| Presidents’ Day Invitational 2011

Presidents’ Day Invitational
February 19-20
San Diego, CA
Website
Score Reporter

Teams Attending (Skyd Ranking – as of 1/25):
Oregon Fugue (1)
UC Santa Barbara Burning Skirts (2)
Wisconsin Bella Donna (3)
California Pie Queens (15)
Colorado Kali (8)
Michigan Flywheel (NR)
North Carolina Pleiades (NR)
Sonoma State D’vine (5)
University of Southern California Hellions (17)
Ottawa Lady Gee Gees (NR)
UCLA Blu (12)
Carleton Syzygy (18)
Florida Fuel (NR)
Colorado State Hells Belles (NR)
Western Washington Chaos (NR)
Texas Melee (20)
Humboldt State Hags (NR)
UC San Diego Psychos (NR)
UC Davis Pleiades (NR)
Arizona Scorch (NR)

Melissa 'Gryllz' Lee throws a big flick at Pres Day 2010 - Photo by Amy 'Meeko' Chang

Preview:

Presidents’ Day Invitational marks the beginning Oregon Fugue’s march towards repeating their 2010 title. These ladies are coming into San Diego ready to dominate teams from around the nation. The UCSD Psychos have been working hard to make this a tournament to remember, but this weekend could easily end with another rematch of the ladies of Eugene and Santa Barbara. Semi-finalists Bella Donna and Kali are both coming into San Diego looking stronger than ever. Featuring the top four out of five women’s teams from last year’s championships, the U.C. San Diego campus will be host to one of the most competitive tournaments of the year.

Questions:

Will the real Burning Skirts please stand up? Losing Kaela Jorgenson has seemed to open up the Southwest. At the Santa Barbra Invite, the Burning Skirts made it to the finals, losing to Stanford. They obviously still have talent, but will the loss of their wonder woman keep the Skirts down?

Who are the Callahan front runners? Julia Sherwood of Fugue is a lock to be a finalist, but there is so much talent on Oregon. Will someone else from Fugue prove to be a Callahan nominee? What about the other schools? Who will rise above the rest?

Who will be the hungriest in San Diego? Bella Donna looks to show that their loss to Santa Barabra in the semifinals at the Championships was a fluke. Kali has added a lot of talent in the last year, including Colorado native Christina Mickle. Look for Kali and Bella Donna to play harder than the rest of their competition.

Where is Element? Superfly? Both national powerhouses will not be attending Presidents’ Day Invitational. Will missing this tournament end up hurting these two teams down the road?

How will the home team fair? The Psychos have traditionally been a strong team. However, they have a new coaching staff, and they graduated many solid players last year. They did not perform nearly as well as they would have liked at the Santa Barbra Invite. With a tough pool featuring Wisconsin and Michigan, U.C. San Diego will have to fight hard to make the championship bracket.

A Psycho makes a big grab at last years Pres Day - Photo by Amy 'Meeko' Chang

Players to Watch:

Julia Sherwood (Fugue) – Have you seen this girl play? Throws, catches, defense. There is nothing she cannot do.
Anna Reed (Syzygy) – A Worlds player and a young experienced handler, look for consistent throws and control of the offense.
Christina Mickle (Kali) – Recently transferred from Puget Sound, look for her to use her athleticism on offense to school opponents.
Brittany ‘Agave’ Cabriales (Psychos) – Young handler, look for her to make big plays all weekend.