Here I am, sitting in the Baymont Inn breakfast room at 6:45 a.m. Quarterfinals start at 1:30 p.m. Sometimes, my brain gets all excited and worked up, and there's nothing I can do but submit to its every whim. Sigh.
The Big Stories
1. Washington's Demise - This is easily the biggest story thus far. On the short list to contend for the title, Washington's loss to UCLA in the pre-quarters was a shocking and premature end to the season. Even before their loss to UCLA, Element was clearly out of sorts this weekend. They struggled in pool play, including a monumental collapse against Colorado and two tight wins against significantly weaker opponents. Element is a really talented team with a slew of good young players, so expect them to bounce back next year.
2. Southwest and the Quarterfinals - All four of the Southwest teams are in the quarterfinals. Going into the season, I thought the Southwest had a good chance of supplanting the Northwest as the strongest region, but the Northwest consistently outperformed their counterparts to the south at the major tourneys. I thought Oregon was going to be a cut above everyone else, but I really loved the makeup of the big four in the Southwest.
Going into the quarters, the Southwest is 5-1 in matchups against the Northwest. The one loss was USC to Cal in pool play. Apologies to our Southwest counterparts.
The quarters features two more NW v. SW matchups: Oregon will be heavily favored against UCLA, and Cal faces Colorado in a match that could go either way.
3. Colorado's Run - With their wins against Washington and Stanford, Kali is proving to be one of the most resilient teams in Madison. In the biggest upset of the tourney thus far, Kali went on an eight-point run to come back from a huge deficit against Washington. In the pre-quarters, Kali gave away an early 6-2 lead to find themselves down at half 6-8. Down 11-13, Kali clamped down on defense and scored four straight to take the game and a berth in the quarters. Call them the Comeback Kids from Colorado.
4. Maryland's Near Miss - Helpful Corn demonstrated the promise offered by their run to the semifinals at Centex. Beating UCLA in pool play, Maryland battled Wisconsin and put themselves in a position to win. In the quintessential do-or-die game, Maryland was in the position of either winning the pool outright or being knocked out of the tourney. Because of their 15-9 loss to Stanford, Maryland was certain of losing out on point differential because of UCLA's victory over Stanford. A win over Wisconsin would give them the head-to-head edge over Bella Donna.
Down 10-12, Maryland stormed back with two straight to tie it up. Helpful Corn appeared to get another break when Charlie Mercer pulled down a monster grab which she flipped to a wide open teammate for the score. A travel call brought the disc back, and Wisconsin eventually scored.
Maryland, I'm a big fan.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Southwest Regionals Recap
About ten days have passed since the biggest win in USC history. It still feels great, but we're now looking forward to the big show in Madison. Seeds came out last night, and we'll be the 5th seed overall. Cool deal.
Pool Play
SDSU gave us the toughest game in pool play. The bulk of our game was an upwind / downwind match. At the game's start, we were a bit sluggish on both the offensive and defensive ends of the disc, and the Lady Chachas did a great job of maintaining a high level of energy throughout the game. I had been looking forward to seeing SDSU in action since I'd heard good things from my buddy Spencer Barr who helps coach the team.
We got our first upwind break to go up 4-2 and broke again to get the downwind advantage. We traded to half and then stormed out of the half with two more upwind breaks to essentially put the game away at 12-5. The Chachas fought back and got an upwind break of their own to close to 12-8. The rest of the game was holding the downwind advantage. 15-10 final.
In the next game, we were originally slated to play Denver University, a very new team formed with the help of USC alumna Aisling Winston aka Viking. We were psyched to play them, but due to injuries and last second drops, they couldn't attend Regionals. Sadness. Instead, we found ourselves playing Arizona State. Our game was a lot of fun and we'll always have fond memories of Gummi Bear Girl. I've never seen anyone break out congratulatory treats to the opposing team in the middle of a game. Bold. Crazy. I like it.
Our final pool game was against Colorado College. I really like what they're building; Emily Anderson (coach) and Sophia Herscu deserve a ton of credit. Herscu is a great young player and I remember being impressed with her last year at Regionals. Her supporting cast is much improved this year and they've come through with a couple of big wins (over Northwestern and Wash U, both of whom qualified for Nationals).
