2001 UPA CHAMPIONSHIPS (CLUB NATIONALS)
WOMEN

Written daily from Sarasota for UltyLife.com.
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday Finals

THURSDAY

"Really, we set it up for a girl to have one big throw on one side of the field," explains veteran mom and self-described possessor of a "sharp tongue," Peg Hollinger of the Godiva offense. But she continued, revealing some of the mystery behind the Godiva success, "We take all these really talented women, we strip them of all their thoughts and talents to play with Godiva and play as a team, and then throw them into Nationals and expect that they will be able to play outside the regimented system and make big plays."

This year, the Godiva brought in the creativity and unique abilities of Dominique Fontinette, among others, and once again the system has worked. Players are regimented, sure, but its making the big plays at the right times that separate the Lady from the rest of the field.

They won their first two games convincingly, against Clutch and Nemesis, but appeared to be heading towards a showdown in the final game of the day with the rejuvenated Lady Condors. The game progressed to a 5-5 tie. The Condors were playing zone D while Parham, Goodwin and Chris Cianfrani handled for Godiva. The Godiva zone O is as patient as a forest and they wore out the Condors going upwind three times before putting it in. But the Condors responded well, as Rachel Noble, Robin Hamilton and Katie Mares returned the favor, with Mares sending a very pretty, picture-perfect forehand strike to Tori St. Clair to knot it at 6s and make it a real game. But before long the Godiva pressure unraveled Santa Barbara and the unforced errors added up, Godiva taking half 8-6 and then striding towards the end of the game with an easy win.

Says Lori Parham of the debilitating effects of the wind on the games being played, "Well, I think the wind is an equalizer." Not necessarily true. Godiva should profit from the conditions.

Incidentally, I must retract a published report that the Condor's Deganit Schecter is a "money" player for the team. Rather, she is a fine and dope player, but not nearly as money as captain Jenny Hanscom. That's platinum, honey.

The upsets simply weren't coming as they did in the Open division. Strong teams like Riot, Schwa, Fury and Godiva seemed unaffected by the conditions and undeterred from the quest to end the day at 3-0. In particular, Riot looked very strong, giving up few points on the day and ending it with an impressive squashing of a talented Backhoe team. They will cross over tomorrow to face Schwa and Safari, who to no one's surprise upset Vancouver's Prime.

Prime made the trip to Sarasota without several key players. In addition to missing "all-world" Leslie Calder they were apparently without four other players who couldn't or wouldn't make the long trek to Florida. So it wasn't much of a shock to see them go down to a talented Safari team.

The flag saga with Safari, incidentally, is still unresolved. In 1997, Safari's large and colorful flag, which they had paraded around the fields, was stolen at Nationals here in Sarasota and has not returned. But photos have surfaced showing the flag touring the world; Paris, Nepal, Rio, Hebron, East Los Angeles, Sevastapol…

Anyway, the flag has still not been uncovered, but it is suspected that its new daddy, Inspector X, is somewhere here at the site.

Back to the subject at hand: Safari advances and they have a solid team, picking up 7 or 8 skillful women from the successful program at UCSD. Beth Thomas is still calling the shots for San Diego, I believe, and Shar Stuht is still making things happen for them.

Safari even had an early 6-5 advantage over Schwa before bowing out 15-11. Schwa, for their part, looked good but not nearly as impressive as Riot. Even against teams like Bait, from Minneapolis, Schwa was opt to give a few more points than necessary, even though they only gave up six. Regardless, they will be in fine shape for tomorrow's difficult crossover matches with Backhoe and regional rival Riot (whom they've met in the finals of several tournaments this year, and I think overall Riot has a few more wins over Portland).

In Riot's pool, Backhoe is a solid team behind twin albatrosses Beth Cates and Megan Insco. They defeated New York's Ambush soundly and also the surprising Buttercup team out of Austin.

Buttercup is a tight-knit team. In Austin it's hard to find teams to play against, so they scrimmage each other more often than not. They do have two players from London's successful Bliss team, sisters Katey and Rebecca Forth. They also have some height in Leigh Gorman and others. Overall, a fairly impressive team.

"We worked our ass off to get here," one of the players told me.

Ambush did manage to defeat them however, as the New York girls were shaking it down on the sidelines and sporting the superfine duds, as usual. Mel Schoen, Brenda Timm, Carrie Pollack, Rebecca Center, props to all the home girls. And several could not make the trip down. Maybe they should have picked up Abby Lublin, who instead was working the merchandise stand and enjoying the games.

