Franklin... inspired by... Franklin!!! Double post!
With Centex less than 48 hours away, I think it would be both fun and instructive to look at the national picture by tiers. I'm sure that these tiers will change a bit after the big showdown in Austin.
Having expanded to 32 teams and focused solely on the women's division, this year's Centex reminds me of the great Japanese cult flick Battle Royale. Almost all of the contenders are going to be there (Oregon and Washington are the exceptions), and there has likely never been as good and deep a field of women's teams at one tourney.
TIER OF HEAVEN aka Ready to play on Memorial Day
If I were Vegas (I assure you that I am not; at best, I might be the City of Commerce Casino), I would favor the following teams to be battling on the final day of Nationals:
UC Santa Barbara
Oregon (not at Centex)
Wisconsin
The first two are no-brainers having reached the finals of both President's Day and Stanford Invite. Interestingly, Fugue is not attending Centex so there will be no chance of a third finals meeting (unless St. Louis is actually Oregon in disguise... imagine how awesome it would be if SLU had a dream run to the Centex championship and shocked everyone when they ripped off their masks Mission Impossible-style to reveal that they've been Fugue all along. I'm not sure if Oregon is Edward Norton or Tyler Durden, I have no idea why I picked St. Louis, and I know I'm just muddling everything with the Fight Club and Mission Impossible references. Just run with this.)
Wisconsin reportedly lost to St. Louis at the Midwest Throwdown in a game that was decisively upwind-downwind. Bella Donna also lost to Vanderbilt at Terminus -- no offense to Vandy, but my first reaction to the result was to wonder if Wisconsin was missing some of their players. Centex will be the true test of whether they belong in this tier, but on paper, they are a very strong candidate for the Tier of Heaven.
Each of the above teams have everything that you need to win the big one. Depth? Check. Star players? Check. Big game experience? Check. Knowledgeable coach? Check.
TIERRA DEL FUEGO aka Angry at FJR for not Putting Them in the Tier of Heaven
Ottawa
Stanford
Washington (not at Centex)
Michigan
Each of these teams could move up or down, and again, Centex will be a critical test before the series begins. The one exception, of course, is Washington who opted not to attend the tourney. This is complete speculation but my guess is that it has something to do with Cyle van Auken coaching the team and Element's close ties to Cultimate. It's a bit of a shame, and if Element underperforms at Regionals and/or Nationals, there will be plenty of speculation about whether their decision not to attend Pres Day and especially Centex will have hurt their title chances.
What keeps each of these teams from being in the top tier is each has at least one major question mark. With Ottawa, I think depth remains their Achilles' heel. Also, to my knowledge, they are one of the only top-level teams without a coach. Yeah, it's self-serving to write that coaches make a difference, but I think most people would agree that it is true.
Stanford is a bit like Jennifer Aniston. They are both very attractive and likeable, but they lack that extra something special you're looking for in a big screen star. Superfly has a number of very good players (Cassel, Platt, Founds, Damon), and one of the best systems in the country. I have had difficult time identifying exactly what they are missing; perhaps it is a dominant, crunch-time player (someone like Georgia Bosscher or Cree Howard) who will take over at the end of the game. This can certainly change over the next two months. Plus, there is also that glaring lopsided rivalry with Fugue.
Michigan may be the best candidate to move up. Except for their loss to Wisconsin at Mardi Gras, they have been nothing short of dominant. While they have played a number of decent teams (Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Florida to list a few), they have yet to play against the big dogs (except Wisconsin). Flywheel is arguably deserving of a one seed at Centex, but they get to prove their top-tier worthiness by taking on UCSB in pool play.
TIER-RAN-A-SAUR-US REX aka Intriguing Squads that Could Be Sleepers, Dinosaurs or Dennis Rodman
The teams in this tier are wild cards for different reasons. Each of them could move up or down a tier and a couple are capable of ascending to the very top tier.
British Columbia
UCLA
Cal
USC
Western Washington
Carleton
As I've mentioned in a previous post, UBC didn't have Tory Hislop or Jenny Lo with them at the Stanford Invite. I still think that we have yet to see the real UBC this season. However they do in Austin should be the best measure for what everyone should expect during the series.
UCLA is quite a bit like Stanford as the really good but not flashy team. Consider them the Katherine Heigl of the women's division (I think of Heigl as the younger model of Aniston; apologies to those who are big Heigl and Aniston fans). BLU is stealthily getting better with each tourney and could be one of the surprising teams in Austin (not that UCLA performing well should be considered a surprise).
Cal has the talent to move up but their big issue seems to be their mental game in particular matchups. Though the Pie Queens have the talent and ability to play each team tightly, none of their games against Stanford and UCSB have been particularly close.
As always, it's impossible to be objective about this one, but USC could be a breakout team if they can figure out how to upend a couple of the other big name programs. Consistently good but just short of winning (DGP losses to Oregon, Ottawa, UCLA, UBC, Cal), the Hellions finally broke through with a comeback victory over UBC at Stanford. I also think we figured something out in the process of winning the consolation bracket in Ripon. If we can come through with a couple of key wins in Austin, we could shake up the national picture.
Western Washington resembles USC in many ways. Both have been up-and-comers in tough regions and this year figures to be their breakout season. Whether this team is moving upward or downward is tough to say. Chaos had a very solid showing at Stanford, but they remain in the Northwest, where being number five or six just won't cut it. They are this year's Dennis Rodman, the team that could be great, be disappointing or create complete havoc.
Carleton is Carleton. I don't know this year's squad well enough to determine their breakout potential, but like I said, it's Carleton. They looked uncharacteristically weak at Southerns, and my guess is that their poor performance can be attributed to missing some players.
TIER-EE-YAY ELEISON aka The Darkest of the Light
This tier is crazy big and can likely be subdivided into two or three tiers, but at this point in the season, differentiating these teams is really difficult. I've separated the teams below by region.
What sets this tier apart from the above is that these teams here are almost certainly not going to beat any of the teams in the top two tiers during the series (or even at Centex). Each of these teams are capable of upsetting the teams in the prior tier though.
SOUTHWEST
UC San Diego
Arizona
Colorado
ATLANTIC COAST
North Carolina
UNC Wilmington (not at Centex)
Wake Forest
Florida
NEW ENGLAND
Dartmouth
Northeastern
SOUTH
Texas
St. Louis
Truman State
METRO EAST
Pittsburgh
Maryland
OTHER
Illinois
Wisconsin Eau-Claire
Iowa State (not at Centex)
I have written a decent amount on the Southwest teams (UCSD, Arizona, Colorado), so there's no real need to do so now.
As for the Atlantic Coast teams, if I had to bet on who gets the two bids, I would go with UNC and Wake Forest. When in doubt, go with the ACC (how's that for crack analysis?). If wind factors into the equation at Regionals, Florida, led by Kristen Lamm and Allison Walford, would likely be the biggest beneficiary. If Wilmington's star players can conserve their energy for the key games on Sunday, they will also be very much in the mix. A couple of sleepers in the AC include William and Mary and Elon.
In the New England region, I thought that Northeastern was going to run away with the title (I think that's what I wrote in the upcoming UPA magazine), but Dartmouth is looking strong this spring. Winning Southerns on double game point over Florida, Princess Layout also has quality wins over Iowa State (who won't be at Centex), Truman State, the Mates of State and the 51st State, Canada. Whazzat, you say? Rohre Titcomb of Five Ultimate is one of the star players on this team, and she can certainly add victories over VC and Gaia to her proud accomplishments. Dartmouth and Northeastern will have to fight off challenges from Harvard and Middlebury.
Texas and St. Louis are two of the favorites from the South region and though they have yet to play each other this season, they could potentially meet in a play-in game on Saturday. Michelle Ng did a great write-up of several Midwest teams after the Midwest Throwdown, so instead of rehashing what she wrote, I'll just direct all interested parties to that post. St. Louis will be drawing confidence from their recent Chicago Invite victory, beating Illinois in the finals.
Pittsburgh Danger and Maryland Helpful Corn are likely going to vie with Cornell and Penn State for the second spot out of the Metro East. Charlie Mercer is a difference maker for Maryland, and unfortunately, she was sidelined with injuries for the bulk of last year's College Championships. Having a healthy Mercer is critical for Maryland's hopes to return to the big show. Pitt comes in as a bit of a mystery team to me. They were certainly a solid team last year and notched big wins over Stanford, Wisconsin and UC Santa Barbara at last year's Centex. This year, they took 2nd place at the Queen City Tune Up and eked out close wins over UNC, Florida and Penn State. Their only losses this season have come at the hands of Michigan, but both of their matches were blowouts in favor of Flywheel. They get to prove themselves against three of the perennial powers in the women's division (Stanford, UCLA, UBC), all of whom they faced last year in Austin.
Illinois, UWEC and Iowa State round out the rest of this tier. I wrote about Illinois in my recap of Pres Day, and I'm a bit surprised that they didn't win the Chicago Invite. Being from the frozen tundra, Eau Claire has yet to really compete this season. They lost to Iowa State at High Tide, but that tourney is rarely a good indicator for how a team will perform later in the season. Getting to the play-in game will be an important step for them to assert themselves as a legitimate contender for one of the three Central region bids.
TIER-A-MISU aka It's Like Dessert, You Know... At the End
Claremont
Georgia
Emory
Kansas
Wash U.
Michigan St.
