British Columbia Sweeps the Tournament Despite Wind
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AUSTIN, TX
March 22-23, 2008
Centex was the last premiere tournament of the National Collegiate Ultimate Series (NCUS) put on by Cultimate. With twenty hand-picked teams from around the country meant to showcase the top competition, Centex is the top tournament of the college season before the UPA College Championships. Twenty teams in four pools ensured that Saturday would have a grueling schedule, but Sunday's windy conditions ended up being the real test of team's skills and strengths.
SATURDAY
Pool A:
UCLA (3-1), Pittsburgh (3-1), Wisconsin (2-2), Stanford (2-2), Vanderbilt (0-4)
This was by far the toughest pool of the tournament and ended up fielding two semi-finalists and the fifth place winner. Stanford ended up with the short-end of the stick in this draw, because by coming in fourth in the pool (after losing the head-to-head tie breaker with Wisconsin) it was relegated to the bottom half of the bracket for Sunday. Stanford started its pool play games out slowly, being caught off-guard by Wisconsin’s clam defense and struggling to contain Pittsburgh’s top players. After a bye, things started to turn around for Superfly. Emily Damon took over during the game against Vanderbilt and the team came out firing against top seeded UCLA in the last game. Stanford took half 7-5 and won the game 12-8. UCLA coach Alex Korb gave props to Superfly, saying that it was, “one of the most impressive looking teams from the weekend... They played very intense D, and on offense their disc movement was disciplined and efficient.” Inconsistent play has plagued the team, and Superfly floundered in the windy conditions of Sunday’s bracket play, leading North Carolina coach, Lindsey Hack, to comment that “Stanford appears to be rebuilding for the first time in a decade.” Which team will show up at Northwest Regionals?
Pittsburgh was the surprise of the pool. Initially ranked 4th in the pool, Pittsburgh knocked off both Stanford and Wisconsin before falling to UCLA in a game that was described as closer than the 8-13 score indicated. Pittsburgh’s core of tall handlers moved the disc quickly and was tough for other teams to contain. Pittsburgh had not yet seen much of the nation’s top competition this season, but by coming in 5th at Centex, this Metro East team proved its merit and should be the team to beat in its region.
After beating Stanford in the first round, Wisconsin almost took down UCLA in the second. Bella Donna was up by one at half and the game was tied 9-9 before UCLA got two breaks and Wisconsin could not make up the lost ground. Wisconsin lost its game to Pitt by the same score, 13-11. Georgia Bosscher’s hucks were on the money during the UCLA game. All day, Bosscher took advantage of defensive mis-matches after Wisconsin generated a turnover with its clam defense. Emelie McCain had missed the Stanford Invite while trying out for the junior Worlds team, and her presence with the disc was a boost to Wisconsin at Centex.
Vanderbilt had its best game against UCLA on Saturday, keeping the match tight the whole way. UCLA led by one at halftime and never had more than a two point separation. Korb predicted that Vanderbilt will “make some waves at South Regionals” this year. The team has solid fundamentals, although it struggled in the wind on Sunday and ended coming in 19th place at the tournament.
UCLA entered Centex as the leader in the NCUS point system and was the favorite to win the prize money. The team had already won the pool before playing Stanford and seemed a little tired in the last round. UCLA spreads its points out well among the roster and has developed numerous threats, helping it match-up well against any opponent. The offense still runs through three main players; Andi “Gizmo” Coleman, Angie “Taz” Sanan, and Cheryl “Kix” Prideaux.
Pool B:
British Columbia (4-0), Michigan (3-1), Wake Forest (2-2), Carleton (1-3), Western Washington (0-4)
British Columbia came to Centex with only twelve women, those twelve included most of the team’s starters and worked well together. With so few players for a grueling tournament, UBC’s primary goal on Saturday was to be efficient with the disc. The team capitalized on its opponents’ turnovers and rarely gave the disc back multiple times in a point. That offensive efficiency and a clicking deep game is what allowed the team to win its pool play games by large margins; UBC’s closest game on Saturday was 13-5 against Carleton. Captains Kira Frew and Tory Hislop were the team’s main huckers with Nikki Short on the receiving end of many deep passes.
Michigan was also short on numbers at Centex due to storm-cancelled flights. After Herculean efforts to get to the tournament (including driving hours to a different airport that was still open) the team was able field a competitive squad in Austin. Michigan overcame Carleton (13-9), Wake Forest (13-10), and Western Washington (13-6) before dropping to the UBC juggernaut. The calmer conditions of Saturday favored Flywheel’s deep game and the team came up short on Sunday in the wind.
Wake Forest had thirteen players this weekend as it was invited at the last minute and only had two weeks to arrange travel plans to come to Centex. The team’s offense runs primarily through its captain, whose forehand hucks kept the team in games and helped upset Carleton (13-9) in pool play.
