USA Ultimate

 

There were some close match ups and surprise victories on day two in Appleton.  A lot of the play was dominated by the wind, making the key to success an upwind break or two.  The Claremont Greenshirts demonstrated their control of the disc in the wind, bringing home first place as the 2012 National Champions. Event Website

 

Quarters

The day started off strong with some highly contested games in quarters.  Lehigh, who came into the tournament seeded number 14, took on the first seeded Claremont Greenshirts.  Claremont relied on their zone to shut down Gravity, but Gravity was able to patiently work the disc downfield.  Gravity’s shutdown man defense wasn’t enough to contain the Greenshirts, who won 15-6.

The Valparaiso vs. Haverford match up was close throughout the whole game, with both teams scoring upwind points.  Haverford’s patient handler movement let them move through Valparaiso’s zone as handlers Elinor Hickey, Aly Lieberman, and Sara Taggart swung the disc  and took smart long  throws.  Valparaiso tied the game at 9s, but Haverford scored the winning point with a deep look.

Grinnell was able to beat the undefeated team from Bowdoin in the quarters.  Bowdoin, who faced mostly man defense in Saturday’s pool play, struggled to get the disc through Ginnell’s tight zone.  The Sticky Tongue Frogs took an early lead at 4-1, with Carla Eckland repeatedly connecting with the disc in the endzone.  While Bowdoin continued to rely on their strongest handler Julie Bender for deep looks, Grinnell worked the disc with quick and easy dish passes.  Grinnell’s deep and enthusiastic sideline was no match for Chaos Theory in the wind, giving Grinnell a 15-8 win.

Truman State University came out strong against Carleton. At the beginning of the game both teams had some difficulty controlling the disc in the wind.  Eclipse couldn’t find spaces in TSU’s cup, but they looked over the top of the zone to complete passes downfield.  Lisa Dworak of TSU had some great Ds and layout grabs that helped TSU take half at 8-7, but it wasn’t enough to get through Eclipse’s shut down man D.  The teams exchanged points to tie it at 9s, and Carleton scored a crucial upwind point to win 9-10.   

Semis

Haverford and Bowdoin, the original 8th and 13th seed respectively, found themselves in a tough game in the semi-finals round.  Grinnell’s upwind points secured them a two point lead for most of the game, and they were able to maintain possession of the disc to finish on top, 14-11.

Carleton Eclipse, last year’s DIII Champions, faced off against Claremont, the 2010 DIII Champions, in the other highly contested semi-final game. Carleton Eclipse played close man defense, cutting off most of the in-cuts and forcing Claremont to look for longer option in the wind.  Niki Tomita and freshman Julia Reich had some standout Ds, which allowed the handlers to pick up the disc and work it downfield.  Handler Erica Baken led the Greenshirts against Eclipse’s tight man D with well placed deep looks and high-release backhand breaks while cutters Julia Raney and Catherine Raney worked hard downfield to consistently get open.  There were a lot of good physical match ups and fouls called on the marks, and in the end, Claremont was able to take the game at 12-9.  

Finals

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The wind definitely picked up by the end of the day and neither Grinnell nor Claremont could control the disc enough to gain an upwind point in Finals.  Claremont scored the first downwind point, and the two teams exchanged points throughout the entire match, playing the game 20 meters in front of the downwind endzone.  Claremont relied on short passes to work the disc against Grinnell’s tight man D, and they were able to stay patient in the endzone.  Grinnell’s Misha Ghadiri helped her team respond to Claremont with her assists in the endzone and Cory Keeler had some great deep looks, connecting with Kirsten Nelson and Carla Eckland down field.  Claremont took the game with a final downwind point from Rose Comaduran to Julia Raney, making the Claremont Greenshirts the women’s DIII National Champions.

PHOTO CREDIT: Brandon Wu, Ultiphotos.com 

Day 2 Photos by Brandon Wu of UltiPhotos.com.

This preview was developed in conjunction with Skyd Magazine's coverage of the 2012 Division III College Championships. 

 

 

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