Attesting to the strength of the Centex field are teams like Claremont and Kansas who are seeded 27th and 32nd respectively. The two teams have both won tourneys (Stanford Qualifier and Frostbite) this season. Claremont could make an argument for being in the above tier (one win over Texas), but I see them as a step below UC San Diego, Arizona and Colorado so here they are. Likewise, Georgia and Emory seem to be a decisive step below the top four in the Atlantic Coast.
Of the teams listed in this tier, Wash U. and Michigan State have the best chances of qualifying for Nationals. Wash U. has a win over St. Louis and a DGP loss to Truman State this spring. Michigan State hasn't travelled much this season, but they pulled off one of the biggest upsets last year in Boulder when they beat Texas. Illinois is a good bet to take the second spot out of the Great Lakes region, but Infamous and Case Western should both be in the hunt.
I wish I had more on these teams, and hopefully, I'll get to see some of them in action this weekend. The schedule is pretty tight so odds are against it. In any event, this is going to be a very exciting weekend.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Stanford Invite Recap - Part Two
And now for a game-by-game analysis...
Stanford
This was a fun and tight affair for the bulk of the game. We led 4-2 and 6-4 before they ran off the last three points of the first half to keep the game on serve. The game remained on serve at 8s. After scoring their O point, Superfly threw us a curveball by coming zone for what I believe was the first time in the game. The abrupt shift knocked us back a bit, and they scored two quick points to suddenly make the game 11-8. The soft cap was on at this point and a very long point ensued. Both teams turned it over 7 or 8 times which took us into the hard cap. We had plenty of opportunities to score but they won the point and the game, final score 12-8.
Unsurprisingly, Jenny Founds and Danielle Platt were the key playmakers for Superfly. Emily Damon was still out with her elbow injury, and Sam Zyck skipped the game for the Hellions as she was still wary of playing after her appendectomy (she ended up playing the next game). Aside from Founds and Platt, a number of players (Ali Mendoza, Elaine Hart, Caitlin Rugg, Ana Brown) played well. This year's Superfly squad doesn't blow you away with any one particular thing; they are fundamentally strong across the board and they run a deep rotation.
Also to nobody's surprise, Superfly plays a very solid team game. I am also very impressed with how their coaches, particularly Robin, maintain their poise and confidence during the game. Along with the Hellions, I am still learning how to deal with these tight elite-level games, and I am going through the growing pains of dealing with my frustrations and our lows. I am extremely fortunate to have a very understanding team and even luckier to have such a patient wife.
British Columbia
The differences between this game and our previous matchup at Pres Day were like night and day. UBC was without Tory Hislop and Jenny Lo, but they had Candace Chan (or at least someone who looked exactly like her) playing with them. The Thunderbirds were also sporting their new, super-sweet looking Five Ultimate jerseys.
In the previous game, the reigning champs had played very cleanly on offense, moving the disc quickly with short throws and utilizing a lot of give-and-gos. At Ripon, UBC was looking to stretch the field more, and although Chan was a big factor in our game, the Thunderbirds got a lot of different players involved. We got up early in this game (4-2), but gave up a four point run and found ourselves down 7-5 at half. When UBC got another break to go up 10-7, we looked defeated.
I don't know where our turnaround began or how it happened, but we stormed back to tie the game at 11s. UBC held serve to get to game point but we fired back with three in a row to win the game. One of the big factors on our side was our one true rookie, Kate Schlag, who had two big layout grabs including the game-winner where she picked up the trash from a pass that was intended for Lindsey Cross. Schlag ended up with six goals in what was probably the best game of her young career.
On a side note, one of the other notable things about this game was that it was the first time the Hellions had played with observers. The observers were operating under the experimental rules, and I was mostly in favor of them. The only thing I would like to see amended is to allow players to also call travels. Early in the game, there were a couple of blatant travels that the observers were missing and our players were a bit frustrated that they couldn't make those calls. On the whole, the observers did a great job of managing the game, and it was a great experience for the Hellions.
North Carolina
This game had letdown potential written all over it, and sure enough, we were flat through the bulk of this game. We managed to take half at 7-6, but the second half began in disastrous fashion as Pleiades rolled four straight on us.
While we may have been flat, UNC simply deserved this win as they outhustled us. UNC's offense moved the disc well and Leila Tunnell and Jill Simmerman did quite a bit of the damage on the throwing end. I also really like Karen Kimel as a receiver; she looked very solid in our game. Pleiades isn't particularly dominant in any one aspect of the game; instead they rely more on good teamwork and collective intensity. Tunnell does provide a lot of firepower as a thrower, but in our game, she played very much within the team framework instead of looking to take over every point. The offense undoubtedly starts with her, but UNC has a number of other players who can pick up the handling slack.
One thing that really impressed me about Pleiades is something that was also characteristic of Seaweed. They played every point as if it were the last one; I especially noticed this when they were playing Stanford. Superfly had opened a large and pretty much insurmountable lead on UNC, but Chapel Hill kept fighting as if the game was theirs to win.
The scariest thing about our game was that we ended up one point away from dropping down to the 4th seed in the pool. Down 12-9, we turned the disc over on our half of the field and UNC worked it to within 10 yards of the end zone. After a time out, they had a good shot at scoring, but floated a pass that Noelle Oh defended. We ended up scoring on that possession and secured the 3rd spot in the pool and a place in the pre-quarters. Certainly, we were disappointed with our play and losing out on the chance to grab second outright (and a better matchup in the pre-quarters), but coming through on this point was something that we could be proud of.
UCLA
This was a matchup that we had been looking forward to. As I mentioned in my previous post, there were very few breaks in this game and for the most part, it was a very even game. Though we were disappointed with the outcome (losing another DGP game.. blah), I was very pleased to see that we were able to rebound quickly after a dispiriting performance in the previous game. Our offense wasn't particularly sharp against UCLA, but we played considerably better than we had against Pleiades. I'm sure that playing UCLA was a bit of a motivator, but it still impressed me that we were able to reenergize ourselves.
Another bonus was that I got a considerably better sense of how to play BLU in future matchups. Of course, I'm sure that Korb thinks the same thing.
Claremont
The Greenshirts were missing one of their top players, Kate Bayliss, so they were relying even more on their fantastic rookie, Sarah 'Carny' Carnahan as their big receiving threat. Carny is an impressive athlete who utilizes her size very well and is capable of defending virtually any of the top receivers in the college division. She's a grad student so I'm not sure how long she will be at Claremont, but if she's on a Ph.D track, the Erica Baken - Sarah Carnahan connection will be the foundation for the team for the next three years.
On a side note, I think Erica Baken is the clear cut Freshman of the Year in the Southwest. Cailey Marsh would have made this much closer but she won't be returning to UCLA (she will likely reappear with Washington next year). It's possible that I'm missing other contenders in the region, but I can't imagine anyone who has had as much impact on her team as Baken. I'm still up in the air about how I feel regarding the FOTY award since it's becoming much more about the top incoming Juniors players in the region. Part of me would like to see it become a true Rookie of the Year award, but as Juniors-level Ultimate continues to grow, it makes it considerably tougher to exclude them from consideration for this award.
UNC-Wilmington
When I played at William and Mary in the 90s, Wilmington and ECU were the big, bad teams. Their men's team won the title my freshman year and their women's squad took the championship during my senior year. I was definitely eager to see how the team has evolved since I last saw them.
The team has retained a classic Carolinian feel, something that many may see as a negative. Their brash style of play isn't going to win them many friends, but they don't seem to be concerned about that. They are hungry competitors who are focused on winning through solid, aggressive play. I have yet to see Wake Forest and Florida play, but the Atlantic Coast should be at least a four-team race with Wilmington right in the thick of it.
After breaking each other once to fight to a 4-4 tie, we took the final four points of the half to go up 7-4. We opened the second half with three straight to essentially put the game away. One of the keys to our success was to limit Wilmington's deep game and force them, especially their weaker players, to make a lot of difficult throws underneath. Our marks were particularly good this game and helped us to create some easy scores.
One funny post-game note: the Hellions love to sing and cheer other teams, and as they have done with every team this season, they cheered Seaweed. The silence that met the Hellions after the end of their cheer might have been one of the funniest and most awkward post-game moments I've ever seen. Truly classic.
UC San Diego
This was an interesting game in that there were no major runs over the course of the game. After breaking Psycho on the first point of the game, we traded points to halftime. I felt like we had a good grasp on the game because our O line was firing on all cylinders. We didn't give up a break the entire game after giving up only four in the previous two games.
I had mixed feelings about O and D lines and the efficacy of this subbing strategy in the college division, but I think it can be useful when you have the personnel for it. During the first two years of coaching, I tried to work with a classic O and D line approach, but found that the best way for us to be competitive was to play our top 8-10 players on any key point regardless of whether it was an O or D point.
As a team is always fluid and changing, I became convinced at the Stanford Invite that we were now better served by running with a more traditional O and D split. We now have the depth to be able to run 14+ deep in any game which allows players to get into more a regular subbing rhythm. The split particularly benefitted us on receiving points as the O line was able to come in mentally fresh and focused solely on that point. I think when players are on the field for 3+ points, they have a tendency to lose focus and the potential for getting into ruts increases. While it is quite possible that my approach to subbing could change again, my hope is that the structure is now in place to operate this way for years to come.
Stanford
This was a fun and tight affair for the bulk of the game. We led 4-2 and 6-4 before they ran off the last three points of the first half to keep the game on serve. The game remained on serve at 8s. After scoring their O point, Superfly threw us a curveball by coming zone for what I believe was the first time in the game. The abrupt shift knocked us back a bit, and they scored two quick points to suddenly make the game 11-8. The soft cap was on at this point and a very long point ensued. Both teams turned it over 7 or 8 times which took us into the hard cap. We had plenty of opportunities to score but they won the point and the game, final score 12-8.
