UCLA battles through a tough field to win it all

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PALO ALTO, CA

March 8-9, 2008

The Stanford Invite has been one of the most competitive college tournaments since the early 1990's, but never before has the field been so deep and evenly matched as it was this past weekend. Money on the line and aggressive marketing of the tournament surely helped attract so many top teams. The Stanford Invite is the second tournament in Cultimate's National Collegiate Ultimate Series (NCUS) where teams get cumulative points for their finishes and the top place team after all three tournaments wins $2,000.

SATURDAY

POOL A: UCLA, Oregon, Southern California, Colorado

Qualifying for the Stanford Invite the weekend before, Southern California (USC) wasted no time making an impact at the top level. USC lost to both Oregon and UCLA, but kept the scores respectably close at 12-8and 13-9, respectively. Against Oregon, USC didn't quite have an answer for its alumna Jessica "Venus" Hyunh who is using her fifth year of eligibility at Oregon law school. USC coach Frankie Rho said that, "Venus set the ton early with her aggressive cuts and deep throws. She definitely didn't want to be upset by her former team." While Oregon took the game, one of its captains, Clare "Gordy" Gordon, tore her ACL on the last point of the game. USC had an early 4-2 lead on UCLA thanks to big plays by Mary Kate Hogan. UCLA came back to take half 7-6 and the game was 9-8 before UCLA's top players took over. Andi "Gizmo" Coleman and Angie "Taz" Sanan in particular ran the show handling for UCLA. In its last game of the day, USC had its big break against Colorado. In the first half, both teams played a four person cup and were able to string together a series of runs. USC took half 7-5 before Colorado tied it up. At 10-9, USC got a key break after a turnover near Colorado's goal line. Colorado patiently worked it against USC's zone to bring the score to 12-10, but USC finished it off on a forehand huck from Hogan to USC's top cutter Lindsey Cross. Taking only 12 players to this tournament, the day was quite successful for the USC Hellions of Troy. UCLA coach Alex Korb praised the team by saying, "USC is better than they've ever been...They made aggressive offensive decision, and had the athleticism to back it up."

Oregon is a team that is truly benefitting from the high school ultimate scene. Molly Suver, Shannon McDowell, and Julia Sherwood are three of the team's main handlers and all played high level juniors ultimate. Their experience was able to break USC's zone with patient throws over the top of the cup. Another juniors players, Chris Norton, is also a stellar defender and matched-up well against USC's Cross. Oregon's first true test was against Colorado. Colorado took an early lead before Oregon caught up and jumped ahead. Colorado consistently gained yards on aggressive in-cuts while Oregon struggled to find its defensive groove. After a back and forth game, all of a sudden it was double-game-point and Kali's defensive intensity was able to generate the turnover and the win. In particular, Amy Smith was noted for making an impact with the disc and as a receiver in this game. After that heart-breaking loss, Oregon had to face the number one seed: UCLA. Oregon showed BLU no quarter and kept the game tight all the way to 9-9. At that point, Oregon had some costly miscues and execution errors that UCLA was able to take advantage of to win the game 13-9.

Colorado is consistently lead by Julie Fast, Heather Waugh, and Amy Smith. The team played intense defense, whether it was playing zone or person-D, and has a patient method to its offensive looks. Colorado has been intent on getting experience for its younger players this season, even splitting into two teams for Trouble in Vegas, and a number of younger players saw considerable playing time at the Stanford Invite. Developing the team in the way will surely pay off once Southwest regionals rolls around, even if Kali's win-loss record doesn't reflect its true strength.

UCLA has the depth and skill to make it the team to beat this season. In addition to Coleman and Sanan's play, Cheryl "Kix" Prideaux, Yvonne "Cosmo" Leung, and Annie "Fresh" Banks are top receivers that come through in the cluthc. Rho notes that "they used their depth effectively to keep the pressure on, and Korb is doing a good job of working in their younger players." UCLA would often play person defense when it had its starters on the line, while it mixed in a zone if there were more younger players on the field. One can see how UCLA continues to have skilled players year after year when its developing talent is given the opportunities to be tested in big games throughout the season.

Pool B: UC-Santa Barbara, Carleton, Wisconsin, North Carolina

Wisconsin came into the tournament ranked number one in its pool, but couldn't hold onto the top spot against both UC-Santa Barbara and regional rival Carleton. The very first game of the day, Carleton came out strong and pulled out a close victory over Bella Donna, 14-12. Wisconsin then had to turn around and play another close game, this time against North Carolina. Wisconsin was able to dig deep and win the second game 13-12. After a much needed bye, Wisconsin played Santa Barbara and came up short by three points, 13-10.

