President's Day - Part Two

I was hoping to finish off my Pres Day thoughts today but it looks like I'll have to add another post or simply revise this one later. My apologies to Cornell, Long Beach, UC-Davis and Sonoma State... I'll get to you soon.

UC SAN DIEGO - One of the biggest questions coming into this season was how UCSD was going to look coming off of their one-year suspension. I had speculated that the fight for the four Southwest bids was primarily a battle between four teams - UCSB, UCLA, USC and Colorado. At Pres Day, the Psychos made it clear that the Southwest is going to be at least a five team race.

I don't know much about their depth behind Jennifer Jacobson (Sir Robin), Andrea Cardenas (Ferris), Amy Chang (Meeko) and Molica Anderson (Guano), but a win over Carleton in pool play and a decisive victory over Colorado is no accident. I'm not sure if their lopsided losses to the upper echelon teams (Stanford, Ottawa, Oregon, UCSB) is a result of opening up their rotation early or a true indicator of their relative strength. I do know that it is dangerous to underestimate a program like UC San Diego. Great programs like UCSD, Carleton and Stanford have the knowhow to develop their young players quickly and peak at the right time. It's like it's in their DNA... it's like they can simply manufacture good player after good player and send them straight from the assembly line to the Ultimate field. It's like they've got a secret... they've been hiding... under their skin...

Domo arigato, UC Psycho-boto!

COLORADO - Kali seems to be approaching the season in similar fashion to British Columbia. They are going to be very good but in the meantime, they are going to have some ups and downs as they develop their younger players. Apparently, Brenna Hokanson is not in school right now which definitely hurts them. They still have the Sisters Waugh and Courtney Verhaalen but they could definitely use an in-your-face type of thrower like Brenna. Of course, everyone could use one of those.

Speaking of Courtney, I think she has clearly emerged as Kali's top player. I love the fire and enthusiasm she brings to the field; she is fun to watch and her enjoyment of the game is infectious. I think Kali's success this season depends more on her than any other player. At last year's Regionals, our first half was really tight and Kali got a critical break on a goal by Verhaalen. She emphasized the importance of that point with a spirited spike (I'm personally in favor of certain types of spikes, but that's another discussion). That moment sucked the air out of us and they went on a big run to blow open the game. I like a number of their other players, but Courtney is the kind of player that can elevate an entire team.

We played Colorado on Sunday, and I was pretty happy with how we handled the game. We saw this as a dangerous game but approached it with the mindset that it was a game that we should win. It's a new position for the Hellions to be in, and we are steadily improving our mental game and bringing more consistency to every point.

The play was a bit sloppy on both sides, but some of this was due to the increased intensity on defense. Both teams wanted to get into the pre-quarters and it showed. Our only true rookie on the A team (T-Stamp) stepped it up in this game, tying Lindsey Cross with four goals. The only down note in an otherwise fun game was that Verhaalen and Trouble (Alison Wilber?) both went down with injuries late in the game. Fortunately, it sounds like neither was that serious.

Though their pool game doesn't necessarily reflect it, the difference between Kali and UCSD is pretty close. Aside from the players I've already mentioned, Christina Reams (Bambi) and Hanae Isobe will be critical players in Colorado's hopes for a bid to Columbus.

ARIZONA - I've been a big fan of Jodi McCloskey since I started coaching USC, and this year provides her with an opportunity to step up and assume a more visible profile. Scorch was a considerably stronger team last year, but they have a significantly better chance of qualifying for Nationals this year. Timing is key.

After losing key handlers like Julia Tenen, Scorch is currently developing their handling line which is led by Jen Pashley. Scorch's hopes this year are directly tied to how their young handlers perform. In the games that I've seen them play, the outcome of the game was a direct reflection of the play from the handlers.

Jeff Grobe (Barrio) has joined Todd Shipman on the coaching staff which certainly helps Scorch. I have been very impressed with their ability to stay competitive in what appeared to be a rebuilding year. At Pres Day, they notched an impressive win over Northeastern, lost on DGP to UBC and kept it fairly tight against Stanford and UCLA.