Carleton dropped seed on Saturday but still played quite well during the day. Megan Molteni anchored the team’s defensive game, coming up with lay-out blocks and poach D’s in multiple games. The last round of the day was a nail-biter against Western Washington. Going down to the wire, Carleton pulled out a one point victory (12-11). Although Carleton has not yet beat regional-rival Wisconsin this season, the team looks poised to earn the second bid to the College Championships out of the Central region.
Western Washington was winless at the Stanford Invite and did not come up with a win on Saturday of Centex either. Alyssa Weatherford is the team’s go-to player and she made big plays all day. The team’s eagerness to huck the disc forced many teams to back Western’s cutters, trying to make the young team work the disc instead. The team’s run and gun style was more effective on Sunday in the upwind/downwind conditions, and Western won two out of its three games in the consolation bracket, including a re-match against Carleton which WWU won 9-7.
Pool C:
UC-Santa Barbara (4-0), Texas (3-1), North County (2-2), UC-Berkeley (1-3), Georgia (0-4)
While UC-Santa Barbara won this pool outright, the team had two close scares against North County and Georgia. Both teams tried to take away UCSB’s hucking game and were often successful, but UCSB still won each match on double-game point. The Burning Skirts had an easier time playing Texas and UC-Berkeley, winning both of those contests 13-8. The calmer conditions on Saturday favored UCSB’s style of play and its offense ran into problems against zones in the wind of Sunday.
Texas had made quarters of the Stanford Invite, and was on track for a repeat appearance in the top eight at Centex by coming in second in its pool. On its home tuft, Mele took care of business against North County (13-9), UC-Berkeley (13-7), and Georgia (12-7). The team has a deep roster with many solid all-round players, although Becca Shelton continues to shine on the field. Texas remains the favorite to emerge victorious at South Regionals this season.
North County’s solid performances all weekend makes it even more heart-breaking that UC-San Diego was suspended from participating in the UPA Series for 2008. The women from the San Diego area playing on North County are a scrappy group that plays hard-nosed defense and patient offense. After losing to Texas and Santa Barbara, North County bounced back to defeat Berkeley (13-8) and Georgia (13-5) to hold its seed and get a chance at the championship bracket in pre-quarters on Sunday.
UC-Berkeley seems to have been rebuilding a bit this season after losing some key players that took it to the quarterfinals of the College Championships in 2007. The team appeared to still be reeling from the absence of its leader and main handler, Nat Wu, who is out due to a knee injury. Although the team’s only earned one win on Saturday, the Pie Queens kept all their other games relatively close and scored 7 or 8 points against the higher seeds.
Georgia’s best game of the day was against UC-Santa Barbara and taking the pool winner to double-game point speaks to the skill level on the Georgia roster. Consistency and offensive efficiency hurt the team in some of its other games, but Georgia showed that it is planning on making noise at Atlantic Coast Regionals.
Pool D:
Washington (4-0), Oregon (3-1), Dartmouth (2-2), Colorado (1-3), North Carolina (0-4)
Washington took care of business during Saturday’s pool play, winning its first three games by five or six points. The game against Oregon was closer, but UW pulled it out 11-9. After seeing UW in pool play, Hack exclaimed that Shannon O’Malley “is by far the best player in the college division...Claire Suver is a close second. I do not think there is a team in the nation that can match that one-two punch.”
Oregon also had a good day on Saturday. Molly Suver ran the team’s offense along with Shannon McDowell, leading Fugue to victories over Colorado (13-4), North Carolina (13-8), and Dartmouth (11-4). The game against UNC was a back and forth affair where Oregon went up 7-2 before North Carolina went on a run to jump ahead 8-7. In the end, Oregon closed out the game and maintained its second place position in the pool. On Sunday, Oregon ended up winning ninals over Texas.
Dartmouth was ranked last in the pool, but overcame its seed by upsetting both North Carolina (13-10) and Colorado. Washington’s coach, Miranda Roth, noted that “Rohre Titcomb and Nora Johnson are great handlers, but have very little supporting cast.” Titcomb has recovered from shoulder surgery that forced her to play lefty and she pulled the disc out the back of the endzone multiple times this past weekend.
Colorado’s one win for the day was against North Carolina (13-5). Despite a number of highly talented individuals on the team, Colorado has seemed unable to play consistently with the top tier teams this season. Hack observed that “Amy Smith is fitting in well at Colorado” although she remains a receiver while the team really needs more dominant handlers.
North Carolina was plagued by inconsistency during Saturday’s play and was unable to earn any wins. Hack was disappointed with her team’s performance in pool play, but UNC showed a new face on Sunday, winning all of its consolation bracket games. Hack explains that, “the dance off was probably what turned our weekend around,” although having a successful game plan for windy conditions also helped.
