Frisbee

Here's how the listing appears for "USA Ultimate College Championship Highlight Show" for the ESPN U channel. Sunday & Monday games will be shown live on ESPN3 and then re-broadcast on ESPNU on Wednesday (5/29 )& Thursday (5/30). Get your DVR's ready! "Frisbee" on ESPN U Info: Combining the non-stop movement and athletic endurance of soccer with the aerial passing skills of football, the

Syzygy of Athleticism, Skill and Attitude Carries Carleton to Quarters Carleton’s women’s A-team, one of the most decorated college women’s division teams in the sport’s history, entered the 2012 season poised to finish in typical Syzygy fashion at the College Championships in Boulder, Colorado. Year-in and year-out, the team recruited athletes, some of whom with years of Ultimate experience, and had become synonymous with excellence–but in 2012, they had one of the youngest rosters in their team’s recent history and failed to qualify for the College Championships. Many people attribute this in part to the recent surge in talent in the North Central Region as a whole, with the rise of new teams and reemergence of others. As someone who has had season after season ended by Syzygy at Regionals, I noticed it was not the lack of talent, but mentality serving as the nemesis of Carleton’s success in 2012. Anna Reed fakes against Santa Barbara The team looked rushed, jittery, and nervous in the backdoor final against Iowa State in 2012. Both teams looked scared, as though they were playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. Senior Flannery McArdle explains, “It was sort of a wake up call not qualifying last season. It forced us to not think about winning, but rather focus on playing for each other. This season, we have valued the time we have together. We haven’t put pressure on ourselves to win tournaments, but focus on building each other.” If you watch Syzygy play in Madison this weekend at the Division-I College Championships, you will see them playing a different game than they did in 2012. The difference is not in skill level, but in the team mentality which shines through in every possession of Syzygy Ultimate the team plays. This is an attitude that exudes confidence in themselves and in their teammates. Continuation cuts that set up three throws prior because they know the throw will be there. Syzygy 2013 offense is a seamless combination of patient movement and aggressive, wide-open deep looks. It is controlled chaos relying on taking what they are given, being creative, and believing in each other’s disc skills. It is a style that is difficult to scout, difficult to predict, and even more difficult to shut down. With this new attitude, Carleton has emerged as one of the strongest teams in the country this season, winning a five-bid North Central Region. Among all the rebuilding in the women’s college division, it is a feat that only one team among the field of teams at Madison can claim. Syzygy alumnae Emma Dobbins and Anna Snyder agree. Dobbins says, “It is definitely a mentality thing. Syzygy has always had talent, but never that attitude to believe we could do it.” Anna Snyder agrees, “We lacked the consistency to win in years past at nationals. We would play well and beat teams we had no business beating, and fall apart only to lose to teams that we should have beat handily.” By taking away the focus on winning and placing the focus on team chemistry and love of game, the winning has largely taken care of itself. “Last season we had eight rookie players. And we didn’t do right by them,” says junior co-captain Julia Snyder. “This season, we can’t say that because as a team we increased our commitment to each other and commitment to building everyone’s skills. We would have track workouts and just throw for an hour afterwards, building the confidence and skills of everyone.” “We just didn’t talk about last year and focused on Syzygy 2013,” Julia Snyder adds. “That is important in the North Central where you are indoors for so long. You need to focus on making everyone better when you’re paying $250 an hour to get indoor space.” Helping newer players improve disc skills only allows all of their players to take advantage of the rare indoor practi

This coverage is presented by Spin Ultimate Feature photo by Alex Fraser – UltiPhotos.com Day 1 Photos (Ultiphotos.com)

This coverage is presented by Spin Ultimate Feature photo by Nick Lindeke – UltiPhotos.com Day 1 Photos (Ultiphotos.com)

