Recap: 2011 College Women's Regionals (New England)
Anna Chute, Laura Glassman, Amber Sinicrope, Dory Ziperstein
Posted: May 11, 2011 11:28 AM
This recap is split between four authors, Anna Chute covering D-I (with help from Dory Ziperstein and Laura Glassman), and Amber Sinicrope covering D-III.
Division I
The 2011 USAU New England D-I College Women's Regionals in Hanover, NH featured two days of beautiful weather, good spirit, and tough competition. At the end of the weekend, Tufts claimed the top spot, earning the single bid to D-I College Nationals in Boulder, CO.
Almost all teams held seed during pool play games on Saturday, with the only upset occurring in Pool A with a 13-8 victory by BU over Harvard. BU came out strong, using zone to test the throws and fatigue of the handlers, and the legs on man D to pressure Harvard. With precise throws and hucks from handlers Meredith Duffy and Dory Ziperstein to Tracy Snyder and Jess Ziemek downfield, BU came out on top, defeating 2010 Nationals contenders 13-8. The win motivated BU for the rest of the day, who proceeded to beat UMass 15-5 in the pre-quarters to earn a spot in Sunday’s bracket play. The other pre-quarter games on Saturday featured narrow victories of BC over MIT (11-10) and Brown over Harvard (13-12), resulting in BC, Vermont, Brown, and BU advancing to the second day of Regionals to play the top four seeds.
Due to the single-elimination play Sunday, teams fought hard through every point to keep their seasons going, and both Dartmouth and Tufts experienced challenging first games on Sunday against Vermont and BC. BC came out hard against Tufts, and Junior Kara Hammer and sophomore Katie Meehan drove their offense, making big throws, coming down with impressive grabs, and executing quick cuts that kept the Ewo on their toes. The score oscillated as the two teams traded points, until Tufts came back from being down 6-7 to take half 8-7. After half, Tufts was better able to contain BC’s offense, breaking away to end the game with a 15-9 victory.
Matched up in semifinals were Tufts vs. Dartmouth, and Middlebury vs. Northeastern.
Tufts was able to contain Dartmouth’s offense, relying on smart matchups and aggressive defense to contain fast cutters Emma Frankel, Kristina Chambers, and Katie de laRosa. Propelled by active sidelines and fans, Dartmouth played hard through every point. However, Tufts again took ownership of the second half, defeating Dartmouth 15 to 7. Coming off a 15-5 win over BU in the quarters, Middlebury matched up against the Northeastern Valkyries for semis. Earlier in the season, Midd and NE played each other at Keystone Classic, with Midd coming out on top with a 11-9 win. Midd and Northeastern had similar strategies at Regionals, trying to connect with deep cutters deep and throwing zone to switch up their defense. Northeastern put up a good fight against Midd, but were unable to stop the Pranksters who advanced to the finals with a 15-9 win over Northeastern.
Now required to wear uniforms for the finals, the Pranksters shed their flair and suited up in bright pink jerseys to play against the Ewo. Matched up in the finals for the second year a row, both teams were aware that the final game would determine who will represent New England in Boulder. Looking to avenge last year when Tufts fell to Middlebury 8-9 on universe point after taking half at 8-6, the Ewo lost no time getting focused.
Tufts started the game off strong and took an early 4-1 lead. Midd connected on a big flick huck to bring the score to 4-2. Midd relied heavily on talented players Lexi Zalk and Carllee “Foxy” James on offense, connecting on deep throws and around breaks in order to score against Tufts’ tight man defense. Midd tried to challenge Tufts defensively with a 4-man cup, but Tufts continued to score almost every O point due to minimal wind, patient offense, and accurate over the cup hucks. Tufts maintained their slight lead, again ending the first half with a 8-6 lead.
Midd started out on offense during the second half. Both teams continued to trade points until midway through the second half when Tufts was able to earn multiple breaks, bringing the score to 14-10. Midd scored once more, making the count 14-11. Receiving the pull, Tufts patiently worked the disc down the field and ended the game with a pass from Jess Madding to Claudia Tajima.
Returning to Nationals after a 4-yr break since the Ewo qualified in 2006 and 2007, Tufts is excited to play against the top teams in the country in Boulder. Tufts hopes to represent New England well and make some noise at Nationals!
Division III
With 4 bids to Nationals on the line, and only 8 teams in the tournament--many of which had yet to play each other this spring--every team in the NE Region had a good chance at sneaking away with a ticket to Buffalo. Despite the almost predictive seeding (only upset of the weekend was Brandeis’ multiple victories over Bentley) the weekend was not without extremely contested games and some unbelievable comebacks on a very pleasant Mother’s Day weekend in Williamstown.