Unfortunately, injuries took a toll on this young team and coming into our matchup, they lost a tough double-game-point match against SDSU. After the start of our game, I think they were content to focus on the next game and stay alive in the 4th place bracket. This worked out as they won a tight game against Long Beach.
Semifinals
After winning our pool, we were now in the semis against Colorado, one of USC's favorite rivals in the entire division. Kali is a fun team with great personalities and a coach (Tina McDowell) that I respect a ton. In each of the previous season, we had beaten Kali in our first matchup of the season, only to lose when it most mattered (Regionals in 08, Nationals in 09).
SW Regionals in 09 was the same format and the same four teams made it to the semifinals. Last year, we played UCSB and got slaughtered. That game was when I recognized that UCSB had hit another level altogether and asserted themselves as the favorites in Columbus. This year, the Hellions were intent on going through the front and avoid the potentially long Sunday slog through the backdoor.
The open division was done for the day, so both Mamabird and the Ghettobirds were watching from opposite sidelines. Kali got an early break to go up 2-1, but we stormed back with five straight points to take a 6-2 lead. I think the crucial point during this run was at 4-2, a turnover heavy point (11 total TOs). This point ended up being a huge swing in both score and momentum. Kali ended the run at 5 to close to 6-3. We held serve and broke again to take half, scoring on a bit of a lucky deflection off a Colorado defender.
Despite us holding a five-point lead, the difference in the game wasn't huge. Kali was making a number of uncharacteristic drops that we took advantage of. Generally, their offensive play was strong, but the run we made had a pretty big psychological effect on them.
In the second half, the two teams traded to 12-7 with some very strong offensive possession by both. We got the first break of the half to essentially clinch the game. Kali was able to get a break back but we ended the game with another break to win 15-9 and clinch a bid to Nationals.
Finals
This game was easily the most fun game of the year so far and definitely on my short list of my favorite games ever. I've really come to enjoy our games against UCSB. In the past, our rivalry was heavily one-sided, but this year it's been much more even. I'm particularly impressed with how clean our games have been. When I first started coaching in 2007, the Skirts had a terrible reputation for their on-field behavior. Over the past three years, they have completely flipped that around and their leadership deserves a ton of credit.
There were a number of similarities between this game and our previous finals matchup at Sectionals. In both games, we got the early lead, took half and had a 3 point lead midway through the 2nd half. In both games, UCSB stormed back with a run. At Sectionals, we had been up 12-9 before the Burning Skirts scored five in a row to win the game. Ouch.
We started on O and got the first break of the game to go up 4-2. We got another break a couple points later to go up 6-3. After that, we traded points to 8-5. The first half featured solid offense from both sides as neither team turned it over more than twice on a point. There were only three points where either team had two turnovers.
The first point the second half pitted both teams' strongest lines against each other. We were looking for the immediate break to put a ton of pressure on them. Both teams turned it over three times, something that I think was partially attributable to both teams playing better defense. Both teams adjusted and I believe that the next five points were turnover-free.
At 11-8, UCSB made their run, building their momentum with a Callahan goal (I think by Bree). UCSB scored 4 straight to take their first lead of the game at 12-11. Unlike at Sectionals, we bounced back with a big hold in serve to tie the game up. Next to the final point of the game, the battle to get to 13 was the most crucial point of the game. I burned our last regulation timeout to keep that line as fresh as possible for defense. Fortunately, it ended being a really smart move. That point was an epic battle with something like 9 turnovers. Both teams were taking shots at the end zone when available and grinding out possessions when needed. I'm looking forward to watching the video of this point because it felt agonizingly long.
We came through on a Screech to Jaws connection, but wow, this was a tough point. Getting the break back to take the lead was huge. It also gave me the flexibility to sub a completely fresh line in on defense. UCSB's big guns stayed on the field, again proving that they are among the most fit players in the college division. I don't know how they do it.
