Ohio Valley Women’s Regionals Preview

At OV Regionals in 2012, Ohio State gave up an average of 3.25 points a game on their way to the win. In 2011, only once did a team even break double digits, when Penn State scored 10 in the Final. Basically, since the Ohio Valley became its own Region, Ohio State Fever has been its unquestioned ruler. The story of this season has a setting no different as we head into Ohio Valley Regionals in Sherrodsville, OH. In fact, it is fair to say this is the strongest Fever has ever been. They certainly are a favorite to take the Region’s lone bid near their hometown, and are likely to run with it.

Cassie Swafford and Paige Soper form one of the country’s strongest duos for Ohio State

For the body of the season, there was only considered one team with the chance to challenge the Columbus women. Pittsburgh Danger has been a team on the verge, earning the 2 seed at last year’s Regionals, and despite a poor pool play showing, managed to make it all the way back to the Final. However, most pundits would probably have pegged them for a better chance of earning a second bid than winning Regionals. An up and down season kept them from doing that and an uneven Conference Champies performance sets them behind the #2 seed, Penn.

1. Ohio State (A1)
2. Pennsylvania (B1)
3. Pittsburgh (B2)
4. Carnegie-Melon (A2)
5. Penn State (A3)
6. Case Western (B3)
7. Ohio (B4)
8. Edinboro (A4)
9. West Virginia (A5)

Pool A: OSU, CMU, PSU, Edinboro, WVU

Pool B: Penn, Pitt, Case, Ohio

Only the 5th team from Pool A is eliminated from contention.

Pool Play

Pool A

#1 seed Ohio State Fever has had a strong season so far and there is no evidence they will be slowing down. They have only lost games to teams in the hunt for bids to the College Championships, have never been blown out (largest margin of defeat: 5 in a loss to Virginia), and have a bevy of marquee wins. They’ve seen little in region competition, but trounced everyone – including Pitt a couple of times – in the fall season and gave up only seven points in their four games at Conferences. Earlier in the season, with star cutter Cassie Swafford recovering from injury, others had to step up downfield and on defense, such as transfer Jenny Perry, Lauren Franke, and freshman phenom Nina Finley. With star handler and Skyd Five Callahan selection Paige “Diddy” Soper nursing a few injuries, other handlers – Caitlin Harley and Janine Walker, primarily – were asked to carry a heavier load. The result, with Swafford and Soper both ready to go – is a team with starpower and depth. They’re also well rounded and focused. For Fever, anything less than domination is not an option.

Freshman Nina Finley has become an important weapon in Fever’s arsenal

#4 seed Carnegie-Mellon Money Melons are coming into this weekend with some momentum. They upset Pittsburgh, 11-5, at Conferences, a huge boost of confidence. It was their first major success since an undefeated win of Steakfest, but they’ve maintained steady wins since that point in their season. They don’t need to beat Ohio State Saturday, but they’ll want to stay on top of their game come their end of day matchup with…

#5 seed Penn State Isis was considered one of the teams to watch in the Region early in the year. They beat Virginia in the Fall season, took a three point loss to them early in the Spring, and notched wins over Penn and JMU. On the flip side, Isis has been blown out by Pitt three times, blown out by Penn, and lost games to Case Western and Edinboro. Captains Chelsea Allen and Regina Wilkinson will look to correct these consistency issues – and to lead by example – in Sherrodsville.

#8 seed Edinboro has had a tough season, but has to feel like they can run with anybody after their Champies victory over Penn State. They did what they needed to to qualify for Regionals, but it’ll be a challenge to make an impact on any of the Region’s top talent.

The final team is #9 seed West Virginia WHUT. They come in with a 1-1 record against Edinboro and a solid showing vs. Carnegie-Mellon, both from Conferences. If they can push a higher seed or top Edinboro, it has to be considered a successful weekend for WHUT.

Pool B

#2 seed Penn Venus earned their high seed with an undefeated performance at Pennsylvania Conferences, only really pushed in a double game point win over Pittsburgh. They add that to a resume that includes a win over NYU and an 8-4 record since Winta Binta Vinta Fest. Alanna Tievesky (Ambiguously Grey), Jackie Wang (7 Express), and Bernadette Hsu (a team captain) provide a lot of the firepower, experience, and leadership Venus will be relying on if they want to make noise in Ohio.

It is a rebound weekend for #3 seed Pittsburgh Danger. This team isn’t unaccustomed to responding to adverse performances. Their struggles at QCTU didn’t stop them from putting on a strong Easterns. I don’t think anybody will look past them; this is still a team with two wins over UNC-Wilmington & Michigan, and wins over Northwestern, Florida, and Texas. They played to within two points versus Ohio State at QCTU as well. Captain Sydney Huerbin sets the tone for this team with her defensive intensity, buoyed by fellow Captain Katelyn Loughery, former Flywheel leader Kelsey DeLave, and Lucy Bender. If Coach Jake Christian can help them find the discipline their performance has lacked, there isn’t a team better equipped to upset Fever.

Danger’s Carly Brog makes a nice layout grab

#6 seed Case Western Lady Gobies are still a team to watch from their low seed. Mostly, they don’t have a lot of results, but they already have victories over Penn State and JMU to their name. Conversely, they’ve also lost to both of those same teams. They had no issues at Conferences, save getting run over by OSU, so it’ll be interesting to see how they stack up. Libby Lehman is likely to lead them to break seed.

#9 seed Ohio Stacked is still a growing program, but this season has been a little bit of a step back from their success last season. This tournament, however, is the one that matters, so success here is what will be remembered.

Predictions

Pool Play

Pool A: Ohio State, Penn State, Carnegie-Mellon, Edinboro, West Virginia

Pool B: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Case Western, Ohio

Quarters

Ohio State over Ohio

Penn over Carnegie-Mellon

Case Western over Penn State

Pittsburgh over Edinboro

Semis

Ohio State over Penn

Pittsburgh over Case Western

Final

Ohio State over Pittsburgh

Final Thoughts

It is hard to see anyone giving Fever a tough game, let alone beating them. Their dominance at last year’s Regionals shows that, when it comes to the Ohio Valley, they show no mercy. Pittsburgh’s talent level and experience against high level competition should prepare them for the tight games they’ll need to win to make the Final.

Early Regionals Picture

Regionals is coming. Teams everywhere are preparing for war. They have already earned their place among the contenders, this past weekend and the weekend prior. Forsaking those who will decline bids and consequently the others who will accept them, here’s who earned bids to Regionals:

Atlantic Coast

Open: North Carolina, UNC-Wilmington, Appalachian State, Clemson, South Carolina, NC State, Maryland, Georgetown, George Washington, John Hopkins, Delaware, Virginia, James Madison, Virginia Tech, William & Mary, George Mason

Women’s: UNC-Wilmington, North Carolina, South Carolina, Clemson, Appalachian State, Maryland, Towson, American, Delaware, Georgetown, George Washington, Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison, VCU

Great Lakes

Open: Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, Kentucky, Illinois, Illinois State, Eastern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, Northwestern, Southern Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Eastern Michigan, North Park, Winner of EGL-Dev

Women’s: Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan-B, Northwestern, Illinois State, Illinois, Chicago, Loyola-Chicago, Northwestern-B

Metro East

Open: NYU, Princeton, Columbia, Rutgers, SUNY-Stonybrook, Hofstra, Cornell, SUNY-Buffalo, Queens-Kingston, Syracuse, RIT, Cornell-B, Rutgers-B, Connecticut, Yale, Central Connecticut State

Women’s: NYU, Yale, Columbia, Hofstra, Princeton, Central Connecticut St., Rutgers, Ottawa, Rochester, Cornell, SUNY-Buffalo, Syracuse, Cornell-B, TCNJ, Hamilton

New England

Open: Tufts, Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Vermont, New Hampshire, Salem St., Brown, UMass, Williams, Rhode Island, Dartmouth, Tufts-B, Harvard-B

Women’s: Tufts, Northeastern, MIT, Boston College, Harvard, Boston University, Dartmouth, Vermont, Middlebury, New Hampshire, Brown, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine

North Central

Open: Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Eau Claire, Marquette, Luther, Northern Iowa, Iowa St., Nebraska, Iowa, Nebrasksa-Omaha, Wisconsin-B

Northwoods Conference has been postponed once more

Women’s: Wisconsin, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Stevens Point, Marquette, Iowa St., Iowa, Carleton, Minnesota, Northern Iowa, Nebraska, Luther

Northwest

Open: Whitman, Montana, Washington State, Boise State, Montana State, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Victoria, Western Washington, Oregon-B, Washington-B

Women’s: Montana, Oregon, British Columbia, Washington, Victoria, Western Washington, Whitman, Pacific Lutheran

Ohio Valley

Open: Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio State, Case Western, Dayton, Wright State, Kent St., Pittsburgh, Penn State, Carnegie-Melon, Shippensburg, Penn, St. Joseph’s, Millersville, West Chester, Kenyon

Women’s: Ohio State, Case Western, Ohio, Toledo, Miami (OH), Penn, Carnegie-Melon, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Edinboro, West Virginia, West Chester, Shippensburg

South Central

Open: North Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Wash U, Kansas St., St. Louis, Central Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas St., Texas-B, Colorado, Colorado College, Colorado State

Women’s: Missouri St., Kansas, Wash U, St. Louis, Texas A&M, Texas, TCU, Rice, North Texas, Colorado, Colorado State, Colorado College

Southeast

Open: Alabama, LSU, Tulane, Auburn, Southern Miss, Mississippi St., Central Florida, Florida State, Florida, South Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Kennesaw St., Georgia Southern, Florida-B

Heard Tennessee might be dropping. If this is the case, next in line would be Vanderbilt from Gulf Coast.