In Pool D, the Canada East All Stars, or Fuse, were really stoked this morning and came out ready to play against an Ozone team typically hard to rouse from morning slumber. Scoring numerous upwind points against a stiff breeze, they shocked Ozone taking half 8-7. Hali Gernon sent a pretty upwind forehand to Cathy Janvier at one point in the game and Gernon generally kept the offense intact. But in the end it was not be as Ozone and Holly Sommers woke up and finished the game with a W. The scare was for real, Fuse is a good team, but they didn't have enough left in the tank to fight off an Ozone charge.

Wilmington Wahine, on the other hand, found itself at Nationals without one of their main players Leah Rehill, and about five others, all who couldn't or didn't want to make the trip for different reasons. Without so many players it was only a struggle all weekend for the still-young team.

The final game of the day saw Fury eclipse Ozone in a tight, point-for-point game. But Fury proved too strong, they have a powerful team as professionals Nicole Beck, Maya Conrad, Karli Sager and Stacey Schoemehl took care of business, rising out of a 6-6 tie to win by 3 or 4.

Tomorrow Fury and Ozone cross over to play the Lady Condors and Godiva. Fury can match up against Godiva but will they? Ozone can beat the Condors, but shouldn't take them lightly.

Riot and Backhoe face Schwa and Safari. Tough pool, these teams are all strong.

FRIDAY

I guess the thing that comes first to mind is Riot. The only thing that played out contradictory to their strength and good nature was the scintillating red Nike shorts they sported. If you'll remember, the 1999 WTO riot in Seattle for which the team is named is frequently remembered for vandalizing the downtown Nike store in an anti-capitalism "statement."

No matter the contradictions. One thing is steady: this team has simply dusted some pretty strong opponents this weekend. Yesterday they easily dispatched with Backhoe, Ambush and Buttercup, and today they cleaned up with Schwa and Safari. The Schwa game was perhaps the most telling. The teams have met each other five teams over the course of the year, with Riot going 2-3. Make that 3-3, as they scored 5 upwinders where Schwa couldn't manage a single one. 5 upwinders.

I talked with co-captains Vivian Zayas and Sarah G-R before the game to get a sense of this team and what they were about. I knew that they had several veteran members who played with powerful Women on the Verge, including Zayas and Gersten-Rothenberg, along with a core of former Carleton College leaders who had migrated to Seattle. They also have Kathy Scott on the roster, considered the most feared women's defensive player in the nation by many.

"Well, this is our second year," explained Zayas. "It took a year to mix and now we click. We learned a lot from Verge, and hope to have taken both the positive experiences and the weaknesses of that team."

Added Sarah G—R, "The mental game is important. Staying focused, figure out what is needed for each individual game."

Then I asked them what the team would do when it was a tight game, late, and they were down by two. This seemed to confuse them, as they explained that they hadn't lost many games this year. "Don't freak out, I guess. Look to score," said Zayas.

We shall see if that situation arises and whether or not they freak out. But today there was no chance. They were cool, calm and positively a powerful force as they swept away Schwa.

"We have a great rivalry with this team," explained Gersten-Rothenberg. "We've been beaten by Tracey (Satterfield) before. We haven't played zones in the past because of her, so we might play some special defenses on her, play her straight-up, maybe a box and one."

Whatever exactly they did seemed to work. For several points I saw Leah Towne guarding her intensely and that seemed to work. But what broke the game open was a huge upwind sky on the second point of the game by Zayas. That set the tone for the rout and Riot never looked back. The final score was 15-5.

Schwa, as mentioned earlier, could not score upwind. But we should remember that two years ago, Fury lost to Godiva 15-5 in the crossover pool and won Nationals. I wouldn't say that Schwa tanked this game, just as Fury didn't throw that one two years ago. But watch out — Riot has yet to be tested with a tough game. It could spell trouble presuming they make semis.

Schwa was certainly concerned about that game but they were not really into it. Perhaps they were a little tired after escaping the previous match against Backhoe 13-12.

"That game was decided by the flip," said Mel Ditz afterwards, about the nail-biter between her Backhoe team and Portland. It was almost entirely upwind-downwind with neither team being able to string together two in a row. I made a mistake yesterday by the way, mixing numbers. The other albatross for Backhoe is Claudia Barrett, not Megan Insco.

Backhoe rebounded from the tough defeat by beating back a determined Safari team. In that game several upwinders by both teams were registered. Overall, I think Backhoe just made the bigger plays when it counted and maintained a break advantage that Safari could never quite get back, despite big plays from Shar Stuht and Sara Solomon and Katie O'Brien, and a late upwind score from Stacey Koff to Kirsten Unfired. Backhoe's backbreaking upwinder came on a throw from Becki Cleveland to Mel Ditz.