This coverage is presented by Spin Ultimate #2 Wisconsin Hodags (1-1) The Hodags looked a bit off all day. While their 15-9 defeat of Cornell may appear as if it was a comfortable victory,Wisco had trouble valuing the disc, often giving it away needlessly. They were visibly frustrated after some points in what should have been an easy win for them. In their game against CUT, Captain and Callahan nominee Brian injured himself on the first point of the game, after an attempted layout d.  Hart’s absence was noticeable for the duration of the game; the Hodags certainly could have used him to get a few breaks back down the stretch. While there were moments of brilliance, especially from Colin Camp (who definitely stepped up in Hart’s absence), the Hodagsappeared to rely too much on the huck. Since a quarterfinals matchup against Oregon is likely at this point(unless Harvard has something to say about it), the Hodagshave tomorrow to work out their kinks. #7 Carleton CUT (2-0) Carleton began the day by breezing through Florida State in what many had pegged as an upset. Carleton had no trouble though, finishing DUF off 15-10. As previously mentioned, the meat-and-potatoes game of the pool was CUT’smatchup against the Hodags, and CUT looked fantastic. Despite main cutter Nick Stuart playing only a few points (hamstring), CUT had plenty of depth to pick up the slack. Justin Norden, who played a majority of the regular season on the D line, has transitioned back to O. His boost to the handling core opens up Simon Montague more freedom, and it really benefitted CUT today. Look for CUT to take care of Harvard and Cornell tomorrow and clinch a berth in quarters. #10 Harvard Redline (2-0) Redline also looked impressive today, crushing DUF 15-7 in the biggest blowout of the day, and defeating a tired Cornell 15-10. Freshman Mark Vandenburg looked particularly impressive, leading his team in assists with 10. Harvard played the two weakest teams of the pool today, but has Wisconsin and Carleton tomorrow. Judging from their play today, both the Hodags and CUT should not be overlooking this team. Darkhorse team for sure. #15 Florida State DUF (0-2) DUF has to be disappointed with their results today. While I’m sure they didn’t expect to sweep the pool, all DUF had to do was defeat two of the top teams in order to clinch a birth into prequarters. Their 15-7 drubbing at the hands of Harvard has to be particularly tough to swallow. While it is technically possible for DUF to still make the championship bracket, they would need a ton of help. #18 Cornell Buds (0-2) While Cornell didn’t come away today with any victories, there are a few positives to take away. 1) Jake Stevelman is only a junior. Stevelman runs the show, rarely taking points off. He finished today with 2 goals and 7 assists of his teams 10 total points. He’ll be a force next year. 2) Their handler movement looked solid today, While Cornell has a small roster and runs a tight rotation, their handlers looked crisp today. Look for them to pull off the upset against DUF tomorrow. Feature photo by Kevin Leclaire – Ultiphotos.com

This coverage is presented by Spin Ultimate While I was able to see a lot of today’s action, most of my time was spent watching Pool C. Here are some notes and what to look for tomorrow in the action in the pool. Central Florida (2-0) -  Coach Andrew Roca clearly had this team prepared for the tournament. In both games, they faced adversity right in the eyes, and were able to come out with the wins. - Central Florida offensively was very impressive today. They had their faults, as did most teams today, and certainly weren’t running smoothly all day. But when they were on, they weren’t going to be stopped. - Misha Freystaetter was very noticeable on the field, and not just because of how tall he is. The graduate student also had a good stat line: 5 goals, an assist, and 2 Ds. - While they were able to get past a Davis team with some fight in them, and the 2nd half UNC comeback, should they be worried about quarterfinals? They’ll be watching how Wilmington and Colorado finish their pool games – both have already shown the ability to come back this weekend. California-Davis (1-1) - The dogfight and loss during their first round game against UCF I originally thought might have drained them too much to start the day. Seeing them play a few rounds later against Ohio, and I couldn’t be more wrong. - In that game against Ohio, Davis looked fresh and ready for the game. Almost like their game against UCF was a warm-up game. Yes it was a back and forth game, especially at the end, but they looked like a more refined team from Davis. - Another graduate student was important, this time Ben Hubbard. He did have a 4/4/2 stat line, but his calm demeanor seemed key in that victory. On offense especially, this showed – sometimes taking himself away from the play to create space, only to jump in and make himself an asset. - Two important games tomorrow for UC-Davis. The first comes against a Luther squad that would like to finish with a win or two tomorrow (more on that later), and then the second against UNC in a game that could decide where they each land in pre-quarters. North Carolina (1-1) - Two comeback games for North Carolina, and only one successful one. The first comeback game came against UCF. After tying it up at 10 all, I thought they were in control of the game. Central Florida soon rattled off three straight scores for the win. Perhaps they got tired, but no matter the reason UCF simply looked the better team. - And then their next comeback came against Luther. Unlike in the game against UCF, against Luther they just looked tired from that previous game. Their opponent looked to take full advantage of that, and it took a miraculous late comeback, including a DGP hammer-caught callahan to win the game. - One thing UNC needs to work on for tomorrow is their offense. At times, they seemed too tied to the huck, and that clearly wasn’t working against a team like Central Florida. It was even more frustrating because it looked like working underneath and taking the open looks given by the opposing defense was working just fine. - Another loss could be deadly, and Ohio is looking to be the team to hand it to them. Ohio (1-1) - The play of Mitch Cihon was phenomenal all day long. If Ohio wants a chance at making it onto pre-quarters, and beating out UC-Davis or North Carolina for that spot, he’ll have to have another great day. - In parts of the UC-Davis game, they simply weren’t clicking on offense and it was difficult to watch. But in others, their coaches had them running on all cylinders on both sides of the disc. - Defensively, I’ve seen better from the Ohio team. Without a strong defense, I’m inclined to think both UCF and UNC will run over them. Luther (0-2) - What an unfortunate way to end the day for them. They certainly aren’t the same team from last year, and how could you be when you lose Eric Johnson. But they were still a threat, and to fall short as they did has to be heartbreaking. - Those losses have to be prom