Women’s: Vanderbilt, Central Florida, Florida State, Florida, South Florida, Florida State-B, Georgia, Emory, Georgia Tech, Georgia State

Hearing of a couple of teams dropping. South Florida and Georgia Tech may both not be going, and that could also happen to Florida State-B. I expect Tulane and Auburn will join the field (assuming Tennessee declines a bid).

Southwest

Open: Arizona State, Arizona, Stanford, Las Posits, UC-Davis, California, UC-Santa Cruz, Chico State, San Diego State, UC-San Diego, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, Azusa Pacific, Pomona, UC-Irvine, Long Beach

Women’s: Arizona State, Stanford, Sonoma State, California, Humboldt, UC-Davis, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego, UCLA, San Diego State, Claremont, Southern California

This coming weekend will have the Atlantic Coast, Great Lakes, Metro East, Southeast, North Central Women’s, South Central, and Ohio Valley Regionals. Northeast, Southwest, Northeast, and North Central Open are all May 4th & 5th.

Southeast Women’s: Conference Championship Recap

The three Conferences of the Southeast Region – Gulf Coast, Florida, and Southern Appalachian (SAPP) – all held their Championship tournaments this past weekend. There was plenty we were looking for and some surprises along the way. Here’s a look at each Conference and a preview of expected seeding for Southeast Regionals in Tupelo, MS.

Gulf Coast

With Conference Championships taking place all over the country this past weekend and coming weekend, there’s been lots going on, but rarely is there more at stake than in Gulf Coast Conference. The disparity between talent and bids was notable in Tuscaloosa, as a number of solid Southeast teams had only a single bid between them. Round robin play would take place Saturday and Sunday morning, possibly ending the tournament (if a team went undefeated), or seeding a four team final bracket.

Saturday set the tone for a weekend of surprises. The tournament wasn’t even in the second round before an upset was scored, with #4 seed Vanderbilt VUDU beating #3 seed Alabama Ramma Jamma, 11-8. #2 seed Auburn Tiger Lillies started the weekend with #6 Miss St. and #7 Ole Miss, allowing them to cruise to easy wins. Tulane Muses, the #1 seed and definite favorite, started their weekend against Vandy. After a slow start, Tulane rolled into half with a 7-4 lead and didn’t look back, winning 12-8.

The third round would see Tulane take on the Auburn Tiger Lillies. The Muses would strike hard and fast to go up 3-0. At 4-1, the two teams would gut it out in a long hard point. The Lillies would take it, and with their second point, the momentum. They’d rattle off four more before Tulane could respond, winning another very long point. With Auburn up 7-5, the soft cap would come on. The Tiger Lillies would hold Tulane scoreless in the cap, winning 9-5, and putting them in the driver’s seat for the Conference title.

After a bye, Auburn would go into their game against Alabama in control of their own destiny – win out, take the bid. Ramma Jamma, coming off two games against the last two seeds and a bye, would go hard against Auburn. In a state rivalry game, the Bama ladies would keep their Regional dreams alive, winning 13-11. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt would fight off #5 seed LSU in a 13-10 game, meaning Saturday would end with the top 4 seeds 3-1 and LSU 2-2.

Sunday’s early morning game would pit #6 Miss State vs. #7 Ole Miss. The rain rolled in, making conditions less than enjoyable for all involved. Both teams probably were aching to win this one, but Ole Miss would dominate on their way to a 12-3 victory. Meanwhile, the top four seeds would each play one game against one of the other top four and one game against one of the bottom three seeds. Second round games included a big Tulane win over Alabama, 12-4, and another close loss for LSU, 8-12, at the hands of Auburn. The final pool play round would see Vanderbilt hand Auburn their second loss of the weekend to the tune of 8-4. The shocker would be LSU, who had been knocking on the door all weekend, finally breaking through with a 7-1 win over Bama, knocking them out of contention. LSU would find themselves still in the running as the teams went to the brackets.

The Semifinals had the 5-1 Muses going up against surprising 3-3 LSU, while 5-1 Vanderbilt would do battle with 4-2 Auburn. Tulane jumped out to a big lead against LSU as the rain & wind subsided, waltzing 11-3. Vandy took down Auburn, earning them a spot in the Final and a rematch with Tulane. VUDU would draw first blood, going up 2-0 before Muse Stephanie Hurwitz would bomb a huck to get them on the board. After trading a couple of runs, it would be VUDU who would take half, 7-5. Some highlight reel plays marked the early second half, with Vandy going up 9-6. Things would slow down a little bit, a lot of calls and discussion taking place on the field, perhaps the pressure of what was at stake setting nerves on edge. A long point would go the Muses’ way to make bring them to just a two point deficit. A huge handblock would get Tulane the disc on the next possession, where they’d use a goal line timeout. However, Vanderbilt would deny the score with critical defense, and a couple of possessions later, went up 10-7. A missed huck from Tulane would give VUDU the disc once more. Tulane would get a D, but it would deflect to a Vandy player, with VUDU punching in the Conference winning score, 11-7.

A VUDU lady is carried off the field like a Gulf Coast Champ after winning the Conference

“Real unfortunate that our section only gets a single bid. Too many of these teams deserve a longer season,” tweeted the Tulane twitter, later adding “Kinda hard to leave the field.” For the second straight season, Tulane would come in the favorite, only to be unseated, with Vanderbilt coming out on top. The tide is rising in the Gulf Coast Conference, the heated competition for bids breeding more resilient and harder working teams. Vanderbilt is a bit of a mystery and it’ll be interesting to see how they fit into the Region in a week and a half.

Florida

The scene in Gainesville, FL differed greatly from Tuscaloosa’s. While seven teams battled for just one bid in the Gulf Coast, Florida had six teams vying for five bids. Still, bragging rights, mental edges, and Regionals seeding were all up for grabs. The tournament itself had some pretty defining tiers coming in: at the top, Central Florida and Florida State would presumably vie for the Conference title and Regionals seeding, where they would be in the mix for a bid to the show; Florida and South Florida would make the next tier, two teams looking to surprise the top tier and best each other. The final tier would be the two B teams, Florida-B and Florida State-B, who would be aiming to defeat one another to win the final bid.

The first round of round robin pool play would see two top tier teams against two middle tier teams: UCF would play Florida while FSU would play USF. The Central Florida Sirens would open up early on Florida FUEL, a trio of breaks digging a quick hole. FUEL would never recover, and UCF would take their first game, 13-5. Florida State Seminole Ladies would have similar success against the South Florida Scallywenches. They’d open with a layout Callahan by Rebecca Williams, obviously a huge statement.They’d add another before half, this time by Caroline Davis, and take half 7-1, on their way to a 13-3 victory. Florida State-B would upset Florida-B, a convincing 13-7 win.

The second round would see the second tier teams blow out the third tier teams while the #1 seed Sirens would get a look at #2 seed Seminole Ladies. Some early breaks would be big for Central Florida, allowing them to control the first half, holding FSU to just three points. Florida State, unsatisfied with their sloppy first half, would clean it up somewhat, but couldn’t overcome the deficit. UCF would beat the Seminole Ladies for the first time this season, 12-7. The next round would pass without upset, though South Florida was able to push Florida before falling, 11-8.

Closing out Saturday, we had one final game of note, a matchup between FSU and UF. Florida is a program not used to being overlooked in their own Conference, but their results coming in did nothing to discourage it. However, the reigning Southeast Region champs made their statement. Undoubtedly behind Jenna Dahl and Jackie Fane – the two names every other team in the Conference knows they have to stop – FUEL was able to shock the Seminole Ladies, winning 11-10.

FSU’s Kari Tomarelli gets up for a score against FUEL (Credit: Caroline Davis)

After a final round of pool play Sunday morning, we’d get into the bracket. Florida State and USF dispatched of the pair of B teams without much trouble. Florida State would get a chance to get revenge on Florida for their Saturday loss and South Florida would get another crack at a UCF machine firing on all cylinders. Central Florida went up early and never let the Scallywenches gain any traction, taking that Semi 13-6. A more rested State squad was also not interested in playing around with Florida, rolling them 13-4, and setting up the expected and anticipated 1/2 Final and 3/4 3rd place game.