"We feel really good about our play last game," spoke a Backhoe sideline player, "if we can play that well this game we'll win." And it happened.

In the Godiva — Fury game, the turning point may have come midway when Godiva worked patiently through a textbook Fury zone defense, throwing 50 passes to get to within 10 yards of a score and throwing 25 more after that before finally putting it in. The point took a full 10 minutes to play and it shows why they are a tough team to beat. It also reveals Fury's skill at zone defense. They have a tough one to crack.

Ozone found themselves in a tight battle with the talented Lady Condors late in the day. The Condors have a program that is only going up as a talented core has emerged and is playing extremely well. I think this team played hard in all of their games and showed no signs of mental weakness, merely inexperience and a few more turnovers than their opponents. They put up 8 on Godiva yesterday, and had a chance against Ozone, but couldn't close the gap. A nail in the coffin from Ozone was delivered by Holly Sommers on a big upwind huck.

The lady Condors finished last in their pool and thus had to handle Prime in the prequarter play-in game. There they did as instructed, a big win for this team. They took an early lead and at one point were up by four I think. They key to this game, and similar ones, was determined by which team made the big plays and which players could make the upwind throw or record the huge catch. Prime has a lot of money players, but they were woefully inconsistent. The Condors were slow and steady, with the flash provided by Katie Mares, Rachel Noble and Robin Hamilton. I think it finished close, maybe the Condors won by 2 or 3.

In the other play-in, a truly enthused Safari team took out Nemesis. Safari played hard and loose and made big plays when it counted. They deserved the win. Nancy Glass and Nemesis looked none-to-pleased but they once again showed up to the Big Show with a fine-looking team. If they can keep players together they will be in quarters next year.

For Saturday:

You have to go with the big four: Godiva, Riot, Fury, Schwa. In that order. Riot plays the Condors and the Condors won't give up or mentally collapse which may be a blessing for Riot. Call it 15-8. Riot has some fast defenders and are generally very stifling on D, but the Condors can deal with that half the time.

Safari makes a lot of Ds. But they have to because their offense can be shaky. Against Godiva they won't be able to get a lot of those blocks they rely on. Call it 15-6, Lady.

If Schwa is for real (and please remember I hadn't seen any of these teams until this tournament) then they will beat Ozone. But Ozone could pull this one off. Are they hungry enough? Its hard to tell. Lets say Schwa wins 14-12. Like I know.

Fury versus Backhoe. I like Backhoe but they don't have that extra gear to jack into, like Fury. Fury has some real players in Sprout, Maya, Sam and Karley and a good core of hard runners from Stanford backing them up. Fury 15, Backhoe 8.

Ok, please don't kill me on these. Only hunches, friends, merely that.

SATURDAY

Real quick, the down and dirty is that Ozone never got scared, were nervous but never petrified. They knew they had a good vibe going and had been tight as a team all season. They've been a "second day" team all year, and this time it was "third day."

So they outlasted Schwa 14-13 in quarterfinals on an upwind score.

"For the last 2 weeks I've been dreaming that Holly would hit me in the short corner for a game-winning score. I didn't know if it was quarters or semis or what, but I had that dream," spoke a jubilant Lisa Katoro to her team after Holly hit her in the short corner for the score that won quarterfinals for them.

Pretty cool, huh? Ozone was ecstatic with the win.

Riot stayed positive all tournament, notwithstanding the tough rivalry they faced in Fury in semifinals. A great game, it stayed close till the very end, another game point tie game 14-14. Riot received going downwind (again winning the flip pays off) and Deb Cussen immediately sailed a full-field huck that just went over the hands of the defender for the score. Amazing. Fury was crushed.

Godiva cruised. No challenges. They played Ozone in semifinals and beat them easily.

Finals then will be Riot versus Godiva. After the pain of losing the game subsided for Fury, Jen Donnelly shared a few tips with Riot's captains for ways to stop some of Godiva's offense.

One key: two years ago Schwa played Godiva and had a group of players that weren't entirely familiar with the Godiva mystique and their dominant play, and they squeaked out a come-from-behind upset victory.

We will see if Riot is up to the challenge. It's a full game thing, you have to really keep close and play out every point to hope for the win.

Godiva kept to themselves for the most part.

I don't know who won the play-ins for 5^th thru 16^th, but Fuse beat Prime, an East versus West Canada thing. "I think they were really looking forward to this game. This is their season here," said one sideline Prime player.

