USA Ultimate

Women's Division teams from four regions will battle it out at Regionals this weekend with their sights set on a berth at the 2013 National Championships in Frisco, Texas.       Great Lakes   North Central   Northwest   South Central

 
Great Lakes Women's Preview, by Ben Murphy (Underhaul)

Format: 5 teams / 1 bid Saturday – round robin; Sunday – 4-team championship bracket

Pool A   Team Rank Sectionals  Nemesis 4 CP-n/a Dish 23 CP-1 Spicy Tuna 24 CP-2 Frenzy 31 CP-3 Flo n/a EP-1

The women’s division of the Great Lakes region is headlined by a Nemesis team from Chicago that’s made a lot of positive progress this year with very strong results. They were undefeated on the season until Sunday at the Pro Flight Finale over Labor Day weekend, where they lost to Scandal and Fury, number three and number one, respectively, in the final USA Ultimate rankings. The roster is loaded from top to bottom with ladies that are competent on both sides of the disc. If you have an opportunity to watch Nemesis this weekend, keep an eye out for 2013 Callahan Award finalist Lien Hoffman who, of all the talent on the Nemesis roster, is probably the most likely to do something spectacular.

Of the other teams competing, three of the four are also from Chicago: Dish, Spicy Tuna and Frenzy; the field is rounded out with Flo from Cincinnati. Although Nemesis has played only Frenzy, the other teams have played plenty of intra-region competition and not much else, making seeding and expected finish pretty clear cut.

If any of the teams has a chance to challenge Nemesis for the bid to Nationals, it is probably Dish, but the season results algorithm from Score Reporter predicts a 15-6 score when the two meet for the first time this year. Dish’s highest-profile competition and only top-16 opponent this season came in the form of Heist at Heavyweights in late August. Dish lost that match up 8-12. As a result, heavily favored Nemesis is likely to look back at Regionals as a tune-up for Nationals.

Want to help us out with regionals coverage and provide a recap of this event or a preview and/or recap of one of next weekend’s events? Contact stacey@hq.usaultimate.org to volunteer!

 

North Central Women's Preview, by USA Ultimate

Format: 4 teams / 1 bid Saturday round robin; Sunday championship bracket

Pool A   Team Rank Sectionals  Heist 11 NWP-n/a Pop 20 NWP-1 Wolfpack: The Secret Essence n/a NWP-2 Monium Ibex n/a WP-2

Only four teams are competing at this year’s North Central Women’s Regionals, and only Madison Heist and Minneapolis Pop have enough results on the season to be included in the USA Ultimate rankings. Chances are high that we’ll end up seeing a rematch of last year’s regional final between the two squads with Heist as the clear favorite to emerge with the region’s only bid. 

The offense is strong with this one… After their breakthrough season in 2012, Heist has only improved in 2013. Their top-end talent is enough to make any opponent’s defense work to keep up. Headlined by impressive throwers, including World Games team member Georgia Bosscher, Robyn Wiseman and Becky LeDonne, and threatening downfield receivers like Biz Cook and Rebecca Enders, Heist is poised to run the table this weekend. They’ve only seemed to get stronger as the season has progressed, going from breaking seed at the Pro-Elite Challenge at Terminus to a one-loss, second-place finish at the Elite-Select Challenge at Colorado Cup to a strong, second-place finish at Heavyweights. Of their five losses on the season, three have come at the hands of Chicago Nemesis. So luckily for Heist, they won’t need to worry about them again for another few weeks.

Pop’s signature win on the season was a victory over New York Bent at Colorado Cup. They had a close loss against Nemesis later in the year at Heavyweights where they also had their only two match ups against their regional rival; Heist came out on top in both instances. Regionals will be their sixth tournament this season, so they’ve certainly put in the time and effort to gain experience and chemistry, but barring a major coup, expect Heist to walk away with a second-straight trip to Nationals.

Want to help us out with regionals coverage and provide a recap of this event or a preview and/or recap of one of next weekend’s events? Contact stacey@hq.usaultimate.org to volunteer!

  

Northwest Women's Preview, by USA Ultimate

Format: 7 teams / 3 bids  Saturday and Sunday round robin; Sunday – Championship game; 4-team, 3rd-place bracket

Pool A   Team Rank Sectionals  Riot 2 WA-n/a Traffic 5 WA-1 Schwa 16 OR-n/a Underground 17 WA-n/a Zephyr n/a WA-2 Further 34 WA-3 Seismic n/a WA-4

Seattle Riot enters the weekend as the tournament’s top seed and sitting at number two in USA Ultimate’s end-of-season rankings. They are the clear favorite to win the region, which should earn them a high seed for Nationals in Texas. Despite not being able to claim the Triple Crown Tour regular season title, they closed out the season as the division’s strongest team with a big tournament win at the Pro Flight Finale. They started that weekend with a surprise loss to Austin Showdown but quickly rallied to end the weekend undefeated and with the tournament championship. Their run included impressive wins over other heavy favorites in the division, including Toronto Capitals, D.C. Scandal, Denver Molly Brown and San Francisco Fury. Teams can’t get much more experienced and steady than Riot. They’ll be a tough force for opponents to overcome this weekend and in Frisco.