Williams vs Bentley. PHOTO CREDIT: WUFA Ultimate
Saturday:
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Pool A:
(3-0) A1 Williams
(2-1) A3 Brandeis
(1-2) A2 Bentley
(0-3) A4 Bates
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Williams breezed their way through Pool A outscoring their opponents 45-9 to secure a bid to Nationals going in to Sundays Championship bracket. Rachel Kessler attributed Williams’ efficient play to their consistent handler flow throughout the day.
The story of the day in pool A was Brandeis’ upset of Bentley in round two. After going down 0-2 Bentley powered to a 5-2 lead thanks to the dominant cutting of Kara Smith and #1. Brandeis refused to roll over however, pushing back for an 8-6 half-time lead. A drawn out second half, with many long turnover laden points resulted in a 13-9 hard cap win for the Banshees.
In a last round battle, Brandeis and Bates battled it out in a very even game. A key break for the lead at 7-5 propelled Brandeis forward to an eventual 15-13 win, and a second place finish in pool A. Captain Lauren Reibstein credited Bates’ athleticism as keeping them in the game, despite being a newer and inexperienced program.
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Pool B:
(3-0) B1 Smith
(2-1) B2 Wellesley
(1-2) B3 Bowdoin
(0-3) B4 Colby
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Pool B was full of closely contested games and several exciting comebacks, as all four teams were prepared to fight it out to finish the day with a bid to nationals already in hand going into Sunday.
Featuring the consistently handling of Christina “Noodle” Chin and Laura "Stevies" Stevens, as well as the explosive cutting and defensive spark of Sienna “Balto” Laughton, Wellesley breezed through first round action with a decisive 15-4 victory over Colby. On the next field Bowdoin was proving themselves a very dangerous team to watch out for. Having had both their spring tournament opportunities cancelled due to weather, Chaos was fired up to get out of Maine and bust out from under the radar. After going down 4-8 to Smith, Bowdoin eked out a brutal back and forth 20+ minute point out of half. With momentum in their favor Chaos went on a run that resulted in back and forth second half. A very intense game with aggressive man defense and impressive clean offensive flow and hucks on both sides, ended with a 14-11 hard-cap victory for Smith. Phoebe “Goose” Aron and Leah Wang were clutch for Bowdoin getting countless stall 9 resets for the Chaos offense, while Liz “mystique” Leon’s sticky hands and aggressive cutting kept the disc moving down-field. Smith’s offense featured great deep cutting by Hanna Mogensen, “Liger” Lyons and Jenny “J-Wow” Podel and a strong defensive effort from Annie Baierl.
The second round showed clear fatigue from the first round action. Uncharacteristic turnovers by Bowdoin’s strong handler core coupled with some tough injuries to key cutters resulted in a lopsided 15-6 victory by the Whiptails. Smith fought its way through some points to eventually pull away for the 15-9 victory over a speedy Colby team.
The last round showcased a classic “sister school” battle as Smith and Wellesley met in the highly anticipated “game to go.” It had been several years since the two teams played each other and the first couple points were an opportunity to test out the waters on both sides. Despite losing captain Annie Baierl to injury Smith started out strong. Continually switching up the defense Luna kept the Wellesley on their toes and never let the Whiptails establish much of a rhythm on offense. After taking half 8-6 Smith continued to pull away to 14-9 with a memorable clutch layout d by Mera Hoddinott. Wellesley countered with unstoppable cutting by the speedy lefty “Balto.” With a nationals bid a point away, it was apparent Smith got a case of the jitters with several over-eager deep hucks and uncharacteristic drops that resulted in a three point run by the gritty and aggressive Wellesley, who refused to give up. After taking a deep breath on the line with the score 14-12, Smith worked the disc the full length of the field, and a backhand break from Amber Sinicrope to Alexis Roehrich finally clinched the official bid to nationals for Luna.
The other last round game in the B pool was an even crazier one. After losing to Bowdoin 6-12 at conferences several weeks prior, Colby marched out to a seemingly dominant 14-10 lead over the exhausted and injury ridden Chaos. Bowdoin finally snapped out of their funk battling back to take the game 16-14 on a huge huck from “Goose” to Katie Blizzard to seal the comeback win. Sadie Nott was a major cutter for Chaos scoring many of the goals in the impressive 6 point run.