Unsurprisingly, Jenny Founds and Danielle Platt were the key playmakers for Superfly. Emily Damon was still out with her elbow injury, and Sam Zyck skipped the game for the Hellions as she was still wary of playing after her appendectomy (she ended up playing the next game). Aside from Founds and Platt, a number of players (Ali Mendoza, Elaine Hart, Caitlin Rugg, Ana Brown) played well. This year's Superfly squad doesn't blow you away with any one particular thing; they are fundamentally strong across the board and they run a deep rotation.
Also to nobody's surprise, Superfly plays a very solid team game. I am also very impressed with how their coaches, particularly Robin, maintain their poise and confidence during the game. Along with the Hellions, I am still learning how to deal with these tight elite-level games, and I am going through the growing pains of dealing with my frustrations and our lows. I am extremely fortunate to have a very understanding team and even luckier to have such a patient wife.
British Columbia
The differences between this game and our previous matchup at Pres Day were like night and day. UBC was without Tory Hislop and Jenny Lo, but they had Candace Chan (or at least someone who looked exactly like her) playing with them. The Thunderbirds were also sporting their new, super-sweet looking Five Ultimate jerseys.
In the previous game, the reigning champs had played very cleanly on offense, moving the disc quickly with short throws and utilizing a lot of give-and-gos. At Ripon, UBC was looking to stretch the field more, and although Chan was a big factor in our game, the Thunderbirds got a lot of different players involved. We got up early in this game (4-2), but gave up a four point run and found ourselves down 7-5 at half. When UBC got another break to go up 10-7, we looked defeated.
I don't know where our turnaround began or how it happened, but we stormed back to tie the game at 11s. UBC held serve to get to game point but we fired back with three in a row to win the game. One of the big factors on our side was our one true rookie, Kate Schlag, who had two big layout grabs including the game-winner where she picked up the trash from a pass that was intended for Lindsey Cross. Schlag ended up with six goals in what was probably the best game of her young career.
On a side note, one of the other notable things about this game was that it was the first time the Hellions had played with observers. The observers were operating under the experimental rules, and I was mostly in favor of them. The only thing I would like to see amended is to allow players to also call travels. Early in the game, there were a couple of blatant travels that the observers were missing and our players were a bit frustrated that they couldn't make those calls. On the whole, the observers did a great job of managing the game, and it was a great experience for the Hellions.
North Carolina
This game had letdown potential written all over it, and sure enough, we were flat through the bulk of this game. We managed to take half at 7-6, but the second half began in disastrous fashion as Pleiades rolled four straight on us.
While we may have been flat, UNC simply deserved this win as they outhustled us. UNC's offense moved the disc well and Leila Tunnell and Jill Simmerman did quite a bit of the damage on the throwing end. I also really like Karen Kimel as a receiver; she looked very solid in our game. Pleiades isn't particularly dominant in any one aspect of the game; instead they rely more on good teamwork and collective intensity. Tunnell does provide a lot of firepower as a thrower, but in our game, she played very much within the team framework instead of looking to take over every point. The offense undoubtedly starts with her, but UNC has a number of other players who can pick up the handling slack.
One thing that really impressed me about Pleiades is something that was also characteristic of Seaweed. They played every point as if it were the last one; I especially noticed this when they were playing Stanford. Superfly had opened a large and pretty much insurmountable lead on UNC, but Chapel Hill kept fighting as if the game was theirs to win.
The scariest thing about our game was that we ended up one point away from dropping down to the 4th seed in the pool. Down 12-9, we turned the disc over on our half of the field and UNC worked it to within 10 yards of the end zone. After a time out, they had a good shot at scoring, but floated a pass that Noelle Oh defended. We ended up scoring on that possession and secured the 3rd spot in the pool and a place in the pre-quarters. Certainly, we were disappointed with our play and losing out on the chance to grab second outright (and a better matchup in the pre-quarters), but coming through on this point was something that we could be proud of.
UCLA
This was a matchup that we had been looking forward to. As I mentioned in my previous post, there were very few breaks in this game and for the most part, it was a very even game. Though we were disappointed with the outcome (losing another DGP game.. blah), I was very pleased to see that we were able to rebound quickly after a dispiriting performance in the previous game. Our offense wasn't particularly sharp against UCLA, but we played considerably better than we had against Pleiades. I'm sure that playing UCLA was a bit of a motivator, but it still impressed me that we were able to reenergize ourselves.
Another bonus was that I got a considerably better sense of how to play BLU in future matchups. Of course, I'm sure that Korb thinks the same thing.
Claremont
The Greenshirts were missing one of their top players, Kate Bayliss, so they were relying even more on their fantastic rookie, Sarah 'Carny' Carnahan as their big receiving threat. Carny is an impressive athlete who utilizes her size very well and is capable of defending virtually any of the top receivers in the college division. She's a grad student so I'm not sure how long she will be at Claremont, but if she's on a Ph.D track, the Erica Baken - Sarah Carnahan connection will be the foundation for the team for the next three years.
On a side note, I think Erica Baken is the clear cut Freshman of the Year in the Southwest. Cailey Marsh would have made this much closer but she won't be returning to UCLA (she will likely reappear with Washington next year). It's possible that I'm missing other contenders in the region, but I can't imagine anyone who has had as much impact on her team as Baken. I'm still up in the air about how I feel regarding the FOTY award since it's becoming much more about the top incoming Juniors players in the region. Part of me would like to see it become a true Rookie of the Year award, but as Juniors-level Ultimate continues to grow, it makes it considerably tougher to exclude them from consideration for this award.
UNC-Wilmington
When I played at William and Mary in the 90s, Wilmington and ECU were the big, bad teams. Their men's team won the title my freshman year and their women's squad took the championship during my senior year. I was definitely eager to see how the team has evolved since I last saw them.
The team has retained a classic Carolinian feel, something that many may see as a negative. Their brash style of play isn't going to win them many friends, but they don't seem to be concerned about that. They are hungry competitors who are focused on winning through solid, aggressive play. I have yet to see Wake Forest and Florida play, but the Atlantic Coast should be at least a four-team race with Wilmington right in the thick of it.
After breaking each other once to fight to a 4-4 tie, we took the final four points of the half to go up 7-4. We opened the second half with three straight to essentially put the game away. One of the keys to our success was to limit Wilmington's deep game and force them, especially their weaker players, to make a lot of difficult throws underneath. Our marks were particularly good this game and helped us to create some easy scores.
One funny post-game note: the Hellions love to sing and cheer other teams, and as they have done with every team this season, they cheered Seaweed. The silence that met the Hellions after the end of their cheer might have been one of the funniest and most awkward post-game moments I've ever seen. Truly classic.
UC San Diego
This was an interesting game in that there were no major runs over the course of the game. After breaking Psycho on the first point of the game, we traded points to halftime. I felt like we had a good grasp on the game because our O line was firing on all cylinders. We didn't give up a break the entire game after giving up only four in the previous two games.
I had mixed feelings about O and D lines and the efficacy of this subbing strategy in the college division, but I think it can be useful when you have the personnel for it. During the first two years of coaching, I tried to work with a classic O and D line approach, but found that the best way for us to be competitive was to play our top 8-10 players on any key point regardless of whether it was an O or D point.
As a team is always fluid and changing, I became convinced at the Stanford Invite that we were now better served by running with a more traditional O and D split. We now have the depth to be able to run 14+ deep in any game which allows players to get into more a regular subbing rhythm. The split particularly benefitted us on receiving points as the O line was able to come in mentally fresh and focused solely on that point. I think when players are on the field for 3+ points, they have a tendency to lose focus and the potential for getting into ruts increases. While it is quite possible that my approach to subbing could change again, my hope is that the structure is now in place to operate this way for years to come.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Stanford Invite Recap - Part One
I had been planning on writing up a preview for the tourney but I ran out of time. Dang. I also had to write up the women's division preview for the UPA magazine so I've been a bit delinquent with my blog posts. Double dang.
To make up for my tardiness, I'll be posting two or more entries this week. And now...
THE STANFORD INVITE
Going into the Stanford Invite, three of the most interesting storylines included:
1) The Battle for the Northwest
Washington and Western Washington chose to attend Trouble in Vegas over President's Day. Oregon, Stanford, UBC and Berkeley chose Pres Day over TiV. Who would emerge on top and how would the individual rivalries (Oregon v. Stanford, Stanford v. Berkeley, Washington v. UBC) turn out?
After the weekend, I would say that Oregon and Stanford are the two clear favorites in the region, but the margin between each of the top six Northwest teams is razor thin. UBC remains the most difficult team to assess. They were missing Tory Hislop and Jenny Lo this weekend, both of whom are vital to the Thunderbirds' chances of a repeat championship. My personal feeling is that the T-Birds are much better than they showed this past weekend, but they are in danger of losing the confidence that they need to compete with the rest of the Northwest. It is a brutal region and every little edge makes a big difference. At Centex, they are currently scheduled to play against cross-country rivals Ottawa and UCLA, the team they can never seem to beat. If they can't manufacture a big win in Austin, I think their best shot of making the College Championships would be to convince the UPA to redraw British Columbia as part of the Central region. Maybe that's a bit extreme... a much more likely scenario is to request the UPA to create a new region called the Great White North. Now, that would be awesome, but the travel would be a bitch. Thankfully, snowmobiles are plentiful in the GWN.
