USA Ultimate

The first installment of USA Ultimate’s Pro-Elite Flight Challenge, Club Terminus, features an exciting women’s lineup. Twelve teams will attend the tournament in Atlanta this weekend, including four Pro and eight Elite Flight teams. Every team attending Club Terminus competed at the 2012 National Championships, making for many exciting matchups in the two pools this weekend.

Many of these teams have already begun their seasons. Only Molly Brown, Nemesis, Capitals and Heist are unchallenged so far, but this weekend will prove to be the first big test of the year for some of North America’s best squads.

Pool A

A1		A2		A3		A4		A5		A6
Denver Molly Brown		Atlanta Ozone		Vancouver Traffic		Boston Brute Squad		Raleigh Phoenix		Portland Schwa

Seeded first in pool A is the Denver-based Molly Brown, a team with a short history, having only been established in 2010, but already an impressive record. They made Nationals in each of their three years of existence to date, including a fifth-place finish in 2012. While Molly Brown is looking to defend their reputation as a consistently solid team this weekend, Atlanta’s Ozone will be out for revenge after a close, two-point loss in pool play in Sarasota last year. Ozone will have the advantage of a home crowd and is a likely candidate to make a run for the championship game.

The pool’s fifth seed may be a team to watch – Phoenix from Raleigh, N.C. is eager to display their full potential after winning only two games on their home turf at the U.S. Open Championships earlier this month. Despite some significant roster turnover this year, Phoenix has the potential to improve on their mistakes from the U.S. Open and, with high-level tournament experience already under their belts, are likely to upset teams that do not give them the respect they deserve. Vancouver’s Traffic and Boston’s Brute Squad will surely have something to say about Phoenix’s chances, however. Both teams finished above Phoenix at the 2012 National Championships, ending the weekend in ninth and 12th places, respectively. Phoenix finished in 13th place.

Pool B

B1		B2		B3		B4		B5		B6
Chicago Nemesis		Toronto Capitals		San Francisco Nightlock		Madison Heist		Pittsburgh Hot Metal		Seattle Underground

At the top of Pool B is Nemesis, a Chicago team who will try to dominate in their first tournament of the 2013 season. While they lost nine players from last season’s roster, they gained 10 experienced rookies to fill those spots, including 2012 Callahan Award winner Paula Seville and two U-23 National Team members in Kami Groom and Cassie Swafford. Nemesis will take on the second seed in Pool B, the Toronto-based Capitals, a team out for revenge after losing to Nemesis by just three points at Nationals in 2012.  Third-seeded Nightlock, a burgeoning team based out the California Bay Area, had some impressive upsets over experienced squads including Ozone and Traffic at last year’s Championships. Nightlock has the potential to cause trouble for the top seeds in Pool B. 

In only their second season, fourth-seeded Heist from Madison, Wis., is likely to make a run for the championship bracket as well. Heading into Sarasota last year, they were undefeated on the season. They have an impressive roster in 2013, boasting experienced players including U.S. National Team member Georgia Bosscher and Corinne McKitrick. Five seed Hot Metal and six seed Underground, based out of Pittsburgh and Seattle respectively, will be looking to make some noise in pool play. Both teams already have one tournament a piece under their belts this year, with varying degrees of competition. They will hope to leverage that experience in battling their way into the championship bracket.

It should be an interesting weekend, with countless highly competitive match ups. With all the teams looking to come out of the gate strong in their first major tournament of the 2013 season, expect big things from Atlanta.

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