USA Ultimate

Women’s College Easterns, one of the country’s most competitive mid-season tournaments took place this past weekend.  Warm weather made for an awesome tournament, with many teams kicking off a week of spring break in beautiful Wilmington.  The tournament played host to a number of nationally competitive teams, as well as provided an opportunity for more locally and regionally competitive teams to have the opportunity to both compete against and watch some of the best teams in the division.  UNC-Wilmington captain Jessica Patrick said, “Hosting a tournament that attracted high caliber teams who are in contention for the college championships not only means good competition for our region and program, but also provided Wilmington with a sense of pride that we were able to accommodate these types of teams.”

UNC-Chapel Hill captain Lindsay Lang expressed similar sentiments, “As an Atlantic Coast women's player, it's fantastic to see so many top teams coming to the east coast for a high quality tournament. Tournaments like Easterns and Midwest Throwdown do an excellent job of generating local interest for good ultimate, and it's important that we begin to develop east coast equivalents to Pres Day and the Stanford Invite.”  Easterns attracted the top teams in the new Atlantic Coast Region in host team UNC-Wilmington, cross-state rival UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, Virginia, and Maryland, and also attracted teams such as Wisconsin, Iowa, Pittsburgh, Michigan, and Texas from across the country.

All of the top seeds in Division I held seed in pool play on Saturday, with UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Chapel Hill, Iowa, and Wisconsin winning their pools.  UNC-Chapel Hill and Iowa held off Texas and Michigan respectively by a margin of 13-10, while UNC-Wilmington and Wisconsin cruised to easier victories.  Pittsburgh pulled off an upset of Ohio Valley rival Pennsylvania, winning on universe point after being down 9-5.  Kayla Kleynen and Bailey Moorhead played spectacularly for Pittsburgh and will be exciting players to watch come Series time.  North Carolina State and Notre Dame were each able to earn their way into the championship bracket play-in games, but at the end of Saturday, Texas, Michigan, Pittsburgh, and Iowa State all won their play-in games decisively to advance into Sunday quarterfinals matchups against the top seeds.

Division II saw Swarthmore and Towson go undefeated.  Towson lost a heartbreaker to Maryland in their 9th place bracket play-in game, while Swarthmore was able to defeat James Madison to advance to the 9th place bracket on Sunday.  Swarthmore will be looking to make a strong run at a Division III National Championship in May, while Towson continues to build their program and will be looking to make waves in the Atlantic Coast come Series time.  Low-seeded Liberty was able to take a 2-2 record into a play-in game on Saturday as well, quite an accomplishment for a team attending their first college women’s tournament together.  Coach Jason Jarrett said, “After playing seven different teams, the Liberty girls have a much better idea about the level of competition and how we compare. We all enjoyed watching the championship match since it was a great way to see some top level Women's teams compete.  As we are able to grow and obtain more funding, we would love to compete in more tournaments at this level.”

Sunday bracket play saw quarterfinals matchups of North Carolina-Wilmington v. Texas, Wisconsin v. Michigan, North Carolina-Chapel Hill v. Pittsburgh, and Iowa v. Iowa State.  The best game of the round was North Carolina-Wilmington v. Texas, as Texas played some of their best ultimate, even with their coaches and some of their top players unable to make it to Wilmington.  Rookie Kayla Ramirez had 1 assist and 1 goal displaying spectacular athleticism to lead the Texas charge early.  Captain Elise Bjork showcased unstoppable break throws, and Texas used their consistent handler sets and excellent athleticism to battle Seaweed.  Excellent composure from Seaweed led to a 3-point run to win the game and send host team Wilmington to semifinals. 

Semifinals pitted North Carolina-Wilmington v. Wisconsin and North Carolina v. Iowa.  The North Carolina-Wilmington v. Wisconsin game was a rematch of a quarterfinals game at the 2010 USA Ultimate College Championships, and Seaweed was anxious to avenge last year’s loss.  Wisconsin had other ideas though, and Emelie McKain’s unstoppable break throws and Jenny Gaynor’s tireless cutting led to a 8-6 Bella Donna victory.  In the other semifinals game, Iowa took a commanding lead early in the game and never looked back.  Robyn Fennig shredded UNC-Chapel Hill’s zone with her precise over-the-top throws, and Chelsea Twohig provided invaluable skills on both sides of the disc to lead the Saucy Nancy charge.  Both North Carolina teams will be looking to get their revenge against the North Central at the end of the month.  Seaweed’s Patrick said, “It also gave us a good indication of how hard we need to work and what we need to do in order to reach our goal.”  The Atlantic Coast will have two more weeks to prepare for one last opportunity to haul in some strength bids for their region.

Finals saw a rematch of the finals from Midwest Throwdown, featuring Wisconsin v. Iowa.  Play-by-play action was provided via a Twitter feed, and Saucy Nancy broke twice immediately to go up 2-0.  Bella Donna would battle back but at 6-5, Iowa scored twice in a row to take half with a 3 point lead.  Iowa played solidly across the board, with Fennig and Twohig leading the charge, supported by fantastic play from other players like Kelli Parsons and Kristen Appelson.  In the second half, Iowa was able to break the game open and extend their lead, cruising to a 13-7 win.  Iowa coach Mikey Lun said, “We have a tremendous amount of respect for Wisconsin; Emelie McKain and Jenny Gaynor were outstanding for Bella in finals. We're happy with the win, but we know we need to keep improving and can't expect to surprise anyone. I'm especially pleased to see 3 North Central teams finish in the top 5 that included 2 very strong AC teams in UNC and UNCW.”

All eight quarterfinalists will head to Women’s College Centex at the end of the month, and will meet up with all of the best teams from the West Coast in what will be the last regular reason tournament for many teams.  Stay tuned to USA Ultimate for coverage of the event!

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