USA Ultimate

		2011 Club Championship Previews: Masters Preview (Spillum)  Mixed Preview (Ziv) Open Preview (Toner) Women's Preview (Levine) Pool A Pool B Pool C Pool D Seven to Watch Dark Horse Upset Watch Games to Watch

The women's division is experiencing an incredible amount of parity amongst its middle-tier teams this year. Because of this, every pool is incredibly deep; it is almost impossible to predict just who will come out on top.  Because of this, pool upsets are almost guaranteed. Read below for predictions on this upcoming weekend:

 

Pool A

	Fury	Nemesis	Brute Squad	DeSoto
It will be difficult to for any team to upset Fury in pool play, a team that has won the National Championship for the past five consecutive years. That being said, they will certainly be up against some tough competition. Brute Squad lost to Fury by a mere two points at ECC (15-13), after having lost to them earlier in the season; watch out for a hard fought game in their head-to-head on day one. Nemesis beat Brute Squad by a mere two points at Virginia Fusion; this will almost certainly be another very close game, perhaps even resulting in an upset. DeSoto, it seems, has nothing to lose: having never matched up with any of the teams in their pool this year, they can only go up from where they are seeded. *Pool winner prediction: *Fury.

 

Pool B

	Traffic	Showdown	Capitals	Bent
This is a pool that will definitely see at least one closely contested game. The game to watch in this pool is clearly the Traffic/Capitals game, which is set to occur on the first day of the tournament. Capitals beat Traffic twice at the Canadian Ultimate Championships to win it all, and so it is certainly possibly that Capitals will be able to pull off a big win against Traffic again. At the same time, however, Traffic has grown a lot since the CUC, boasting only two losses to Riot and Fury since then. Showdown has not seen any of the teams in its pool this season, but have continuously done well; it is certainly possible, however, that Capitals will be able to upset them, perhaps especially if they are riding off energy from beating Traffic. Bent has had some had tough losses to Capitals, losing to them 15-0 and 11-1 during the season; will they be able to break seed, despite their previous losses? *Pool winner prediction:* Capitals

Pool C

	Riot	Phoenix	Ozone	RevoLOUtion
Pool C is one that seems to have the least potential for big upsets, although it is certainly possible that some reshuffling will occur. Riot, a notoriously strong team, has beaten Phoenix soundly twice this season (15-5, 13-6) and beaten Ozone and RevoLOUtion once (15-3 and 15-6, respectively), and so it will take a lot of determination and energy to beat them. The game between Phoenix and Ozone will be a close one; each team has lost to each other during the season, and it will be interesting to see whether Ozone will have what it takes to beat Phoenix. RevoLOUtion is a wildcard: the team has not consistently competed against top-tier teams, but has gained some particularly skilled players this year who will undoubtedly work to contest all of the teams seeded above it. *Pool winner prediction:* Riot

 

Pool D

	Molly Brown	Scandal	Safari	Further
Pool D includes both the fourth and fifth seeded teams--Molly Brown and Scandal--which will undoubtedly make for an incredible game. Molly Brown has had an ultimately successful season, but one that has been up and down: they dealt with some tough losses to Fury, Riot, and Phoenix, and only beat Scandal at Virginia Fusion by three points (14-11). Will Scandal, a team that suffered at Virginia Fusion but played extremely close games with both Riot and Fury earlier in the season (13-15 and 12-15, respectively), be able to beat Molly Brown? Further has a particularly small roster--they are only bringing 14 players to Sarasota--but it will be interesting to see how they match up against Safari, a team that just barely lost to Molly Brown at Southwest Club Women's Regionals (12-15). *Pool winner prediction: *Scandal

Seven To Watch 

Robin Fennig (#44) RevoLOUtion		A playmaker with big hucks
Leila Tunnell (#18) Phoenix		2011 Callahan winner with huge hucks and incredible on-field poise.
Enessa Janes (#7) Molly Brown		Insanely athletic, knows how to win, and is returning to the Women's division after taking some time off.
Ashlee Davison (#5) Traffic		Huge in the air and incredibly fast.
Margalit Gould (#15) Scandal		Able to pull team together in pressured situations.
Amber Sinicrope (#10) Brute Squad		Intense young player with elite experience.
Georgia Bosscher (#19) Fury		Another intense playmaker with the ability to get things done on the field.

Dark Horse(s)

The dark horse of the tournament could very well be RevoLOUtion. Bestowed with some key players, some of them new to the team--including Jasmine Draper, Robyn Fennig, and Kami Groom--the team certainly has potential to win some big games, if not make it to the quarters. Scandal--a skilled, confident, and determined team looking to further prove themselves--might prove to be a surprise as well; it isn't difficult to imagine them making it to the semifinals and beyond.

Upset Watch

Molly Brown, the fifth-seeded team with a strong but perhaps slightly inconsistent record this season, seems to be most likely upset by Scandal, the fourth seed in a pool play game. Watch out for some intense athleticism and determination on both sides.

It is also certainly possible that Capitals will upset Traffic in pool play, considering that they have beaten Traffic twice already this season and thus know how to win against them.

Games To Watch

			Molly Brown vs Scandal: the highly anticipated 4th-5th seed  pool play game.
			Capitals vs. Traffic: a CUC rematch which could result in a big upset.
			Phoenix vs. Ozone: finally settling the score