1999 CLUB PRESEASON SCOUTING – WOMEN

Here is a little pre-tournament scouting based on Tune-Up and a few phone calls. Pardon name misspellings and factual errors. And yeah, it's glib at times. Such is. Hope ya likes.

Lady Godiva. The old guard was in attendance in Chicago. Teens, Molly, Gwyn Tracy, Pooch–but that doesn't mean this was the same Godiva you're likely to see in San Diego. As Worlds is a training tournament for newcomers, Tune-Up is a conditioning tournament, one that Godiva plays on an even keel without emotion. It's like a barometer, a reading of the team at its fundamental level without adrenaline spikes and the intensity of Nationals competition. They lost to Philly in pool play, narrowly won against Fury, then lost by four to Fury in semis–all without breaking a sweat. Second year players Shelley Ratay, Shana Cook and Vicky Chow are coming into their own, and pickups Karen Lucido (Bay Area) and Kammi Guerier (Vancouver) provide the team with even more solid guns. Another title defense? What a rough life Godiva leads. But truthfully, no team works harder at keeping a mental and physical edge than these women, and the regimented swing and sideline offense will be ready for Halloween day.

Verge Worlds winners again, but this time they didn't attend Tune-Up, which may be a good sign for them to avoid those pre-nationals curses. Abbi Nillsen has welcomed back Cat Pittack to the roster but lost Leah Towne and Sarah Gersten-Rothenberg to ACL injuries. In their place, Deb Cussen and Patty Crump-Zuber have joined and re-joined the team. Rachel Projansky, Pam Kraus, Kathy Scott, Berkeley, Lori van Holmes and KP are still around commanding this year's Verge, much like last year's. They haven't lost a game this season, winning Worlds and every other tournament they entered. Be on the lookout for a variety of offensive and defensive sets.

Ozone. "Our offense is not playing well, but we're 4–0," said Chris O'Cleary after Saturday's round of games, placing them and Godiva at the top of their pools. Then, on Sunday, they went on to win the whole tournament in exciting fashion, coming from behind to beat Fury 12–10. Ozone brought a big team to Tune-Up, the whole team, unlike the nine or so that ventured to Scotland (thus explaining their 2–7 finish). O'Cleary is still the titan running the show. But her backing cast is as strong as ever and features a lot of UGA recruits that are hungry at a chance for a title, as well as a regulars Angela Lin, Jami Cashin and Michelle Chabot. The mix of old and new might work for them in San diego. One thing Ozone knows how to do so well is peak for the big games, so you can never count them out. On offense, they seem to know where the cuts and throws are going to be ahead of time.

Fury. Coaching phenom Jen Pie Donnelly and Kim Zabora are guiding this young but maturing team into fine form. They were in finals at Tune-Up last year too, but couldn't escape Verge and Home Brood to make Nationals. JD has successfully kept her Stanford superstars around the Bay Area to lead the team – Dom the Bomb Fontinette, AJ, and Martina Emde among them. All three are prime time players with enough experience now under their belt to cause some damage. The NW is as tough as ever this year, as Fury narrowly escaped Prime and Schwa to take second in the NW. Look out for a version of the Stanford offense to be key for this team.

Nemesis. Finally, Nemesis has picked up some additions to a roster that has been dwindling. Lynne Nolan, Nancy Glass and Cathy Ormorant are still the junta behind the team, and French stars Sue Boubeau and Amy Dubrouillet are in the house. Nemesis had some trouble at their home tournament, but defeated Philly in quarters and then narrowly lost to Ozone in semis, 11-10. Kerry Ryter from the Hucksters and several rookies round out the roster now at a comfortable 18, which should help them with the new tournament format. They tend to run an east-coast style offense and make sure that their players' strengths are utilized, whether throwers or deep threats, like Nolan and Barrett.

Rare Air. Up and down the mountain it must seem to these women, as they are always a threat to beat any team, but are always capable of losing by more points than expected. Winning Regionals 15-0 will certainly give them a boost for Nationals, but they also lost to Safari in pool play. In Chicago they lost to Fury in quarters and escaped with two-point wins over Nemesis and Backhoe. Could this be the breakthrough year for this team in its quest for semis? Don't count them out. Captain Suzanne Jones hopes to bring the mountain girls to the promised land. Yes, I know, cheesy metaphor. So sue me.