We got the disc on the next point, but we weren't able to do much offensively. UCSB held serve and it was now game to 2. We had an easy O point and nudged ourselves to game point. UCSB responded with a fairly easy O point of their own to send it to universe point. Apparently, I remembered the first possession incorrectly, so I'll have to wait for the video footage (it takes a few weeks for video footage to develop here in Los Angeles...). The main thing I remember is that we turned it, UCSB turned it on a huck that was too far, and we maintained possession of the disc for a long time, grinding out the possession until we finally capped it off with an I/O backhand break from Uzi to Screech.
Regional champions!
As I've mentioned to my wife several times, you don't ever wish to be in super-tight games like this. They take years off your life. But when you do battle through a game like this and pull out the win, it makes you a million times tougher. This game might have been the best thing for us going into Nationals. If we have a really successful run in Madison, I'll point to this game as the one that took us to another level. Great opponent. Great game.
-----
Because of familial obligations, I wasn't around to see the UCSB v. Colorado game or much of the UCLA v. Colorado St game. I do know that Colorado State had a great run to emerge out of a crowded field to get into the game to go. Despite the recent close games between UCLA and UCSD, I thought there was a pretty sizable gap between the top four teams and the next tier. After that, there were a number of very solid teams who were all capable of beating each other - UCSD, Colorado State, Claremont, Colorado College, Arizona, SDSU, Long Beach. Just getting to the last game-to-go is a great accomplishment, and I believe it is Hell's Belles' first in team history. Congrats!
Next year, the Southwest will be even more wide open. More teams are rising and the strong programs won't be fading anytime soon. The Hellions will be looking to prove that they are a great program and join the likes of UCLA, Colorado and UCSB.
Pool Play
SDSU gave us the toughest game in pool play. The bulk of our game was an upwind / downwind match. At the game's start, we were a bit sluggish on both the offensive and defensive ends of the disc, and the Lady Chachas did a great job of maintaining a high level of energy throughout the game. I had been looking forward to seeing SDSU in action since I'd heard good things from my buddy Spencer Barr who helps coach the team.
We got our first upwind break to go up 4-2 and broke again to get the downwind advantage. We traded to half and then stormed out of the half with two more upwind breaks to essentially put the game away at 12-5. The Chachas fought back and got an upwind break of their own to close to 12-8. The rest of the game was holding the downwind advantage. 15-10 final.
In the next game, we were originally slated to play Denver University, a very new team formed with the help of USC alumna Aisling Winston aka Viking. We were psyched to play them, but due to injuries and last second drops, they couldn't attend Regionals. Sadness. Instead, we found ourselves playing Arizona State. Our game was a lot of fun and we'll always have fond memories of Gummi Bear Girl. I've never seen anyone break out congratulatory treats to the opposing team in the middle of a game. Bold. Crazy. I like it.
Our final pool game was against Colorado College. I really like what they're building; Emily Anderson (coach) and Sophia Herscu deserve a ton of credit. Herscu is a great young player and I remember being impressed with her last year at Regionals. Her supporting cast is much improved this year and they've come through with a couple of big wins (over Northwestern and Wash U, both of whom qualified for Nationals).
Unfortunately, injuries took a toll on this young team and coming into our matchup, they lost a tough double-game-point match against SDSU. After the start of our game, I think they were content to focus on the next game and stay alive in the 4th place bracket. This worked out as they won a tight game against Long Beach.
Semifinals
After winning our pool, we were now in the semis against Colorado, one of USC's favorite rivals in the entire division. Kali is a fun team with great personalities and a coach (Tina McDowell) that I respect a ton. In each of the previous season, we had beaten Kali in our first matchup of the season, only to lose when it most mattered (Regionals in 08, Nationals in 09).
SW Regionals in 09 was the same format and the same four teams made it to the semifinals. Last year, we played UCSB and got slaughtered. That game was when I recognized that UCSB had hit another level altogether and asserted themselves as the favorites in Columbus. This year, the Hellions were intent on going through the front and avoid the potentially long Sunday slog through the backdoor.
The open division was done for the day, so both Mamabird and the Ghettobirds were watching from opposite sidelines. Kali got an early break to go up 2-1, but we stormed back with five straight points to take a 6-2 lead. I think the crucial point during this run was at 4-2, a turnover heavy point (11 total TOs). This point ended up being a huge swing in both score and momentum. Kali ended the run at 5 to close to 6-3. We held serve and broke again to take half, scoring on a bit of a lucky deflection off a Colorado defender.