Central Florida would open the Final on offense and the teams would trade to 2-1. The Sirens would take the first break for a 3-1 lead. Bogged down by calls, physical play, and rain, the intensity level of the game stayed high. The Sirens would add another break in the half and take it 7-4. With lightning strikes starting to appear, the game was forced to be called and the Conference title awarded to UCF. While that ending may not be dramatic, UCF showed throughout the weekend that they have the potential to dominate. UCF’s Coach Joe Tilley and FSU’s Coach Matt Childs were both having a bit of a chess match, showing some strategies and holding back others, so who is to say what these games mean. It is very possible we are looking at four of the top five teams in the Region.

Southern Appalachian

The SAPP Conference Championships had more in common with Florida’s than the Gulf Coast’s. While the weekend originally had two neat 8-team pools, one team dropped early in the week and another just before the games were played Saturday, leaving a new 6-team round robin with backdoor bracket play to follow. The oddity here was the presence of Georgia College, who as the (now) lone D-III team in the Southeast, would compete and have their scores count, but would not factor into D-I Regionals bids on their way to D-III Nationals. This meant four of the five remaining teams would be headed to Tupelo.

Round one actually had a bit of a bang to start, with #5 seed Tennessee Boss upsetting #2 seed Georgia College Lynx Rufus, 13-11. Both teams have small rosters, so a first round matchup was a well played game that just had Tennessee looking efficient, led by the versatile Rachel Smith. #1 seed Georgia Dawgma, resting legs and protecting their injured rotational players, had one of many cruising games throughout the weekend, beating #3 seed Georgia Tech Wreck 13-5. #4 seed Emory Luna had a close first half with #6 seed Georgia State Vixen, but pulled away in the second, 13-8.

The second round was home to more upsets, and another Dawgma walk, 13-5, over GC(SU, formerly). Luna would see crosstown rival, Tech, who was without a number of key contributors, including All-Region handler Leah Tsinajinnie and Captain Xenia Wirth. The Emory women would jump out early, taking a 7-2 half, much on the back of the defensive play of Abbey Hewitt. However, led by the handling of Ashley Smith, Wreck would claw back in the second, but it would be too big a hole to climb out of, with Luna winning 13-9. Meanwhile, Vixen and Tennessee were battling it out. Both teams rely on a strong handler/cutter duo and a key support player, but Vixen’s use of the break side helped separate them on their way to an 11-9 victory. The final two rounds of Saturday play would see convincing wins from all of the top seeds. Sunday had one final round of pool play, where Tech would beat State 13-4 and Georgia College would fight off an Emory comeback, 13-9.

Two of the region’s top players, Abbey Hewitt of Emory and Leah Tsinajinnie of Georgia Tech, match up

At this point, the bid picture was almost entirely settled. Only an 11:00 AM battle between Georgia State and Tennessee would have a bid on the line. Tennessee, undoubtedly still feeling the previous five games on their short roster, struggled to keep up with a deeper Vixen squad. They’d take the last bid, 13-6. In the Final, Georgia College took it easy in a loss to Dawgma. Emory would beat a reinforced Georgia Tech squad, 11-6. However, both of these teams have a shot at getting hot at Regionals and finishing in the top five. Lynx Rufus would beat Luna in an uninspired placement game, 15-5, while Wreck would do the same to GSU, 15-1.

Georgia Dawgma had an easygoing weekend on their way another SAPP title

Pregionals

Looking back at the Conference Championship weekend that was, I think we can get a pretty good idea of seedings, but not how the results will play out. Most of these teams have knocked each other around enough to leave doubts. Does Florida State’s CC stumble indicate that they, of the big three, are vulnerable to a Regionals upset? Does Florida, a team with plenty of big game experience and a winning culture, have another shocking run in them? It is tough to say. Here’s my initial crack at seeding Southeast Regionals:

1. Georgia Dawgma
2. Central Florida Sirens
3. Florida State Seminole Ladies
4. Florida FUEL
5. South Florida Scallywenches
6. Emory Luna
7. Georgia Tech Wreck
8. Vanderbilt VUDU
9. Georgia State Vixen
10. Florida State Seminole Ladies-B

Dawgma is the top ranked team, by USAU math, and has the head-to-head with Central Florida. UCF is 2-2 vs. FSU and finished ahead of them in Conferences. USF I put ahead of Emory, as USF has two USAU wins over Emory (Emory’s win over them was unsanctioned) and a higher ranking profile. Emory finished above GT at Conferences and beat them twice. VUDU’s wins over Tulane and Auburn should put them above Vixen. If FSU-B drops, which is possible (6 1/2 hours to go to Tupelo), the bid order as I understand it would send another to Tennessee first, Tulane second. Since I don’t think it’d make it past those two and I don’t know what happens after that, we’ll leave it at that. If Tulane draws in, they’d take the #9 seed (yikes, wouldn’t want them as last seed in my pool) and Vixen would be #10 seed. Tulane entering the picture really could change the complexion of the tournament.

What an exciting season the Southeast has had. It all comes down to what happens in Tupelo.

Southern Appalachian Women’s Conference Championship Preview

The region’s largest Conference features the Southeast’s top Dawg as well as some of the other strongest squads. Many of the region’s top highlight reel players will be taking to the beautiful fields of Statesboro to fight for one of the tickets to Regionals, and the best places in the pecking order. The heavy favorite will be UGA’s Dawgma, and some of the drama will be missing with GCSU, one of the most dangerous teams in the Southeast, going to D-III. However, it is hard to tell how Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Emory will shake out, and history says they’ll be playing each other very tight.

The Setup

Seeding

1. Georgia
2. Georgia College
3. Georgia Tech
4. Emory
5. Georgia State
6. Tennessee
7. SCAD

Format

Things will be a bit unusual, as two one of the eight seven teams are going to D-III (GCSU), so there are really six teams vying for four bids. A late drop by another team that was headed D-III altered the format from two pools to a round robin. The D-III situation won’t be a factor till everything wraps up. The seven teams will play in a single pool, with four games and a bye Saturday and two more pool games Sunday. If you place top two in the round robin, you get a bid, and will play in the Final, with the loser of that dropping into a backdoor. The third and fourth place finishers from pool play will compete Sunday, with the winner locking up a spot and playing the backdoor 2nd place game. The loser of the 3/4 game will fall into another backdoor game for the final bid spot.

The Teams

The Favorite – Georgia Dawgma

Georgia Dawgma is the easy favorite in the Conference. Their only game against SAPP competition is a 13-5 FWC win over Emory, but their performance on the national stage certainly puts them a head above the rest. Amble Johnson’s comfort level with his team has reached a maximum in his 5th year with Dawgma. They have veteran leadership, talented young players, and the best top end and depth in the Conference. It’ll be a tall task for anyone to challenge them, even with them protecting themselves for Tupelo. However, we’ve seen them let games slip away from them before, so they’ll have to execute to come away unscathed.

The names are familiar at this point. Lane Siedor, Hannah Leathers, Emily Lloyd, Julia Fuster, Margie Quinn, Courtney Farrell, Katie Franchot, Anraya Palmer, and Kate Hines form a nasty rotation of talent that can put opponents through the ringer without exhausting their legs. It seems unreal, but I feel like Emily Lloyd has flown under the radar this season as more people find out who Lane is. Make no mistake about it, she might be the best cutter in the Southeast. Margie Quinn and Courtney Farrell both have become not only reliable resets, but playmakers in their own right, who can find their athletic cutters with impressive throws. I’m not sure what their health situation looks like – they always seem to have some variety of maladies – but I expect they’ll be nursing a few wounds that will open their rotation some.

The Challengers

Even if they are going D-III, Georgia College Lynx Rufus might be the second best team in the Conference and in the top half of the Southeast as a whole. They run a small 9-10 person rotation, but the talent level within that small group is high and they have great chemistry from their time with one another. They’ll find and expose a matchup whenever they get the chance and will utilize quick disc movement to put opponents on their heels. Marissa Hicks leads this group, a dependable cutter and strong defender who is able to grind out matchups. They don’t always get it done in the prettiest fashion, but they do get it done better than almost everybody they face.

Georgia Tech Wreck would love to score a signature win on their way to Tupelo. They fell a point short of beating Florida at Music City, possibly recalling memories of their Classic City Classic performance, where they fell to Florida by a pair and South Florida by a point. They’ve won more close games than they’ve lost and seem poised to make a move. Leah Tsinajinnie still supplies them with a large percentage of their offensive firepower, with her hucks and breaks, but they’ve put the pieces around her to defend well and rest her. Captains Xenia Wirth and Lily Ponitz are both downfield threats, while Donnya Adjari and Sandhya Srivatsan frustrate opposing cutters. Ashley Brown and Cate Woodhurst give them the additional throwers necessary to punch in short field and fast break scores.

Still looking to push over the hump, University of Tennessee Screw will bring their hard nosed play to Statesboro looking to notch the necessary wins to culminate in a Regionals berth. They took a short roster to Florida Winter Classic and played good games versus South Florida and Williams. However, they struggled at Music City and have displayed inconsistency this season. Rachel Smith is the anchor for this group, a combination of height, speed, explosiveness, and big throws that make her a uniquely difficult matchup. She’ll be aided primarily by Elodie Kruk, who leads their speedy cutting group to get downfield on fast breaks or after Rachel’s initiating cuts.