Berkeley had a very split weekend. On the downside, they missed a great opportunity to nab a key win against Washington and lost a contentious pool game to UNC-Wilmington, a team that they should have beaten. Worst of all, their psychological struggles with Stanford only got worse. Thus far, Superfly has simply owned the Pie Queens, winning all three matchups by an average of six points. The two teams are much more evenly matched than the results would suggest, but in a rivalry like theirs, the mental game means everything. If Berkeley can't find a way to play Stanford tight at Sectionals (or Centex), they will likely have to key in on upsetting Oregon or preparing for an arduous run through the backdoor gauntlet.
On the upside, Cal beat Western Washington and demonstrated that they are definitely capable of beating Element. The Pie Queens should feel confident that they could run the table if they had to go the backdoor route, and certainly one of their advantages is that they can run a deep rotation. They will have to find ways to keep their key players fresh (Cree and Darragh in particular) and get some of their role players to step up and have one of those Derek Fisher or Robert Horry type of games. They don't need to be big over the course of the tourney; they just need to make great plays in key spots or have a big performance in an important game. Look for Lucy Rosenbloom to provide one of these performances.
Western Washington is an interesting squad, and I'm looking forward to seeing them play more. They have quite a bit of size on their roster but I know very little about their rotation beyond Alyssa Weatherford and Hannah Kreilkamp. They played Fugue to double game point, and they can draw on their experience getting to last year's game-to-go. On the national scale, I think Chaos currently belongs in the same tier of teams that includes UCLA, USC, Cal and Carleton.
2) The Battle for the Southwest
After the weekend, a clear divide emerged between the top three (UCSB, UCLA, USC) and the next tier in the region (UCSD, Arizona, Colorado, Claremont). Truthfully, UCSB remains in a tier of their own ahead of BLU and the Hellions, but the UCSB-USC matchup remains an intriguing one.
UCLA has emerged as the team that I suspected they would. Featuring what may be the most patient offensive line in the entire women's division, Coach Korb has BLU playing very well. Most impressive is that this team has adopted quite a different style of play from past squads. Last year's team offered quite a bit more high-octane offense but had the versatility to switch between a smashmouth style of play and a Bostonian value-the-disc offense. This year, they are heavily geared to the latter, and what makes this squad, especially their O line, particularly frustrating to defend is that you cannot key in on two or three players. Sarah 'Atari' Peters, KC 'Bossa' Vampola and Adrienne 'Hawkins' Baker are their primary receiving threats -- all three are athletic players who all play within themselves very well. In the backfield, Karisa 'Danger' Tang, Samara 'Nokie' Leader and Rebecca 'Diggs' Delshad are three of their primary handlers who play very disciplined offense.
Our pre-quarters game was a fun matchup and should be the first of at least three meetings this year. We opened the game with a break, and almost followed it up with another quick one that was D'd in the end zone. The shocker was that both teams would only break three more times in the rest of the game. BLU got both of their breaks in the first half and they took half 7-5. The early break point definitely threw me off of what kind of game this was going to be -- it took a while for me to realize that this was going to be a very O-line heavy game.
True enough, the second half was dominated by both team's O-lines. I think we each had a couple of decent shots at breaking, but for the most part, there was a lot of clean offense and the receiving team very often overpowered the other team's D line. Down 12-11, we finally got our second break after BLU uncharacteristically gave us three good chances at scoring. On double game point, UCLA worked it patiently against our zone and eventually found Atari in the front corner of the end zone.
I'm sure that this felt good for some of the BLU folks who think I've been talking too much shit against them this year. I'm also certain that I'll continue to throw verbal logs onto the fire and risk alienating the younger crop of BLU players who take me too seriously. Here's a few more verbal bombs for any Westwood elitists who might be reading this.
V-BOMB #1 - USC will beat you soon and you know it. We're like the grim reaper and your time is coming soon. Enjoy your time on top of the LA pyramid while it lasts and don't forget to gather your plastic while you may.
V-BOMB #2 - I thought our previous jerseys from my first year of coaching were pretty ugly, but dude, your current threads make me think you were sponsored by K-Mart to advertise a deep discount ugly sale.
A few thoughts about UC San Diego... I'm really psyched (heh, get it?... *groan*) that they have bounced back. Our game against them was a lot of fun and notwithstanding Sir Robin's questionable taste in wardrobe, they looked good. Psycho has a number of good young athletes on this team, but they will need another year or two before they can realistically get to the next level. Even still, their current squad is more than capable of grabbing one of the Southwest bids. They will have to fight off Colorado, Arizona and Claremont, and they have realistic chances of upsetting either UCLA or USC. After a one-year suspension, getting a bid to Columbus would be a major accomplishment and a big step towards returning to the top of the Southwest.
One area where Psycho needs to improve is in their handling depth. In our game, they definitely relied a lot on Jennifer 'Sir Robin' Jacobsen, Amy 'Meeko' Chang and Molica 'Guano' Anderson. Usually, they would have two of the three on the field and by the end of the game, they looked a bit fatigued. If it's too late for them to develop a solid 5th or 6th handler option, they might be better served by stacking strong O lines and a few selective D lines. Their top seven can run with almost every team that I have seen, but against the top ten or so teams in the country, they have to pick and choose their points. They definitely cannot win any of those games by rolling out balanced lines (i.e. 4-5 top line players and 2-3 second line players).
3) The Atlantic Coast - Contenders or Pretenders
I have a soft spot for this region since I originally hail from the Atlantic Coast (actually there was no such region in my playing days... back then, it was the Mid-Atlantic). UNC and UNC-Wilmington came into the tourney as two of the region's top teams (Wake Forest and Florida round out the favorites in the region), and both demonstrated that they are capable of running with any of the top tier teams. I think depth is an issue on both teams which will be more evident at a longer tourney like the College Championships, but if either or both of these teams makes it to Columbus, they have great potential to upset a higher seed.
As the result of their consolation game indicates, Pleiades and Seaweed are two evenly matched teams. They may both be from the Tarheel State but they have very little in common beyond that. Pleiades plays a much deeper rotation and their offense is much more versatile than that of Seaweed. I was definitely impressed with how the team has progressed, especially offensively, since I saw them last year. Leila Tunnell is a gifted thrower and UNC has a couple of tall targets, especially Karen Kimel, who effectively stretch the field to open up options underneath.
Seaweed relies heavily on four players - Elise Bardsley, Kelly Tidwell, Lia English and Sara Casey - all of whom are strong and confident athletes. In our game against them, these four ran almost every point. I have the feeling that running such a short rotation will catch up with them at Regionals, but in a one-game winner-takes-all scenario, Seaweed is more than capable of beating anyone in the Atlantic Coast region. They also possess an aggressive style of play that can throw opponents off their game. Their wins over Berkeley and Colorado demonstrate how talented they are.
We had observers for our game, a brilliant move by my wife Tracy after hearing a few choice things about Seaweed from their previous opponents. Wilmington is more than happy to get into the call game, and the presence of observers made a gigantic difference in our game. After a bit of a contentious start, we took control in the first half and built a decent lead by halftime. Seaweed battled us to the very end of the game -- their effort was consistently solid and their never-quit attitude will serve them well at Regionals.
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My next post will have more specific thoughts on the other teams that we played (Stanford, British Columbia, Claremont).
To make up for my tardiness, I'll be posting two or more entries this week. And now...
THE STANFORD INVITE
Going into the Stanford Invite, three of the most interesting storylines included:
1) The Battle for the Northwest
Washington and Western Washington chose to attend Trouble in Vegas over President's Day. Oregon, Stanford, UBC and Berkeley chose Pres Day over TiV. Who would emerge on top and how would the individual rivalries (Oregon v. Stanford, Stanford v. Berkeley, Washington v. UBC) turn out?
After the weekend, I would say that Oregon and Stanford are the two clear favorites in the region, but the margin between each of the top six Northwest teams is razor thin. UBC remains the most difficult team to assess. They were missing Tory Hislop and Jenny Lo this weekend, both of whom are vital to the Thunderbirds' chances of a repeat championship. My personal feeling is that the T-Birds are much better than they showed this past weekend, but they are in danger of losing the confidence that they need to compete with the rest of the Northwest. It is a brutal region and every little edge makes a big difference. At Centex, they are currently scheduled to play against cross-country rivals Ottawa and UCLA, the team they can never seem to beat. If they can't manufacture a big win in Austin, I think their best shot of making the College Championships would be to convince the UPA to redraw British Columbia as part of the Central region. Maybe that's a bit extreme... a much more likely scenario is to request the UPA to create a new region called the Great White North. Now, that would be awesome, but the travel would be a bitch. Thankfully, snowmobiles are plentiful in the GWN.
Berkeley had a very split weekend. On the downside, they missed a great opportunity to nab a key win against Washington and lost a contentious pool game to UNC-Wilmington, a team that they should have beaten. Worst of all, their psychological struggles with Stanford only got worse. Thus far, Superfly has simply owned the Pie Queens, winning all three matchups by an average of six points. The two teams are much more evenly matched than the results would suggest, but in a rivalry like theirs, the mental game means everything. If Berkeley can't find a way to play Stanford tight at Sectionals (or Centex), they will likely have to key in on upsetting Oregon or preparing for an arduous run through the backdoor gauntlet.