Despite us holding a five-point lead, the difference in the game wasn't huge. Kali was making a number of uncharacteristic drops that we took advantage of. Generally, their offensive play was strong, but the run we made had a pretty big psychological effect on them.
In the second half, the two teams traded to 12-7 with some very strong offensive possession by both. We got the first break of the half to essentially clinch the game. Kali was able to get a break back but we ended the game with another break to win 15-9 and clinch a bid to Nationals.
Finals
This game was easily the most fun game of the year so far and definitely on my short list of my favorite games ever. I've really come to enjoy our games against UCSB. In the past, our rivalry was heavily one-sided, but this year it's been much more even. I'm particularly impressed with how clean our games have been. When I first started coaching in 2007, the Skirts had a terrible reputation for their on-field behavior. Over the past three years, they have completely flipped that around and their leadership deserves a ton of credit.
There were a number of similarities between this game and our previous finals matchup at Sectionals. In both games, we got the early lead, took half and had a 3 point lead midway through the 2nd half. In both games, UCSB stormed back with a run. At Sectionals, we had been up 12-9 before the Burning Skirts scored five in a row to win the game. Ouch.
We started on O and got the first break of the game to go up 4-2. We got another break a couple points later to go up 6-3. After that, we traded points to 8-5. The first half featured solid offense from both sides as neither team turned it over more than twice on a point. There were only three points where either team had two turnovers.
The first point the second half pitted both teams' strongest lines against each other. We were looking for the immediate break to put a ton of pressure on them. Both teams turned it over three times, something that I think was partially attributable to both teams playing better defense. Both teams adjusted and I believe that the next five points were turnover-free.
At 11-8, UCSB made their run, building their momentum with a Callahan goal (I think by Bree). UCSB scored 4 straight to take their first lead of the game at 12-11. Unlike at Sectionals, we bounced back with a big hold in serve to tie the game up. Next to the final point of the game, the battle to get to 13 was the most crucial point of the game. I burned our last regulation timeout to keep that line as fresh as possible for defense. Fortunately, it ended being a really smart move. That point was an epic battle with something like 9 turnovers. Both teams were taking shots at the end zone when available and grinding out possessions when needed. I'm looking forward to watching the video of this point because it felt agonizingly long.
We came through on a Screech to Jaws connection, but wow, this was a tough point. Getting the break back to take the lead was huge. It also gave me the flexibility to sub a completely fresh line in on defense. UCSB's big guns stayed on the field, again proving that they are among the most fit players in the college division. I don't know how they do it.
We got the disc on the next point, but we weren't able to do much offensively. UCSB held serve and it was now game to 2. We had an easy O point and nudged ourselves to game point. UCSB responded with a fairly easy O point of their own to send it to universe point. Apparently, I remembered the first possession incorrectly, so I'll have to wait for the video footage (it takes a few weeks for video footage to develop here in Los Angeles...). The main thing I remember is that we turned it, UCSB turned it on a huck that was too far, and we maintained possession of the disc for a long time, grinding out the possession until we finally capped it off with an I/O backhand break from Uzi to Screech.
Regional champions!
As I've mentioned to my wife several times, you don't ever wish to be in super-tight games like this. They take years off your life. But when you do battle through a game like this and pull out the win, it makes you a million times tougher. This game might have been the best thing for us going into Nationals. If we have a really successful run in Madison, I'll point to this game as the one that took us to another level. Great opponent. Great game.
-----
Because of familial obligations, I wasn't around to see the UCSB v. Colorado game or much of the UCLA v. Colorado St game. I do know that Colorado State had a great run to emerge out of a crowded field to get into the game to go. Despite the recent close games between UCLA and UCSD, I thought there was a pretty sizable gap between the top four teams and the next tier. After that, there were a number of very solid teams who were all capable of beating each other - UCSD, Colorado State, Claremont, Colorado College, Arizona, SDSU, Long Beach. Just getting to the last game-to-go is a great accomplishment, and I believe it is Hell's Belles' first in team history. Congrats!
