All the favorites, contenders, and sleepers as the regional championships begin.
September 20, 2024 by Graham Gerhart, Zack Davis, Felicia Zheng, Kelsey Hayden, Anna Browne and Edward Stephens in Preview with 0 comments
Ultiworld’s 2024 coverage of the club division is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
The club 2024 postseason is here! After teams battled all summer to earn bids for their regions, it’s time to figure who gets to go to the Big Show and try to win it all. We’ve got you covered with the favorites, challengers, and top storylines of every region.
Great Lakes
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Westfield, Indiana
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
Favorites: #16 Chicago Nemesis
Challengers: Indianapolis Indy Rogue, Ann Arbor Outrage
This weekend, Chicago Nemesis hope to earn their sixth regional title and another trip to San Diego. Nemesis have been cutting their teeth on the division’s best all season and that high level experience will pay dividends for them at Westfield. The team have shown that at their best, they can hang with other Nationals-caliber programs. Their top two assists throwers from Club Nationals last year, Sarah Kim and Claire Schmitt, both will be crucial pieces for them going into the tournament. They’re surrounded by a talented group in Connie Chan, Abby Shure, and the rest of a high-level crew.
However, Nemesis enter Regionals with a fairly lackluster resume. Going 4-8 in the regular season doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in their ability to close out games down the stretch. Rogue and Outrage have comparatively stronger records, though against weaker teams. If Nemesis don’t bring their A-game in bracket play, the door’s open for an upset, at least a little.
Speaking of the challengers, Rogue and Outrage are neck and neck for that last spot in the regional finals. A one-point game early on in the season at Heavyweights indicates just how close these two teams are to one another. Outrage may have landed the first blow, but the tides could change by this weekend, leaving Top Select status as a juicy undercard story.
Outrage’s best results this season are their narrow wins over rival Rogue and Colorado Small Batch. They clearly have the talent to put up a fight, but will that be enough to put them over the two teams seeded above them?
Rogue don’t have a statement win, but they have quietly put together a strong season.
They’ve performed well against other bubble teams and cruised through Sectionals. Can they ride their regular season success to San Diego? Nemesis have the benefit of history, but this contest could be a close one.
Mid-Atlantic
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Frederica, Delaware
Number of Bids: 3
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #4 Washington D.C. Scandal, #10 Pittsburgh Parcha, #14 Washington D.C. Grit
Challengers: #25 Philadelphia Flight
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: Scandal are a lock for a bid. They boast one of the deepest rosters in the division, including Team USA players Claire Trop and Kami Groom, fresh off of winning WUC gold in Australia. They have their eyes on a national title and can rightfully consider Regionals a tune-up for the Big Dance.
The waters around the second and third bid are more murky. Parcha and Grit ended the regular season in a precarious situation, just holding on to the last two strength bids. Between the two of them, Parcha had the better season, playing more high level opponents and winning a close game against Grit at Pro Championships. Linda Morse is a big pickup for Pittsburgh; she’s been a plug-and-play star for them already in her return to her college-era stomping grounds.
Parcha shouldn’t rest on their laurels though – Grit are not a team to be underestimated. They played close with #6 New York BENT, #5 Denver Molly Brown, and came within just one point of defeating #3 Raleigh Phoenix. Those are three title-contending teams they’ve played up to, proving Grit’s ceiling is giving Scandal a tough fight in the final. Expect Abigail Antolick and Madison West to be all over the stats sheet for them this weekend as they look to extend their Nationals run to a third consecutive season.
Circling the waters, just a few spots below Grit in the rankings, are potential spoilers Philadelphia Flight. Flight had a rough 2023 season, but Philadelphia reloaded to find much more success in 2024. Grace Maroon, the 2024 College Rookie of the Year runner-up, and Penn teammate Poppy Wagner bring some fresh talent to Flight. At their best, they are more than capable of stealing a bid. Really, Flight are just one good day of frisbee away from punching their ticket to Nationals.