Schwa. Not the same team, but the same phonetic spelling. Tracey Satterfield, an experienced force from the championship years of UNCW is now captaining Portland and she has the team in tip-top shape. They lost 9 players to moves, babies, and what-not, but have recruited well from the college ranks. Dara Bailey and Jody Dozono are included and the team hopes to use their success at Worlds (semifinals) to plow through the brutal nationals competition. Like Verge, Schwa has several different offensive and defensive looks, especially in the zone. The youth factor makes them a hard-running and focused team under the tutelage of Satterfield, who always has something to say. Could be a fun run at semis for them if everything comes together.

Backhoe. This third-year team out of Raliegh-Durham lost 9 players in the off-season (2 to Co-ed) but gained 5 and won Regionals, giving them a boost to finish off the season. Beth Cates runs the defense and Tonya Little the offense, while Amy Seagroves anchors the team athletically. Backhoe has benefited from the healthy North Carolina ultimate scene, especially UNCW. In Chicago they played well, but lost in quarters to Godiva by 4. One year of Nationals under their belt should help them this year. Offensively, they are generally unstructured, and tend to run on called connections.

Safari. Still no flag, but this year's Safari will be solid as ever. They got a couple of Los Angeles players as well as old school veterans Laura Ingebritsen and Wende (Coates) Pinz. I am sure UCSD's rise as a program has helped them out. They made semis in 4 of the 6 tournaments they played this season. Captain Beth Thomas leads the team.

Philly Peppers. An 18 or so person squad, and all of them still educated on the obligatory naughty dance routine. They lost a couple of close matches in Chicago, the last one a 10-9 game to Nemesis in quarters with a "weird wind." Sure, they lost to Regional rival Backhoe at Regionals, but they were without superstar Mel Ditz for the weekend and were facing a rowdy North Carolina sideline. You can be sure that they will be ready for revenge in San Diego if the occasion arises.

Condors. OK, so they got blanked at Regionals and didn't perform too well at Worlds. They are still a strong-enough team that could surprise if things go well. I am sorry, that is all I know.

Twister. They seem to play well when the groove is with them. Comprised of Boston-area athletes, and splitting Brown teammates with Godiva, Twister is keeping pressure on godiva to play well. Still, the Lady crushed them, at Regionals and Twister never made it out of the A bracket at Tune-Up, but won the B bracket against some very good competition, including more than a few nationals teams. R.H. (or, as I seem to think, R.C.) and Alicia Mercer are leaders.

Catchit. A name change made this team a little more family fare, but the year in between has provided the Pittsburgh women with ammunition to carry them to a second Nationals bid. They played very well in Chicago, playing tight against Fury and then Ozone in quarterfinals (losing 10-9 in a game which they had the disc to win). At Regionals, they again played real tough in a 17–16 loss to eventual winners Backhoe, their rival (nearly every game has been decided by 2 points or less.)

Clutch. The Midwest likes to put together an All-Star team every now and then when players in the immediate area start to thin. That's what this Detroit-area squad did, getting a couple of women from Ohio and Indiana to make the push to Nationals. Captain Janine Konkel's squad did well at Regionals, beating an injured Johnny Cocktail team 13-4 to earn a birth to San Diego. They run a Stanford offense and use different defenses. Tne-Up was not kind to them, where they lost to rival Johnny Cocktail. Look out for Deanna Ball, Theresa Weber and Amy Young.

Diva. Gainesville-based team making its first trip to Nationals. It helped with the demise of the Hucksters that Diva was able to take second in the southern regional. Kellie Diehl leads the team which will be bringing 21 women to San Deigo.

Eh?. Sometime around late August, Nalan Yuksel and Joanna McNutt started calling up women in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal in an effort to put together a team to play at Regionals in three weeks. Both Toronto and Ottawa have huge summer leagues, but it was tricky finding women that were interested in playing at the highest level of competition other than Co-ed. But they got the team together, basically an All-Star gathering, with some Stella influence, and came to Boston for Regionals. There they won a game 17-16 that was originally soft-capped at 12-11, with them being down. They have the grit and they have some tough players. It will be a matter of consistency for them to do well in San Diego.

This was written after Tune-Up and posted to RSD.

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