2015 D-I College Championships - Women's Day Two Recap
Jimmy Leppert
Posted: May 23, 2015 11:52 PM
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Day two of the 2015 USA Ultimate D-I College Championships is in the books, and teams have moved on to the elimination rounds.
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Saturday included the first round of elimination play at the College Championships. Gone are the defending champions, the third overall seed, a team that was undefeated entering the tournament, and more. Before the action of quarterfinals, get caught up on the day that was.
Pool A
Aside from Oregon Fugue taking the top spot, final standings in this pool were a little surprising. Fugue had a much more complete day of ultimate than yesterday, not allowing either Florida State or Central Florida to gain an upper hand. Victoria surprisingly finished second in the pool, besting Florida State. Victoria’s win over Notre Dame, where the UVixens offense found their stride early, helped cement their path to the pre-quarterfinals, even with a later loss to Central Florida. Florida State was not able to contain the Oregon offense to start the day, but buckled down on Notre Dame. Their offense and defense both played the best they had all tournament as they eliminated Notre Dame Womb from the championship bracket. Both Notre Dame and 2014 semifinalist Central Florida ended their bids for a championship with pool play, after finishing with one win a piece.
Pool B
After the exciting finish to the day yesterday, every team but Stanford needed to tighten up on Saturday in order to move on. Both Stanford and Dartmouth won their two remaining games in the pool: Stanford with their depth and sound strategy over Washington and Ohio State, and Dartmouth through relying on hucks to move the disc downfield against Middlebury and Washington. With their win on Friday, Middlebury looked poised to make the pre-quarters, but they ran into an Ohio State defense that stifled movement between their handlers and only made their offense frustrated. Washington needed a much-improved day if they hoped to make bracket play, and at first showed that urgency by taking an early lead against Stanford. However, turnovers close to their own end zone gave Stanford a short field to work with, and work with it they did. As both Middlebury and Washington were being eliminated from bracket play, the defending champions from Ohio State kept the thought of a repeat alive.
Pool C
By falling to Texas Melee late on Friday, UCLA BLU left the door open for any of the teams in Pool C to clinch the bye into quarterfinals. Carleton College Syzygy eventually took the spot, first by beating that same Texas team that gave UCLA trouble. Then they met the also-undefeated British Columbia Thunderbirds for control of the pool. An untimely injury to Mira Donaldson that had her carted away from the game sucked the air out of the Thunderbirds, as she had been the heart of the offense for most of the tournament. Carleton would take that game which gave them the pool. The Thunderbirds took the second spot with a single loss. One spot in the pre-quarters remained for either UCLA, Pittsburgh or Texas. Texas beat Pittsburgh in the first round of the day with dominant defense but followed up the win with a completely opposite performance against British Columbia. UCLA needed both a win in their second game of the day and a Thunderbirds loss for a chance at bracket play. They only ended up with one of those things – a win over Pittsburgh – and were eliminated from this season’s college championship bracket.
Pool D
Virginia won out in Pool D with play that was eerily similar to what we saw yesterday. Their defense excelled in holding opponents to few scoring chances, while the Hydra offense played exceptionally patient and within their system. Whitman beat Colorado, helping them to secure a spot in the pre-quarter round, partly due to the comfort their handlers displayed in the wind. Many of their throws were perfectly placed, making the cutters’ lives a lot easier against the tough Colorado defense. That same round, Kansas beat Princeton in a tight game. This round was where Princeton excelled, showing off the throwing abilities that helped earn them a spot in Milwaukee – even if it was ultimately not enough to get past Kansas’ own handlers. Their respective records made the regional rematch of Colorado Kali v. Kansas Betty extremely important in determining who advanced in the final pre-quarter slot. While Kansas certainly gave it their all, Colorado’s zone defense helped generate a large number of turnovers and eventual break opportunities against their adversary. With that, Colorado advanced to the afternoon’s pre-quarter round.
Pre-Quarterfinals
Dartmouth v. Texas
While Texas Melee certainly tried their hardest, they simply could not keep up with the high-flying Dartmouth Princess Layout. Dartmouth continuously found their cutters open and with plenty of space to advance the disc further. Mental mistakes early in the game helped make a second-half comeback by Texas that much more difficult. Dartmouth won and advanced to the quarterfinals.
British Columbia v. Ohio State
After a tie at 4-4, Ohio State no longer had any control in the game. The British Columbia Thunderbirds were not letting go. Even with Mira Donaldson sidelined for the game, UBC still found themselves able to dictate both where their offense was headed and what Ohio State Fever could do with their possession of the disc. So even though Ohio State kept the game close to start, British Columbia’s ability to dictate so much helped the Thunderbirds advance over the defending champions to the quarterfinals.
Whitman v. Florida State
After the Whitman Lady Sweets were able to gain a slight advantage in the first half, it seemed that the Florida State Seminole Ladies weren’t going to be able to close the gap. But quickly out of halftime, Florida State responded and tied the game at 8-8. The Lady Sweets responded with their best defense of the weekend, refusing the Florida State chances of moving the disc downfield. While the scoreboard reflected a much larger gap – Whitman won 15-9 – the teams fought to the bitter end for the quarterfinals berth. Ultimately, it ended up in Whitman’s hands.
Victoria v. Colorado
Miscommunications by the Victoria UVixens plagued them the entire game and became one of the main reasons Colorado Kali advanced to the quarterfinals at their expense. Kali’s offense looked much improved from their loss to Whitman earlier in the day and instead became their biggest strength. As great a game as Kate Scarth had for the UVixens, or particularly the effort that came through on defensive points, not enough could be done to stop the hucks and precise movement of Colorado.
Quarterfinals Preview
Dartmouth v. Oregon
Look for Oregon Fugue to face one of their toughest challenges yet, after a relatively breezy path through pool play. Stopping the huck-happy Dartmouth offense will be one of their main concerns. For Dartmouth, they should work to dictate play with their defense if they want any success against this strong Oregon team.
British Columbia v. Virginia
While British Columbia may be without star player Mira Donaldson, they are still a very dangerous team. Just because one cog in their machine is missing does not mean they aren’t going to run well. Virginia needs to look to slow down British Columbia when given the chance, and use the same high-powered offense they’ve relied on all weekend to overwhelm any defense that is thrown their way.
Whitman v. Carleton College
With Carleton College taking the top spot in Pool C, they’ve had plenty of rest before this quarterfinal game against Whitman. Whitman’s strong cutting style will put the Carleton defense to the test. Earlier in the tournament, Carleton had trouble shutting down the movement of UCLA’s cutters; those defensive lapses will not work in Carleton’s favor in this game.
Colorado v. Stanford
In the last of the quarterfinal games, Colorado meets Pool B winner Stanford. After a tough couple days of pool play, Colorado was able to put together a much more complete game against Victoria in the pre-quarter round, finding their stride especially on offense. That trend will need to continue if they hope to make it past Stanford. Meanwhile, for Stanford, their depth has shown through this tournament, and their overwhelming zone defense may be just what the doctor ordered to win this game and continue Superfly’s road in the championship bracket.
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