Other quarters: Riot puts away Condors without too much trouble. Godiva spanks Safari 15-4. Ozone defeated Schwa and Fury outlasted Backhoe in a good match, a 2 upwinder game that Fury kept in control.

More later, a full roundup with quotes. Sorry for the short piece, its late.

SUNDAY – FINALS

There's not a lot of wind at 8:30 in the morning. But everyone knows its going to get windy. But for those early points, it would be an advantage to score in what would become the upwind direction.

These were the thoughts of the Godiva braintrust. So Godiva won the flip I think and chose to take the side that would be going upwind (even though it wasn't windy now), meaning at the half it would be Riot having to face the wind.

As usual, the strategists behind Lady Godiva were on the money. It took five turnovers on both sides for the teams to shake off the sleep but after that they scored three straight upwinders without facing any wind. Riot had several chances to start 1-0 but Godiva put it in instead — which was doubly important. Then Riot got it back, 1-1, but Godiva again marched it up and scored just as the wind began to blow and this helped them get the downwinder to go up 3-1.

Sometimes you win the game at the beginning of the game, and I think that's what happened here. There is no question that Godiva's focus and experience in this situation (this same morning wind versus afternoon wind factor occurred in previous Sarasota Nationals finals with Godiva taking advantage).

They have a lot going for them on Godiva. Nationals big-game experience. A superior squad of players, confidence, a contentious streak, and an historical program that takes winning Nationals seriously. When this team takes the field at Nationals you know they mean business. This ain't no pleasure cruise, this ain't no goodtime thing. Nationals baby.

The system that Godiva has in place on offense is a very reliable one to place your faith in. The two most influential factors in a game of Ultimate are the individual confidence of a player and the collective flow of a team. Both need to be maintained at the highest levels to defeat an equal opponent.

And when, for instance, your confidence is shaken slightly or the offensive flow is disrupted, your team can miss opportunities and fall into a downward spiral. The Godiva system of play is always there and it provides a life preserver for the team when emotions get the better part of play. You can always 'reset' and play the game that you know so well by returning your faith to the system. Other teams do not often have such a strong backbone to count on when the chips are down.

Lets get to the play. Godiva's five "rookies" proved themselves early and often in this game. Sarah Russell and Whitney Kakos may be relatively new to the highest echelon of women's Ultimate but they are speedy defenders and are familiar with the Godiva system. The other rookies, Chris Cianfrani and Dom Fontinette are proven forces in women's Ultimate, Cianfrani with the Philly Peppers and Dom in the San Francisco scene. Immediately each of them made their presence felt.

Cianfrani was comfortable as a handler/reset in the Godiva offense, while Dom settled in as a big receiver.

On the other side of the disc, Riot matched up with Kathy Scott on defense, Vida Towne and Leah Towne, Liz Penny, Heidi Johnecheck and Krista Bartz.

Godiva stretched their 3-1 lead into a 6-2 advantage after converting another upwinder. Riot scored on a pretty Aida de la Cruz throw to Johnecheck to make it 6-3. Godiva answered back downwind and then muscled Riot around a little on the marks, which didn't come as any surprise to Seattle. They kept their cool and the game was on.

The man defense played by Riot was very effective at slowing down Godiva and forcing turnovers. And while they were able to march upwind without tremendous difficulty, several Riot players making hot grabs against the wind, they found it tricky to get that disc into the endzone to firmly establish a presence.

They would get within 10-15 yards several times in the first half without crossing the line and this really hurt them. Still, the offense going downwind was huge and their defense prevented Godiva from opening up a bigger lead. At 8-4, Riot got two big skies by Liz Penny (guarded by Dom — a great matchup) and then got her the score to make it 8-5. Godiva then did what they do best and hucked it downfield to play the percentages.

The Godiva punts were a challenge to Riot. Boston gave them the disc every time, in effect challenging them to score upwind. Again, Riot got very close to making it happen before the inevitable turnover and Godiva huck back down the field. Godiva registered the score to take half 9-5.

In the Riot huddle, the team focused on discussing offensive and defensive strategies for Godiva. Then they reminded the team of the other factors that were affecting the game. "They are definitely bodying on the marks, so call fouls and give some body back." This was discussed calmly and without fear, a few players laughed. "We got some fans now, so let's go out there and do it!!"

Godiva too, as usual, constantly reinforced the importance of their cuts in the offensive stack. "We can get our cuts moving into the middle. Remember the cuts we were scoring on, with the handler running by."

It's funny; by now every women's player from Maine to Montana knows what Godiva is going to do on offense, and its not like they have the fastest, quickest players in the game — but still they find a way to get open and it is remarkable to watch.