On the upside, Cal beat Western Washington and demonstrated that they are definitely capable of beating Element. The Pie Queens should feel confident that they could run the table if they had to go the backdoor route, and certainly one of their advantages is that they can run a deep rotation. They will have to find ways to keep their key players fresh (Cree and Darragh in particular) and get some of their role players to step up and have one of those Derek Fisher or Robert Horry type of games. They don't need to be big over the course of the tourney; they just need to make great plays in key spots or have a big performance in an important game. Look for Lucy Rosenbloom to provide one of these performances.
Western Washington is an interesting squad, and I'm looking forward to seeing them play more. They have quite a bit of size on their roster but I know very little about their rotation beyond Alyssa Weatherford and Hannah Kreilkamp. They played Fugue to double game point, and they can draw on their experience getting to last year's game-to-go. On the national scale, I think Chaos currently belongs in the same tier of teams that includes UCLA, USC, Cal and Carleton.
2) The Battle for the Southwest
After the weekend, a clear divide emerged between the top three (UCSB, UCLA, USC) and the next tier in the region (UCSD, Arizona, Colorado, Claremont). Truthfully, UCSB remains in a tier of their own ahead of BLU and the Hellions, but the UCSB-USC matchup remains an intriguing one.
UCLA has emerged as the team that I suspected they would. Featuring what may be the most patient offensive line in the entire women's division, Coach Korb has BLU playing very well. Most impressive is that this team has adopted quite a different style of play from past squads. Last year's team offered quite a bit more high-octane offense but had the versatility to switch between a smashmouth style of play and a Bostonian value-the-disc offense. This year, they are heavily geared to the latter, and what makes this squad, especially their O line, particularly frustrating to defend is that you cannot key in on two or three players. Sarah 'Atari' Peters, KC 'Bossa' Vampola and Adrienne 'Hawkins' Baker are their primary receiving threats -- all three are athletic players who all play within themselves very well. In the backfield, Karisa 'Danger' Tang, Samara 'Nokie' Leader and Rebecca 'Diggs' Delshad are three of their primary handlers who play very disciplined offense.
Our pre-quarters game was a fun matchup and should be the first of at least three meetings this year. We opened the game with a break, and almost followed it up with another quick one that was D'd in the end zone. The shocker was that both teams would only break three more times in the rest of the game. BLU got both of their breaks in the first half and they took half 7-5. The early break point definitely threw me off of what kind of game this was going to be -- it took a while for me to realize that this was going to be a very O-line heavy game.
True enough, the second half was dominated by both team's O-lines. I think we each had a couple of decent shots at breaking, but for the most part, there was a lot of clean offense and the receiving team very often overpowered the other team's D line. Down 12-11, we finally got our second break after BLU uncharacteristically gave us three good chances at scoring. On double game point, UCLA worked it patiently against our zone and eventually found Atari in the front corner of the end zone.
I'm sure that this felt good for some of the BLU folks who think I've been talking too much shit against them this year. I'm also certain that I'll continue to throw verbal logs onto the fire and risk alienating the younger crop of BLU players who take me too seriously. Here's a few more verbal bombs for any Westwood elitists who might be reading this.
V-BOMB #1 - USC will beat you soon and you know it. We're like the grim reaper and your time is coming soon. Enjoy your time on top of the LA pyramid while it lasts and don't forget to gather your plastic while you may.
V-BOMB #2 - I thought our previous jerseys from my first year of coaching were pretty ugly, but dude, your current threads make me think you were sponsored by K-Mart to advertise a deep discount ugly sale.
A few thoughts about UC San Diego... I'm really psyched (heh, get it?... *groan*) that they have bounced back. Our game against them was a lot of fun and notwithstanding Sir Robin's questionable taste in wardrobe, they looked good. Psycho has a number of good young athletes on this team, but they will need another year or two before they can realistically get to the next level. Even still, their current squad is more than capable of grabbing one of the Southwest bids. They will have to fight off Colorado, Arizona and Claremont, and they have realistic chances of upsetting either UCLA or USC. After a one-year suspension, getting a bid to Columbus would be a major accomplishment and a big step towards returning to the top of the Southwest.
One area where Psycho needs to improve is in their handling depth. In our game, they definitely relied a lot on Jennifer 'Sir Robin' Jacobsen, Amy 'Meeko' Chang and Molica 'Guano' Anderson. Usually, they would have two of the three on the field and by the end of the game, they looked a bit fatigued. If it's too late for them to develop a solid 5th or 6th handler option, they might be better served by stacking strong O lines and a few selective D lines. Their top seven can run with almost every team that I have seen, but against the top ten or so teams in the country, they have to pick and choose their points. They definitely cannot win any of those games by rolling out balanced lines (i.e. 4-5 top line players and 2-3 second line players).
3) The Atlantic Coast - Contenders or Pretenders
I have a soft spot for this region since I originally hail from the Atlantic Coast (actually there was no such region in my playing days... back then, it was the Mid-Atlantic). UNC and UNC-Wilmington came into the tourney as two of the region's top teams (Wake Forest and Florida round out the favorites in the region), and both demonstrated that they are capable of running with any of the top tier teams. I think depth is an issue on both teams which will be more evident at a longer tourney like the College Championships, but if either or both of these teams makes it to Columbus, they have great potential to upset a higher seed.
As the result of their consolation game indicates, Pleiades and Seaweed are two evenly matched teams. They may both be from the Tarheel State but they have very little in common beyond that. Pleiades plays a much deeper rotation and their offense is much more versatile than that of Seaweed. I was definitely impressed with how the team has progressed, especially offensively, since I saw them last year. Leila Tunnell is a gifted thrower and UNC has a couple of tall targets, especially Karen Kimel, who effectively stretch the field to open up options underneath.
Seaweed relies heavily on four players - Elise Bardsley, Kelly Tidwell, Lia English and Sara Casey - all of whom are strong and confident athletes. In our game against them, these four ran almost every point. I have the feeling that running such a short rotation will catch up with them at Regionals, but in a one-game winner-takes-all scenario, Seaweed is more than capable of beating anyone in the Atlantic Coast region. They also possess an aggressive style of play that can throw opponents off their game. Their wins over Berkeley and Colorado demonstrate how talented they are.
We had observers for our game, a brilliant move by my wife Tracy after hearing a few choice things about Seaweed from their previous opponents. Wilmington is more than happy to get into the call game, and the presence of observers made a gigantic difference in our game. After a bit of a contentious start, we took control in the first half and built a decent lead by halftime. Seaweed battled us to the very end of the game -- their effort was consistently solid and their never-quit attitude will serve them well at Regionals.
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My next post will have more specific thoughts on the other teams that we played (Stanford, British Columbia, Claremont).
Friday, February 27, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, February 20, 2009
President's Day - Part One
Before I dive into the results of this past weekend, I wanted to mention a couple of things.
1) I am aiming to post a blog entry every Friday until the week after Nationals. I hope that writing more regularly will help develop more interest and provoke more discussion about the women's division.
2) I have no idea who, if anyone, has been reading my blog, but I hope that it is clear that my thoughts are my own and I will be interweaving a mix of objective assessments, subjective judgments and the occasional complete fabrication that is solely for entertainment purposes. I leave it to the reader to decipher fact, fiction and absurdity, and to be understanding when I write something completely inane (my wife hears me say something stupid every day so think about how hard her life is).
3) On a related note, though I coach the USC Hellions, my thoughts do not reflect those of the team. Let me clarify that. Anything that you find intelligent or correct is something you can attribute to the Hellions. Anything that you find appalling or loathsome, the Hellions have nothing do with it.
4) UCSD and the other Pres Day organizers are to be highly commended for running a superb tourney. Loryn Kanemaru, Sarah McNees, Michelle Ng, and the entire UC San Diego team deserve a ton of credit for a great weekend. They had to contend with difficult weather issues and a number of logistical challenges. Despite this, their communication with teams was excellent, they were able to post scores promptly, and they made the difficult but correct decision to move the tourney to San Bernardino on Monday.
Here's one example of a little detail that makes a big difference. When we were out at one of the satellite fields on Sunday, there was a UCSD-B player there to make sure that teams were adhering to the schedule and communicate with home base (report scores and any potential delays). This was all the more remarkable because there was only one field there. After we finished our game against Colorado, we had to rush to the main fields to play our pre-quarters game, but we didn't have to worry about getting assessed points or causing any confusion because they had someone at our field. Being that person at the satellite field is a pretty dull and thankless job, but it makes a big difference in how smoothly a tournament is run.
Make no doubt about it. The Pres Day organizers have set a higher bar for how the elite tourneys should be run. If other attending teams disagree, I'd love to hear their thoughts.
5) There is a great deal of parity this year in the women's division. I think UCSB and Oregon might be emerging as the frontrunners but the separation between them and the rest of the top 8-10 (Ottawa, Stanford, Washington, Wisconsin, British Columbia, Michigan and arguably USC, Cal, Carleton and UCLA) is very thin.
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And now, here are my thoughts on some of the teams that I saw at Pres Day (mostly in order of how I'll be ranking them on my next NUMP ballot).
TIER ONE - UCSB, OREGON, OTTAWA, STANFORD, BRITISH COLUMBIA
UC SANTA BARBARA - I went back and forth between UCSB and Oregon for the number one spot. Some might think this is a no-brainer since the Burning Skirts beat Fugue in the Pres Day finals, but I'm not basing my decision on that. I think Fugue actually has a little more talent and depth than UCSB does, but I'm splitting hairs there. For me, it simply boils down to the amount of big game experience on the two squads. Oregon does have a number of Junior Worlds players (McDowell, Zahniser, Suver) and they pulled out the DGP win over Stanford at Regionals last year. On the flip side, the Burning Skirts have been in the Collegiate finals the past two years and they return almost everyone from last year's run. Beyond that, UCSB blitzed through the Pres Day field without anyone scoring more than five points on them. Plus, they are doing all of this without Katie Barry. Yikes.
