Women's Division Coverage - Day One

By Neva Cherniavsky

Round 1: The most exciting game of this round by far is Schwa vs. Alias. The number two seed gets a early scare as Alias goes up 6-0. Schwa has a reputation as slow starters and fulfilled it here; there were many uncharacteristic drops and throw aways and the mistakes continued in spurts throughout the game. In contrast, Alias was hucking and pulling them down. Questionable throws were working for them, even in the wind. There defense was also playing quite tight; Alias is chock full of runners and took advantage of mistakes with the fast break. At half the score was 8-5 Alias, and it looked like this could be the first upset of the tournament.

Schwa comes out strong in the second half, shredding Alias's zone to make it 8-6. They then came out with a zone of their own. A couple of turns results in a Frannie Goodrich (#34) 40-yarder to Jessi Witt (#9) for the score. Alias comes out again with a zone, which they call off at midfield. Schwa walks it in for the score.

Now all of the sudden, Alias begins to lose their concentration. There are four successive turnovers by Alias right on their own endline, resulting in four easy Schwa scores. Schwa seems to have regained their composure, taking the 11-9 lead. Alias calls timeout to stop the bleeding, then throws a zone D; Schwa shreds it easily.

Schwa has key players in #27 Tracey Satterfield and #4 Chelsea Dengler. The two take turns running the offense and receive the disc almost every other pass. This is not to take away from the rest of the team; each member has great skills and is a cog in Schwa's efficient offense. The difference in the first and second halves is Schwa stopped making mistakes and Alias stopped pulling down their questionable throws. Though Alias went on a little run towards the end of the game, with a sweet footblock by #1 Mel Proctor, it was too little too late. Final score Schwa 15, Alias 12.

The rest of the games this round weren't very close. There is a clear delineation between the top and bottom squads; though scores were close at the beginnings of games, the elite teams quickly pulled away.

Round 2: Again, the elite women's teams have no problems this round, with the notable exception of Ozone. Ozone's key players include Angela Lin (#71), Lori Parham (#9) and Katherine Kidd-Shipley (#3); the trouble is, the offense doesn't work so well beyond the handlers. Ozone led at half 8-5 but allowed Safari to catch up and tie it. Safari doesn't look particularly athletic, but their girls made plays and seemed to have a lot of fun. Ozone looked unhappy to be playing in the wind, and don't have their usual fire. Though Ozone pulled this one out, it doesn't bode well for round 3.

The other tight game was between Nemesis and Alias. Again, Alias hucked it a lot and came down with it quite often. But Nemesis has a similar style; the teams played tight most of the way, with Nemesis eventually getting the win.

Round 3: Craziness. This was expected to be the round of upsets, or at least very close games. Traditionally, it's the 4-5 game that's close; but Fury handled Rare Air by throwing a four person cup and executing well in high wind. The Schwa-Nemesis game was closer. But the Portland ladies seem to have come together; the slow start is over. Riot had no trouble with Ozone, who was still struggling in the wind; Seattle looked efficient and speedy, and their longer throws were connecting.

No, the drama this round came from a most surprising corner - Godiva versus Prime. Prime jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Molly Goodwin (#9) and Christine Dunlap (#23) were in flip flops on the sideline, coaching their team but not playing. And unfortunately, the title defender looked awful. Though still with some great players, most notably Johanna Neumann (#13), Victoria "Vy" Chow (#29), and Shana Cook (#8), the sum of the team is simply not as strong as in years past. Players made mistakes and the primaries seemed reluctant to trust others. Godiva was reduced to playing a game of field position, a sad sight from the ladies who used to be so skilled that they could shred any defense with ease. It was not Prime's great play that turned Godiva into this, though the Canadian team did set a wicked four person cup. Rather, Godiva's normally silky smooth offense looked stagnant and slow, and the team seemed to have severe troubles in the wind. Each point was marred by numerous turnovers by both teams. This does not bode well for the Boston team and their quest for continued dominance. The other elite teams, most notably Fury and Riot, have run clean, precise offenses all day today along with tight D, and Godiva will not win with this round's level of play.

All ideas expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the UPA