At ECC’s Mixed edition last weekend, the Northwest Region teams finally got on the board for the regular season, but without much impact on the standings. Two-win Mental Toss Flycoons, the 2008 champions, rank highest at 20th and clearly won the right matchups in Burlington; 7 Figures (4-3) won head-to-head, but enter the rankings behind MTF at 26. This resulted from a strong 15-8 win over Blackbird, and close games with Polar Bears, Grassface and 7 Figures, which MTF lost by a combined 5 points. The largest impact from the tournament came as the Southwest pulled two strength bids from the column of the idle Mid Atlantic to their side with Grassface and American BBQ moving ahead of AMP and Death By Jubilee.
Mesteno made the biggest move of the week, from 27th to 8th, despite not playing any games. The 2011 Club Championshp-qualifiers presumably benefited from Love Tractor’s out-of-region performance at the Cooler Classic [Mesteno has a 15-10 win in hand from the Colorado Cup]. The strength bid impact was minimal though as the next closest South Central team is B.O.H.I.C.A., at 15. Colorado rivals Killjoy and Swingline will both be at Labor Day, while Mesteno is in action this weekend at Heavyweights.
While perennial contenders CLX should be entering the rankings next week after competing at Heavyweights, most of the action will be in Maryland for Chesapeake Invite. With five teams still ranked in the top 10 [and District 5 beginning play this weekend] the Northeast will be looking to defend their position on the field against the Mid Atlantic, Southeast, Great Lakes and North Central regions. Below is a preview of the stakes this weekend for each top-20 team not sitting in an automatic bid position.
Highest ranked teams from each region (overall ranking)-
1. The Ghosts (NE) 2. Polar Bears (SW) 4. Overhaul (GL) 8. Mesteno (SC) 10. Ambiguously Grey (MA) 18. Bucket (SE) 20. Mental Toss Flycoons (NW) 23. panIC (NC)
Sanctioned Tournaments this Weekend:
Chesapeake Invite – Poolesville, MD
Heavyweights – Rockford, IL
Overall rank. Team, Region. Rankings Point Total
*3. Slow White, NE 1733 – Seeded 2nd at Chesapeake, the Boston team will find several of their alums on the other side of the field in the first round matchup against Ambiguously Grey as well as lethal cutter Calvin Oung, but should be favored to finish on top of the pool. Slow needed a big comeback to win their US Open semifinal against Drag’n Thrust, and could see the Minnesota team again in a semis game if seeds hold.
*5. Santa Maria, GL 1695 – Their undefeated record goes on the line in Pool F at Chesapeake and should survive the first round; later matchups will be the team’s toughest so far this season. Also of interest will be Death By Jubilee’s performance, Santa Maria’s current strongest matchup win.
*6. Wild Card, NE 1644 – A first round matchup with Termite’s Entourage might look familiar from Philly Invite, but the New Jersey team returns their founder Sean Murray from his AUDL commitment with the Spinners, and several pro Ultimate teammates as well. Wild Card knows how to start strong though. They were first to the fields and well prepared to best Odyssee in the first round at Boston in June.
*7. Odyssee, NE 1639 – Canadian champions, but finished with the USAU regular season and hoping their current record holds up.
*9. 7Express, NE 1586 – On the 2-seed line at Chesapeake in a pool with a lot of potential. Dragon Thrust from the North Central and the Southeast’s Sabre Corp could both use wins over highly-ranked opponents.
*11. Grassface, SW 1558 – Strong ECC, aside from the loss to Seattle’s Bigfoot, contributed to steady climb up the board. Now preparing to host Labor Day next weekend.
*12. Ant Madness, MA 1487 – Matchup with AMP in the first round at Chesapeake should be their toughest so far this season. It doesn’t get any better later in the day in a pool with 3 teams who played at club nationals in 2011.
*13. American BBQ, SW 1485 – See Grassface.
14. AMP, MA 1472 – 2nd round rematch at Chesapeake with Bucket is a replay of an exciting pre-quarters play-in last fall in Sarasota. AMP’s embarrassing 15-2 loss to Ghosts at Boston will not be repeated in the final pool play game of the day, Chesapeake games are only to 13.
15. B.O.H.I.C.A., SC 1479 – The Texas team’s regular season appears finished, but their ranking could be impacted by Cosa Nostra’s play at Heavyweights. They played a close semi-final at Texas2Finger.
16. Death By Jubilee, MA 1432 – Denied big wins over Overhaul and AMP at Philly Invite by late game offensive lapses, have a chance to upset Pool G at Chesapeake and climb back into the strength wildcard conversation.
17. Mischief, SW 1420 – 2 wins over Grassface at Revolution look good now, but need results in matchups with teams from outside the region at Labor Day to keep the Southwest climbing the rankings.
19. Steamboat, GL 1392 – Beat the eventual champions in pool play at Cooler Classic, but lost their universe point semifinal matchup to Bird. Nice regular season record, but without any big wins, they’ll likely need to take whatever bids Santa Maria and Overhaul can earn for the Great Lakes at regionals.
*- Current wildcard regions.
If the season ended today bids would be:
GL- 2 SC- 1 SW- 3 NW- 1 NE- 5 SE- 1 MA- 2 NC- 1
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