Though Kaela Jorgenson and Carolyn Finney are captaining the squad this year, Andrea Romano remains the de facto leader of this team. She is likely going to be their Callahan nominee and her impact on the field is well-documented. That said, I think Kaela is emerging as the player that poses the most difficult matchup problems. She is a bit more dangerous as a receiver and her throws have become lethal.
OREGON - The argument in favor of Fugue as number one has a lot of strength. They have beaten Stanford twice, UBC twice and Washington once. They have only been seriously challenged in three games -- Stanford (top 5 team), USC (feel free to disagree, but I think we're a top 10 team right now) and UCSB (numero uno). UCSB certainly benefitted from not having to play Ottawa in the semifinals, and my sense is that their finals matchup, an ugly affair in the rain, could have gone either way.
I haven't seen Washington or Wisconsin this year, so it's not exactly fair for me to write that UCSB and Oregon are much more deserving of the top two spots. Screw it, I'm going to write that anyway. UCSB AND OREGON ARE MORE DESERVING OF THE NUMBER ONE AND TWO SPOTS THAN WASHINGTON AND WISCONSIN.
I don't know how heavily you can weigh the results from the Bellingham Invite (which are difficult to access on the UPA score reporter), but Fugue beat down Element. They also proved their strength this weekend against a much more difficult field than the one at Trouble in Vegas. I am mainly being vocal about this because Fugue was ranked 7th in the last NUMP poll (I had them number one). I'm guessing that most of the voters didn't see the Bellingham results. I'll be harassing the other NUMP voters if they screw it up in the next poll.
Our game against Fugue in pool play was a ton of fun to be a part of. It reminded me of the time I got my wisdom teeth pulled out and was administered nitrous. I felt oddly queasy, deliriously entertained and by the end I wasn't sure how I got there but I definitely felt like I had gone through an out-of-body experience. It's like any other experience that is nerve-wracking while you're going through it but only induces good feelings after the fact.
The matchup was the last game of the day and both teams started in sluggish fashion. After the first five points or so, both teams stepped up their games and it turned into an entertaining slugfest with some tremendous Ds by Bailey Zahniser (please Ultimate gods, send a Junior Worlds player to USC), great cutting from Jenica Villamoor and impressive handling by Julia Sherwood, Molly Suver and Shannon McDowell.
The cap went on after we tied the game at 7s. We took the next point to go up 8-7, and they held serve to send the game to our second DGP of the day. That point was both incredibly entertaining and agonizing to watch. Miscommunication on a reset gave Fugue the disc at midfield but they couldn't capitalize. On an ensuing possession, a Fugue receiver dropped the disc in the end zone. We had a high-stall count punt into the end zone tail just out of bounds. I think both teams turned it over three or four times and players on both sides looked spent. The game winner went to the same Fugue receiver who had previously dropped it. I was obviously disappointed with the outcome of the game, but a) I was happy that the Fugue receiver got to redeem herself, and b) it was really great to see both teams elevate their games and push each other to play better.
Andrew Davis caught one of the highlights of the game when Lindsey Cross was targeted in the end zone with a low breakmark backhand. This disc was actually caught by Anne Ohliger (seen in the background) who had an equally impressive layout.
OTTAWA - I think Ottawa and Stanford could also have been easily interchangeable if not for Ottawa's 12-6 victory in power pool play. I was a little surprised that they won by such a sizable margin over an impressive Superfly squad, and unfortunately I don't have any details about that game. For those who are puzzled by the Lady Gee Gee's nine-point loss to Oregon in pool play, one of the major factors in the lopsided result is that Anne Mercier didn't play that game. I would still have picked Fugue to win the game, but I can definitely guarantee that the result would have been considerably closer with Mercier playing.
Our game against Ottawa was a weird series of runs. We opened the game with a 3-0 run only to see the Gee Gee's return with a four point run of their own. We went on a run to take half 7-6, but the momentum swung the other way when Ottawa scored five of the next six points to go up 11-8. The Hellions surged back with another 3 point run to send the game to double game point. Ottawa's big three (Mercier, Benedict and Fortin) were instrumental in moving the disc down the field and their poise was very impressive as they maintained possession of the disc for the game winning score.
I think the Lady Gee Gee's were missing Kate Crump, but even with her, depth is going to be a big question mark for them in May. They should have no problems qualifying out of the Metro East, but over the course of a tough tourney like the Collegiate Championships, they'll need to keep their big three as fresh as possible. It was definitely an issue for them last May, and I think they learned from that experience. In what I saw of their game against Illinois, they were clearly developing some of their younger players. I'll be interested to see how deep they are subbing at Centex.
STANFORD - Unfortunately, I have only seen Superfly in short spurts this year. The triumvirate of Emily Damon, Jenny Founds and Rachel Habbert are as steady as any handling corps in the game and Liz Cassel leads the cutting side. I'm curious to see who else is stepping up for Stanford. [Update: Emily Damon has been out with an elbow injury. Thanks to Ryan for the news.]
One major concern for Superfly has got to be the shift in power in their rivalry against Oregon. In a region where tiny variables could settle the difference between first in the region and not qualifying for Nationals, Superfly is developing a major mental hurdle against Fugue. Having lost to them on DGP at Regionals, they lost twice to them this past weekend. Losing again on DGP only shifts the balance further in Oregon's favor.
It is still early in the season, but unless they figure out how to produce a win over Fugue before Regionals, Stanford will not be wanting to go through them. Make no mistake about it -- these kinds of wins and losses do matter and the psychological impact should not be underestimated. On the plus side, the Stanford coaches are as well-equipped as any coaching staff to handle this challenge, and they have owned Berkeley in their two matchups this season. How Stanford matches up against Washington and UBC will be one of the major stories at the Stanford Invite.
BRITISH COLUMBIA - Don't be fooled by their poor record and lopsided losses to Oregon and Santa Barbara. The word is that they have been developing their younger players, and some ups and downs will be expected as they adjust to the post-Kira Frew era. If Regionals took place today, I would predict that Oregon and UBC would be the two teams to beat and Washington and Stanford would be battling in the game to go. Cal and Western Washington are both very solid but they are presently on the outside looking in. That's life in the Northwest.
I'm not sure if their subbing strategy changed in our pre-quarters game, but the team that played against us was every bit as good as Ottawa and Oregon. Tory Hislop played every point and I can't remember Jenny Lo taking a sub. These two contributed immensely on both sides of the disc. Their offensive game plan was based on constant disc movement and maximizing give-and-gos whenever possible. Most of their players played within themselves very well and whenever they needed a big throw, they would look to Hislop to find the weak spots in our zone.
To say the least, our loss was really difficult to take. Not only was it the third DGP loss of the weekend (our 4th of the season), we had never trailed until the final point and held an 11-8 lead. Worse for me was how much tougher each loss felt than the previous one.
I'll be ranking the Thunderbirds below Cal in the next NUMP ballot because of their head-to-head result, but I think at full strength in a winner-takes-all game, UBC is the better team right now. I don't have a sense of what UBC's depth is, and like Ottawa, this could be an issue for them at Regionals. They are certainly doing the right thing in addressing their depth concerns, but they will still need Tory Hislop and Jenny Lo fresh for their big games. Seeding is going to be crucial in the Northwest as minimizing the number of potentially grueling games is of paramount importance. Whichever team is able to keep their top line fresher for the game-to-go will have a big advantage.
TIER TWO - CAL, USC, UCLA, CARLETON
The next few teams are virtually interchangeable at this point in the season. Carleton's surprising loss to UC San Diego complicates things, and I was only able to evaluate their play in crappy conditions, but my gut tells me that they belong on this tier.
CAL - There's a decent argument for including the Pie Queens in the top tier as they have only lost to two teams this year (UCSB and Stanford). Unfortunately, they have lost in pretty convincing fashion in those four games. On the plus side, they have two quality wins against UCLA and another in their victory over UBC. I don't have details on their power pool games, so I can't really say how decisive these victories were.
Cree Howard is their most recognizable player (deservedly so), but I really like both Darragh Clancy and Lucy 'Bam Bam' Rosenbloom. They bring toughness to the Pie Queens, and they were the biggest factors in their victory over us at the SB Invite. They have a number of solid handlers, but I think a potential Achilles' Heel for them is that their handlers are susceptible to matchup problems, especially after a turnover. They can adjust to this by shifting Cree and Darragh back to the handling line, but their offense is much more effective when both are cutting upfield.
On a random note, one of their coaches, Ethan Schlenker, might be the nicest guy I've met in the coaching ranks.
USC - Objectively, I think we should be above UCLA and Carleton (despite our loss to Carleton in the 9th place game). The big knock against us right now is that we haven't won the big game. 0-4 in DGP games and losing by two to UCSB reflects the fact that we're a relatively young program and still getting used to battling the traditional top-tier programs. Looking at the upside, before our Carleton game, we were as consistent as any of the top teams at Pres Day and had lost five games by a total of six points.
I'm sure some BLU players will grumble about me placing USC above UCLA, but I'll just point to the current RRI ratings and our consistency over the course of the season. Plus, cardinal and gold will always be inherently superior to pansy blue and urine yellow. Yeah, I went there. Bring it.
