Written with contributions from Adam Lerman, Ryan Thompson and Robyn Fennig.
- The wind picked up today, and the weather affected play for the first time this tournament.
- The Southwest had the most bids to nationals of any region, but all 5 southwest teams got knocked out by prequarters.
- Tufts wins their pool with a 3-1 record. The one team they lost to, UVA, is knocked out of competition.
- Iowa State won two important games in pool play today against Cal and Virginia, but ended up losing to a fired up Ohio State.
- Today, UW played like the top ranked team we’ve seen during the regular season, Kirstin Gruver especially stepped it up on D in their regional rivalry win against UBC.
- Texas looks like a team that has it all figured out. Their man D has been a strength all weekend, but this weekend they have also shown a consistently efficient offense.
- Three of the four quarterfinals match ups have the team originally seeded higher coming into the game from the prequarter round.
- Oregon’s loss to Texas was their first loss since March 3.
- Ohio State was guaranteed to be playing in prequarters with no possibility of winning the pool heading into their game with Texas. Ohio State pulled their starters early in the first half to keep them fresh for the prequarters game.
- For both Texas and Michigan, a win in their final pool play game won them their pool, while a loss would have left them 4th and out of the championship bracket.
- Iowa State has never won a pre-quarters match-up at the College Championships
- Despite what some people are saying, I do not think that Oregon threw the game against Texas. No one hands over an overall pool win to set themselves for a tough matchup in pre-quarters.
- Paige Soper from Ohio State is the real deal. Her hucks are precise, powerful, and unstoppable for Fever.
- Iowa re-matches against Oregon again in quarters. Saucy will be able to match Fugue better than they did in 2011, especially given that this time around, Saucy Nancy earned a bye into quarter finals.
- There are no teams with undefeated records in the women’s division. This attests to the fact that there is so much parity and teams are inconsistent in Boulder. It really has turned into anyone’s game.
- During their game against Stanford, Michigan didn’t know that a loss would send them to 4th in the pool and out of the championship bracket. Their coaches told them after the game and after they’d secured first place in Pool C. In that game Michigan had 3 breaks and Stanford had 1, as both offenses looked assured and confident.
- Tufts has played to their strengths all tournament, gameplanning exceptionally well for their opponents. After a slow start to the UVA game, down 8-2 at half, they have played 7 halves of great ultimate. Against Cal today, they completely stopped Cal’s deep game to Claire Desmond, forcing Cal to throw contested throws across the field, and punishing them on the turnovers behind Claudia Tajima, Qxhna Titcomb, Michaela Fallon, and Emily Shields.
- Shellie Cohen and Lindsay Lang might be the strongest duo at the College Championships this year. Their poise under pressure, extreme confidence in their throws and each other, and devastating hucks and breaks inspire their entire team. Their offensive prowess carries this Pleiades team that has prided themselves on their defense all year.
- UCLA would have gone a lot farther at this tournament had Skyd All-American Kelly Wiese been healthy. She tore her ACL at Southwest Regionals, and this UCLA team clearly missed her, especially on defense.
- Both the Atlantic Coast and North Central placed one of their three teams in quarterfinals.
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