Our Monday game against Scorch isn't worth discussing as I know that they are a stronger team than the result would suggest. I would rank them a slight step below UCSD and Colorado in the region, but they are capable of taking out any of the teams ahead of them except UCSB.

ILLINOIS

Five Things I Love About Illinois

1. Tania Reitz - Yeah, she is a great athlete, but she is also one of those players that looks really smooth on the field. Of the top players I've seen, Tory Hislop and Georgia Bosscher are two others that have that same quality.

2. Joann Wong - She writes the blog for Menace and a voice like hers is really important for the continued growth of the women's division. She may sound at times like an eight-year old, but make no doubt about it, the content on her blog is both sincere and substantive.

3. Their Athleticism - Reitz is easy to notice but she is just one of many great athletes on this team. I spoke with players from both Ottawa and Oregon and the general sentiment was that Illinois was a much better team than you would think from the results. We won by seven, but I would generally agree. I won't mention what they are but I think they have a couple of big flaws that top-tier teams can take advantage of, but these are easily fixable. As they are now, they should be able to grab the 2nd bid from the Great Lakes region behind Michigan, but if they can address these flaws, they have the potential to be a quarterfinals team in Columbus.

4. The Jerseys - Those are some pretty sweet looking threads. I go back and forth about wearing official school logos, but it really works for Illinois. Despite the fact that they share the same colors as UVA, I really like how the orange, blue and white work together. On a side note, here's a shout out to the William and Mary women for beating down UVA at the Hellfish Bonanza.

5. Winning Pool J - This was easily the toughest of the bottom pools, pitting three evenly-matched teams (Texas and Northeastern) that may not get the attention of the top programs but are all very good programs. As I've mentioned before, Pool C was the toughest of the first day pools and it definitely took a toll on Menace. Bouncing back mid-tourney is always an impressive feat, and they were one point away from making it to the quarterfinals.

NORTHEASTERN - I didn't get to see the Valkyries play, but they are a quality team for certain. Jason Adams and Kayla Burnim helm this young program who are led on the field by Courtney Moores and Stephanie Barker. I'm sure that they were hoping to perform better at Pres Day, but considering that they get a later jump on the season than the West Coast teams, they strung together a number of good results (two wins over Texas, tight games against Colorado, Arizona, Illinois and UCLA).

The Valkyries should easily qualify out of the New England region, but they are aiming for something higher this year. After a surprising 9th place finish at the College Championships last year, Northeastern returns a lot of its squad and is hoping that their Pres Day experience and an appearance at Centex will give them more big-game experience to improve on last year's finish.

CLAREMONT - I have written a decent amount about the Greenshirts and I can't really shed much light on their performance at Pres Day since the one time I saw them was when I was passing them in the parking lot on Sunday. One thing that should be known is that Claremont hosted a lot of teams on Sunday night when the tourney had to relocate to San Bernardino. Maybe it is something that others see as no big deal, but it is really great to see the Ultimate community take care of each other in ways like this. Traveling to tourneys is only getting more expensive and when teams extend themselves to other teams in seemingly small ways, it goes a long way to promote bonding and growth in the community at large.

TEXAS - I was hoping to see Melee play, but Pool D was located somewhere else that was essentially the same as being in Texas. With Gina Phillips and Michelle Ng gone, Stephanie Redfern and Rebecca Shelton emerge as two of their go-to players. They had a number of close losses, including two DGP defeats to Cornell and Illinois and a two point loss to Berkeley.

I don't know what the South picture is like this year but knowing that there are two bids certainly helps that region immensely. I'd imagine that the usual suspects will be in contention (Truman State, Wash U., Vanderbilt) but Texas remains the powerhouse program in the South. I personally have favored a minimum of two bids per region and I think it is great that the UPA has made this change. I have a lot of thoughts about the upcoming changes in store for the college division so I'll save them for later.