Next year, the Southwest will be even more wide open. More teams are rising and the strong programs won't be fading anytime soon. The Hellions will be looking to prove that they are a great program and join the likes of UCLA, Colorado and UCSB.
Monday, May 17, 2010
UPA Article and Callahan Talk
PREVIEW ARTICLE
The UPA article finally came out this week. I turned in the original draft shortly after the Stanford Invite expecting that the issue would come out before the end of the month. When the UPA got back to me about a couple changes, the wildcard race had already been settled and about half of my article was outdated. Sigh. I revised the article and expected the issue would be published before Regionals. Not so. Double sigh.
I'm guessing part of this had to do with the changeover from Chuck Menke to Andy Lee, but any reasons I can conjure up for the delay in publication are completely speculative. The bulk of my interaction with the UPA has been really positive and this was definitely the case while writing the women's college preview. Having the publication date shift was difficult because it definitely affected the content, but such is life.
A couple specific disclaimers that I feel are necessary to make:
- I didn't make the silly pun about Fugue (Fugue't about it). It's corny and it doesn't really make sense. My point was that Fugue is the favorite going into Nationals and was the team to beat during the season. Someone was trying to be cute, but personally, I didn't get it.
- I deliberated quite a bit over who to profile for the Q&A. The UPA wanted more of a personal, feature feel to the article and specifically recommended doing a rundown of the top Callahan candidates and doing a Q&A. For me, it came down to three people: Cree, Georgia Bosscher and Mary Kate Hogan. I ruled out Mary Kate because it would be clear favoritism since I'm her coach. Still, people just don't seem to appreciate enough how good she is as a handler (no juniors experience) and how much she has improved the Hellions. How many other teams have risen as much as the Hellions have over the past four years?
Julia James helped me with the Q&A and we both liked the idea of interviewing Cree. She's a phenomenal player and being the only college player on the Worlds roster makes her a very intriguing player. We had already gotten in touch with her by the time I thought that this might impact the Callahan voting. For this reason, doing a Q&A with Georgia might have made more sense (or at least been fairer). Callahan MVP winner and best player on one of the top contenders for this year's title... what's not to like?
In the past, I've leaned against profiling players who I thought were already very well known. Part of my personal agenda has been to highlight players and teams who aren't known to the general public. Georgia's already synonymous with women's Ultimate. On the flip side, I'm amazed by how relatively few people (even within the women's college division) know who Cree is. That said, I do think it would have been fairer to profile Georgia. Of course, it didn't really end up mattering since the article came out much later than expected.
I'd love to hear feedback on the article, good and bad. If I write more of these things in the future, getting a wide range of feedback will help me tailor the article to provide better content.
CALLAHAN
Before I elaborate on the Callahan race, I'm going to toss up a Frankie Rho specialty and contradict myself. I think too much is made of the Callahan race. I think I'm definitely guilty of that. I also think the voting process remains absurdly flawed. Moving on.
Players I Left Off the Callahan Candidate List:
Shannon O'Malley (Washington) - Great player. Undoubtedly one of the two best players on her team (other being Lindsey Wilson). A 1st team All-Region player in the region with the greatest number of elite-level players. She coaches younger kids who clearly admire and respect her. So why not in the top ten?
I'm a big fan of her game and have been for a while. I know that what I write here will run the risk of alienating some people. So be it. The sport needs more constructive agitators (not idiot agitators like Toad). First, Shannon doesn't measure up to the other candidates listed on the level of being a team player. Let me emphasize that this is relative to the other top candidates.
Second, her relationship with other teams leaves something to be desired. I've seen this on multiple occasions (last year's Nationals vs. Michigan and Stanford, this year in both of our games). After we upset Element at Pres Day, Shannon was less than a good sport about it. I can understand being upset, but when you're the leader of your team, you hold yourself to a higher standard. In our second game, Element was up big on us when Shannon made one of the most shameful foul calls I've seen all season. On a big huck to her, Lindsey Cross was on defense and skied the shit out of her. Shannon called a foul, refused to look Screech in the eyes and avoided any attempt to discuss the call.