Pseudo-joking aside, the USC-UCLA matchup will be one of the most interesting ones to watch this year. Though the Hellions closed the gap between them last year, the women's Ultimate version of their rivalry has never been particularly close until now. Many people I've spoken with think that the Hellions have overtaken BLU, but in a rivalry like this one, the mental hurdle remains a big one and UCLA will remain the favorites until we beat them in a meaningful game in the spring.
You see this kind of thing in sports all the time. In basketball, it took a few years for the Bulls to figure out the Pistons before they could become the dominant team of the 90s. In baseball, you've got the Red Sox and the Yankees and all the years of suffering for Boston until they figured out how to beat the Yankees in a big way. In these kinds of rivalries, it doesn't matter how you've done against other teams and who should technically win the big game. You can't get the monkey off your back if you don't wrestle with the monkey. I hope we wrestle with the monkey at the Stanford University - Ripon campus.
UCLA - As I mentioned in previous posts, the big question for them was to determine who was going to step up in Taz's shoes. The leading contender right now is Samara Leader aka Nokie. Her emergence is especially vital since it is unclear if Cailey Marsh will be returning to school. The Magic 8 Ball says that 'Signs Point to Yes', Cailey will return, but they benefit greatly from Leader's willingness to put the disc up to their young athletic receivers.
While their lopsided losses to UCSB, Ottawa and Berkeley suggest that they have a lot of work to do, I would advise against underestimating this team. Alex Korb is one cunning guy and a great motivator. Their fundamentals remain as strong as any other team out there, and there is tremendous value that comes with having been one of the dominant programs over the past few years. They could emerge as a team similar to the 2007 Stanford Superfly squad that in my estimation was weaker than the prior two squads, but still took home the trophy. If you look at their regular season results from that year, Stanford was less than spectacular; however, winning breeds winning and they turned it on at the biggest stage. While I would bet against UCLA reaching the heights of the past three years, they remain a dangerous squad and will be able to draw upon the confidence built by the first generation of BLU.
CARLETON - Yeah, they beat us on Monday, so they have a legitimate claim to being ranked above USC. I definitely had to rank them below UCLA, both because of their head-to-head and their overall performance this season. These rankings could easily be flipped after Centex so I would take them with a grain of salt.
I also want to apologize for having introduced Syzygy to Cranky Frankie. The rain coupled with the Hellions having prepped poorly with their weather gear made for a rough game. This was easily my worst coaching performance of the year, and I hate knowing that I let my team down by getting easily frustrated and making the miserable playing conditions worse. I still have a long way to go.
Kudos to Carleton as they simply out-executed us with their game plan. They fell into our mini-bracket as the other tough-luck team having lost two DGP games. Nicky Bloom, Rebecca Sheridan and Anna Snyder led their attack and their fundamentals were very impressive. In a game under these conditions, it was impossible to tell where their other strengths and weaknesses lie, but I can't imagine them not qualifying out of the Central Region. I am surprised that they lost to UCSD, but this was really early in the tourney, and I'd imagine that they haven't seen temperatures above 40 degrees in several months.
The most important thing that I took away from this game is that I finally found out what they had been saying in their end zone cheers for the past two years. Moooooooonshine! On top... on top... on top... HEY!!! I have no idea what that cheer is about, but I love it. It's strangely hypnotic and I hope that you bring it back.
This entry is long enough for now. I'll be rambling about the rest of the Pres Day field in my next post. I also hope to have a special bonus post for next week.
1) I am aiming to post a blog entry every Friday until the week after Nationals. I hope that writing more regularly will help develop more interest and provoke more discussion about the women's division.
2) I have no idea who, if anyone, has been reading my blog, but I hope that it is clear that my thoughts are my own and I will be interweaving a mix of objective assessments, subjective judgments and the occasional complete fabrication that is solely for entertainment purposes. I leave it to the reader to decipher fact, fiction and absurdity, and to be understanding when I write something completely inane (my wife hears me say something stupid every day so think about how hard her life is).
3) On a related note, though I coach the USC Hellions, my thoughts do not reflect those of the team. Let me clarify that. Anything that you find intelligent or correct is something you can attribute to the Hellions. Anything that you find appalling or loathsome, the Hellions have nothing do with it.
4) UCSD and the other Pres Day organizers are to be highly commended for running a superb tourney. Loryn Kanemaru, Sarah McNees, Michelle Ng, and the entire UC San Diego team deserve a ton of credit for a great weekend. They had to contend with difficult weather issues and a number of logistical challenges. Despite this, their communication with teams was excellent, they were able to post scores promptly, and they made the difficult but correct decision to move the tourney to San Bernardino on Monday.
Here's one example of a little detail that makes a big difference. When we were out at one of the satellite fields on Sunday, there was a UCSD-B player there to make sure that teams were adhering to the schedule and communicate with home base (report scores and any potential delays). This was all the more remarkable because there was only one field there. After we finished our game against Colorado, we had to rush to the main fields to play our pre-quarters game, but we didn't have to worry about getting assessed points or causing any confusion because they had someone at our field. Being that person at the satellite field is a pretty dull and thankless job, but it makes a big difference in how smoothly a tournament is run.
Make no doubt about it. The Pres Day organizers have set a higher bar for how the elite tourneys should be run. If other attending teams disagree, I'd love to hear their thoughts.
5) There is a great deal of parity this year in the women's division. I think UCSB and Oregon might be emerging as the frontrunners but the separation between them and the rest of the top 8-10 (Ottawa, Stanford, Washington, Wisconsin, British Columbia, Michigan and arguably USC, Cal, Carleton and UCLA) is very thin.
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And now, here are my thoughts on some of the teams that I saw at Pres Day (mostly in order of how I'll be ranking them on my next NUMP ballot).
TIER ONE - UCSB, OREGON, OTTAWA, STANFORD, BRITISH COLUMBIA
UC SANTA BARBARA - I went back and forth between UCSB and Oregon for the number one spot. Some might think this is a no-brainer since the Burning Skirts beat Fugue in the Pres Day finals, but I'm not basing my decision on that. I think Fugue actually has a little more talent and depth than UCSB does, but I'm splitting hairs there. For me, it simply boils down to the amount of big game experience on the two squads. Oregon does have a number of Junior Worlds players (McDowell, Zahniser, Suver) and they pulled out the DGP win over Stanford at Regionals last year. On the flip side, the Burning Skirts have been in the Collegiate finals the past two years and they return almost everyone from last year's run. Beyond that, UCSB blitzed through the Pres Day field without anyone scoring more than five points on them. Plus, they are doing all of this without Katie Barry. Yikes.
Though Kaela Jorgenson and Carolyn Finney are captaining the squad this year, Andrea Romano remains the de facto leader of this team. She is likely going to be their Callahan nominee and her impact on the field is well-documented. That said, I think Kaela is emerging as the player that poses the most difficult matchup problems. She is a bit more dangerous as a receiver and her throws have become lethal.
OREGON - The argument in favor of Fugue as number one has a lot of strength. They have beaten Stanford twice, UBC twice and Washington once. They have only been seriously challenged in three games -- Stanford (top 5 team), USC (feel free to disagree, but I think we're a top 10 team right now) and UCSB (numero uno). UCSB certainly benefitted from not having to play Ottawa in the semifinals, and my sense is that their finals matchup, an ugly affair in the rain, could have gone either way.
I haven't seen Washington or Wisconsin this year, so it's not exactly fair for me to write that UCSB and Oregon are much more deserving of the top two spots. Screw it, I'm going to write that anyway. UCSB AND OREGON ARE MORE DESERVING OF THE NUMBER ONE AND TWO SPOTS THAN WASHINGTON AND WISCONSIN.
I don't know how heavily you can weigh the results from the Bellingham Invite (which are difficult to access on the UPA score reporter), but Fugue beat down Element. They also proved their strength this weekend against a much more difficult field than the one at Trouble in Vegas. I am mainly being vocal about this because Fugue was ranked 7th in the last NUMP poll (I had them number one). I'm guessing that most of the voters didn't see the Bellingham results. I'll be harassing the other NUMP voters if they screw it up in the next poll.
Our game against Fugue in pool play was a ton of fun to be a part of. It reminded me of the time I got my wisdom teeth pulled out and was administered nitrous. I felt oddly queasy, deliriously entertained and by the end I wasn't sure how I got there but I definitely felt like I had gone through an out-of-body experience. It's like any other experience that is nerve-wracking while you're going through it but only induces good feelings after the fact.
The matchup was the last game of the day and both teams started in sluggish fashion. After the first five points or so, both teams stepped up their games and it turned into an entertaining slugfest with some tremendous Ds by Bailey Zahniser (please Ultimate gods, send a Junior Worlds player to USC), great cutting from Jenica Villamoor and impressive handling by Julia Sherwood, Molly Suver and Shannon McDowell.
The cap went on after we tied the game at 7s. We took the next point to go up 8-7, and they held serve to send the game to our second DGP of the day. That point was both incredibly entertaining and agonizing to watch. Miscommunication on a reset gave Fugue the disc at midfield but they couldn't capitalize. On an ensuing possession, a Fugue receiver dropped the disc in the end zone. We had a high-stall count punt into the end zone tail just out of bounds. I think both teams turned it over three or four times and players on both sides looked spent. The game winner went to the same Fugue receiver who had previously dropped it. I was obviously disappointed with the outcome of the game, but a) I was happy that the Fugue receiver got to redeem herself, and b) it was really great to see both teams elevate their games and push each other to play better.
Andrew Davis caught one of the highlights of the game when Lindsey Cross was targeted in the end zone with a low breakmark backhand. This disc was actually caught by Anne Ohliger (seen in the background) who had an equally impressive layout.