"They use their hips very well," explained Ultimate observer Kate Leslie. "They can get open by juking one way with their body just as their legs keep moving."

On defense, Godiva adjusted accordingly to Riot's strong but unsuccessful play marching upwind, "They're getting the floaters over us. We need to herd them in. Stay behind your player and push her back to the disc," urged Lori Parham in the huddle.

"We're just trying to get in our 'bubble,' our groove," Peg Hollinger told me.

After trading downwinders, Riot received facing the wind and finally found a way to break through when Leah Towne broke the mark with a sweet backhand and hit Deb Cussen in the endzone to make it 11-8. I think that was the score. Little hazy here.

Anyway, the key moment is coming up so pay attention. Heidi Johnecheck guarded Goodwin and flustered her a little, not that Goodwin can't handle anything you throw at her. She's a very tough customer.

Riot scores again, downwind, to make it 11-9. The crowd is going nuts, as they are almost universally rooting for Riot or against Godiva, it was hard to distinguish. Godiva has traditionally not brought out a lot of fans from the crowd. Their matter-of-fact demeanor and professional aura of assassins seems to keep people away. Or maybe its more simple than that and the fans wanted some excitement in seeing a close game rather than the usual display of Godiva dominance.

Here's that key part I was telling you. The point where the game permanently turned in Boston's favor. Riot had scored two in a row, or maybe it was even three. They got back to within a break of tying. They were playing extremely well. So Godiva punts going downwind and comes down in a very effective 3-3-1 zone. Say goodnight.

Riot looked tentative. Their poppers were nowhere to be seen. After 10 passes they turned it over on their own goal line. Godiva scores. Godiva then comes out in zone with Riot going downwind. Seattle has a chance to score but can't complete the connection, and Godiva scores upwind with a "saw that coming" trip up the backhand sideline, three passes straight up the line before Godwin rips one to Sarah Russell in the endzone. 13-9. COunt the downwinder, and it's 14-9, Goodwin taking charge again.

Riot still stunned, back on their heels. Playing well still, but not making the big catches they so desperately needed. Riot was not choking or chunking the disc, they were just out of a comfortable groove, momentarily set back by the Godiva defensive adjustments. And when you are out of your comfort zone, these mistakes can add up. Johanna hooks a lefty forehand to the short corner upwind and Godiva is winning 15-9. They come down in a clam to make it 16-9.

Kathy Scott makes several big defensive plays to keep Riot alive, including one tremendous layout block where she macks the disc in the air. Reacting quickly she jumps to her feet and makes the layout block again on the disc to prevent Godiva from catching it.

Suddenly Godiva turns cordial on the sideline and in the game, making nice with Riot and further distracting them. Riot scores two to make it 16-11 and then a horrible thing happens, with Vida Towne going up high to make a block and landing hard when her feet came out beneath her. She came down on her shoulder and broke her collarbone and had to be taken out on a stretcher. She was smiling and ok for the most part, and people assure me that a collarbone heals pretty well.

The final score was 17-12, another championship for the championship-laden Godiva women.

The core Godiva group lost five veterans this year but retained some big ones, Teens, Goodwin, Parham, Judy Layzer, Anne "Westy" Wescott and Peg Hollinger are the grand dames still riding high.

"I'm trying to remember when I started playing!" smiled Wescott afterwards, "You never know if you'll be playing the next year. Retirement is always a thought. But this team — they're my girls. It's an honor to play with them."

Judy Layzer has been a big part of this team's success, "It's a total team effort and having the offensive system is a powerful tool, a really good weapon. But this year wasn't about winning — it was about playing the best Ultimate we can play. And this year was about the five rookies. They learned to do everything in five short weeks and played amazingly."

For Riot, Sarah G-R spoke of pride in her second-year squad, "We've beaten them before, but this game they were the better team. We struggled when we got trapped in the Godiva zone and that was a factor. Plus this was a physical game, and we're going to learn from that."

"I felt like we were getting turns…" mused Sarah. And this was certainly the case — Godiva's punt strategy gave them the disc every point but the Boston bend-but-don't break defense kept them out of the endzone.

"This team has made huge strides and I have nothing but a lot of pride in them," continued Sarah.

And the awesome play of Kathy Scott? "She's a phenomenal athlete. Incredible concentration and competitive edge."

Godiva celebrated later in the day by piling everyone onto a mustang convertible pulled onto the fields behind the action of the concurrent Mixed finals. They blared 80's era U2 and jumped up and down on the car, whooping it up like it was Daytona Beach on Spring Break. They even pulled their trainer onto the bumping boat and wore their medals with pride.

This was written for UltyLife.com.

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