North Central
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
Favorites: #20 Minneapolis Pop
Challengers: Madison Heist, Kansas City Wicked
The North Central has been the sole domain of Minneapolis Pop for four years, and it’s looking awfully like Pop are gearing up for a fifth stint as the region’s lone representative.1 It’s not just about historical momentum: they’ve got a lot going for them. They’ve gathered solid competitive reps at both PEC West and Elite-Select, they’ve notched an excellent win over a Nationals-esque team (Dark Sky), and they have a core of veterans (Makella Daley, Steph Wood) and younger players (Lili Hobday, Clara Gale, Carly Eckstrom, Isabel Demo) all ready to step into prime club contributions.
So, nothing to see here, right?
Well, not quite. Not only have some of Pop’s results been a little less than ideal – the 15-4 loss to Schwa is far too big a margin, and losing 11-6 to LOL doesn’t look great, either – but there are reasons for hope among a couple of the main contenders. Longtime rivals Madison Heist are never a side to discount in the postseason, especially with veteran Erynn Schroeder re-joining the fold after a couple of years out of region with Florida Tabby Rosa. They’re prime candidates to steal the trip to Nationals.
Also angling for a ticket are Kansas City Wicked, who enter Regionals with an impressive 18-3 record, including wins over decent clubs like Atlanta Ozone and San Antonio Problems. They boast an intriguing mix of continuity and players in their early-to-mid 20s who could be ripe for a breakout. To boot, they’ve picked up Jordan Eissner and Jessica Tiller from the diaspora of the now-dissolved mixed outfit KC United that nearly made Nationals. It might not happen this weekend, but if they can stay on course, Wicked could join the fray in the North Central sooner rather than later.
In short, if you’re betting, bet on Pop. Just don’t bet the farm.
Northeast
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Devens, Massachusetts
Number of Bids: 4
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #2 Boston Brute Squad, #6 New York BENT, #9 Toronto 6ixers, #15 Quebec Iris
Challengers: Ottawa NCT, #21 Northampton Starling
Fall in Massachusetts is known for beautiful foliage, scenic drives, and an absolute battle at Fort Devens at Northeast Regionals. This year, like so many before, we’re in for a treat as five of the top 25 women’s teams, along with a dark horse we’ll talk about in a moment, descend on Rogers Field to earn one of four bids to Nationals.
For the first three bids, it’s less a question of which teams will earn them, but rather in which order they will punch their ticket. Boston Brute Squad are perennial favorites on the national stage, and obviously in their respective region too. The current reigning national champions haven’t lost to a regional foe this season, and there’s no reason to think it will happen this weekend. New York BENT have been on the rise for several seasons, and this year continues that trend. They’ve had an impressive season thus far, getting wins over Scandal, Riot, and Team Canada women. While they haven’t gotten a tournament win yet, they have the pieces to get the job done, so it’s really not a question of if, but when.
Oftentimes in a region, the third team in the rankings wouldn’t be a particularly formidable opponent, but for the Northeast, #9 Toronto 6ixers should not be underestimated. While the 6ixers may not be quite the same force they were six years ago when they made their run to the national final, they are still a stellar squad with all the pieces for bigtime bracketeering. 6ixers opted not to participate in Canadian Nationals this summer, so it seems like their focus is the USAU series. You better believe they’ll be coming across the border with plans to perform.
Beyond the top three is where things get really interesting. #15 Quebec Iris earned a fourth bid for the Northeast by focusing their efforts in the US this season, but whether or not they can defend it in such a tough region is yet to be seen. Iris started the season hot, finishing seventh at PEC East, with impressive one-point losses to both Scandal and BENT. They performed admirably at Elite-Select in August, again finishing seventh, doing enough to secure the bid. They have stars in the likes of Anouchka Beaudry and Pénélope Robert, and plenty of chemistry. However, another Canadian contingent might be their strongest opponents for the last ticket this weekend.
Ottawa NCT are a Canadian pick up team that just so happens to all be members of the Canadian women’s masters team. The roster is chock full of familiar faces, including Lauren Kimura, Hannah Dawson, Terri Whitehead, and Cindy Troung, along with a myriad of more locally known Canadian stars. The talent and depth on this unranked team give them serious upset potential, and the other Northeastern teams should be ready for a fight.
