Women's ultimate isn't typically characterized by hype and trash talk, but this year's UPA Championships could prove to be the most competitive one yet, and the games will no doubt be unpredictable and exciting to watch. Thirteen teams return from last year's tournament with both Ambush in the NE and Prime in the NW missing out on qualifying by 1 point in regions that had one less bid to work with in 2002. Rare Air, Bnogo and Pounce enter the mix this year. Depending who shows up with their top game at the right moments, any number of teams are capable of grabbing the title.

Of course there's the obvious favorites in defending champions Lady Godiva out of Boston and Seattle's Riot, both finalists last year. Godiva has their name engraved on the trophy an unprecedented 8 times. Laying low this fall, skipping Chicago Tune-up in favor of a focus on practice, they haven't really been tested since their 3rd place finish in Hawaii. Riot on the other hand has recently played some tough games. After looking untouchable at Worlds, they came back to lose in the final of Chicago to Rare Air, and fell to Vancouver's Prime in sectionals competition. Those games may have been enough to refuel the fire, pulling out a definitive win in the hotly contested NW region.

Neither team will have an easy road to the final. The other 5 teams qualifying from the west coast (Fury, Schwa, Rare Air, Lady Condors & Safari) each have a legitimate bid on making quarters, as do Regional winners Ozone, Backhoe and Nemesis. For any other team to sneak in would have to be considered a huge upset. Fury, the one team to interfere with Godiva's streak, has been looking solid all year and is in a great position as 3rd seed to pull off another championship as the underdog. Both Ozone and Safari have near perfected the art of coming up big when it counts most. Safari is most likely in the field to finish well above their seed. Though Schwa hasn't been playing the same game they used to beat Riot in Hawaii, everyone knows they can. Rare Air might be the dark horse of the tournament. Something just seemed to click at Labour Day in Santa Cruz when after going 0-3 on Saturday, they came out to eliminate Schwa in quarters, Fury in semis and losing by 1 to Prime in the final. They followed with a 15-9 tournament win in Chicago over Riot the following weekend. Apparently fired up after missing out on qualifying last year, Rare Air has the heart to go far.

Pool A
(1) Lady Godiva, Boston (8) Lady Condors, Santa Barbara (9) Nemesis, Chicago (16) Clutch, Ann Arbor

An identical opening pool to last year's tournament. Godiva is a clear favorite. Clutch will have a hard time winning a game in this pool. Condors/Nemesis match up will be the game to watch - the battle to crack the top 8 after day 1. Condors took the game last year, and may have the advantage after tough competition on the west coast and at Worlds.

Pool B
(2) Riot, Seattle (7) Backhoe, Raleigh (10) Safari, San Diego (15) Bait, Minneapolis

Riot shouldn't have a problem holding seed in this pool, but both Safari and Backhoe will be gunning to improve on their seeding at this tournament. These teams played for 5th and 6th last year with Safari coming out on top. They didn't meet head to head in Hawaii, but Safari finished a few spots ahead of the team from Raleigh. Should be a tight game for 2nd in the pool.

Pool C
(3) Fury, San Francisco (6) Schwa, Portland (11) Fuse, Ottawa/Toronto/Montreal (14) Pounce, Pittsburgh

Some regional rivalries will dictate the top of this pool. Hard to predict. Fury won handily at Regionals, but Portland had San Fran's number at Worlds, beating them 17-11. Fuse, an Eastern Canadian all-star team, would have to play out of their heads to upset either of them, but I'm sure they want to improve on their 9th place finish from last year. Pounce a first time qualifier won't have the depth to move up in this pool.

Pool D
(4) Ozone, Atlanta (5) Rare Air, Boulder (12) Buttercup, Austin (13) Bnogo, Washington