Although they’ve come out on the wrong end of their only two match ups against Riot this year, Traffic has posted wins over high-level competition like Boston Brute Squad and Madison Heist, as well intra-region competition they’ll see again this weekend. With a cache of 2013 Team Canada World Games veterans leading the charge, Traffic is always a contender in any field. They are a safe bet to lock up the second Nationals bid from this region.

The contest for the third bid is much more of a toss-up. Schwa and Underground both made appearances at the Club Championships last year thanks to a fourth bid for the region. This year, Schwa just earned the region their third bid by locking up the 16-spot in the final USA Ultimate rankings. Now, they’ll have to battle it out to get to Frisco. Schwa has played tough competition all season long, so they’re ready for Regionals. They haven’t been able to break through with any high-profile wins, but they have consistently hang with teams like Raleigh Phoenix and Denver Molly Brown. Schwa have solid wins over Safari and Nightlock and won their only match up against Underground, 11-9, back in July.

Like Schwa, Underground has not shied away from high-level competition. And again like Schwa, they’ve had trouble finding a signature win. They’ve hung tight with top 16 teams including Bent, Nightlock and Nemesis. Schwa may have locked up the third bid for the region, but it’s also theirs to lose. The two teams will meet in the first round of pool play Saturday morning, and as most ultimate players know, one of the hardest things to do is beat an equally matched team twice in the same weekend. So the outcome of that game may very well foreshadow what happens when crunch time rolls around on Sunday afternoon.

Want to help us out with regionals coverage and provide a recap of this event or a preview and/or recap of one of next weekend’s events? Contact stacey@hq.usaultimate.org to volunteer!

 

South Central Women's Preview, by USA Ultimate

Format: 7 teams / 2 bids Saturday and Sunday round robin; Sunday – championship game and 2nd-place bracket

Pool A   Team Rank Sectionals  Molly Brown 9 RM-n/a Showdown 8 TX-n/a Inferno 21 TX-1 Jack Wagon 29 RM-1 Maeve 38 TX-2 Reverb n/a TX-3 ORALE n/a RM-2

The South Central region seems chalk full of good Colorado v. Texas rivalries. The women’s division has one of its own that will contend with the men’s division for excitement. Denver Molly Brown and Austin Showdown arrive at Regionals as the first and second seeds, respectively, after Molly Brown bested their southern counterparts in their only meeting of the season at the Elite-Select Challenge at Colorado Cup and finished higher at the Pro Flight Finale. 

Expectations were high for Showdown coming into 2013 after their strong showing and semifinals finish at last year’s Club Championships. Molly Brown surprised the field in Sarasota by breaking seed in a big way and finishing in fifth place. But where Showdown had very little roster turnover in the off-season and only added a couple of experienced players, Molly Brown faced pretty heavy turnover and quickly found themselves as a very young team. 

Despite their youth, Molly Brown has steadily improved over the course of the season. They had a slow start at the Pro-Elite Challenge at Terminus but rallied and finished strong on Sunday. By the Elite-Select Challenge at Colorado Cup, they had gained some chemistry and ended up with only two losses on the weekend and with a second-place finish. The Pro Flight Finale was another tough weekend, but Molly Brown won games when they mattered and finished fifth. 

Showdown shocked fans everywhere with their first-round upset of Riot at the Pro Flight Finale. But that turned out to be it for them in California. Ultimately, they finished in eighth place. Their roster is full of veteran talent and experience from top to bottom, so they can never be counted out. They know how to win when it counts. Molly Brown’s athleticism may have won the day in their first meeting against Showdown, but experience matters. This weekend will be a great testing point for both teams. Given the format, their first run-in will be in the third round of pool play on Saturday, before they likely meet again in the finals on Sunday afternoon. Like the case of Schwa and Underground in the Northwest Region, the first match up could help predict the finals outcome. But with short games to 11, there is little margin for error, and teams will leave it all on the line, so all bets are off.

Houston Inferno and Boulder Jack Wagon will be fighting for a spot in the game-to-go. The two squads are evenly matched and should provide one (or possibly two) exciting match up(s) for spectators in Denver. The difficulties of adapting to the Mile High City’s altitude is a common adage, but the frequency with which it’s cited doesn’t make it any less true. It’s the ultimate home-field advantage, and we’ll see what impact it has this weekend. No matter who ends up fighting in the game-to-go, expect to see the women from Denver and Austin in the field at the Club Championships next month. 

Want to help us out with regionals coverage and provide a recap of this event or a preview and/or recap of one of next weekend’s events? Contact stacey@hq.usaultimate.org to volunteer!

 

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