I encourage anyone who supports Shannon to defend her on this point. Yes, I admit to having a bitter taste from that one play. Remember that I've seen examples of this from her when it didn't involve us. This moment sealed the deal. I also challenge anyone who saw this play to refute my take on it. It was an embarrassment, and a player of Shannon's abilities, experience and talent should never stoop to this level.
Alyssa Weatherford (Western Washington) - I really like what Alyssa has done this year for Chaos. From my limited perspective, I think she has matured a lot and become a much better leader for her team. The problem with her candidacy is that she is in an absurdly loaded Northwest. With Cree, Shannon, Julia Sherwood and Emily Damon around, there was essentially no room for another Northwest candidate, especially since I wanted to have a list incorporating players from multiple regions.
Jasmine Draper (Iowa State) - I actually went back and forth over who to include on my list: Jasmine, Robyn Fennig or Anna Snyder. It probably made more sense to include both Jasmine and Robyn (especially since Anna is a junior), but I had just seen Anna at Pres Day and was really impressed with her play and leadership. Of course, this ended up being a month or so before my final version of the article. Sighsighsigh.
Laura Bitterman (Wisconsin) - I really like her game. Anyone who game plans against Wisconsin usually starts with Georgia and Emilie McKain. In a matchup between two elite-level teams, it's often not the top one or two players who make the biggest difference in the first half. It's a player like Bitterman who often emerges as the X-factor in tight games.
Unfortunately for her, if there is already a Callahan winner on a team, how crucial is her leadership and her play? Last year, I made this argument (a bit tongue-in-cheek) as the one major flaw in Georgia Bosscher's candidacy. Of course, anyone with a pulse knows that Georgia is an ideal Callahan candidate. I'm definitely not questioning Bitterman's abilities. But as I opined with her former teammate Courtney Kiesow, if you aren't the best player on your team, your leadership skills and intangibles must be exceptional to be a serious Callahan candidate.
Kelly Tidwell (UNC-Wilmington) - Another very strong player who has led her team to new heights. I've only seen her play a few times, but she's certainly the leader on Seaweed and deserves a lot of credit for bringing Wilmington back to the national picture. I'm not sold on her intangibles, especially on the sportsmanship side, but again, I've been limited in what I've seen of her and Seaweed.
Christie Lawry (Pittsburgh) - Unfortunately, my lack of familiarity with Pitt Ultimate left Christie off the radar. I wish that I could have seen Pitt more often to give Lawry a fairer shake. It would be awesome if someone from the Metro East stepped up to bring more light to the Western PA programs.
Charlie Mercer (Maryland) - Mercer is really great and just missed the cutoff for me. If I had known that Anne Mercier was not going to be nominated, Charlie would likely have filled that spot. Very similar type of player and candidate to Leila Tunnell and Mary Kate Hogan.
Octavia Payne (Penn) - Awesome player, but her candidacy is hurt by being a junior and her team not reaching the same level of success promised by last year.
Marisa 'Jolie' Mead (UCLA) - Jolie has been big this year for an injury-riddled BLU. She's a rock solid handler and tough defender. Like Loryn, she is in a crowded Southwest field, and as strong as she is, she doesn't stand out in the same way that Uzi, Kaela or Coug does.
Loryn Kanemaru (UCSD) - The same thing that hurts Weatherford hurts Kanemaru. There are a lot of great players and Callahan candidates in the Southwest. With Hogan, Jorgenson and Verhaalen around, there was no room for Kanemaru on the list.
Julia Sherwood (Oregon) - Okay, this is a technicality because I picked Molly instead of Julia. Since Sherwood was their candidate last year, I rolled the dice and guessed that Suver would be the candidate this time. Either of them would have been awesome candidates... in fact...
My top 5 candidates (in alphabetic order)
Mary Kate Hogan (USC)
Cree Howard (Cal)
Julia Sherwood (Oregon)
Leila Tunnell (UNC)
Courtney Verhaalen (Colorado)
Kaela Jorgenson just misses this cut for me. Part of this is because of Finney's presence and leadership slightly undercuts Kaela's candidacy. It's all very close and they are all very deserving. I think Tunnell has the best chances of winning the award because of the sizable voting bloc that will be in support of her. The West Coast candidates will hurt each other's chances. That's the way it goes.
