USA Ultimate

Preview of 2011 College Women's Easterns

Women’s College Easterns is making a comeback as one of the most competitive women’s tournaments this season, drawing ten teams that qualified for the USA Ultimate College Championships in 2009 and/or 2010.  Thanks to the hard work of organizers Claire Chastain, Jessica Patrick, Lizzy Pappa, and Michelle Guadagno, Wilmington will be hosting 23 college women’s teams this weekend, a huge improvement from last year’s tournament which was a ten-team tournament that only included two recent Nationals Qualifiers.  UNC-Wilmington captain and Easterns TD Claire Chastain said, "When we started the planning process last fall, I had pretty modest expectations of the strength of teams coming to this tournament, even after getting extra help on board.  I never knew how much of an impact others have had on the women’s ultimate community and the fact that teams were willing to commit to a tournament that's been lackluster the past few years is phenomenal.  We, as the host team, are excited to be able to compete at a high level on our home fields and draw the Wilmington community out to see all the hard work we've been churning out since Nationals last year."

 

UNC-Wilmington has steadily been rising to the top of the women’s division, qualifying for the College Championships in 2009 and finishing 5th at the Championships in 2010.  They are looking to build upon that this year and made an early statement by winning Queen City Tune-Up in February.  They will be looking to replicate that victory at Easterns, but will face stiff competition from a number of teams including top seeds North Carolina, Iowa, and Wisconsin.  On Saturday, UNC-Wilmington will face off against Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and James Madison.  Seaweed will be led by Chastain, Patrick, Sara Casey, and Kelly Tidwell and will come out with all cylinders firing in front of the hometown crowd.  The Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh matchup should be a good preview of an elimination game at Ohio Valley Regionals, with Anna Spiridigliozi leading the offensive charge for Pennsylvania and Kayla Kleynen running the show for Pittsburgh. 

 

In Pool B, North Carolina already has a finals appearance at QCTU as well as a semifinals appearance at Pres Day under their belt, and the pool is theirs to lose.  Top players Leila Tunnell, Lindsay Lang, and Shellie Cohen will be difficult matchups for the other teams in the pool, and should lead the Pleiades to some convincing victories.  Texas will be looking to build on their showing at Pres Day, and with players like Whitney Miller and Janel Venzant gaining valuable club experience in the offseason, they will rely heavily on their speed and athleticism to win games.  Their game against Iowa State will likely be the most interesting one of the pool.  Woman Scorned is anchored by Jasmine Draper, Magon Liu, and Sarah Hoistad, and they will be looking to improve upon their quarterfinals appearance at Midwest Throwdown.  Maryland is reloading this year in the wake of the graduation of nearly a dozen top players.  Sasha Bugler and Katie Nicolato lead the charge for this young team.

 

Iowa, the top seed in Pool C, is fresh off a victory at Midwest Throwdown, and will be making their first trip down to Easterns in a number of years.  Iowa coach Mikey Lun said, "Our main focus for Easterns will be consistency and finishing games. We know we can play at a very high level, but I want to see us sustain it. At MWTD we jumped out to at least a 6-0 lead in 5/7 games, but coasted too much afterwards. We'll have to do so without our star cutter, defender, and arguably our best thrower - Chelsea Twohig, but I'm excited to see who can step up in her absence."  Michigan is another fresh face to Easterns and will be looking to build upon their early-season performance at Pres Day.  Captain AnnaMaria Paruk said, "Moving onto Easterns, we look to improve our team even more.  Playing higher competition many times throughout the season can only help our team in the long run.  We are looking to get this experience under our belt before we hit the Series."  Harvard is a bit of an unknown this year, losing some key players, including Jenny Wang, to graduation after their appearance at Nationals.  Quasar will certainly add a bit of regional diversity to this pool, which also features local team North Carolina State.

 

In Pool D, Wisconsin will be looking to continue developing this year’s team identity.  Their success will likely depend upon whether Emelie McKain and Al Ellis will be back from injury, and the team will rely on other players such as Rachael Westgate, Sara Scott, Jenny Gaynor, and Rebecca Enders to carry the load for the team.  Up-and-comer Virginia and strong regional forces Yale and Notre Dame will be interesting teams to keep tabs on. 

 

Crossover games at the end of Saturday will give the top Division II teams the opportunity to play into a higher bracket on Sunday. Swarthmore and Towson will lead the pack.  Swarthmore will be looking to make their return to the D-III College Championships this year, led by standout Kara Stoever.  Towson already has quality wins over Penn State and NYU, and will look to make a splash at this tournament.

 

The forecast looks beautiful for the weekend, and many teams will be kicking off their spring break in Wilmington.  Stay tuned to USA Ultimate for interviews and a full recap next week!