Wisconsin Finds Victory in Missouri

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COLOMBIA, MO

February 23-24, 2008
Written by Michelle Ng
As posted to rec.sport.disc

Texas Throwdown brought with it the challenges of three teams dropping out the three days leading up to the tournament (Blue Team and Pitt due to driving conditions) and uncertain weather conditions eliminating all of the main fields and backup grass fields for the last round of Saturday as well as all of Sunday.  In addition, the backup turf fields had also mistakenly been double-booked for soccer tryouts, so during the second-to-last round on Saturday, I was informed that from 11:30a-2:30p on Sunday, the number of frisbee fields would be reduced from 3 to 1.  With all of the logistical challenges at hand, teams braved the situation and brought positive attitudes and their A game to Columbia, MO this weekend for some top-tier ultimate.

SATURDAY...

Wisconsin Bella Donna won Pool A (the power pool) on Saturday, upsetting #1 seed Michigan Flywheel 13-10.  Wisconsin's charge was led by captains Courtney Kiesow and Georgia Bosscher, capable leaders and talented players who know how to get their team fired up to win. Wisconsin's Saturday got off to a rough start as they squeaked out wins against Illinois and Truman State, after allowing Illinois to go on a long run.  Wisconsin proved themselves the veteran team, pulling out both wins before going on to beat Michigan and Texas in equally close games.  Laura Bitterman caught numerous goals for Bella Donna, consistently beating people deep and also making numerous yardage gaining under-cuts.  She is going to be a tough matchup for many teams, especially for those who are focused on trying to contain some of Bella Donna's more veteran players-- Bitterman is only a sophomore.  Frances Tsukano and Kari Rongstad also dominated the cutting lanes for Bella Donna, with handlers Elizabeth Vu, Shira Klane, and Emilie McKain showing off confident breaks and consistent swings.  Klane also connected with many of Bella Donna's speedy cutters on longer-range throws.  Klane, too, is only a sophomore and McKain, merely a freshman.  The savvy of all of these extremely talented players was impressive and with Kiesow and Bosscher leading the charge, the sky is the limit for this team.

Flywheel had a strong Saturday showing as well, with its only loss coming at the hands of Bella Donna.  It should be noted that Flywheel was playing without co-captain and talented cutter Sarah "Surge" Griffith and veteran handler Katka Bodova.  Emily "Ebae" Baecher led the Flywheel charge, throwing her high release lefty backhand and beautiful full-field hucks all day long.  Baecher was nearly unstoppable in every game and her talented play will be a big reason Flywheel is successful this season.  Co-captain Jenny Chan also anchored the Flywheel offense and her breaks and consistent throws complimented Baecher's play nicely.

Texas took 3rd in Pool A with a strong showing on Saturday after coming out a little shell-shocked against Michigan in a first-round game that had a good layer of snow all over the field.  Texas bounced back to beat Illinois, regional rival Truman State, and then lost a close game to Wisconsin Bella Donna, in a fun, intense matchup that saw lots of great plays from both teams.  Co-captain Rebecca Shelton led the Texas team with her throws, defense, and hard cutting.  Her hard work in the offseason with Texas Showdown is quite evident and her leadership will be key to Texas' quest to return to Nationals. Natalie "Balls" Espino and Gina Phillips also played well for Texas, sharing handling duties with Shelton and making big plays on both sides of the disc.  Katie "BS" Blyth is one of the best young players in the game and while she is currently flying under the radar of most teams, look for her to have an enormous role for Texas in the coming years.  Sophomore rookie Rachel Massey also had a breakout day for Texas, catching multiple goals and using her speed to run down plenty of long hucks.

Truman State finished 4th in Pool A, with captains Amanda Carron and Mona Baucom running the show.  Their breaks, give-and-gos, and big hucks kept TSUnami close all day, including extremely close losses to top seeds Michigan and Wisconsin.  Carron and Baucom are extremely talented leaders and their inspired play carried their team throughout the tournament.  Noelle Peterson, Morgan Shahan, and Emily Tobias helped move the disc further downfield and their confident cutting and aggressive play will take TSUnami far this season.  TSUnami's offense flowed primarily through these five players and as other players begin to develop, TSUnami will be firing on all cylinders.

Illinois finished last in Pool A, but gave teams tough games all day. Led by co-captain Tania Reitz's dominant play, Menace took their shots at the top teams, nearly upsetting Wisconsin in Round 1.  Reitz's cutting abilities and pure grit shone through for Menace, as she fought through a shoulder injury to get back on the field to lead her team against TSUnami.  The Illinois handlers also consistently put the disc over the top, using well-placed hammers to attack the break-mark side.  With the return of co-captain Ashley Chan from injury, Illinois will be looking to challenge at Great Lakes Regionals come April.

While I did not get a chance to see many of the bottom pool games on Saturday, a couple of notes on players and teams:

Katie Patterson of Vanderbilt is one of the most underrated players in the South Region.  She is only in her second year of eligibility, as last year was VUDU's first year participating in the Series. Patterson has all the tools to be a huge threat and you should look for her in the coming years, as she plans to use the rest of her eligibility in law school somewhere.  Her inspirational play will lead the young VUDU team far.  Vanderbilt was missing top players Sarah "Eddie" Edmonds and Sara "Gibbs" Gibson, but look for VUDU to challenge the nation's top teams at Centex next month.

St. Louis University was the story of the weekend, winning Pool C on Saturday and finishing 3rd after upsetting Texas in quarters and beating Truman State in the 3rd place game.  Led by co-captain Kara O'Malley and handler Tricia Wong, SLULU will be looking to take the sole bid from the South Region come April.  While this team's offense is less structured than most of the other top teams, they do what they do well.  They break the mark to tight spaces and they catch EVERYTHING.  O'Malley's all-around play was extremely impressive, with her poach defense generating numerous Ds for her team and her play on offense providing her team with a huge spark.