SUNDAY
The weather on Saturday was mainly calm, with only a slight crosswind during some rounds. However, on Sunday the conditions were very different with a strong wind creating upwind/downwind games with low scores and a high premium on scoring upwind goals.
Pre-Quarters:
Three out of the four pre-quarters match-ups saw the lower seeded team emerging victorious. North County squeaked one out past Michigan (11-10) while Wake Forest upset Texas (12-9), Wisconsin beat Oregon, and Pittsburgh bested Dartmouth (13-8). The number of upsets in pool play and pre-quarters speaks to the growing parity in women’s college ultimate. It also illustrates that simply playing the top competition does not necessarily turn a team into a top tier team. Western Washington, Carleton, Colorado, and UC-Berkeley all attended all three Cultimate NCUS events this season, yet they had 0-4 or 1-3 records on Saturday after losing to teams like Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, and Dartmouth, who have not seen as much inter-regional competition.
Quarter-finals:
North County had the first round to get used to the windy conditions before matching up with UCLA in quarterfinals. UCLA earned an upwinder towards the end of the first half to go up 6-5. Korb remarked that North County “moved the disc well in the wind, and had lots of spectacular catches when the throws went awry.” Nonetheless, the team from San Diego could not convert on the upwind goalline and UCLA won 9-6.
Washington met Wake Forest in quarters. After realizing the impact of Wake Forest’s star player, UW played a box-and-one zone to minimize her effect on the game. This was a successful strategy and Washington pulled away to win the match 15-5. In the windy conditions, UW looked to huck whenever possible, both upwind and downwind. Completing a percentage of these deep passes made scoring in the upwind endzone easier for UW Element.
The Wisconsin-Santa Barbara game could not have been closer. Both teams really struggled in the wind and their zone offenses had trouble advancing the disc the full 70 yards needed after a downwind punt. In the end, Wisconsin pulled out the upset by winning 8-7.
Pittsburgh and British Columbia played in the final quarter-finals game. Both teams punted the disc going downwind and UBC’s Hislop was able to complete a number of her hucks. Pittsburgh experimented with a straight up defense and a D that poached off the handlers to clog UBC’s cutting lanes. UBC managed to score three upwind breaks while Pitt did not score at all upwind and the final score was 12-6.
Semi-finals:
Washington and UCLA met for the second time this season in the semi-finals. UCLA won their first match-up in the semifinals of the Stanford Invite, but this time UW would emerge on top. After trading downwind goals to 4-4, Washington scored an upwind goal to string two points together. UW continued to huck both directions, often throwing the disc deep immediately after a UCLA turnover. Korb said that “although many upwind hucks were not close to being completed, the ones that did connect were devastating.” Roth noted that UCLA also tried some high risk throws against UW’s zone. UW’s aggressive cup and confident disc movement in the wind helped it pull away in the second half, winning 11-5. Interestingly enough, this is the third year in a row UCLA has finished in the semi-finals of Centex.
Wisconsin seemed to have lost a step after its battle with UCSB in quarters and by the time Bella Donna played British Columbia in the semis, many of Wisconsin’s reserves were shot. UBC’s Frew mentioned that Bosscher and Courtney Kiesow “were running the show on offense, but they were unable to connect with what seemed like kind of tired receivers.” After Short caught a number of downwind goals for UBC, Bosscher matched-up on her and did a good job defensively. Short still managed to catch one huck tipped by Bosscher, allowing UBC to take half up by three. Wisconsin scored one upwinder this game, but UBC put in a couple more, including an upwinder to win the game 11-6.
Finals:
The finals pitted the two teams that had been most successful in the wind against each other: UW and UBC. These sectional rivals will be playing each other multiple times during the upcoming Series, so this game was an important battle for seeding and a mental edge. UBC started the game receiving upwind, and after numerous turnovers the Thunderbirds drew first blood against UW’s four person cup. UBC tried to play its own zone, but after watching UW move the disc easily through the cup, UBC decided to play person defense the rest of the game. Both teams looked to huck going downwind, and UW continued to huck going upwind while UBC tried to gain yards on in-cuts. UW’s cutters read the disc very well, helping save some high stall count punts. Both teams had scored upwind twice by the time the score was tied at 7-7 and the soft cap went on. UBC got a big break by scoring upwind to take half. After half, Washington received going upwind and pressure defense caused a drop near the goalline. Fittingly, the final play was Frew to Hislop back to Frew in the endzone for the 9-7 win. Korb exclaimed that in the finals, “UBC rose to a level beyond what they've done already this season.” Not a bad way to earn $2,000 in prize money.
The women's finals were videotaped by UltiVillage and all fans of women's ultimate are highly encouraged to buy the relatively inexpensive UVTV subscription for Centex to watch the game and see some of the top women's college players in action.
