USA Ultimate

DiscNW rules girls divsion in day one of YCC

The Girls Division is made up of five hard-playing teams with a Junior World’s player on almost every team. The teams are from Seattle, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, North Carolina, and Minnesota. Playing four games today, starting with the beautiful morning weather with low wind speeds that would pick up later in the day to 17 knots. 

Round one started at 8:30 with MOXIE vs. DISCNW, and BELLE vs. QUEEN ANNE’S REVENGE, and Minnesota starting with a bye. MOXIE was excited and ready to start playing ultimate after a great pep talk by their coach. DISCNW came out stronger though taking a 2-0 lead. MOXIE’s team player Jodi Lincoln commented “Those girls are so fast.” DISCNW dominated the field leading the game to half with 7-4. MOXIE appeared excited and positive coming out of half ready to fight their way back. Player Ellie Shaul came off the half catching two passes in the end zone and throw for a point after 2 injuries first half. MOXIE worked through the cup zone D that DISCNW was throwing at them. Then Player Eva Petzinger helped with some big D’s keeping DISCNW out of the end zone. “She is a machine” teammate Alli Rath said about Eva. DISCNW stayed calm and together though to bring in the W with a 10-7 score. DISCNW commented saying that “They didn’t bring the fire to start.” 

BELLE came out hard to start the day bringing it to a 4-1 game. However, Queen Anne’s Revenge were noting going to stop and pulled back to a really close game, tying the game 7-7 after this crawl back BELLE changed it up and played some great ultimate with really smooth give and goes and brought it to a close 10-7. 

Round two at 10:30: Minnesota Nice played DISCNW and BELLE played MOXIE. Minnesota Nice still groggy from their relaxing late start was not prepared to go head to head with DISCNW after they were able to pull together after their first victory. Before the game coach commented saying he was hoping to get the silver or the bronze medal this year. Having a big team it would help keep the team fresh throughout the day. DISCNW won taking their second win. 

BELLE is a young team with only a few girls returning and just 2 seniors. The team feels confident and that they can play competitively with any of the teams here at the YCC tournament. MOXIE and BELLE being very competitive rivals playing against each other over the summer going back and forth between victories. The game was back and forth the entire game till the end, when BELLE took a lead and won 9-7. Coach Dave Fry was happy with the win and proud of the girls. Taking 2 victories in a row keeping them tied with DISCNW.

The third round started after a small lunch break at 12:30. MOXIE won in a game against returning silver medalist team Queen Anne’s Revenge. However, this year Queen Anne’s Revenge team is much younger and not as deep with only 10 players and 4 returning players. The new players are at their first tournament ever and were able to keep up thanks to their back ground in Cross country and Track in High school. This was a close game though final score being 8-7 MOXIE.

Minnesota Nice was coming off of their loss from DISCNW and hungry for a win. BELLE had just won their second game of the day and beginning to feel pretty confident. Minnesota Nice decided to not be so nice though coming off the start with a 3-0 lead and took half with the score being 7-2. Player Gemma Wilson from Minnesota Nice said we are “getting into the groove of things.” BELLE was not to be as lucky as their morning games they would lose 10-4.

In round four, Seattle came off their Bye to play BELLE both with 2 wins in the day. BELLE on their final game of the day made it a tough one. DISCNW was seeded as #1 and wanted to keep it. They pulled together a smooth connected game play and drove down the fields as the winds began to pick up. Defenses for every team switched to going cup and then the offenses began to go for the pick huck play when coming down wind. Seattle continuing to be undefeated and BELLE finishing the day 2-2. BELLE was happy with their day and glad to move up in there seed. 

Queen Anne’s Revenge faced Minnesota Nice not able to catch a break they took their third loss for the day. Coach’s for Queen Anne’s Revenge said as long as the girls have fun and are learning more about the sport they are not disappointed. Minnesota Nice was happy to take a second win putting them tied with Belle and still a game ahead of them. With the wind moving faster and more often it made it a little bit harder to score. The teams worked well to keep the disc low and keep their turnovers down.

Round five kept with the pace of the day. Players ran hard and made some great bids. The winds even pick up more for this last game making it a rough game for Minnesota Nice and Pittsburgh MOXIE. MOXIE taking the first point of the game was not able to hold onto the lead, with Minnesota Nice responding with a 3 point run. Minnesota Nice was securing their victory when MOXIE came out after soft cup to bring the score to 7-8. After Hard Cap the Minnesota Nice tried the hardest they could to claim the victory and after a tough fight scored their final point to make it 7-9 Minnesota Nice.

Queen Anne’s Revenge had their last game of the day with the number one seed DISCNW. DISCNW coach says they had the numbers. With the young small team from North Carolina it was a rough last game, but players said afterwards they couldn’t feel their legs but they had a lot of fun and were looking forward to tomorrow. The half being a 7-2 lead for DISCNW they closed the game out 12-4. Making them number one with 4 wins and Minnesota Nice in second followed by BELLE as third with MOXIE right behind them in fourth and Queen Anne’s Revenge in last. The teams hope for some less wind for tomorrow and are ready for their second day.