The UPA article finally came out this week. I turned in the original draft shortly after the Stanford Invite expecting that the issue would come out before the end of the month. When the UPA got back to me about a couple changes, the wildcard race had already been settled and about half of my article was outdated. Sigh. I revised the article and expected the issue would be published before Regionals. Not so. Double sigh.
I'm guessing part of this had to do with the changeover from Chuck Menke to Andy Lee, but any reasons I can conjure up for the delay in publication are completely speculative. The bulk of my interaction with the UPA has been really positive and this was definitely the case while writing the women's college preview. Having the publication date shift was difficult because it definitely affected the content, but such is life.
A couple specific disclaimers that I feel are necessary to make:
- I didn't make the silly pun about Fugue (Fugue't about it). It's corny and it doesn't really make sense. My point was that Fugue is the favorite going into Nationals and was the team to beat during the season. Someone was trying to be cute, but personally, I didn't get it.
- I deliberated quite a bit over who to profile for the Q&A. The UPA wanted more of a personal, feature feel to the article and specifically recommended doing a rundown of the top Callahan candidates and doing a Q&A. For me, it came down to three people: Cree, Georgia Bosscher and Mary Kate Hogan. I ruled out Mary Kate because it would be clear favoritism since I'm her coach. Still, people just don't seem to appreciate enough how good she is as a handler (no juniors experience) and how much she has improved the Hellions. How many other teams have risen as much as the Hellions have over the past four years?
Julia James helped me with the Q&A and we both liked the idea of interviewing Cree. She's a phenomenal player and being the only college player on the Worlds roster makes her a very intriguing player. We had already gotten in touch with her by the time I thought that this might impact the Callahan voting. For this reason, doing a Q&A with Georgia might have made more sense (or at least been fairer). Callahan MVP winner and best player on one of the top contenders for this year's title... what's not to like?
In the past, I've leaned against profiling players who I thought were already very well known. Part of my personal agenda has been to highlight players and teams who aren't known to the general public. Georgia's already synonymous with women's Ultimate. On the flip side, I'm amazed by how relatively few people (even within the women's college division) know who Cree is. That said, I do think it would have been fairer to profile Georgia. Of course, it didn't really end up mattering since the article came out much later than expected.
I'd love to hear feedback on the article, good and bad. If I write more of these things in the future, getting a wide range of feedback will help me tailor the article to provide better content.
CALLAHAN
Before I elaborate on the Callahan race, I'm going to toss up a Frankie Rho specialty and contradict myself. I think too much is made of the Callahan race. I think I'm definitely guilty of that. I also think the voting process remains absurdly flawed. Moving on.
Players I Left Off the Callahan Candidate List:
Shannon O'Malley (Washington) - Great player. Undoubtedly one of the two best players on her team (other being Lindsey Wilson). A 1st team All-Region player in the region with the greatest number of elite-level players. She coaches younger kids who clearly admire and respect her. So why not in the top ten?
I'm a big fan of her game and have been for a while. I know that what I write here will run the risk of alienating some people. So be it. The sport needs more constructive agitators (not idiot agitators like Toad). First, Shannon doesn't measure up to the other candidates listed on the level of being a team player. Let me emphasize that this is relative to the other top candidates.
Second, her relationship with other teams leaves something to be desired. I've seen this on multiple occasions (last year's Nationals vs. Michigan and Stanford, this year in both of our games). After we upset Element at Pres Day, Shannon was less than a good sport about it. I can understand being upset, but when you're the leader of your team, you hold yourself to a higher standard. In our second game, Element was up big on us when Shannon made one of the most shameful foul calls I've seen all season. On a big huck to her, Lindsey Cross was on defense and skied the shit out of her. Shannon called a foul, refused to look Screech in the eyes and avoided any attempt to discuss the call.
