USA Ultimate

Last weekend, 50 teams descended upon Austin, TX for Women’s College Centex, the largest and most competitive college women’s tournament of the spring season.   Tournament Director Tina Woodings said, “It's exciting to be able to brag that 50 college women’s teams from around the nation attended Centex and that it continues to accommodate all levels of play through different divisions.  The Austin community came out to the event for multiple reasons: some cheered for their Alma mater, high schoolers assisted in running the event as a fundraiser for their USAU sanctioned State High School tournament, and youth girls, who often feel underutilized on their male-dominated teams, gained inspiration for the future.”  With a number of opportunities for competition, development, and community building, the weekend was jam-packed with all aspects of women’s ultimate.

Saturday brought temperatures in the low 90s and the action was exciting across the board.  Pools A and B ended in three-way ties, with upsets happening in seven of the eight Division I and II pools.  Both Michigan and Washington had excellent Saturdays, starting off as the 3 seeds in their respective pools and both going 3-0 en route to Quarterfinals finishes on Sunday.  After a strong showing at Stanford Invite earlier this month, British Columbia had a rough Saturday, dropping to the bottom of their Division I pool, but holding on to beat Pittsburgh in the crossover game to advance into the championship bracket.  The team was without Geneva Locke, and if the Northwest can hold on to their two extra bids, the Thunderbirds should be in fine shape going into May. 

Pools A and B in particular showcased how wide open the college women’s division is this year.  California looked polished in a 15-11 over North Carolina-Wilmington, only to lose 15-3 to California-Santa Barbara in the very next round.   In Pool B, North Carolina-Chapel Hill barely scraped out a win against Texas in the first round, lost 15-10 to Stanford, and then beat Oregon in the last round on universe point before falling to Tufts in the crossover.  It was certainly a thrilling day of ultimate giving teams a breadth and depth of experience to take into the Series.

The story of the weekend was Tufts, who started as a 2 seed in a Division II pool and won big games against North Carolina, Carleton College, Washington, and Iowa to finish 3rd.  Captains Anna Chute and Laura Glassman, as well as former Junior Worlds standout Claudia Tajima, lead a very impressive Tufts squad in their first outdoor tournament of the year.  They will be a team to watch for the remainder of the season, as they need to win a New England Region that will likely only have one bid to the College Championships.

The Division III teams also had a number of exciting games, with some younger teams and B teams traveling great distances to participate in Centex.  South Florida captain Danielle Renzi said, “As a team that is only in its third year, Centex was an incredible learning opportunity for South Florida.  Not only were we able to compete with teams from across the country, but we were afforded two fabulous guest coaches.  I can't think of a better way to marry the goals of showcasing elite women's ultimate and developing younger, smaller programs.”  Five teams in Division III were given the opportunity to be guest coached by some of the best club players in the country, pairing competitive games with an enormous development opportunity.

Sunday saw California-Santa Barbara work their way into the Finals with wins over Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Tufts.  Notably, Oregon was without Julia Sherwood and Bailey Zahniser, who will add a ton of firepower to Fugue’s offense when they return.  Freshman Sophie Darch played outstandingly for Fugue over the course of the weekend, taking control of the offense and showcasing pinpoint hucks and break throws to lead the charge for Fugue.  On the other side of the bracket, North Carolina-Wilmington escaped with a pre-quarterfinals universe point win against Northwestern, before beating Stanford and winning another universe point game against Iowa in semis.  California-Santa Barbara and North Carolina-Wilmington are similar teams in that they rely on a few superstars to control the disc and have a solid supporting cast who execute their roles perfectly.  Carolyn Finney and Marie Madaras were virtually unstoppable in the finals, and Alina Warner had several key plays that helped the Skirts take control of the game very early on.  The Skirts went up big and never really looked back, though Seaweed fought back in the second half and was able to mostly trade points.  Jessica Patrick had a great finals game, with some outstanding grabs and key Ds, but Finney and Madaras led the Skirts to their second tournament victory in a row. 

After the finals, Finney said, “Centex was crazy this year with all the upsets it really shows how even the field is this year. While some historically strong teams like Oregon, UNC, and UCLA were missing players there were definitely some unexpected teams stepping up and getting big wins. Tufts coming from Division II to make the semis showed how important tournaments like Centex are that really give so many teams the chance to play top seeded teams which smaller school may not usually get the opportunity to prove that they deserve to.”  With both the quantity and quality of teams in the college women’s division growing steadily, tournaments like Centex give the elite teams a chance to play against the best teams in the country, while also giving up-and-coming teams the opportunity to test their mettle against teams in the next tier up.

With rosters in and one more weekend of the regular season left, anything can happen.  Stay tuned to USA Ultimate for a preview of Keystone Classic, and keep checking the weekly rankings for updates on how the bid race may shake out.

##

Questions/Comments?  Give us your thoughts in this message board discussion thread.