Washington University also had an impressive showing led by co-captains Abby Stephens and Kate Stambaugh.  Stephens is a great all-around player and Stambaugh's throws make WUWU a force to be reckoned with.  WUWU is scrappy and they clearly love to play the game--they will be another team to watch closely at South Regionals.

A few other random notes: Tasha Parman of Kansas Betty will be a key player to watch over the next couple of seasons.  Her forehand hucks are impressive and she is a confident leader who plays with a ton of heart.  Chicago also looked strong, even without co-captain Emma Fuller in attendance.  Look for them to continue to develop over the rest of the season.  Indiana was a very scrappy team--I wish I had gotten to see more of their games but the athletic play of co-captains Laura Jones and Juliet McNamara stood out to me.  They are going to be interesting to watch in the coming months, especially with more subs, and I can definitely see them upsetting some teams at Regionals.  I also want to shout-out Texas B.  Any B team willing to travel 13 hours to play against some of the best competition in the part of the country deserves some recognition.  Mayhem's potential is highlighted by their double-game point loss to Kansas during their crossover game on Saturday.  Mayhem's play this weekend was led by co-captain Laura Markham, stellar cutting by Julie Paik and Libby Cravens, and great play from a host of other young players.

SUNDAY...

The Quarters matchups were as follows: Wisconsin (1) v. Wash U (8), Truman State (4) v. Illinois (5), Texas (3) v. St. Louis (6), and Michigan (2) v. Indiana (7).  Everything went to seed except for St. Louis upsetting Texas in a close 6-4 game.  O'Malley's play led the SLULU charge and while the teams traded points early on, Texas' inability to adjust to St. Louis' scrappy game hurt them in the end. On the other side of the bracket, Wash U took Wisconsin to 8-9, but Bella Donna was able to pull the win out.

Semis featured Wisconsin v. Truman State and Michigan v. St. Louis. Wisconsin took control of their game early, taking advantage of the depth of their squad against the smaller TSUnami team.  Carron, Baucom, Peterson, Shahan, and Tobias still played well for Truman State, but while Wisconsin was able to put out fresh lines nearly ever point, TSUnami was forced to rely heavily on the play of these five players.  Bosscher's huge flick huck was unstoppable, finding Rongstad, Tsukano, and Bitterman deep countless times.  Bosscher is nearly unstoppable on O and Wisconsin frequently isolates her on an in-cut, setting her up to throw deep to a speedy cutter, of which Bella Donna has plenty.  While Bosscher was making the big plays for Bella Donna, Kiesow, as always, quietly anchored the team on both sides of the disc.  Much to the delight of a few tired Texas players, she also threw a couple of scoobers over the top, acknowledging any and all heckles with a smile and by tooling her matchup around.  The Michigan v. St. Louis game was close early but Baecher and Chan led the more experienced Flywheel team to a 13-7 win, pulling away after half.

Unfortunately, Illinois decided to leave after their quarters game, leading to more re-shuffling of matchups.  Given the field constraints and already hectic schedule, Texas sacrificed their second game of the day in order to ensure that Wash U would not get left without a second game on Sunday.  WUWU ended up beating Indiana 13-2 in the consolation
game while most of the Texas players got on the road a few hours earlier than expected to embark on their 13-hour car ride.

Finals was Wisconsin v. Michigan, a rematch of the CCC finals.  This time Bella Donna would not be denied and while the game stayed close throughout, Wisconsin was clearly in control.  Baecher led Flywheel with every throw in the book, but Wisconsin simply had too many weapons.  It will be interesting to see how the return of Griffith and Bodova changes the Bella Donna v. Flywheel matchup--it will be fun to watch.  Bitterman was on fire this game, scoring numerous goals and cutting hard every point she was in.  Bosscher also had a phenomenal game.  At one point on the sidelines, a Bella Donna player exclaimed, "Someone get out the video camera!  This is ridiculous!"  I could not agree more as Bosscher made huge plays for Bella Donna on both sides of the disc, leading her team to their second tournament win of the season.  Also, props to McKain on her sweet highlight videos from Bella Donna's two previous tournaments--check them out on YouTube.

I did not get a chance to watch many of the consolation games while the championship bracket was being played out, but following Finals, I had the opportunity to watch Vanderbilt v. Mizzou and Kansas v. Mizzou.  Vanderbilt's full squad will be capable of running with the top teams in the South as evidenced by their win against Truman State at Mardi Gras just a few weeks ago.  I had the privilege of watching that game as well and both teams left it all on the field--it was a gritty, hard-fought game and pointed to the increased parity between teams in the South Region.  Patterson and missing players Edmonds and Gibson all have valuable experience with club team Deliverance and bring their great chemistry to the field.  Handler Jamie McCormick loves her hammers and hucks and will also contribute to VUDU's success down the line.  Mizzou is a young team but as their throws develop, they will challenge numerous more established teams.  They, too, are very athletic and exciting to watch.  Kansas has strong leadership in their coach and captains-- I would not be surprised to see them get some quality wins at Regionals.

Congratulations to Wisconsin Bella Donna on winning Texas Throwdown and a big thank you to all of the teams involved for their patience and understanding as we dealt with numerous situations beyond our control.  We feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to host this tournament in an effort to promote more quality women's ultimate in this part of the country. Good luck to teams on the rest of their seasons.  See you on the field!

Michelle #10
Berkeley Ultimate '04-'06
Texas Ultimate '07-'08