Carleton's play was lead by Megan Molteni and Beth Mynar. Mynar uses her size and throws effectively while Taylor Ross is a go-to cutter for Syzygy. After upsetting Wisconsin, Carleton wasn't able to repeat the feat against UC-Santa Barbara and lost 9-12. For its last game of the day, Carleton had a barn-burner with North Carolina. After a lenghty battle, Carleton pulled it out by one point, 12-11, to take second in its pool.

North Carolina played close game after close game on Saturday. The team plays a fast-paced, aggressive style of play that continued to come up big against the its opponents. Rho describes UNC as "the team to beat out of the atlantic coast region."

UC-Santa Barbara was the only team in its pool without nail-bitting games on Saturday. Led by thrower Katie Barry, UCSB was in control for most of its pool play games. UCSB relies on its deep game and has the tall receivers to bring down Barry's hucks. Unfortunately, the team was without star Andrea Romano this weekend as she was nursing a foot injury.

Pool C: British Columbia, Texas, UC-Berkeley, Brown

Texas made a statement with its play on Saturday. In round one, Texas went up 5-0 against the top seed British Columbia (UBC) and hold that lead until 9-3 before UBC turns it around. UBC moves the disc quickly during their run, allowing their horizontal stack to set up space for the break throws of handlers Kira Frew, Negar Elmieh, and Iris Wong. Some lay-out blocks by Frew swing the momentum in UBC favor and UBC wins 12-9. Not deterred, Texas comes out with a 3-1 lead in the next game against Berkeley. The Pie Queens then jump ahead to 5-3 but Texas fights back to tie the game at 9-9 with aggressive deep looks off of Berkeley turnovers. The capped game is tied at 10's when Michelle Ng (former Berkeley captain) catches the game-winning huck for Texas. After that upset, Texas was able to handle Brown 13-4 in the final pool play game.

This was Brown's first tournament of the season and the east coast team looked a step behind its west coast opponents who have been practicing outside for months now. Some miscues on their dump sets and simple execution errors lead to some of the leads of their opponents. Nonetheless, the experience and practice that this weekend gave Brown will surely come in handy later in the season.

UC-Berkeley has a number of impact players on its roster. Natalie Wu has been the team's top handler and Darragh Clancy also moves the disc for Berkeley by getting open for big yardage gainers. Other threats on offense and defense include Cree Howard and An-Chi Tsou. In general, the team has a lot of young, athletic players that will keep the program strong for years to come. After its tough loss against Texas, Berkeley came out a little flat against UBC in the last round of the day. Cal coach Ethan explained that UBC's "aggressiveness kinda startled us a bit, and we were reeling early." He thought the final score of 13-4 did not reflect the play, although UBC was certainly playing well. UBC especially utilized a transition defense that went from a three person cup into person defense. Unfortunately, Wu injured her knee during this game for Berkeley and it's unclear whether she will be back in action for the rest of the season.

Frew is the most notable stand-out for UBC. Just as damaging as her throws is her quickness and footwork that often allows her to get open up the line. Nikki Short, Candice Chan, and Hannah Epperson are also top receivers with speed and good disc reading skills. Frew explained that her team's defense was the biggest factor in their 7-0 run to win the game against Texas. Tight handler defense made easy resets harder and Texas' big throwers, Gina Phillips and Becca Sheldon, were unable to have open hucks as much. Notably, two of the team's captains and starters were missing this weekend, juniors Tory Hislop and Val Lefebvre.

Pool C: Washington, Stanford, North County A, Western Washington

Western Washington (WWU) is a young team that held its own against the top competition this weekend, even if its win-loss record didn't show it. Alyssa Weatherford's hucks were a big part of keeping WWU in games and Western had a lead against UW and was tied 9-9 with Stanford before losing both games.

The Stanford-Washington game was the most anticipated match-up of this pool. Washington seemed like the deep and more balanced team as it took half 7-4 and extended its lead to 12-7, playing a combination of zone and person to keep Stanford off-balance. Shannon O'Malley led the way as the primary cutter out of the stack and Lindsey Wilson made some big plays in the air. Stanford strung two points together as UW struggled to finish the game, and the final score was 13-9.

For Stanford, Emily Damon and Jenny Founds were dominate handlers with the disc, often throwing break-mark throws to the front of their vertical stack to initiate their flow. Liz Cassel and Krystal Barghelame were key players for them in the lanes with either one of them being the initiating cutter. Stanford has a large recruiting class that should be more polished later in the season.

Laura Wishingrad is back for another year at UC-San Diego and she led the North County A team with her experience and skill. In the very first round, North County played UW in an extremely close game and ended up losing by one, 10-11. The women from San Diego weren't able to play Stanford as closely the following round, losing 11-7, but bounched back to end the day with a win over WWU.

