USA Ultimate

Women's Division Great Lakes Regionals Preview

This weekend marks the final stop on the way to the USAU College Championships for 12 women’s teams from the Great Lakes Region.  Between the 12 teams in attendance, only two can advance to the Championships in Boulder, CO taking place the last weekend in May. 

This weekend is sure to produce exciting play from all of the teams, especially considering April weather in this region.  As of Tuesday, it looks to be raining on both Saturday and Sunday with approximately 15mph winds.  When asked about the weather, Illinois State captain Colleen McGuire said, “When it is really windy, we really are not fazed until we actually go in to the flip. Win or lose the flip though, we know we have the potential to work it up wind.  It takes focus and a lot of patience, and we have both.”  Michigan State Infamous has the same mentality, “The weather is always a factor in any tournament and we don't expect Regionals to be any different.  Wind, rain, and maybe even snow seems pretty common so we're ready for anything.”

Michigan and Northwestern are ranked first and second respectively heading into the weekend.  Both teams are returning many players from last year including 5 from last year’s First and Second All-Region teams.  Michigan Flywheel had a strong showing at Centex placing 5th while Northwestern Gungho placed 3rd at both Queen City Tune Up and Midwest Throwdown.  However, Notre Dame and other teams are looking to take down these opponents.  Notre Dame captain Molly Thompson stated, “Our team is starting to peak at the right time, and we hope this can carry over into Regionals.  If we keep playing well as a team, then we think we have a solid shot at Nationals”.  Look for Molly Thompson, Amy Bilek, and Colleen Harris to anchor this team throughout the weekend.

Kalamazoo and North Park, Division III teams, will be playing alongside the DI teams this weekend.  When asked about playing among these teams, Kalamazoo captain Cody Musselman said, “Our team got its start four years ago and since then we've made great strides!  To have made it to D-I Regionals and represent our school is an honor.  As a new team we are always looking for ways to learn and improve, playing at D-I Regionals will expose us to a higher level of Ultimate than we are used to playing and will be inspiring as we continue to grow as a team.” 

Looking at the breakdown, Pool A consists of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois State, Loyola-Chicago, Purdue, and Notre Dame-B while Pool B has Northwestern, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Illinois, North Park, and Kalamazoo.  Pool B looks to have the tougher matchups with the scrappiness of Notre Dame and Michigan State and the fact that Illinois beat Northwestern in a game in the Conference Championships.  However, Indiana, Illinois State, and Loyola-Chicago have also played each other throughout the season and know what to expect.  Indiana has a lefty handler who looks to put it to one of the Jane’s favorite receivers in Katie Dyer.  

If everything goes according to seed, Michigan and Northwestern will face each other in the finals.  This matchup will come down to Northwestern’s polished vertical stack offense driven through their handlers versus Michigan’s strong cutters and persistent defense.  However, knowing the weather and the region, anything can happen.  Look for some upsets along the way, including the bracket play on Sunday.  Even though there are two bids to Nationals, no one is safe and each team needs to step up to make it to the big dance.

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Questions/Comments?  Discuss in this event discussion thread. 

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