Last, we still have another top-25 team to mention: #21 Northampton Starling, a team still in somewhat in its infancy,2 who have been a strong NE presence since their inception. While they haven’t racked up many Ws, Starling have had the opportunity to play exceptional opponents this season. Can they translate those good reps into something special this weekend?
Northwest
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Corvallis, Oregon
Number of Bids: 3
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #8 Seattle Riot, #12 Vancouver Traffic, #13 Portland Schwa
Challengers: #19 Utah Dark Sky, #22 Seattle Underground, Seattle END
The Northwest sits in a familiar position going into Regionals this year. While it looked like Utah Dark Sky would break through into strength bid territory, a challenging Elite-Select for them leaves them on the outside looking in. For the top three teams, Seattle Riot, Vancouver Traffic, and Portland Schwa, they are as close as could be. Riot have the slight edge after coming out strong at ESC and getting wins against other bid earners at Pro Champs, but Traffic and Schwa are looking to spoil Riot’s hopes of a regional title by peaking at the right time.
Riot look (like in old times) the cream of the crop in the Northwest. With a strong roster made up of young talent, they are clearly trending upwards. They bring back Jamie Eriksson and Steph Lim while also adding Anna Goddu, who is fresh off a smashing WUC stint with Team Canada Mixed. This bolsters the already strong squad with standouts Carly Campana, Stephanie Phillips, Josie Gillett, and Chloe Hakimi. Riot are putting together a squad reminiscent of Fury teams of late, a ton of talent with few standouts but endless depth. In the two-day tournament format of Regionals, they will be hard to beat.
Our next two favorites are sure to have their own claim to the top of the region. Traffic will undoubtedly look to replicate two strong wins over Riot at PEC West, while avoiding repeats of losses to both Dark Sky and Schwa. Traffic differ in team load-bearing from Riot, relying on talent from a few standouts, most notably Catherine Menzies, Marie-Ève Beauchemin, and Nicola Parker. Looking further south along the Cascadia corridor, we find a Schwa squad that look like a cross between Traffic and Riot. They have strong stars in Claudia Tajima, Julia Sherwood, Ezra Weybright, and JJ Galian, but they have depth to boot with at least half a dozen other names gracing the spotlight in one way or another. In addition to Traffic, Schwa found wins over eight other ranked opponents in the regular season. With results and talent like this, the top spot in the region is looking as wide open as ever.
While the NW is more bid-starved then our friends from Utah would hope, don’t count out Dark Sky. They have a strong core of talent with experience in the national spotlight thanks to the Western Ultimate League’s Utah Wild. They rely heavily on Kyra Khoroujnikova, Cori Bigham, Brooke Stanislawski, and Sailor Ong. To that mix, they add a pair of Nationals-tested stand-outs: Stacy Gaskill, formerly of Denver Molly Brown, and Anna McClurkan, formerly of Ann Arbor Hybrid. Don’t forget that they have the ability to spoil hopes of regional competitors, knocking off Underground and Traffic en route to an SFI West tournament victory. The only real question is which Dark Sky squad we will see, the one who dominated SFI West or the one who struggled at ESC? If I were the three bid earners, I wouldn’t be getting comfortable in my perch atop the region just yet.
Riot, Schwa, and Traffic find themselves atop each of their respective pools. Dark Sky join Riot in pool A, along with challenger Seattle Underground. With pools B and C both being small pools, placement in the first place bracket will come down to crossovers. If Seattle END, winners of Washington Sectionals, can find a strong result against Schwa or Traffic, they could find themselves in unfamiliar, but welcomed, territory. That final game-to-go could prove a demonstration of depth versus star power, being the seventh game of a long weekend. The weather looks nice in Corvallis, with comfortable temperatures, mostly sunny skies, and mild wind. That means the difference will come down to execution and willpower.
South Central
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Denver, Colorado
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
Favorites: #5 Denver Molly Brown
Challengers: #23 Austin Vengeance, Colorado Small Batch, #24 Colorado Kelp
Seven Worlds finalists grace the Molly Brown roster: Valeria and Manuela Cárdenas, who represented Colombia, and Ronnie Eder, Kendra Miller, Alyssa Perez, Lisa Pitchaithley, and Claire Chastain, who won gold with Team USA. That’s some collection of talent. Manu has even been touted as the best player in the world, and deservedly so. Why mention this? In short, because it seems like Molly Brown have the region locked up. The 2022 national champions and 2023 semifinalists3 look to make another deep run in San Diego this year. Regionals seems like just a formality for them.
