USA Ultimate

Open Division Metro East D-I Regionals Preview

Event preview by Cornell's Aiden Forsi, as a part of our 2013 Regionals coverage.

The Metro East is one of two regions this year with only one bid to Nationals, making for an exciting weekend where every game and every point counts, and the only strategy any team can use is "win, win, win." The past three years have been undecided until the last score on Sunday; upsets, comeback runs, and exemplary play are to be expected, and no team sits comfortably above any other. The sixteen teams in attendance below are ranked in order according to regular season results, Conference victories, and a team poll.

1. Cornell

The Cornell Buds have been the team to beat for the past four years, taking the one bid out of the new Metro East region for the past three years. Early losses at Warm Up in February translated into convincing wins against regional competition at New England Open, and their 15-5 win over Queens-Kingston in the finals of the Western NY Conference Championships further demonstrates their strength. This year, though, the target on their backs is bigger than ever, and their road to a fifth Nationals appearance is a treacherous one.

2. Connecticut

Looking to avenge their early exit from Regionals last year, Connecticut Grind has played with a chip on their shoulder this spring. Early season wins at Queen City Tune-Up against Michigan and Ohio State, as well as recent hard-fought victories over regional competition Rutgers and SUNY-Buffalo indicate a strong team that not only can play well late into a tournament, but also knows how to win.

3. NYU

New York University Purple Haze had a quiet early season, playing on par with Columbia and Queens-Kingston at Atlantic City in early March. They convincingly won Garden State III, however, with wins over Rochester in the semifinals and SUNY-Geneseo in the finals. They also toppled Princeton in the finals of the Metro NY Conference after losing to them 6-12 earlier in the day. NYU knocked on the door of Nationals two years ago and knows what it will take to make it all the way.

4. Princeton

Princeton Clockwork built this season on a great base, after playing in the Regional final last year against Cornell. They notched an early win against UConn at the Easterns Qualifier and beat both Rutgers and Columbia at the Metro NY Conference Championships, going 6-0 in pool play. Their loss to NYU in the championship game, however, will make their road to Nationals a little tougher. Princeton is expected to do well, and they will be a force to be reckoned with late Sunday.

5. SUNY-Buffalo

The winner of last year’s Western NY Conference title, SUNY-Buffalo’s Green Eggs and Ham started the season with solid wins against UConn and a variable-strength Cincinnati. They have a recent 15-11 win against Rutgers at New England Open but lost to UConn 11-12 and Cornell 7-13 at the same tournament and lost 10-12 to Queens-Kingston in the semifinals of this year’s Conference Championships. Buffalo has the ability to dial it in against these teams at Regionals and come away with wins, but it will take focus and hard work to make it happen.

6. Columbia

Columbia’s Uptown Local has had a winning season against several East Coast teams, including two tournaments victories at Callahans in the Capital and Steakfest, with only one in-season loss to NYU at Atlantic City. At Metro NY Conferences, however, Columbia lost to both NYU and Princeton in pool play. Columbia went on to beat Rutgers 13-6 in their last game, earning themselves the third bid to Regionals.

7. Queens-Kingston

Queens-Kingston’s Mothership is a Canadian powerhouse with a history of strength in the USA Ultimate circuit, having attended the College Championships in 2005. However, they have attended Conferences irregularly over the last four years. This season, they notched an early win against NYU, beat SUNY-Buffalo at Western NY Conferences 12-10 on a short roster, and have only lost to Bentley and Cornell. Expect Queens-Kingston to give higher-seeded teams a lot of trouble, possibly earning themselves a few upsets.

8. Rutgers

Rutgers’ Machine has had a rough spring. They have a solid win against 2012 D-III National Champions Carleton-GOP but a dearth of losses to regional competition late in the regular season, including UConn, SUNY-Buffalo and Cornell. Rutgers put up a good game against NYU at Metro NY Conferences but lost, and ended up taking the fourth bid out of the Conference.

9. Yale

Yale’s Superfly does not have many posted games this season, but the ones they do have are quality. With wins over Middlebury and Rutgers at New England Open, and close games against Bentley and Vermont, Yale could be this year’s dark horse. However, two big losses to UConn at Hudson Valley Conferences could indicate otherwise. They will be another team to keep an eye on for big upsets.

Syracuse, SUNY-Albany, SUNY-Stony Brook, RIT, Cornell-B, Hofstra, Rutgers-B

The bottom seven at Regionals have some talent among them that will give some of the top nine some reason to worry. Syracuse played hard games against both SUNY-Buffalo and Queens-Kingston at Western NY Conferences, and RIT had a win against Syracuse, though they were less convincing against SUNY-Buffalo. SUNY-Stony Brook played well against Princeton and NYU at Metro NY Conferences, and Hofstra had a good season despite their Metro NY Conference performance. SUNY-Albany, Cornell-B and Rutgers-B are good teams as well, and will take points from teams who come out cold against them.

Predictions

(Pools were created using table 16.1.2 in the USA Ultimate tournament manual. Please see the tournament page here.)

Pool A	Pool B	Pool C	Pool D
Cornell (1) Rutgers (8) SUNY-Stony Brook (12) RIT (13)	Connecticut (2) Queens-Kingston (7) SUNY-Albany (11) Cornell-B (14)	NYU (3) Columbia (6) Syracuse (10) Hoftstra (15)	Princeton (4) SUNY-Buffalo (5) Yale (9) Rutgers-B (16)

If I were a betting man, this would be my bracket.

Cornell, UConn, NYU and Princeton will all hold seed, as will Rutgers, Queens-Kingston and Columbia. SUNY-Buffalo will find trouble in Yale, with Yale only winning by one or two points, if their performance at New England Open holds true. Queens-Kingston, Columbia and Yale will certainly come out of pre-quarters. Rutgers will lose to SUNY-Buffalo unless they are firing on all cylinders, which is unlikely given their recent performance.

In quarters, Cornell will beat Queens-Kingston handily, while Princeton will beat Columbia and UConn will beat SUNY-Buffalo in what could be close games. The NYU-Yale match up will be an interesting one, with the edge going to NYU due to their regular season performance.

Semifinals, then, will likely be Cornell-Princeton and UConn-NYU. Cornell has the edge going into the game, with a history of wins against Princeton and a stronger regular season, but Princeton has given Cornell trouble and will not go down quietly, possibly tiring out Cornell. UConn will have an easier game against NYU, and while NYU certainly has the ability to make it close, UConn will take the win.

This sets up the finals as Cornell versus UConn. Cornell will have played a higher intensity game right before, but UConn’s path to the finals is harder overall, possibly nixing their advantage. In games against common opponents, Cornell is seen as the dominant team, with their games against Tufts, SUNY-Buffalo and Rutgers as the best examples. Cornell also comes in with four years of history behind them, setting up this game as theirs to lose.

Nothing is certain, and in the Metro East those three words means everything. Last year, UConn was out of the tournament in semis after coming in as the top-seeded team and as a top-20 team in the nation. SUNY-Buffalo came in as the two-seed and was out in quarters. In their semis match up, Wesleyan (playing D-III this year) was always a couple breaks away from toppling Cornell for the finals berth, after starting as the eight seed. The top teams in the Metro East all have their eyes on Madison, but only one team will find themselves there in May.
 

---

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.