OTTAWA - I think Ottawa and Stanford could also have been easily interchangeable if not for Ottawa's 12-6 victory in power pool play. I was a little surprised that they won by such a sizable margin over an impressive Superfly squad, and unfortunately I don't have any details about that game. For those who are puzzled by the Lady Gee Gee's nine-point loss to Oregon in pool play, one of the major factors in the lopsided result is that Anne Mercier didn't play that game. I would still have picked Fugue to win the game, but I can definitely guarantee that the result would have been considerably closer with Mercier playing.
Our game against Ottawa was a weird series of runs. We opened the game with a 3-0 run only to see the Gee Gee's return with a four point run of their own. We went on a run to take half 7-6, but the momentum swung the other way when Ottawa scored five of the next six points to go up 11-8. The Hellions surged back with another 3 point run to send the game to double game point. Ottawa's big three (Mercier, Benedict and Fortin) were instrumental in moving the disc down the field and their poise was very impressive as they maintained possession of the disc for the game winning score.
I think the Lady Gee Gee's were missing Kate Crump, but even with her, depth is going to be a big question mark for them in May. They should have no problems qualifying out of the Metro East, but over the course of a tough tourney like the Collegiate Championships, they'll need to keep their big three as fresh as possible. It was definitely an issue for them last May, and I think they learned from that experience. In what I saw of their game against Illinois, they were clearly developing some of their younger players. I'll be interested to see how deep they are subbing at Centex.
STANFORD - Unfortunately, I have only seen Superfly in short spurts this year. The triumvirate of Emily Damon, Jenny Founds and Rachel Habbert are as steady as any handling corps in the game and Liz Cassel leads the cutting side. I'm curious to see who else is stepping up for Stanford. [Update: Emily Damon has been out with an elbow injury. Thanks to Ryan for the news.]
One major concern for Superfly has got to be the shift in power in their rivalry against Oregon. In a region where tiny variables could settle the difference between first in the region and not qualifying for Nationals, Superfly is developing a major mental hurdle against Fugue. Having lost to them on DGP at Regionals, they lost twice to them this past weekend. Losing again on DGP only shifts the balance further in Oregon's favor.
It is still early in the season, but unless they figure out how to produce a win over Fugue before Regionals, Stanford will not be wanting to go through them. Make no mistake about it -- these kinds of wins and losses do matter and the psychological impact should not be underestimated. On the plus side, the Stanford coaches are as well-equipped as any coaching staff to handle this challenge, and they have owned Berkeley in their two matchups this season. How Stanford matches up against Washington and UBC will be one of the major stories at the Stanford Invite.
BRITISH COLUMBIA - Don't be fooled by their poor record and lopsided losses to Oregon and Santa Barbara. The word is that they have been developing their younger players, and some ups and downs will be expected as they adjust to the post-Kira Frew era. If Regionals took place today, I would predict that Oregon and UBC would be the two teams to beat and Washington and Stanford would be battling in the game to go. Cal and Western Washington are both very solid but they are presently on the outside looking in. That's life in the Northwest.
I'm not sure if their subbing strategy changed in our pre-quarters game, but the team that played against us was every bit as good as Ottawa and Oregon. Tory Hislop played every point and I can't remember Jenny Lo taking a sub. These two contributed immensely on both sides of the disc. Their offensive game plan was based on constant disc movement and maximizing give-and-gos whenever possible. Most of their players played within themselves very well and whenever they needed a big throw, they would look to Hislop to find the weak spots in our zone.
To say the least, our loss was really difficult to take. Not only was it the third DGP loss of the weekend (our 4th of the season), we had never trailed until the final point and held an 11-8 lead. Worse for me was how much tougher each loss felt than the previous one.
I'll be ranking the Thunderbirds below Cal in the next NUMP ballot because of their head-to-head result, but I think at full strength in a winner-takes-all game, UBC is the better team right now. I don't have a sense of what UBC's depth is, and like Ottawa, this could be an issue for them at Regionals. They are certainly doing the right thing in addressing their depth concerns, but they will still need Tory Hislop and Jenny Lo fresh for their big games. Seeding is going to be crucial in the Northwest as minimizing the number of potentially grueling games is of paramount importance. Whichever team is able to keep their top line fresher for the game-to-go will have a big advantage.
TIER TWO - CAL, USC, UCLA, CARLETON
The next few teams are virtually interchangeable at this point in the season. Carleton's surprising loss to UC San Diego complicates things, and I was only able to evaluate their play in crappy conditions, but my gut tells me that they belong on this tier.
CAL - There's a decent argument for including the Pie Queens in the top tier as they have only lost to two teams this year (UCSB and Stanford). Unfortunately, they have lost in pretty convincing fashion in those four games. On the plus side, they have two quality wins against UCLA and another in their victory over UBC. I don't have details on their power pool games, so I can't really say how decisive these victories were.
Cree Howard is their most recognizable player (deservedly so), but I really like both Darragh Clancy and Lucy 'Bam Bam' Rosenbloom. They bring toughness to the Pie Queens, and they were the biggest factors in their victory over us at the SB Invite. They have a number of solid handlers, but I think a potential Achilles' Heel for them is that their handlers are susceptible to matchup problems, especially after a turnover. They can adjust to this by shifting Cree and Darragh back to the handling line, but their offense is much more effective when both are cutting upfield.
On a random note, one of their coaches, Ethan Schlenker, might be the nicest guy I've met in the coaching ranks.
USC - Objectively, I think we should be above UCLA and Carleton (despite our loss to Carleton in the 9th place game). The big knock against us right now is that we haven't won the big game. 0-4 in DGP games and losing by two to UCSB reflects the fact that we're a relatively young program and still getting used to battling the traditional top-tier programs. Looking at the upside, before our Carleton game, we were as consistent as any of the top teams at Pres Day and had lost five games by a total of six points.
I'm sure some BLU players will grumble about me placing USC above UCLA, but I'll just point to the current RRI ratings and our consistency over the course of the season. Plus, cardinal and gold will always be inherently superior to pansy blue and urine yellow. Yeah, I went there. Bring it.
Pseudo-joking aside, the USC-UCLA matchup will be one of the most interesting ones to watch this year. Though the Hellions closed the gap between them last year, the women's Ultimate version of their rivalry has never been particularly close until now. Many people I've spoken with think that the Hellions have overtaken BLU, but in a rivalry like this one, the mental hurdle remains a big one and UCLA will remain the favorites until we beat them in a meaningful game in the spring.
You see this kind of thing in sports all the time. In basketball, it took a few years for the Bulls to figure out the Pistons before they could become the dominant team of the 90s. In baseball, you've got the Red Sox and the Yankees and all the years of suffering for Boston until they figured out how to beat the Yankees in a big way. In these kinds of rivalries, it doesn't matter how you've done against other teams and who should technically win the big game. You can't get the monkey off your back if you don't wrestle with the monkey. I hope we wrestle with the monkey at the Stanford University - Ripon campus.
UCLA - As I mentioned in previous posts, the big question for them was to determine who was going to step up in Taz's shoes. The leading contender right now is Samara Leader aka Nokie. Her emergence is especially vital since it is unclear if Cailey Marsh will be returning to school. The Magic 8 Ball says that 'Signs Point to Yes', Cailey will return, but they benefit greatly from Leader's willingness to put the disc up to their young athletic receivers.
While their lopsided losses to UCSB, Ottawa and Berkeley suggest that they have a lot of work to do, I would advise against underestimating this team. Alex Korb is one cunning guy and a great motivator. Their fundamentals remain as strong as any other team out there, and there is tremendous value that comes with having been one of the dominant programs over the past few years. They could emerge as a team similar to the 2007 Stanford Superfly squad that in my estimation was weaker than the prior two squads, but still took home the trophy. If you look at their regular season results from that year, Stanford was less than spectacular; however, winning breeds winning and they turned it on at the biggest stage. While I would bet against UCLA reaching the heights of the past three years, they remain a dangerous squad and will be able to draw upon the confidence built by the first generation of BLU.
CARLETON - Yeah, they beat us on Monday, so they have a legitimate claim to being ranked above USC. I definitely had to rank them below UCLA, both because of their head-to-head and their overall performance this season. These rankings could easily be flipped after Centex so I would take them with a grain of salt.
I also want to apologize for having introduced Syzygy to Cranky Frankie. The rain coupled with the Hellions having prepped poorly with their weather gear made for a rough game. This was easily my worst coaching performance of the year, and I hate knowing that I let my team down by getting easily frustrated and making the miserable playing conditions worse. I still have a long way to go.
Kudos to Carleton as they simply out-executed us with their game plan. They fell into our mini-bracket as the other tough-luck team having lost two DGP games. Nicky Bloom, Rebecca Sheridan and Anna Snyder led their attack and their fundamentals were very impressive. In a game under these conditions, it was impossible to tell where their other strengths and weaknesses lie, but I can't imagine them not qualifying out of the Central Region. I am surprised that they lost to UCSD, but this was really early in the tourney, and I'd imagine that they haven't seen temperatures above 40 degrees in several months.
The most important thing that I took away from this game is that I finally found out what they had been saying in their end zone cheers for the past two years. Moooooooonshine! On top... on top... on top... HEY!!! I have no idea what that cheer is about, but I love it. It's strangely hypnotic and I hope that you bring it back.
This entry is long enough for now. I'll be rambling about the rest of the Pres Day field in my next post. I also hope to have a special bonus post for next week.
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