This coverage is presented by Spin Ultimate The 2013 College Championships opened up with a great first day of play, as the contenders started to separate themselves from the pack and the rest of the teams battled hard to finish in the top 3 and extend their season for at least another game. With two games each today, no team is truly out of contention, but teams like Georgia that finished 0-2 have quite a difficult road ahead of them. Without further ado, here’s our pool by pool breakdown and individual game recaps. Day 1 Photos (Ultiphotos.com) Pool A #1 Oregon (15) – #8 Wisconsin (9) Fugue gained early momentum with fast, efficient transition offense. Oregon did not look deep very often, rather choosing to hit open hands quickly. Bethany Kaylor played particularly well for Oregon, generating D’s and helping fire the transition O with assists. Wisconsin had numerous unforced turnovers in the first half. Offensively, their throws stretched the field wide, seamlessly dropping cutters back to handle and sending handlers upfield to take advantage of poaches. Drops and rushed red zone decisions hurt Bella Donna, who were down 3-8 at half. The second half was a different story, with Bella able to trade and go even with Oregon on scores. Amelia “Forty” Cuarenta notably picked up her play, looking to spark the Bella O with layout grabs and convert off of her hand blocks on D. However, the big half-time deficit was too big to overcome and Bella ended up falling to Fugue 15-9. –RF #12 Stanford (15) – #13 Minnesota (9) See the full game recap here. #8 Wisconsin (13) – #13 Minnesota (15) This game was full of momentum changes, as well as intense D and interesting offensive decisions. Bella Donna came out hard in the first half, controlling the pace of the game. Sara Scott’s precise throws were finding receivers deep and under, and Lorraine Guerin shone on O, filling cutting and handling roles for Bella Donna. Al Ellis brought some needed offensive spark with her layout grabs and around break throws to keep offensive momentum in Wisconsin’s favor. Natalie Foshag of Minnesota gets a layout D against Wisconsin (Nick Lindeke - Ultiphotos) Ultimately, the Ninjas were able to fight back and win the game, largely in part to their ability to convert on transition O. Natalie DePalma hit Sarah Meckstroth deep point after point, while Bella defenders could not shut her down. Natalie Foshag’s defense helped to give Minnesota opportunities to score, while Wisconsin struggled to stop Minnesota’s newly confident offense. –RF #12 Stanford (12) – #17 Northeastern (13) Stanford went up 6-4 early on a relatively jittery looking Northeastern team. However, the Valkyries regrouped and came out a different team, increasing the defensive pressure on the Superfly offense and ultimate taking half. Kate Flood played particularly well offensively for the Valks, getting up and over Stanford’s Michela Meister deep to keep the Stanford zone spread out. Northeastern scored five unanswered points to go up 9-6 before Stanford could stop the bleeding. Stanford fought back to tie the game and force a universe point scenario. Stanford generated a turn and worked it to half-field. Meister let a backhand fly, and the wind caught the inside edge bringing it out of bounds. Northeastern worked it back to half field and put up a floaty huck of their own. Becca Ginsburg reeled it in after two Stanford defenders and a Northeastern teammate misread the disc. Northeastern completed the upset over Stanford to win 13-12. –RF Pool B #2 Carleton (15) – #18 Northwestern (8) Syzygy started the day off with a strong win against a feisty Northwestern team. Taylor Want was nearly flawless in this game for Carleton, with 4 assists, 1 goal, 2 Ds, and no turnovers in the first half. Northwestern hung tough and only went into halftime down 6-8, and Lien Hoffmann had at least one fantastic lay

This coverage is presented by Spin Ultimate Friday morning saw #1 seed Oregon playing against #8 overall, Colorado in one of the day’s most anticipated match ups. Both teams came out fired up, ready to put it all on the line for the chance to earn a bye into the quarterfinals. At first, Oregon seemed un-phased by Colorado’s zone, taking an 8-5 lead into halftime and maintaining a 2 point cushion until Colorado rattled off three breaks in a row, eventually taking a 14-13 lead on the backs of captains Jimmy Mickle and Tim Morrissy. The Colorado run, however, stopped there as Oregon punched in the O-point and fought for the Universe Point victory, 15-14. Colorado proceeded to take half on #13 Georgia, 8-6, and wrapped up a hard-capped game with a 12-10 victory to finish the day 2-0. The other squad from Pool A to win their first two games was Dartmouth Pain Train, who fought off a fierce JoJah team from Georgia, caliming a 15-13 win despite a late JoJah run. Their second match pitted Dartmouth against the #17 seed Washington Sundodgers. Washington’s tight downfield defense required Dartmouth to rely on their handler motion and experience of veteran players such as Ian Engler and Cecil Qui, who controlled the pace of the game. Simply put, Dartmouth outplayed the Sundodgers en route to a 15-10 victory. In the final round of Day 1, the Northwest Regional match up between Oregon and Washington went more-or-less as expected, with Ego taking the Sundodgers down 15-9. Washington took a hucking approach to the game and could not seem to connect with their downfield receivers, which gave Oregon plenty of opportunities to move the disc up the field and set the pace of the game. Tomorrow all eyes are on the Colorado/Dartmouth match up, which will likely determine who earns bids to the pre-quarters and how the match ups shape up.