SUNDAY

QUARTERS

Stanford had had a close call in its pre-quarters game with Southern California. USC took half 7-4 before Stanford came back by playing a box-and-one zone on Hogan. Stanford ended up pulling it out 9-8. In the quarters, Stanford was matched-up against regional rival UBC. Frew explains that ,"UBC came in to the game ready to take out the team that eliminated them from last years championship tournament." UBC used some zone transition that generated turnovers early in the game and helped UBC take half. The second half ended with Stanford scoring the last point of the game after patient dumping and swinging, but it was too little too late and UBC won 11-8.

Oregon faced UC-Santa Barbara in quarters that ended in heartbreaking fashion for Fugue. Oregon was up for most of the game by a break based on Suver and Sherwood's hucks and break-marks and the defensive plays by Norton and Kate Fox Hayward. Nonetheless, UCSB picked up the defensive intensity at the end of the game and Barry got a handblock in the last few minutes. The game came down to universe point and Oregon turned it over on a huck that went too far. UCSB quickly struck back and won the right to advance to semifinals.

Carleton and UCLA had another tight game in quarters as well. UCLA had a small lead for much of the game, but Carleton tied it up just as the hard cap was sounding. Syzygy's handlers aggressively cut up the line to reset the disc and get off unmarked throws. UCLA also had a bit of trouble dealing with Carleton's four person cup that trapped both sides of the fields. Nonetheless, UCLA was able to pull out the victory on double game point.Heartbreaker. We wanted this game, and we had control of this game the entire way. We were always up a break.. but by the end of this game, Katie Barry, Finney and Kayla (?) played great defense- Katie getting a much needed hand block in the last few minutes of the game. This team strives on breaking the mark offensive and Finney shows confidence in the air and behind the disc despite being a sophomore.

Molly and Julia's throws were on-point all game long- hucking and breaking the mark. Chris Norton and fellow South Eugene HS classmate and former track runner Kate Fox Hayward got a handful of sky D's each. (Kate plays defense like spiderman- swooping in from the air!) Kate didn't play ultimate in HS, but no one could ever tell with her athletic background. At one point in the game, Oregon ran a four man cup and although Kate was about 2 yards from the thrower in the cup, she got a footblock against Katie Barry's attempt to throw through the cup. She kicked up the footblock right into Shannon's hands. Kate Fox Hayward is pure athlete that Fugue is lucky to have picked up. It was pretty amazing.

We lost in the end on universe point off of a huck that went too far. Burning Skirts retook possession and threw long to finish the game. It was our best game all weekend.

The last quarterfinals game was between UW and Texas. Texas had just come off of a universe point victory over Wisconsin in pre-quarters and was caught off guard by UW's energy. Washington gained a big lead early that Texas was never able to overcome. Texas captain Ng said that, "they move the disc faster than any other team we played all weekend." Utilizing break marks and dishes, UW was able to generate unmarked throws for wide open hucks. UW finished the game 15-4.

SEMI-FINALS

Washington met UCLA in the semifinals. UCLA earned an early break and then traded points for much of the game. Near the end, UW got two breaks to go up 12-11. After a tie game at 12-12, the next point took a long time. So long that it lasted through both the soft cap and hard cap horns--whichever team scored the hell point would go onto finals. Both teams had numerous opportunities to score, but the other team's defense countered the attacks. UCLA's Coleman got a layout D on the dump and UCLA was able to convert when Prideaux skied several UW players to bring down a floaty huck for the win. After the game, Korb remarked that "Washington had very aggressive marks, and had a lot of big defensive bids.  They did a great job of spacing on offense, and isolating their top receivers."

The other semifinal pitted UBC against UCSB. This was the second time these teams have met in an elimination game this season, and both games have ended on a universe point win. UBC found itself struggling to contain Santa Barbara's deep game early in the contest, with UCSB's taller receivers gaining an advantage in the air on high stall count hucks. UCSB took half 8-7. UBC changed to a three person cup to try and contain Barry's hucks and UCSB countered with its own zone for the rest of the game. The hard cap went on when UBC was up 10-9, but Santa Barbara easily tied the game, pushing it into double-game point. Each team turned the disc twice before UBC was able to capitalize on an endzone-line turnover to win the game. Frew remarked that, "I don't know the last time that UBC has made finals in the college pre-series tournaments."

FINALS

UBC started off strong in the finals and scored the first two points. Both teams were clearly tired from the long weekend, but UBC seemed to run out of gas sooner. UCLA tied the game at 4-4 and earned a break to take half. going up 2-0.  UBC played a lot of zone defense and zone-to-person transition defenses and UCLA tried to use its zone defense whenever Frew was not on the field (which was not very often). UCLA sandwiched and poached off of UBC's horizontal stack cutters and also took advantage of height mis-matches in the air. UCLA pulled away in the second half and scored the last point at the hard cap, winning 13-9.

The number of close games throughout the weekend was simply incredible, speaking to the depth of the women's field this year.