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Sunday:
Championship Final: Smith vs. Williams
The New England Regional Finals were a rematch of the South New England Conference Final between Smith and Williams. Fired up to avenge their 10-13 lost to Wufa from the previous weekend Smith came out strong, despite still missing senior captain Baierl. With an aggressive trap-zone defense and consistent deep offense, Luna powered through to a commanding 8-3 halftime lead. Out of half however, Williams proved their experience in high-pressure games by making several defensive strategic adjustments to go on a 12-1 run, taking the game, and the Regional Championship, 15-9. Despite a strong first-half showing from Smith, that featured the composed handling of Seneca Gray and Hoddinott and the consistent cutting of Mogensen and Lyons, Luna’s big-game inexperience showed as they were never able to regain their confidence on the offensive end. The second half highlighted the impressive skills of Williams’ handler duo Claire Baecher and Kessler, and the defensive spark of Beryl Manning-Geist. Despite the two lopsided halves it was a close competitive game throughout with many long back and forth points that were hotly contested with bids and D’s on both sides. Recapping the game Wufa captain Manning-Geist noted, “Smith came out for the championship game ready to play, and we were caught on our heels against some consistent and smart playing. We revamped both our defensive and offensive strategies at half and were able to turn things around. It was a game that highlighted some great ultimate, spirit, and competitiveness from both sides.”
2nd Place Bracket: Brandeis vs Wellesley
Brandeis’ upset of Bentley on Saturday earned them a spot in the game to go with Wellesley. Despite the ever-solid handling of Reibstein, the dominant cutting and catching of Vicky Negus and the consistent strong defense of Tracie Shing, Wellesley’s polished offense and quick speed over-matched Brandeis. An 8-3 halftime Whiptails lead was extended to a 15-7 victory and nationals bid clenched.
2nd Place Bracket: Smith vs. Wellesley
Second day, second match of the day, to determine 2nd seed from New England. Wellesey and Smith faced each other again after Smith’s close win over Wellesley in pool play. Although both teams had already punched their tickets to the big show, each knew the importance placement would weigh on seedings for Nationals. Building off the moment of their qualifying win over Brandeis, Wellesley started strong going out to a 3-0 lead. Smith fought back, and the two teams traded points until Wellesley took half 8-6. In the second half the two teams continued to battle, with Wellesley managing to pull ahead 12-8 led by repeated amazing D’s and vicious cuts by “Balto.” Smith picked up their game thanks to the intensity of their scrappy and tireless zone defense, going on a five-point run to go up 13-12 on the Whiptails. Wellesley brought it right back with two points in a row to be up once more 14-13 only to have Luna tie it up again at 14s. The soft cap went on making it a game to 16 as Smith went up 15-14 and scored what would have been the winning goal. A violation took the back the point however, allowing Wellesley to go back the other way and tie it at 15s. With the hard cap on Smith took universe point with a floaty forehand huck from Lyons to Podel deep in the end-zone to end a highly aggressive and incredibly well-spirited game.
4th Place Bracket: Bentley vs Colby
Bentley started off Sunday morning strong against Colby, defeating the Dazzling Asses 15-6 with hustling man defense and an effective ho stack offense.
4th Place Bracket: Bowdoin vs Bentley
Due to a forfeit by Bates, Bowdoin had a bye into the second round of the 4th place bracket. After beating Colby five Bentley players had to leave due to personal circumstances, resulting in a savage line-up against the rested but still very beat-up, and down a couple key cutters, Bowdoin. The Bentley captains noted that despite the lack of substitutes they were determined to work their hardest and play with intensity. They credited their end-zone offense and strategic timeouts as being key in getting them easy scores throughout the day. Bentley also relied on their infamous aggressive zone defense to make the Bowdoin handlers’ lives tough, getting some defensive blocks and clogging up the middle of the field despite Julie Bender’s tireless midfield popping and impressive catches for Chaos. The game was very back and forth with several ties and lead changes. Soft cap went on with Bowdoin down 10-12. A huge layout grab by Rachel Herter and a final push from Chaos tied the game up at 13-13s. Bentley was eventually able to pull out the universe point win on an exciting end-zone play by Kara Smith placing them into the backdoor final for the 4th, and last, bid to Nationals.
4th Place Bracket: Bentley vs. Brandeis
The 4th place final was a rematch of the previous day’s close pool play game between Bentley and Brandeis. As both teams are unable to attend Nationals due to Graduation scheduling weekend, the game was anti-climatic as Brandeis slowly pulled away from the still savage and spent Bentley for a 15-7 victory. Despite an exciting weekend for Brandeis their bid to nationals will now be re-allocated to another region, allowing a different waitlisted team to attend Nationals in two weeks.
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Questions/Comments? Discuss in this event discussion thread (D-I) or this event discussion thread (D-III).
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