USA Ultimate

Event Website U-19G Scoreboard

[PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Leclaire UltiPhotos.com]

By the end of the final round of pool play on Sunday morning, it seemed clear that DiscNW Rapture, the defending YCC champions from Seattle, would be in the championship game: no team had managed to score more than five points on them in a game the entire weekend, and their game seemed to be a touch more polished than the rest. The more interesting question, then, was: who was going to meet them there? Denver Cutthroat had met Cincinnati Belle in the last round of pool play and beat them 12-8, boosting up their energy and setting a straight-up mark to cut off Cincinnati’s deep looks, while Minnesnowta pulled out a tight 11-8 win against the Warhawks after beating them on universe point the day before. 

Because of the way seeding played out, Minnesnowta was up against the formidable Rapture in the semifinals, while Cutthroat had to face Belle a second time in a row. This was Cincinnati’s big chance to make adjustments to their game and avenge their extremely recent loss, and they certainly took the opportunity to do so. Cincinnati immediately took advantage of Denver’s somewhat relaxed attitude and careless errors, exploding out of the blocks and taking half 7-0. Denver’s biggest problem seemed to be themselves: they were having difficulty staying in the game mentally and remembering to take the easiest option at their endzone line. After half time, however, Denver screwed their heads back on and made an enormous comeback, scoring nine points to Cincinnati’s four in the second half. As the horn blew which signified hard cap, Denver was determined to finish strong: a Cutthroat handler put the disc deep to Jackie Turner (#9) which set her up perfectly for a clean, horizontal layout for their final score. Although they were never able to make up the seven-point lead that Cincinnati gained on them in the first half, Denver seemed proud of their impressive comeback, losing the game by a mere two points. 

The championship game between DiscNW and Cincinnati was exciting to watch, even if its result was somewhat predictable (DiscNW won 13-5). Despite the fact that the games they had played thus far were anything but close in score, DiscNW came out as if they had been playing neck-and-neck with every team out there. DiscNW’s defense was on fire: in the first half, the team forced Cincinnati to turn the disc 11 times to secure their 7-0 lead, while turning it just four times themselves. From points 2-0 to 5-0, Seattle Rapture played three perfect defensive points in a row: they immediately forced a turn and scored on offense without allowing Cincinnati possession of the disc. Players Jordan Palmer (#6) and Jaclyn Verzuh (#22) led the way with their unstoppable defense: the former seemed to rip the disc out of her opponents’ hands every time a Cincinnati player threw the disc their way, while the latter got a particularly impressive point block.

Cincinnati was not planning to go down without a fight, however, and amped up their game in the second half. Belle handlers upped the success rate of their long, well-timed forehand puts, while Stefanie Morris (#9) used her high-release flick to throw off the active marks of DiscNW players. Kelsey Gibboney (#18) acted as one of Cincinnati’s main receivers, taking off on some incredible runs down the line to catch deep looks. Taking advantage of their own big throws and the slight wane in DiscNW’s defensive intensity, Cincinnati Belle made a small comeback, scoring three points in a row on Seattle before the latter team was able to end the game 13-5. Although Cincinnati wasn’t able to overcome DiscNW, they seemed appropriately proud of their fight against the reigning champions: they were the only team that was able to score five points on Rapture.

Congratulations to Rapture, the 2012 Youth Club Girls’ Champions, and winners of 8 straight YCC titles!

Memorable Moments:

• Minnesota player Hannah Cowan’s (#16) great in-cut D in their game against TYUL
   
• Colorado player Kaci Cessna’s (#19) layout D in Cincinnati’s endzone
   
• Colorado’s Marcelle Sprackling’s (#43) unstoppable airborne grabs all weekend
   
• The fiercest—and most back-bending—layout grab by DiscNW’s Amanda Somvilay (#9) of the weekend occurring in the championship game 

Final Standings: 1 - DiscNW 2 - Cincinnati 3 - Denver 4 - Minnesota 5 - TYUL  Full Results		Spirit Scores: 4.33 - Cincinnati 4.20 - TYUL 4.00 - Denver 3.67 - DiscNW 3.57 - Minnesota
2012 YCC U-19G Champions: DiscNW  [PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Leclaire UltiPhotos.com] 2012 YCC U-19G Finalists: Cincinnati [PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Leclaire UltiPhotos.com]		Team Spirit Award: Cincinnati [PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Leclaire UltiPhotos.com]    Individual Spirit Award Winners [PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Leclaire UltiPhotos.com]