It has been a long season for Emory Luna, sporting a lot of hard knocks from their 2-13 record. Taking on a very competitive regular season, Luna hopes their challenging competition has best prepared them for not just Conferences, but Regionals as well. They tend to spread out their downfield playmaking with cutters Abbey Hewitt, Meg Harris, Ariella Faitelson, and Caroline Pearson, but a lot of Emory’s offense flows through the hucks of Zina Stavitsky and break throws of Nellie Ochs. They’ve had some impressive performances, but have been hamstrung by consistency issues. If the Luna ladies bring the pieces together in Statesboro, they could do a lot of damage.

The Longshots

The growth of recently formed Georgia State Vixen could finally payoff for them this Series. They were able to push teams all season long at Queen City Tune Up Open, T-Town Throwdown, and Freaknik. With Coach Michelle VanHandel – and some help from her friends – they’ve been polishing their game. Victoria Thompson’s soft break forehand shines in their vertical stack, her veteran handling skills driving their offense upfield. Molly Snipes provides one of the Regions fastest downfield targets, making her a threat to force the turn and immediately strike. Irene Tsinajinnie and Hae Sin continue their upward trends, helping navigate zones used to slow down Thompson and Snipes, while utilizing nice upline cutting in man situations to keep things moving. Their struggles against Regional and Conference opponents are the only things holding me back from putting them as a Contender; they can compete with the teams above them, but doing it all weekend long is a tough ask.

One of two newer squads, the ladies from Savannah College of Art and Design come to (what I believe to be) their first Conference Championships, and have not only gotten in some games already, but seen success. They’ve notched a win over FSU-B and one over Florida-B. They have struggled against the tougher competition in the Region, so expect them to be focusing on trying to play tight games, win hard points, and scoring an upset somewhere.

The other newer squad is Armstrong Atlantic, who I admittedly know almost nothing about. Haven’t seen them, haven’t heard much about them, and only know that they are going D-III and won’t get to, because sadly, they dropped out. Maybe next year, kids!

Predictions

Let’s test my ability to be objective:

Georgia and GCSU finish top two, Georgia wins Conference. Georgia Tech, Emory, and Georgia State take the other bids, in that order.

1. Georgia
2. GCSU (D-III)
3. Georgia Tech
4. Emory
5. Georgia State
6. Tennessee
7. SCAD

Florida Women’s Conference Championship Preview

What the Florida Conference lacks in quantity, they make up for in quality. The conference features two of the Southeast’s brightest national contenders, but it isn’t all top heavy. Behind Central Florida and Florida State are two more of the region’s best teams in Florida and South Florida. With five bids to regionals, the pressure isn’t really on, yet these teams want to not only build momentum for the next level in the Series, but also want to be in the best position for success in Tupelo.

The Setup

Seeding

1. Central Florida
2. Florida State
3. Florida
4. Florida-B
5. South Florida
6. Florida State-B

The Format

A round robin for bracket placement will result in all six teams having a shot on Sunday. The top two seeds will get byes into the Semis.

The Teams

The Favorite – Florida State Seminole Ladies Ultimate Team

The question of who the top team in the Conference is probably won’t be answered until Regionals, but for the favorite in Gainesville, Florida State’s 2-0 record vs. Central Florida wins the day. After putting together one of the strongest years their program has ever seen, they fell just short of earning a third bid to the College Championships for the SE, but as Coach Matt Childs explains, “Ultimately, if you’d told me in January that the Southeast would have 2 bids to Nationals, I’d be ecstatic.” With the bid situation almost guaranteeing them a Regionals berth, the focus is all on that tournament. Champies, for the Seminole Ladies, is about preparing themselves to top out UCF, Florida, and company, developing and honing strategies to counteract their top opponents. Childs also wants to make the easiest road to a Nationals bid as possible, adding, “I would like to finish at least 2nd at conferences so we can avoid playing Georgia in the Semis.”

While FSU’s game has grown more versatile and their roster deeper, it still feels like their offense is operating at its best when Megan Reeves (#17) is shooting up the line and putting up a huge huck. Sarah Clark (#7) has emerged as a big time target for Reeves and her fellow handlers. However, it may be Lauren Collins (#22) that ends up impacting their game the most. No longer is she just a tall and rangy receiver. In part due to her time with mixed club team Sabre Corp, LC has developed fantastic disc skills, in addition to a shutdown defender able to match up with the region’s downfield elite. Add in giant throws from SJ Campbell (#3) and the young, versatile talent of Kristin Lloyd (#10) and you’ve got a product that is capable of winning more than just the Conference.

The Challengers

No contender in the region is closer to being a favorite than University of Central Florida Sirens. Almost all of us know the story of the 2012 Sirens, who dominated the region, an unquestioned favorite to take the lone bid to the College Championships, who fell short when it counted. Their road to redemption begins here, where they will look to defend their Conference crown. UCF’s regular season has been stronger than Florida State’s, but the two have seen each other twice, and both times, FSU won. Florida State is 5-5 against common opponents while UCF is 4-5 and both of the head to head FSU wins were at the early season Florida Winter Classic. I wouldn’t blame anyone who’d put their money on the Sirens. I imagine they’ll be taking a similar approach to FSU’s, meaning, should they see each other, they won’t be full throttle; the coaches from both squads are looking to gain the strategic advantage without showing their opponents their hands. However, both of these are passionate teams, with Captain Mariel Hammond adding, “Our approach will be to take these games like every game is the final game to go to Nationals. We need to bring that fire and intensity every game.” Once the pull goes up, both squads may have trouble holding back.

Central Florida maintains some aspects of last year’s dominant squad – namely, the effectiveness of their zone play. They are an aggressive defensive group that will battle in the air and hustle to spots to close windows before the offense can hit them. That attitude carries over to their fast break and handler-cutting heavy offensive looks. Sunny Harris (#23) is the lively centerpiece behind the disc and in the back of their zone, while Mariel Hammond’s (#12) forceful cutting, with the help of Amy Price (#3) propels their downfield offense. Katie Young (#9) and Samantha Fox (#26) have become huge parts of the Siren disc movement and their contributions are critical to the team’s offensive success. However, their leadership is quick to praise their depth. “Our team has been bit by the injury bug at several key positions,” explained Coach Joe Tilley. He was seconded by Young, adding “[Injuries] forced us to trust those 2nd year players and rookies with field time, and I think it has paid off tremendously.”

It may be a down year for Florida FUEL in many people’s eyes, but smart teams know not to look past them. They’ve seen Georgia three times, Central Florida twice, and Florida State once, and most of those games were close. They’ve been going up against tough competition all season at QCTU, Music City, and Centex. The Regional title, if it were a belt, would still be wrapped around their waist. Jenna Dahl and Jackie Fane are still two of the region’s most dangerous handlers and Morgan Hartmann is plenty capable of getting downfield to catch their hucks and breaks. Their primary zone looks put their best players in position to move around, confusing offenses and forcing turns.

South Florida Scalleywenches is the last team really in the running. Tall Teal Dabney might be the first thing you notice, with her big pulls and over the top throws attracting attention, but Tessa Walter is the player to watch. As their primary handler, the team needs her breaks and reset cutting to help their offense when the deep game isn’t working. She has a number of viable targets, and with Dabney, MK Stephan, and Morgan Brazel, they tend to win a high percentage of battles in the air. Coach Jordan Knoten has them running a zone that puts the 6’0″ Dabney and her lengthy wing span right in front of throwers and their athletes downfield to eat up whatever floats past. This squad has been nipping at Florida’s heels this season and this tournament might be the perfect time for USF to strike.

The Longshots

Florida-B Diesel and Florida State-B finish out the grouping here. Diesel’s put together a solid year, with no B team they played keeping it close, and nearly beating Alabama. Meanwhile, FSU-B’s squad has two wins on the year and both were blowouts. Both of these teams have seen plenty of games and one of them will get to extend their season.

Predictions

Florida State over Central Florida in the Final. South Florida upsets Florida for third place. Florida-B takes the last bid over FSU-B.

1. Florida State
2. UCF
3. USF
4. Florida
5. Florida-B
6. FSU-B

Gulf Coast Women’s Conference Championship Preview

The story of the Gulf Coast has been one of growth. Unfortunately, the rest of the region may not get a true look at it until next season. The Conference will have only a single bid to Southeast Regionals. While in the past, many of these developing teams may have had trouble competing at that level, that doesn’t appear to be the case this season. A number of teams have stepped it up, and having a single bid gives almost no room for error, so this tournament has the potential to be very exciting.

The Setup

Seeding

1. Tulane
2. Auburn
3. Alabama
4. Vanderbilt
5. LSU
6. Miss St.
7. Ole Miss

Format

With 7 teams and 1 bid, the teams will play a round robin over two days. If there is an undefeated team at this point, that team will take the bid. If there is not, a four team bracket will be played out.