That’s no fun though. So who’s going to upset the frontrunners? Who’s going to drop jaws nationwide when they stun Molly Brown in a back-and-forth final? The leading candidates are #23 Austin Vengeance, who have stepped up a lot in comparison to last year, winning SFI pretty handily earlier this season. They have a good pool of talent in the likes of Sierra Rimmer, Kerry Younts, and Gaby Cuina. It may not be enough to get past Molly Brown in 2024, but it’s not out of the question for them to earn Top Select status en route to a potential 2025 accomplishment: earning the region’s first strength bid since 20174
Denver Small Batch have also had a good season, despite not racking up a lot of wins. They attended both PEC West and ESC and had the opportunity to play a slew of top of the table talent such as Flipside, Schwa, and Riot. Veterans Emily Harrell and Katie Ciaglo lead the charge. They are clearly trying to reach the next level of competition, and a big step forward on that path would be upsetting Molly Brown. It’s vastly unlikely: their real ceiling is winning the Top Select battle against Vengeance.
Throwing a wrench into the second-place dogfight this season is the emergence of a new team: Colorado Kelp. Kelp, while also being a social organization with a mission to better support queer and non-binary athletes, have been competitive in their first year of existence. They feature many of the recent stars of Colorado Quandary (Kenny, Simone Pierotti) alongside veteran Rena Kawabata. Both the season split with Small Batch – Batch won the most recent contest, in the Rocky Mountain Sectional final – and the impressive strength of schedule suggest that Kelp are firmly in the mix.
And don’t sleep on the potential of Houston Crush City or San Antonio Problems to become problems in the bracket. Just don’t expect any of the challenging class to reach the impossibly high watermark set by Molly Brown.
Southeast
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Bermuda Run, North Carolina
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥
Favorites: #3 Raleigh Phoenix
Challengers: None
Some regions are full of intrigue. Some are utterly devoid of it. The Southeast is one of the latter. This tournament seems wrapped up before it even starts for Raleigh Phoenix, who seem to be peaking at the right time of the season. Phoenix are coming off of their second consecutive Pro Champs win, and four of their star players – Mary Rippe, Qxhna Titcomb, Dawn Culton, and Alex Barnett – are coming home from Australia with gold medals. Even without them (or, for that matter, the injured Ashley Powell, Erica Birdsong, and Bridget Mizener) at Pro Champs Raleigh looked every bit like one of the country elite units: Karen Ehrhardt, Lindsay Soo, Grace Conerly, and Claire Bidigaire-Curtis all absorbed more of the feature touches without a hitch. They are the bid earners for the Southeast and the overwhelming favorites to win the region. Last year they didn’t allow any team to reach double digits against them, and it seems like this year the gap has only grown.
The future isn’t written in stone though, and, as they say, that’s why you play the games. Atlanta Ozone, Florida Tabby Rosa, Charlotte and Asheville5 Juice Box, and Durham Shiver will have a chance to turn Phoenix back to ashes. Juice Box had a chance to sharpen their game against some of the best at Pro Champs this year and while they weren’t able to come away with any wins, playing against the best is the first step in beating the best and often a valuable learning experience. They also managed to win HoDown, taking the air out of Ozone in the semis en route to their win. Despite losing to Shiver in their Sectionals match, Juice Box are the favorites of the Southeastern teams to give Phoenix a fright. (Nota bene: No one is going to give Phoenix a fright.)
Expect the scrap for Top Select to be one of the weekend’s most intense, though, as all of Ozone, Shiver, and Juice Box angle for an edge next summer.