Stanford 15 – Minnesota 9 The key to this game for Stanford was containing All-American Sarah Meckstroth. Stanford opened with a force-middle man defense that Minnesota shredded, going up two breaks. But Stanford came firing back with a four-woman cup and their back wall kept a close eye on Meckstroth. With fellow All-American Michela Meister patrolling the deep space, Stanford forced Minnesota’s throwers to try to go through or over the cup, which they failed at again and again. Both DePalma sisters were unable to consistently work the disc, throwing multiple turnovers as they tried to find Emily Regan popping. Anne Sleeth and Andrea Crumrine were doing better, but often times content with going side to side and backwards. Their best chances were when Natalie DePalma bended throws down the sideline to Meckstroth, but Meckstroth’s throws to the endzone were frequently gobbled up by Meister or just dumped back to the ineffective handlers. Minnesota managed to keep it close in the first half, despite Stanford going up 6-4 after getting three breaks in a row thanks to their zone. But Minnesota broke back and Stanford took half on-serve, 8-7. Right out of half Stanford broke, with Monisha White hitting Hilary Vance deep. They kept playing their zone except for one point when they came out with a clam – Minnesota’s only offensive score of the second half. Meckstroth started to sit as Stanford opened up a 12-9 lead, and they closed it out with relentless attacking after their zone forced turnover after turnover. Stanford’s cutters were being fronted by the Ninja defenders, and Meister, Jennifer Thompson, and White kept putting it deep with great success. Halsey Hoster in particular had a great game offensively, often matched up with Meckstroth. In the end, Stanford was able to solve the problem of containing Meckstroth by switching to zone, and Minnesota never found the answer – a similar story to their pool play matchup at Centex, which Stanford won 15-5.

Reader Tom Murray just sent us the following. I thought some of his fellow stat heads would enjoy taking a look.  I’ve been working on a fully Bayesian approach to modeling Ultimate frisbee scores. I’ve run a version of my Bayesian model on all the sanctioned games from  the current season (including the post-season). There is no time-decay at this point in the game, so each game is given equal weight. I’d like to thank  Sam Tucker for helping me access all this awesome data. As for the pool finish probabilities, using the results from my model, I’ve simulated the results of each pool 5,000 times and these are the proportions of each teams pool placement across those 5,000 iterations. Pool A Pool Finish Probabilities Teams 1 2 3 4 5 Oregon 52.56 30.88 9.50 4.26 2.80 Colorado 23.90 34.50 22.20 10.42 8.98 Dartmouth 10.32 11.90 23.66 31.76 22.36 Georgia 10.06 16.60 32.10 20.04 21.20 Washington 3.16 6.12 12.54 33.52 44.66 Pool B Pool Finish Probabilities Teams 1 2 3 4 5 Wisconsin 34.26 22.36 23.84 17.50 2.04 Carleton College 18.72 21.06 30.84 23.64 5.74 Harvard 26.46 30.92 19.60 17.24 5.78 Florida State 20.30 24.98 23.38 25.24 6.10 Cornell 0.26 0.68 2.34 16.38 80.34 Pool C Pool Finish Probabilities Teams 1 2 3 4 5 North Carolina 27.74 19.90 22.36 21.38 8.62 Central Florida 36.60 28.52 15.86 12.56 6.46 Ohio 21.44 22.56 26.56 17.16 12.28 California-Davis 4.28 5.30 14.26 28.08 48.08 Luther 9.94 23.72 20.96 20.82 24.56 Pool D Pool Finish Probabilities Teams 1 2 3 4 5 Pittsburgh 28.22 23.80 27.32 14.52 6.14 Texas 39.92 33.06 13.68 7.98 5.36 North Carolina-Wmgtn 11.12 13.56 22.70 31.32 21.30 Arizona 18.28 25.20 27.32 17.42 11.78 Illinois 2.46 4.38 8.98 28.76 55.42 Look for Central Florida taking the top seed over North Carolina, and Texas over Pittsburgh. Arizona and Ohio are the wildcards, they could go anywhere. Cornell is most certain to finish 5th, whereas Oregon is a lock for the 1 seed in Pool A. Harvard shouldn’t be overlooked in pool B.