The Teams

The Favorite – Tulane Muses

Last season, Tulane Muses struggled with the stronger teams in the Region, but came into this same tournament, and dominated their Conference competition… on Saturday. They would, however, lose 9-10 to Auburn in the game to go and miss out on a shot to go to Regionals. This year, their strong fall results showed everyone the Muses were planning take it to a new level. Tulane’s only recorded performance is a 5-2 showing at Tally Classic, where they beat Alabama, South Carolina, and GCSU while taking a beating from Florida State and a loss to Notre Dame. They haven’t lost a game to a Conference opponent and have been one of the region’s top squads. Saturday’s performances will be pretty influential.

This is a team that can score very quickly and use their deep game to open up the field and the scoreboard. If you’re not careful, teams will find themselves down three or four without knowing what hit them. Stephanie Hurtwitz’s upline cutting and dynamite flick hucks mesh perfectly with their downfield speed. If Mallory West is healthy, they get even scarier, as she and Hannah Mellman can work with Hurwitz to decimate defenses in a hurry.

The Challengers

The Auburn Tiger Lillies are a team I still feel like we don’t really know. They had a solid T-Town Throwdown, putting the Region on notice that they wouldn’t be a pushover. At Tally Classic, they’d go 4-3, but what was of note was a 7-11 loss to South Florida and a 9-6 win over GCSU. They would lose a later game 0-7 to South Florida, perhaps cause for concern. However, Auburn has demonstrated that teams taking them lightly could end up regretting it. Last year, they upset top seeded Tulane 10-9 on Sunday to knock them out of contention. They may get their shot to do the same this year and to head to Regionals for the second straight season. Katie Cuson is at the center of their attack, acting as a steady reset and firing hucks.

A rising program that I expect to keep growing, Alabama Ramma Jamma had a strong fall season that had them looking primed to be a favorite in the Gulf Coast. However, their spring results were disappointing, going 2-5 at a windy Flick’n Nuts and losing their Tally Classic games against good competition (7-10 vs. Tulane and 7-9 vs. South Carolina). In addition, they beat Rhode Island 13-4 – the same score Auburn beat them by – and nearly were upset by Florida-B. The 7-10 game against Tulane shows potential for this team to bring it when they need to, which may be the exact attitude they need to make their move at GCCCs. Abbey Sedlacek’s prowess as a handler opens up the field for them, while Megan Wojick does a bit of everything for them, taking on tough matchups, throwing breaks, and making big bids. This is a team that plays tough defense and has the athletes to challenge deep. If their windy tournament schedule has polished the throws of their second and third handlers and cutters, their offense could become scary quickly.

The reigning champ of the Gulf Coast is Vanderbilt VUDU, who went 5-2 at this tournament last season. This year, they’ve managed a 4-3 record from Music City Mash-Up, where they beat LSU 11-10 and Tennessee 11-9. They topped Harding, who nearly upset Georgia Tech and who beat LSU, and gave a close game to a Rice team that beat LSU, Harvard, MIT, and nearly Florida at points during the season. They could actually be the team in the best position to challenge Tulane and once again take the throne.

The Longshots

LSU could very nearly fall into the above category, but their season’s results are just a little too marked with red for me to take them. Their head to head loss to Vanderbilt was a one point affair, but they struggled against Rice and Vermont. They fell to Georgia Tech 6-9, as well. They do have a 12-5 win over Mississippi State and a 10-6 win over Indiana that show positive signs. The depend heavily on the play of University School of Nashville grad Allyson Lutz, who has some monster throws she can put up in bad conditions or against even strong marks. LSU would need to be playing their best Ultimate all weekend to steal the bid.

Mississippi State Night Mares has had a tough year, still experiencing the growing pains of a newer program. They notched a win over Hendrix earlier in the year, but fell 5-12 to LSU. Katy Fuqua leads this group, and putting up strong games against LSU and Ole Miss will go a long towards instilling confidence for Night Mares.

Ole Miss Hotty Toddy is in a similar situation to their in state rivals, MSU. Still a growing program, they have few results to look back on, but have started hosting their own fall tournament. They’ll be looking to improve on last year’s performance at this tournament, where they struggled offensively against more experienced opponents. Marielle Oestermayer is a player to watch on the roster, and she’ll be a focal point for them offensively.

Predictions

Tulane goes 6-0, surviving a couple of scares. Everyone laments bid situation and the team leaders band together next year to vow to get in more sanctioned games by hosting tournaments, leading T-Town Throwdown and an Ole Miss spring tournament. Next year’s Regionals has 3 Gulf Coast teams.

1. Tulane
2. Auburn
3. Vanderbilt
4. Alabama
5. LSU
6. Mississippi State
7. Ole Miss

Northwest Women’s Regional Preview

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Oregon Fugue, UBC Thunderbirds, and Washington Element walk into the College Championships…and then Victoria Vixens shows up. If you want to say the regular season doesn’t matter, talk to these four teams. After four strong regular seasons, they’ll be able to sleep a little bit easier going into a Regional tournament with four bids to the College Championships. Whitman and Western Washington don’t plan on it being a picnic, eying that fourth bid and a Victoria team with limited experience on the big stage.

The Northwest fielded two of the Finalists at last year’s College Championships in Oregon and Washington. Their top four teams have been widely considered four of the top 10 (depending on how people view Victoria), and you have to consider this a Region with multiple title contenders. That’s a lot of pressure. These players all know one another well, seeing each other all year long. Winning this tournament could result in a number one seed at the College Championships. “Although there are four bids out of our region, we do not take a bid to Nationals lightly,” noted senior Captain of #1 seed Oregon Fugue, Lily Herd, “Our goal is to win this weekend so that we can go into Nationals with a high seeding.” There’s a lot of pride in winning the most prestigious region in Women’s Ultimate, so expect that to be on display in Eugene this weekend.

Here’s the seedings (by my estimate) and pools:

1. Oregon (PC #1)
2. British Columbia (PC #2)
3. Washington (PC #3)
4. Victoria (PC #4)
5. Whitman (NW-III #1)
6. Western Washington (PC #5)
7. Pacific Lutheran (NW-III #2)
8. Montana (SKY #1)

Pool A: Oregon, Victoria, Whitman, Montana

Pool B: British Columbia, Washington, Western Washington, Pacific Lutheran

Pool winners make the Final and lock up a bid. Second place in each pool gets you into a game to go, with the loser falling into another game to go. Every team is in the running Sunday.

Pool Play

Pool A

#1 overall seed Oregon Fugue may be the favorite going into Madison, should they qualify (I have to write that part). They won both Stanford Invite and Pres Day, losing only one game all season (8-12 to UBC).Their roster is, as usual, stacked like an All-Star team. Junior Sophie Darch’s handling, where she often makes dominating her matchup look effortless, anchors the offensive line, with the dynamic cutting of senior Kimber Coles and a number of tall and athletic downfield targets, like playmaking sophomore Bethany Kaylor. On defense, Skyd Five Callahan nominee senior Bailey Zahniser propels their D-line’s offense with her take-no-prisoners approach of throwing anything and everything. “We have a bit of our target on our backs, going into Regionals the #1 seed,” acknowledged Herd, with sophomore Jesse Shofner adding, “Every team is giving you their best. It’s fun.” They’re the type of team that imposes their will, their speedy disc movement and aggressive cutting capped off with monster spikes in the endzone. They will turn it, and the only way to beat them is to be efficient when they give you those opportunities, which is a lot easier to write than it is to do. They’ve taken on the personality of Coach Lou Burruss, meaning on the field, they are passionate, wear their hearts on their sleeves, and are fiercely loyal to one another, operating under their difficult-to-explain Clown Tent (SS) philosophy. When I asked Herd about Fugue’s attitude, she replied “Work hard, have fun.” She went on to explain about finding the balance between those two. Shofner spoke to the team’s bonds, saying “We love each other, and we’re all unified through our [Clown Tent].” When they are all clicking, they’re a whirling dervish of Ds, hucks, spikes, smiles, cheering, and they’re the best team in the country.

A smiling happy energetic Fugue is a dangerous Fugue

The Victoria Vixens are the upstart of this season, and a bit of a lightning rod. The drama comes from a team that traveled to just two tournaments – Santa Barbara Invite and Stanford Invite – and didn’t play again until the Series. Without competing outside of California, they piled up enough good results to be USAU’s 9th ranked team. Wins over UC-Santa Barbara, Sonoma State, and a beating on Stanford powered their rank. They only lost one game – a close one against Western Washington – before the Series. Makes sense people would have doubts. Once they arrived at Conference Championships, however, they kept pace with Oregon, Washington, and UBC, though they also edged Western Washington by just two, demonstrating they are no flash in the pan. Victoria plays a smart and very skilled game, with a number of throwing threats, ranging from the hucks of Jen Brown and Corrinne Dunwoody to the break work from Katie Hikida. Out of their ho stack, they are adept at using field space, opening up the field for those throwers to work with. With lower seeds gunning for them, Victoria can’t afford to give them opportunities.

The Whitman Lady Sweets are a team on the middle ground coming into Regionals. They lack marquee wins from their two tournament regular season, but beat solid teams, like Colorado College, Western Washington, and Texas A&M. However, of those three teams, they lost to the two they played more than once (CC and WW). Playing D-III in the first round of the Series, they rolled their competition, not telling us much. Jeremy Norden patrols the sideline for the Lady Sweets and Julia Bladin, a 2nd team All-Region selection last season, remains their go to option. They lost in the game to go last year, and could find themselves in the same situation this season.