I encourage anyone who supports Shannon to defend her on this point. Yes, I admit to having a bitter taste from that one play. Remember that I've seen examples of this from her when it didn't involve us. This moment sealed the deal. I also challenge anyone who saw this play to refute my take on it. It was an embarrassment, and a player of Shannon's abilities, experience and talent should never stoop to this level.
Alyssa Weatherford (Western Washington) - I really like what Alyssa has done this year for Chaos. From my limited perspective, I think she has matured a lot and become a much better leader for her team. The problem with her candidacy is that she is in an absurdly loaded Northwest. With Cree, Shannon, Julia Sherwood and Emily Damon around, there was essentially no room for another Northwest candidate, especially since I wanted to have a list incorporating players from multiple regions.
Jasmine Draper (Iowa State) - I actually went back and forth over who to include on my list: Jasmine, Robyn Fennig or Anna Snyder. It probably made more sense to include both Jasmine and Robyn (especially since Anna is a junior), but I had just seen Anna at Pres Day and was really impressed with her play and leadership. Of course, this ended up being a month or so before my final version of the article. Sighsighsigh.
Laura Bitterman (Wisconsin) - I really like her game. Anyone who game plans against Wisconsin usually starts with Georgia and Emilie McKain. In a matchup between two elite-level teams, it's often not the top one or two players who make the biggest difference in the first half. It's a player like Bitterman who often emerges as the X-factor in tight games.
Unfortunately for her, if there is already a Callahan winner on a team, how crucial is her leadership and her play? Last year, I made this argument (a bit tongue-in-cheek) as the one major flaw in Georgia Bosscher's candidacy. Of course, anyone with a pulse knows that Georgia is an ideal Callahan candidate. I'm definitely not questioning Bitterman's abilities. But as I opined with her former teammate Courtney Kiesow, if you aren't the best player on your team, your leadership skills and intangibles must be exceptional to be a serious Callahan candidate.
Kelly Tidwell (UNC-Wilmington) - Another very strong player who has led her team to new heights. I've only seen her play a few times, but she's certainly the leader on Seaweed and deserves a lot of credit for bringing Wilmington back to the national picture. I'm not sold on her intangibles, especially on the sportsmanship side, but again, I've been limited in what I've seen of her and Seaweed.
Christie Lawry (Pittsburgh) - Unfortunately, my lack of familiarity with Pitt Ultimate left Christie off the radar. I wish that I could have seen Pitt more often to give Lawry a fairer shake. It would be awesome if someone from the Metro East stepped up to bring more light to the Western PA programs.
Charlie Mercer (Maryland) - Mercer is really great and just missed the cutoff for me. If I had known that Anne Mercier was not going to be nominated, Charlie would likely have filled that spot. Very similar type of player and candidate to Leila Tunnell and Mary Kate Hogan.
Octavia Payne (Penn) - Awesome player, but her candidacy is hurt by being a junior and her team not reaching the same level of success promised by last year.
Marisa 'Jolie' Mead (UCLA) - Jolie has been big this year for an injury-riddled BLU. She's a rock solid handler and tough defender. Like Loryn, she is in a crowded Southwest field, and as strong as she is, she doesn't stand out in the same way that Uzi, Kaela or Coug does.
Loryn Kanemaru (UCSD) - The same thing that hurts Weatherford hurts Kanemaru. There are a lot of great players and Callahan candidates in the Southwest. With Hogan, Jorgenson and Verhaalen around, there was no room for Kanemaru on the list.
Julia Sherwood (Oregon) - Okay, this is a technicality because I picked Molly instead of Julia. Since Sherwood was their candidate last year, I rolled the dice and guessed that Suver would be the candidate this time. Either of them would have been awesome candidates... in fact...
My top 5 candidates (in alphabetic order)
Mary Kate Hogan (USC)
Cree Howard (Cal)
Julia Sherwood (Oregon)
Leila Tunnell (UNC)
Courtney Verhaalen (Colorado)
Kaela Jorgenson just misses this cut for me. Part of this is because of Finney's presence and leadership slightly undercuts Kaela's candidacy. It's all very close and they are all very deserving. I think Tunnell has the best chances of winning the award because of the sizable voting bloc that will be in support of her. The West Coast candidates will hurt each other's chances. That's the way it goes.
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