Southwest
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Temecula, California
Number of Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
Favorites: #1 San Francisco Fury, #6 San Diego Flipside
Challengers: San Francisco Nightlock, Oakland LOL, San Diego Wildfire
Throughout this club season so far, it’d be difficult to say San Francisco Fury haven’t been the best team in the women’s division. Their only loss on the season came to #3 Denver Molly Brown and most of their games haven’t been close despite the quality of the competition. For them to be seen as anything other than the favorites to take the first bid in the Southwest requires a wilder imagination than even the most tilted gambler.
That’s not to say their Regionals win is inevitable. Two of their closest games all year came from San Diego Flipside, the recent in-region rival who have maintained their status as a legitimate threat to Fury’s dominance. Fury are 2-0 against them, but Flipside’s coaching staff have a history of saving a little something extra for the postseason. Still, Fury should be seen as the favorites by a wide margin. After her WUC performance, Anna Thompson can be seen as one of the best players in the world right now, and Dena Elimelech isn’t that far behind her. Anna Nazarov continues to turn back the clock in a way that makes all other masters eligible players envious and is currently the team’s assist leader for the season so far.6
Any concerns about Fury integrating their new pieces have come and gone without much ruckus. Esther Filipek picked up where she left off in the college season, but the true standout on this team is the addition of Olivia Goss, who has become one of Fury’s best downfield threats. An entire novella could be written about the talent up and down the roster for San Francisco. They don’t need a book, though – a bid to Nationals is what they’re after, and they’re poised to get it.
Before hyping Fury too much, let’s remember Flipside aren’t just going to accept a silver medal at Regionals. Flipside place a lot of value in their wins over Fury, and they have a better record against the storied program than most. Flipside’s defensive line is among the best in the nation, and their offense is filled with household names, too. The multi-headed hydra of Kaitlyn Weaver, Kristen Pojunis, Kaela Helton, and Maggie O’Connor already proves Flipside have some of the best two-way players on the West Coast. Flipside are patently aggressive with their offense, largely because they’re confident they can get the disc back if needed. This is a tightrope walk against a team like Fury, where the margins can be so thin, but San Diego have the tools and the discipline to make their inevitable matchup a must-watch game.
The team looking to rain on the parade are also perennial Nationals contenders: San Francisco Nightlock. Despite finishing in the top 16 in the final rankings, Nightlock were robbed of a chance to earn a bid thanks to the weaker regions around them and a surging Mid-Atlantic that nabbed the final two strength bids on. Nightlock have the quality and pedigree to make Nationals, it’s just the quality of the teams above them that provide only an outside shot of making it out of Regionals. Nightlock’s depth is their superpower, and there’s no single player who is relied upon to win them a game. Kara Hammer has had a good season so far, alongside Kelly Liu and Jackelyne Nguyen, but they all fit into the system Nightlock run. San Francisco’s best shot at making it to Nationals is to wear down their opponents in a tight game and win with the full 27 on their roster. This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve scraped through to Nationals by the skin of their teeth, so they’re ready for it if the opportunity is there.
Beyond Nightlock, there are two other teams that could sneak into the bid conversation. Oakland LOL and San Diego Wildfire haven’t quite played the calibre of competition that the top three Southwest teams have, but they are no less capable. Despite missing the bracket at ESC, LOL posted some solid wins in the consolation pool, and ended the season 9-3, only to steamroll through Sectionals. The likes of Bree Cahn, Chip Chang, and Malina Wiebe all on a roster together is simply proof of the surprising firepower this team has brought together. Any sort of opening their opponents provide will be capitalized upon, making them a team that has to be schemed against.
San Diego Wildfire are in a similar position, albeit with a very different roster makeup than LOL. The team is filled with some of the best West Coast college players from recent years and they balance the likes of Yu Ishii and Devin Quinn with stalwarts of women’s ultimate like Vivi Stevens and Teresa Feng. Wildfire are a momentum-based team that could get hot at the right moment and are eager to prove they’re more than just a ‘younger sibling’ program to the teams ranked above them.
In the two previous years from Pop’s current Nationals streak, Heist also qualified for Nationals. ↩
Starling’s first season was in 2022 ↩
Missing the final by only a point ↩
2017 was Austin Showdown’s last Nationals hurrah. ↩
Editor’s request for Juice Box: Please just pick one hometown. ↩
Tied with Anna Thompson, of course ↩