Montana comes in as the final seed, having earned they way in with a win of their Conference. However, they have almost no reported results, giving us precious little information. Their 1-4 record from PLU BBQ, including a blowout loss to the host team, doesn’t bode well in such a hyper competitive Region; in 3 meetings with PLU, Whitman won each handily. Just putting up good scores will be a victory for a program looking to grow.

Pool B

The British Columbia Thunderbirds come in the second seed for the second year in a row. However, the past two years, they’ve played third fiddle to Oregon and Washington, and the subsequent College Championships performances (19th & 11th place) left them way behind their Northwest brethren. As one of the nation’s top ranked teams, the expectations are for this season to be different. “Washington is still a great team this year, but we have won against them more often than not,” stated senior Captain Rena Kawabata, adding, “And to have been the team that notched Oregon’s only loss this season says a lot about what we will be bringing to Regionals.” Of British Columbia’s five losses, only one has come from a team outside of the region: a 6-13 stumble against a white hot Wisconsin squad. They’re 3-1 against Washington, including two wins at CCs, and 1-3 against Oregon. It is setting up to be the year they break through, and the T-Bird women sense that, wanting more from themselves, Kawabata telling me, “No matter how many bids our region gets, our goal is always to take the 1st one. The fact that there are 4 is irrelevant. We will be playing to win Regionals and we will do whatever we need to do to make that happen.” Led by dynamite Skyd Five Callahan nominee Catherine Hui and fellow Traffic player Kawabata, as talented a duo as you’ll find in the college women’s game, UBC is a threat this year. They also return 2012 All-Region selection Crystal Koo, who does a lot of the heavy lifting behind the disc. “We are a receiver heavy team and we look to get the disc downfield as opposed to swinging to handlers,” noted Kawabata, referring to the extensive complement of tall, athletic, and experienced downfield players on their roster. A strong weekend at Regionals could prove crucial for their confidence and give a clue to how far they can go at the Championships.

UBC’s Crystal Koo’s handling abilities make her critical to the team’s success

Washington Element comes into the weekend the three seed, but knowing they are still the country’s reigning champion and confident in their talent. Their regular season returns are actually a little underwhelming, with a 10-5 record that includes a blowout loss to Wisconsin and stumbles against British Columbia and UC-Santa Barbara. Their Series results also include losses to Oregon and UBC. They lost a lot of talent coming into the year in Leah Fury, Jillian Goodman, and Kristin Gruver, but also returned a loaded top end. Unfortunately, word is that Sarah “CO” Davis, the team’s Callahan nominee, will be missing the rest of the season with an injury. This’ll put more pressure on 2012 All-Region selection Amanda Kostic and cutters Shira Stern & Barb Hoover to lead their offensive line. Lucy Williams, 2012 All-Region selection Alysia Letourneau, and 2012 FOTY Sarah Edwards will hold things down on their talented defensive unit. Coach Kyle Weisbrod, in his first year with Element, has his work cut out for him with a teaming missing its star and losing the season series against their top rivals, but the talent and leadership of this team could push them to success.

Western Washington Chaos comes in very similar to Whitman – stuck in the middle ground. They’ve got a very solid resume, with wins over aforementioned Whitman, Texas A&M, Victoria, and Colorado College. At Champies, Chaos played tight games with UBC, Washington, and Victoria, indicating they may be closer to breaking through than their Pool A counterpart. The last close game is most notable, as they are gunning for the bid Victoria brought in. 2012 All-Region player Lindsey Miller returns, joining Riot’s Callie Mah (who would be a star at a more noted program) to form a very effective 1-2 punch. If they and some of their young talent are hitting the right notes, they could find themselves headed to Madison.

Pacific Lutheran, or PLU, comes into this weekend having lost just three sanctioned games on a fairly weak tournament docket. All three of those losses came at the hands of Whitman, all by a margin of nine or more. If PLU steps their game up this weekend, they can push one of the contenders, but otherwise, they may struggle against some of the game’s elite talent.

Predictions

Pool Play

Pool A: Oregon, Victoria, Whitman, Montana

Pool B: British Columbia, Washington, Western Washington, Pacific Lutheran

Championship

Oregon over British Columbia

Second Place Bracket

Washington over Victoria

British Columbia over Washington

Fourth Place Bracket

Whitman over Pacific Lutheran

Western Washington over Montana

Western Washington over Whitman

Victoria over Western Washington

Final Thoughts

These teams have mostly played each other over and over, giving us larger sample sizes to look at than is typical. That’s why it is hard to see this tournament having too many upsets. Particularly with the loss of Sarah Davis, I think it’ll be tough for Washington to usurp UBC and may leave them vulnerable to a hungry Victoria team, but ultimately, their embarrassment of riches wins out. While I think Western Washington can and will push these top four, I can’t take them over any of the other four.

Women’s College Centex: Sunday Recap and Tourney Reactions

PreQuarters

Early Sunday morning saw conditions become colder and significantly windier, forcing teams to try some new looks.

Iowa vs. UNC-W

The mythical upwinder – often the game changer on windy days – was first captured by Saucy Nancy, who took a 3-1 lead. Behind the throwing of Bekah Hickernell and catches of Audrey Erickson, Iowa would add another upwinder to make it 5-1 before taking half 8-3. Hickernell would continue to add to her assist tally, often to stud Liza Minor in the second half on the way to a 12-8 victory.

UC-Santa Barbara vs. Minnesota

The Burning Skirts – without their star and leader Alicia Thompson – would open their day with an energetic Ninja squad. They Ninjas would draw first blood, getting the upwind break and taking a 3-0 lead. The Skirts would fight back to make it 5-4 before Minnesota opened it back up to take half 8-5. The second half would mostly be a back and forth game, with Minnesota getting one more break, eventually finishing it 11-8.

Ohio State vs. Colorado

Fever was able to open with an upwind score, and with zones being effective tools, control the pace of the rest of the game. Despite some long points with good defense from both Kali and Fever, the Buckeye state women would take half 8-1. They’d roll to a 13-5 win, which the wind forced all the way to soft cap.

Stanford vs. Wisconsin

Each of these teams was coming in with a 1-2 record on the weekend and certainly not wanting to fall to 1-3 and out of contention. The last they saw one another, it was a 13-11 game that Wisconsin took, dealing Superfly a critical loss at their home tournament. The wind made this game one full of long points, but Superfly was able to get the upwinders necessary to win 7-4.

Tufts vs. Central Florida

The game would start with the Ewo women getting an early break and upwinder to get a 2-0 lead. The Sirens would respond – crucial to do in these sorts games – to tie it at 2-2. The teams would battle through long points, but behind the play of Emily Shields and Skyd 5 Callahan Selection Claudia Tajima, who would get a big goal line layout D and eventually get the back to back scores,Tufts would take that half, 8-7. The cap went on, and the teams went to 9-9, double game point. Shields would get low for a floaty pass to nab the win and send Ewo to Quarters.

Virginia vs. California

I may sound like a broken record, but the wind lead to some long points in a very close game. California started up, but Virginia was able to score back to back to bring it to 5-4. Theresa Hackett was huge for them in this game, as she was all weekend, bringing in a lot of key grabs. The teams would trade, with Alika Johnston bringing in the 7-6 game winner.

Carleton vs. Texas

Carleton may have been one of the teams least unhappy with the conditions. Their strong throwers and tall receivers can overpower opponents when conditions get dicey. Texas, riding high from the Saturday they hoped for, probably were less enthused. Syzygy was able to stake out an early lead and wouldn’t look back, 11-5.

Iowa State vs. North Carolina

In the last episode of this matchup, Woman Scorned took down North Carolina in the QCTU Semis, to the tune of 14-11. ISU is, like their North Central brethren, pretty comfortable in the wind, particularly with the throws of Sarah Pesch and Magon Liu, two of their four U23 team members. North Carolina’s Shellie Cohen is one of the most powerful throwers in the Women’s game, but her strength was not enough to overcome the long points against Iowa State, who would win, 9-7.

Quarters

Carleton vs. Iowa State

Iowa State moved from their QCTU Semis rematch to a QCTU Final rematch, facing Carleton. Winds started getting near 20 mph, but both teams were able to generate some offense behind skilled handler play. The rematch wouldn’t be quite as close as the 14-13 QCTU game was, with Woman Scorned coming out on top, 10-7.

Tufts vs. Virginia

Both teams were coming off hard fought games, but Tufts was able to tap into their skill and depth early on. They’d fire off the first 8 points, their zone dominating the game. They’d add a Callahan from Tasha Link before finishing things, 12-4, punching a ticket to the top four.

Ohio State vs. Stanford

Both teams were happy to huck the disc downwind in this one, but Ohio State would be the first team to find the upwinder, Diddy Soper firing one to take the 3-2 lead. Stanford was unable to flip the break, giving up a very long and hard fought downwinder and going down a pair. Fever would seize the momentum to score another upwinder, going up 5-2. That lead would be what they would need to take the game, which ended 10-5.

