USA Ultimate

Pool A was a story of disappointment for the one-seeded Molly Brown. The team from Denver came into the tournament hot off their fifth-place finish at Club Nationals last year but with significant roster turnover and many new faces in 2013. Molly Brown was quickly taken down in their first game of pool play against Traffic by a sizeable margin (13-7). It didn’t get much better for them from there. Their only two wins came against the bottom two seeds in the pool, Schwa and the short-rostered Phoenix. In fact, Schwa almost took down the top seed, leading most of the game before falling 14-12 in the final minutes. Molly Brown was notably shorthanded, and it showed particularly in their transition game. They couldn’t capitalize on turnovers, and they couldn’t keep their opponents from capitalizing on their own turnovers. A full roster will definitely help later in the season, but at this early tournament, Molly Brown’s flaws were exposed early and often.

Instead of the expected Molly Brown victory of Pool A, second-seed Ozone breezed through the competition easily. Their closest game of pool play was their last – a 13-8 victory over Brute Squad – and their point differential over the five games (including a rain-shortened 9-2 victory over Schwa) was an astonishing +35. Ozone’s offense flowed so smoothly that one could easily be forgiven for thinking the Atlanta team was in midseason form already. The weekend saw consistent big plays from a large portion of Ozone’s roster, including Mo McCalmly, Maddy Frey, Kate Wilson, Meg Harris, Alli Stargell and more. McCalmly deserves an individual shout out for possibly the play of the tournament – a ridiculous full-extension layout grab in the corner of the end zone against Brute Squad that astounded both teams and the fans.

Pool B was much more competitive. Nemesis came in as the top seed and looked primed to defend their ranking, but the rest of their pool didn’t make it easy. The Chicago team only won by more than four points once and faced particularly competitive games from Heist and Capitals. Heist trailed Nemesis by only one point on Saturday when pouring rain and lightning caused a game cancellation – Nemesis’ 9-8 lead at the point when play was halted became the final score. Capitals finished Saturday 3-0, setting up a clash against the also undefeated Nemesis on Sunday morning, but Capitals ultimately lost that game 13-10. Their second pool play loss came a game later to Heist, a 15-14 loss on double-game point. Nemesis fended off all their challengers and looked good doing it. Kelly Johnson had an incredible number of vicious layout Ds, former Callahan winner Paula Seville looked poised as always on the disc, and new addition Lien Hoffman consistently showed her versatility on offense and defense throughout the weekend. Even while missing top players like Cassie Swafford and Kami Groom for the U-23 World Championships, Nemesis sent the message that they’re here to compete at the highest level this season.

Final Standings

1.   Chicago Nemesis

2.   Atlanta Ozone

3.   Vancouver Traffic

4.   Madison Heist

5.   Boston Brute Squad

6.   Toronto Capitals

7.   Denver Molly Brown

8.   San Francisco Nightlock

9.   Portland Schwa

10. Seattle Underground

11. Raleigh Phoenix

12. Pittsburgh Hot Metal

Thoughts and Takeaways

Almost every team was shorthanded due to the U-23 World Championships and impending World Games. Traffic, Brute Squad and Capitals in particular were missing a number of key contributors. Had every team been at full strength, these results could have been very different. Plus, it’s only mid-July. Most of these teams will likely see each other again before Club Nationals in October, and the ensuing matchups could be very interesting throughout the rest of the season.

Ozone and Nemesis in particular showed that they’re ready to compete at an elite level this year. It remains to be seen if either team will be able to compete with powerhouses like D.C. Scandal, Seattle Riot and the seven-time defending national champions San Francisco Fury. The next tournament featuring these top teams will be telling.

San Francisco Nightlock gets the award for coolest use of technology at a tournament. Nightlock’s coach was unable to make it down to Atlanta but managed to cover for it by watching Ultiworld’s live stream of the team’s pool play match up against Nemesis. At halftime, the coach called one of the players, who turned on the speakerphone and placed the phone in the middle of the huddle, where she offered advice on how to take down the top-seeded Chicago team. Nemesis still won 13-9, but it didn’t stop the Ultiworld team from almost bursting with excitement when they heard what had happened.