phoenix both have more losses on their season records right now than they do wins, but they’ve also both already seen a fair amount of this weekend’s competition this year. Schwa currently holds a 6-6 record, but three of their wins came over teams they’ll see again this weekend. Since that includes Phoenix and Safari who are hovering right below them in this pool, Schwa will need to keep up that form to maintain their seed. Phoenix was hit hard with roster turnover this year but are in the process of rebuilding, having added a plethora of young, athletic talent. Phoenix has already played in three tournaments his year, and more exposure to high-level competition can only help them. If any team in this pool has a good chance of knocking off a squad from a higher Flight, it’s probably Safari. They already have wins over Underground and Nightlock this year and could challenge the higher seeds in their pool this weekend as well.

The second hometown team, Jack Wagon, and Eugene’s Further round out the pool. Jack Wagon will have the altitude advantage on their side, but only a portion of their roster has past high-level experience, which will make it difficult for them to challenge the Pro and Elite Flight teams. This also marks their first tournament of the year, so it may take them a while to really figure out their on-field chemistry. Further is in a similar boat. They have one tournament under their belts but haven’t tallied a win yet. This field of teams isn’t going to make it easy for them to turn that streak around either. 

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