Iowa vs. Minnesota

This North Central clash was one both teams really wanted, as they saw each other twice at Midwest. Minnesota scored the upset in pool play, but Iowa dominated when it mattered in the Final. The Ninjas would open with a quick downwinder and an upwind break for a 2-0 lead. However, Saucy Nancy would respond to flip the break and score the ensuing downwinder, tying it back up, Erickson still leading the way on both sides of the disc. The teams traded to 4-5, when Minnesota would manage three in a row, soon taking half 8-5. The gap would prove too much for Iowa to overcome in the second half, and they’d fall 12-8.

Semifinals

Minnesta vs. Ohio State

Fever would jump out to a 4-1 lead, again behind the playmaking ability of Diddy Soper, with the help of grad student Jenny Perry. Minnesota would get a break of their own before the half was out, but OSU kept the pressure on. With Soper getting most of the assists, Ohio State wouldn’t look back on their way to a 14-6 win, sending them to their second consecutive tournament final.

Tufts vs. Iowa State

Early on, both squads would trade, Ewo still relying on stellar play from Laura Fradin to help their offense navigate Woman Scorned’s defensive play. However, it would be Iowa State that would snag the first break, to take a 5-3 lead. The response would come swiftly, Emily Shields again coming up big with her playmaking to tie it at 5-5. For a while, neither squad was able to capitalize on opportunities and generate a second break. However, late in the game, tied at 11-11, Tufts would finally strike, taking a 12-11 lead. With their backs against the wall, Iowa State would need to find a way to break and very soon. Woman Scorned doesn’t crack under pressure, punches in the upwind O point to Liu, and then wins the ensuing double game point with a downwind break to march onto finals, 13-12.

Ohio State vs. Iowa State

The Final would be a rematch of the last round in Pool D. In that game, Ohio State was able to use their deep game, powered by “Dissie” (a combination of Diddy Soper and Cassie Swafford) to win 14-11. However, Iowa State came in the reigning Centex Champions. While you could look at a few angles for storylines, in the end, the storyline went one direction: downwind. Winning the flip turned out to be critical, as both teams struggled to generate upwind opportunities, despite having a number of talented throwers. Ohio State came really close on a couple of possessions, but drops near the endzone – not uncommon on cold days with discs hopping around – ended their run each time. The teams would trade the entirety of the Final, leading to a 13-12 victory for Woman Scorned. Cami Nelson would take home Skyd’s red MVP jersey.

Division II

After one team from Division III cracked the bracket – Arizona State with a surprising win over MIT – the teams settled in for PreQuarters. Colorado College and Dartmouth are your surprises here, topping Florida State and Northwestern respectively. Each had gone 1-2 the previous day, but would ride the momentum to win their Quarters game and make Semis, beating Northeastern and UCLA, respectively. Michigan walloped Pittsburgh 15-2 and Whitman knocked off Texas A&M, as well. Colorado College would stay hot with a 9-7 win over Whitman, while Michigan would end Dartmouth’s run. The Final would be another battle for upwind breaks, of which Colorado College would get the first. Very long points lead to a low scoring affair, and Flywheel was able to get the upwind break response they needed very late, tying the game at 7-7 and sending it to universe. Colorado College was unable to get back upwind and Flywheel took the DII title home, 8-7.

In DIII, Rice made a great four game run to win the Final over MIT.

Reactions

My three favorites to challenge Northwest supremacy AKA The Evil Empire at the College Championships all solidified themselves this weekend. Iowa State Woman Scorned has been legit in my mind, ranking withstanding. They still are running balanced lines, throwing rookies out even in important situations. It is really hard to think of a team with a top four like theirs – they need some sort of nickname – and when they really want to turn it on, I expect them to be just about as good as anybody. Tufts Ewo and Ohio State Fever were two teams I liked coming into this year, returning their cores and continuing their growth from good runs last year. Ewo has shown me not only their top end talent, but their depth, with Laura Fradin, Emily Shields, and Qxnha Titcomb emerging as playmakers. Ohio State is the same. While Paige “Diddy” Soper is clearly one of the college game’s premier handlers and Cassie Swafford, when healthy, is equally as good a cutter, the team’s development and additions are what make them a threat. Adding freshmen Nina Finley has been gigantic, but Jenny Perry, the return of the beautiful and talented Janine Walker, and Lauren Franke’s defensive play have all elevated this team.

I worry a little bit about Virginia Hydra. While I’ve had a history of underestimating them, I just feel like they have a high floor and low ceiling. They have the defensive ability to make Prequarters, but I just don’t know if their overall talent level can take them any further than that. Their wins this weekend were 14-12, 15-12, 7-6, and 9-5. Their losses were 10-15, 4-12, and 3-11. All of those losses came against teams that could make Semis at the show, while all of their wins were against teams that will have a tougher time getting that far. Their win over North Carolina Pleaides was a nice statement about their takeover of the AC Region though.

I was of the belief that people were overreacting to Wisconsin Bella Donna‘s performance at Stanford Invite. Their performance was worthy of all the praise being heaped on it – hell, I couldn’t stop tweeting about it – but if you look at their full body of work, calling them a top 5 team is silly. Clearly, the potential is there, but without any of the consistency necessary to pull it off. I expect the North Central to get their five bids, but if they didn’t…would Wisconsin be left at home? If they aren’t playing well at Regionals, it is a definite possibility.

Speaking of #bidwatch, coming in, Stanford and the Southwest took one of the North Central bids, while the Southeast trio moved into the danger zone at the back end of the top 20. Stanford had a tough weekend and could fall backwards, though a 15-5 smashing of Minnesota will help their math. UCF started the weekend with two blowout losses, which will be tough to overcome, but they did beat Stanford solidly. I think Florida State did what they needed to on the weekend. Northeastern had a great showing this weekend and was just outside of a bid coming in. I expect them to take one for New England. Seaweed from UNC-W was also hanging around (#30) coming into the weekend, and notched wins over Ohio State, aforementioned Northeastern, and UC-SB, and all of their losses were very close. I think they’ll move to just outside the bid picture. Finally, Colorado College may very well take one for the South Central, on the back of a 4-3 weekend, with wins over Northeastern, Florida State, Whitman and UC-SD and very close losses to Michigan and Whitman.

In total, we have five teams: Northeastern, Colorado College, Central Florida, Florida State, and Stanford. They are fighting for two bids, assuming Iowa State takes one back for North Central. All of this will be settled shortly when the USAU releases their rankings, which they typically do around this time on Wednesdays.

For additional coverage, check out Skyd’s video recap, their interview with ISU’s Cami Nelson, and Ultiworld’s Deep Looks Podcast.

Up Calls: Weekend Results, Callahan Nominees, Pro Rosters

Up Calls is back to keep you aware of what’s up in the game:

• Easterns managed to survive some crazy Sunday weather, eventually producing a champion in Minnesota Grey Duck, who beat Central Florida Dogs of War in the final, 15-13. There were a lot of close games and not a single #1 seed made Semis; Carleton didn’t even make Quarters. UNC and Colorado filled in the other Semis spots.
• Women’s College Centex also saw plenty of surprises, and in the end, Iowa State Woman Scorned reigned supreme, fighting the wind and Ohio State Fever in a 14-13 final. Minnesota and Tufts made Semis, while Wisconsin fell to 10th place after getting bounced in PreQuarters. Also of note was the strong weekend Texas Melee had been looking for all season. I think California Pie Queens might be your dance-off champions.
• At the Chicago Invite (Open), Oregon State emerged as the Open champs, over Case Western in the final, 12-10. Their pool, Pool D, placed 3 of the 4 semifinalists (Oregon St., Carnegie-Melon, and Case), while the 4th was North Texas. Eastern Michigan goes winless Saturday, Northern Iowa goes undefeated before eventually losing to Oregon State in Quarters and Missouri in the 5th place game.
• On the ladies’ side, the Chicago Invite (Women) title went to Valparaiso, who beat Purdue, 11-8, in the final. Michigan State and Illinois would both make Semis, while Kansas would struggle through a tough weekend that, according to score reporter, shows them forfeiting Sunday.
• College Terminus was rained out.
• At Southerns XII, Carleton College Eclipse beat out Princeton in a nighttime final on Saturday to win the Women’s side. James Madison topped Appalachian State in the Open final. Sunday play was moved to Saturday evening to avoid thunderstorms. Side note: My team was not informed of this change and only found out via coincidence. We were not happy to have “forfeited” all of our games after we left the fields, because our pool play ended before all the other pools (another source of annoyance). No phone call, text, email, tweet, anything. Very frustrating.
• The Skyd Awards Committee announced four of the Skyd 5 for each division. For Women: Claudia Tajima (Tufts), Bailey Zahniser (Oregon), Catherine Hui (British Columbia), and Paige Soper (Ohio State). For Open: Jimmy Mickle (Colorado), Tyler DeGirolamo (Pittsburgh), Dylan Freechild (Oregon), and Brian Hart (Wisconsin). The final Wildcard spots will be announced April 21st while the voting begins May 7th.
• Eric Brach provides a peak behind the curtain of the USAU’s World Games West Coast Tryouts.
• New York pro ultimate has their rosters set, as the AUDL’s Empire and MLU’s Rumble both released their teams. The Rumble feature Dan Heijmen, Ben Faust, Jody Avirgan, Milo Snyder, and Chris Mazur. The Empire roster includes Jack Marsh, Isaiah Bryant, and Ben Ivers.
• It was a big weekend and with Callahan talk starting and All-Region talk sure to follow, get on twitter and hit me up with the best players you saw this weekend. Hype-train is about to pull out the station!
• Best wishes to BJ from Texas Melee! A speedy return to health to her and any other victims of the injury bug this weekend.

