These rankings and the 2012 Skyd College Tour are brought to you by Spin Ultimate
[table “37” not found /]Talking Points:
1. Washington (NW): Element proved their dominance at Stanford this weekend, taking home the gold in a 13-9 win over Sonoma State. This team went undefeated on the weekend, showing they’re improving every tournament. They’ve got no more sanctioned events ahead but we have no doubt they’ll show up big at Regionals.
2. Michigan (GL): The ladies from Flywheel beat UNC 15-11 to win Easterns, and after a third place finish at Pres Day, Michigan is showing their dominance reigns cross country. You’ve got to give them extra credit knowing how far they’ve travelled to be at big tournaments; they’ll hvae their third out of region tournament this season at Music City Mashup this weekend.
3. Sonoma State (SW): Ruden, Stueckle, and Cruz are back, but are now supported by their downfield strength; Candice Pacheco had an incredible breakout weekend, scoring a ton of points in the finals against Washington. Sonoma’s finally playing like the team they want to be. Couple that with Maggie Ruden winning the Spin Ultimate MVP red jersey last weekend, they earn a spot near the top in this week’s rankings.
4. UNC (AC): Their third place win at Stanford shows these girls can do well against teams from all around the country. The Lang-Cohen show is incredibly fun to watch, but it would be nice to see even more from the rest of their skilled roster we know they’re hiding.
5. Cal (SW): Even though the Pie Queens were playing down a few key players, they managed to win some huge games. Claire Desmond is back showing few signs of her ankle bothering her, and with only two losses on the weekend (Both 11-13 to UBC and UNC) Cal is showing they will be a force to reckon with in the Southwest. The Pie Queens keep improving game to game, tournament to tournament, and we can’t wait to see them at Southwest Regionals.
6. Oregon (NW): Fugue turned out to be the biggest story of Stanford, for their uncharacteristic win-loss ratio. They went 3-3 in pool play, dropping from first seed out of the running for the championship game. This team is plagued by injuries, and losing even more people at each tournament isn’t helping. It doesn’t help that their junk zone, which we are all coming to know so well, is most effective in the wind. With no wind at Stanford, and a lack of other tools as strong as that zone, Oregon simply didn’t fare well. However, even in the games we were losing, we saw some great play. With a healthy roster, these ladies are likely to do quite well in the Northwest. We’re not giving up on Fugue yet!
7. Iowa State(NC): Iowa State came out of nowhere to win Midwest Throwdown against top tier teams – that’s gonna propel them up. Magon Liu and Sarah Hoistad played out of their minds for their team, and though star receiver Cami Nelson suffered some injuries, Women Scorned took the gold in St. Louis and fourth in our rankings.
8. Iowa (NC): Saucy Nancy finished second at Midwest Throwdown this weekend, losing a close game to Iowa State. Bekah Hickernell, Jen Nowak, and Audrey Erickson all played well for Iowa, but too many mistakes by big players cost them the gold, and dropped them a bit in our rankings.
9. UBC (NW): We got to see our first taste of the UBC this weekend at Stanford, and they definitely did not disappoint. Though they lost a close regional matchup to Oregon, they impressed with great disc skill and scrappy play.
10. UCLA (SW): BLU gets to hang on in our top 10 with some key wins at Stanford, finishing tied for third. It’s hard to place them above a team like Cal though they finished higher at Stanford, most notably due to their opponents. They lost to top tier teams Sonoma State and Washington, while Cal had to face off against the likes of Oregon (and beat them) and Sonoma State (and beat them). BLU is going to have a great experience at Centex in a few weeks, getting some last minute top tier out of region competition before heading in to the series, still likely to be seen at Nationals.
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