Saturday Recaps and Reacts: Women’s College Centex

Division I

Round 1

Starting in Pool A, Virginia and UNC – the two top ranked teams in the AC Region – met up for the first time this season. The first half was a back and forth battle, with each team leading at some point, but no lead ever extending past a point. Virginia was able to take the lead late as the soft cap went on and finished off FFH’s first Game To Watch (GTW) 13-12.

Iowa took on Colorado in their Centex opener. Kali was still looking for a statement win against elite competition while Iowa looked to protect their #1 overall seed. Almost the entire game was a series of traded points. It wasn’t until late in the game that the Kali women were able to get a break. They’d add a second to win 15-13 and notch one of the tournament’s first upsets.

In Pool B, we got started with one of the FFH GTW, a 1/3 matchup of Wisconsin and UC-Santa Barbara. The Burning Skirts were able to avenge their Stanford Invite loss to Wisconsin with a 13-10 victory, although they unfortunately lost star Alicia Thompson for the weekend to an ankle injury. Tufts Ewo took an early lead against Pittsburgh Danger, taking half 8-3. Danger would make it close in the end, but not dig out of the hole, and Ewo started the day with a 13-11 win.

Pool C was a bit of a first round blood bath. Perennial powers Carleton (1) and Stanford (4) took on upstarts Central Florida (3) and Minnesota (2). The old money was able to beat the new bloods handily, Carleton beating UCF 13-5 and Stanford rolling Minnesota 15-5.

The first round of Pool D would pit Ohio State Fever against UNC-Wilmington Seaweed and Iowa State Woman Scorned versus California Pie Queens. Seaweed superstar Claire Chastain was in full effect, helping UNC-W take a couple of early breaks, which would prove enough to survive the ensuing point trading. Seaweed would win 15-13. Iowa State’s quartet of studs – all U23 players – connected for the first two points to take the 2-0 lead over Cal. The teams would tie at 6s, but Scorned would control the rest of the game, scoring 9 of the next 11 points to win 15-8.

Round 2

In the second round, Iowa rebounded, going up early against UNC and never relenting. A number of connecting hucks throughout the game helped Saucy Nancy take a 15-10 win. In the 2/4 seed game, Virginia Hydra scored some early breaks to stake out a lead against Colorado Kali. They’d take half 8-5. Kali would get within two late, but couldn’t overcome Virginia’s D, leading to a 15-12 final score.

In Pool B, Tufts and UCSB was another FFH GTW, and Ewo was able to take momentum in the first half, rolling to an 8-3 lead over the Thompson-less Skirts. They’d cruise to a 15-8 W. Pittsburgh would continue their pattern of tight games with elite competition, but couldn’t top Wisconsin, falling 13-11. The last time these teams saw each other, Wisconsin won 13-2, though it was the last game of their QCTU weekends.

In Pool C, two emotional teams looking to rebound from disappointing losses would take each other on in Minnesota and UCF. The Ninjas would take a 4-0 lead and never look back, winning 15-7 in an important bidwatch game. Carleton and Stanford would have a great battle. Superfly took a three point lead into half, but couldn’t maintain it against Anna Reed’s hucks to big time receivers. They’d come down to universe point, which Carleton would score to win 13-12.

The winners of Round 1 in Pool D, Iowa St. and UNC-W would see one another. After controlling the first half to the tune of 8-5, Iowa St. would have to fend off a UNC-W team that wouldn’t back down. The Wilmington ladies brought it back to 13-12 before Iowa St. finished it off, 15-13. Ohio St. and California were each eagerly seeking a win and to make a name for themselves in the rankings. Fever would cruise to a 15-7 win.

Round 3

Iowa asserted themselves in Pool A, with a nice 15-10 win over a Virginia team that had been playing very well up that point. Colorado, who started off the day with their big upset of the tournament’s number one seed, would fail to register another Pool Play win. North Carolina would win their first game of the weekend convincingly, 13-8, making the pool’s final standings Iowa, Virgina, UNC, and Colorado.

Pool B saw Ewo jumping out to an 8-4 lead on Wisconsin. Bella Donna, coming off a close game with Pittsburgh, was unable to keep up with a relatively fresh Tufts squad. Ewo takes it 15-10. Santa Barbara’s game against Pittsburgh started off competitive, but the Skirts were able to put together a run to take half 8-5. Danger never recovered, losing 15-9. Pool B – the pool I’d say was toughest to call – would finish Tufts, UCSB, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh.

Carleton and Minnesota would have their first matchup of the season in a North Central litmus test in Pool C. Minnesota would take half 8-6, but Carleton would fight back in the second, coming from down 8-10 to win 14-12. Being able to close games is something the Ninjas will likely learn over the course of this season. Perhaps still worn out from their double game point battle with Carleton, Stanford had a let down against Central Florida. Central Florida would score a huge #bidwatch win, 15-10. The pool would be settled as Carleton, Stanford, Minnesota, UCF.

The top spot was up for grabs going into Pool D’s last round, with nothing settled yet. Ohio State and Iowa State would play in the game that would decide to the pool winner. Ohio State, in part behind the return of U23 selection and all around star Cassie Swafford, joining back up with Skyd Five Callahan selection Paige “Diddy” Soper. They really helped open up Fever’s deep game on their way to a 14-11 win. In an important #bidwatch game that would also decide who would fall to the dangerous DII crossover game, UNC-Wilmington and Cal went down to the wire. The west coasters would close out, 14-13, making the pool standings OSU, ISU, Cal, UNC-W.

Division II

Pool E started off to script, with Michigan besting Dartmouth and Western Washington outscoring TAMU. However, Stacked would rebound in the next round, upsetting Michigan 16-15 on double game point. Dartmouth would do the same to Western Washington, 13-9. In an FFH GTW, Michigan responded with a dominant victory over Western Washington, 15-4. TAMU would take the pool with a 13-10 score over Dartmouth.

In Pool F, Texas Melee got the big start they needed, a nice win over Whitman. They’d continue on to an undefeated Saturday. UC-San Diego would struggle, failing to notch a pool play win. Whitman was able to beat Colorado College 14-12 to take the second spot in the pool.

In Pool G, the top two seeds – Florida State and UCLA – had clean wins on the way to seeing one another for the pool win. Meanwhile, MIT – a #bidwatch team with the chance to score critical wins – failed to get what they were looking for. UCLA would get by Florida State 10-8 and MIT would fall to Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 13-8.

Northwestern and Northeastern wound up in Pool H and both would be undefeated going into their final round. Northeastern was cruising, with a big win over Wash U and solid win over Florida. Northwestern had battled with Florida and also cleaned up against Wash U. The two teams played a grinding game, and Northeastern scored the upset, 12-11. Florida would dominate Wash U in the 3/4 game.

Crossovers

Saturday concluded with the pool winners from D-II meeting the pool losers from D-I. These games can be risky propositions, with the pool winners usually riding highs while the pool losers are struggling to find a rhythm. That did not faze most of the D-I squads: UNC-W beat Northeastern 13-10, UCF bested UCLA 15-7, and Colorado took care of TAMU 15-9. Texas, however, continued their run by knocking off Pittsburgh 15-9.

Sunday Thoughts

PreQuarters set up with:

• Iowa vs. UNC-W
• Santa Barbara vs. Minnesota
• OSU vs. Colorado
• Stanford vs. Wisconsin
• Tufts vs. UCF
• Virginia vs. California
• Carleton vs. Texas
• ISU vs. UNC

Wisconsin has not had the start to Centex they’d have wanted or that the hype would indicate. Sunday’s a new day and Stanford will also look to get back to winning ways. Last time they saw each other, it was 13-11 at the Stanford Invite in Bella Donna’s favor. This one is pretty crucial.

Another game to watch will be Tufts vs. UCF. UCF will need to keep it close for their #bidwatch purposes, but they are also coming off two wins to end Saturday. A team that feeds off of their emotions like the Sirens can get hot, while Tufts seems to be very even keel.

Colorado had a strong start to the weekend with their surprise win over Iowa and playing a very tight game with Virginia. A win over Ohio State – still trying to find consistency – could be the beginning of a huge weekend to rival Wisconsin’s Stanford Invite. This could be a real game to watch.

Finally, shout out to tgilbz and Lina rocks my world. Boo to bad weather and boo to this year’s Southerns.