A battle of the top two seeds will see a first-time champion crowned!
May 19, 2025 by Anna Browne in Preview
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Wow, what a tournament to get us here. With just one game left, we will see the top two seeds battling for their first national championship. A new winner will be crowned, and it all comes down to two schools 200 miles apart playing in a tournament 2,000 miles from home. Both teams have similar strengths: exemplifying depth while letting their stars shine bright, showcasing quick team adjustments through heads-up coaching, persevering through adversity at various stages of this tournament. While the seeds may make this year seem extra chalky, these two teams’ path to this point was anything but.
A Look Back at the Last Year for the Sneetches and the Vicious Circles
Nationals 2024 looked very different for these two squads. Both teams were the second seed in their pools, and both lost big to the top seed, slotting them into a challenging prequarters matchup. Haverford/Bryn Mawr would find their way into quarterfinals, but both teams lost tight games and clearly had more to prove.
Fast forward a few months, both teams revamp their coaching staff, with Wesleyan adding Keith Raynor as their head coach and Haverford/Bryn Mawr going all in on Linda Morse and her connections, adding Liz Hart and Yara El-Khatib to the mix. Add in minimal graduation losses and expectations were high, with each picked by many on our staff to make semifinals.
Fans were quickly treated to a clash at Bring the Huckus, and Wesleyan got the best of Haverford/Bryn Mawr across two matchups. The two reunited as part of a strong D-III contingent at East Coast Invite, though do not get a fuller-strength rematch. Both finished 3-1 through Saturday’s match play, including a win against St. Olaf for each, but Haverford/Bryn Mawr got the nod to join the higher bracket, and found a win against D-I OV bid earners Pennsylvania, while Wesleyan found success in the lower bracket against South Carolina. With strong performances to close out the season, Regionals saw Haverford/Bryn Mawr dominate all comers while Wesleyan received a true test in the elements against Rochester, needing to break upwind to take the top spot in the region.
Haverford/Bryn Mawr’s strong regular season perched them atop USAU’s end of season rankings, but Wesleyan’s head-to-head wins afforded them the higher seed for the big dance. As pool one seeds with a supposed easier path to the championship, our stories again, however, diverged.
The Path to the Final
Haverford/Bryn Mawr flexed the strength of their deep roster, even missing many of their top contributors to college graduation, and dominated Pool B with a commanding 39-14 point differential. Wesleyan had the opposite story. After controlling the game against Mount Holyoke and suffocating Richmond, Wesleyan found themselves their first true challenge of the weekend in Davenport. A game of scattered breaks, Wesleyan jumped out to a 7-5 lead but couldn’t take half to cement the advantage. Davenport instead crawled back, stringing three breaks together en route to a 9-7 lead. Wesleyan got one back a few points later to force universe point and needing another to secure the dub. Though Wesleyan would’ve secured the bye to quarters regardless due to point differential, it was clear that both teams were only thinking of this game and not of the branching consequences of the results. Not unlike their regional win, Wesleyan was able to lean on their relative strength, channeling some of the first half success to take them over the finish line.
With both teams through to quarterfinals, the mental prep differed drastically. Wesleyan was looking at a relatively easy path to finals but needed to find a way to come out strong in all games, not just the easy ones. “Last night, during our team meeting, our captains brought up the slogan “be here with us”, which centers around us,” said senior Vicious Circle Mack Bunnell. “It’s not the really exciting game that’s going on over on that field. It’s us. It’s right here…it’s that ‘be here with us’ mentality.”
With the goal to become a first half team set, Wesleyan certainly delivered with dominant performances against St. Olaf and Lewis & Clark to stamp their ticket to the final. In both games, Wesleyan did not let up the gas, keeping the morale high and focusing on themselves even when some break opportunities to run up the score went awry. Another key to their success today was avoiding being starstruck by the moment. “It’s really easy to get caught up in the [chance] we might get to play Middlebury. We might get to play Haverford Bryn/Mawr. We’re playing all these teams that we used to idolize,” said Bunnell. “Because of that, we can tend to get in our heads a little bit.”
As one of the teams Wesleyan used to idolize, Haverford/Bryn Mawr had a familiar path to the final, seeing the same two squads they face in last year’s Nationals bracket, Mount Holyoke and Middlebury. The return of a few stars post-graduation, including Phoebe Hulbert and the Nicholson sisters, fueled Haverford/Bryn Mawr to an electric start to their Sunday. They were one of the few teams all tournament, sans Wesleyan, to prevent a Mount Holyoke second-half comeback.
“I think that our Sneetchiness really shines when we’re excited,” said Sonia Nicholson. “We really lift each other up and support each other on and off the field. It feels really special to see all the hard work that we put in come to fruition here.”
“The Sneetches have such an amazing culture that it’s more centered on themselves [than] what our opponent’s doing,” coach Linda Morse added. “We have good tools and things that we can do better just by ourselves to raise our level this game.”
With the stage set for a matchup with Middlebury, who Haverford/Bryn Mawr had never defeated in three Nationals battles, the team from outside of Philly knew they had to channel as much Sneetchiness energy as possible. Always the May team, Middlebury was yet again peaking at the right time, having dominated title favorite Carleton College Eclipse on the showcase stream less than 24 hours prior. With Ella Widmeyer and Lucy VanNewkirk proving to be an almost unstoppable duo, the influx of seniors who flew out to add to Haverford/Bryn Mawr’s already deep squad was a key difference-maker. Both teams sprinkled breaks throughout the game as morale shifted from point to point, but Haverford/Bryn Mawr simply saw more electric plays from a broader collection of players, cementing the momentum shift in their favor. Thank to a three-point run into and out of half that gave the Sneetches some breathing room, Haverford/Bryn Mawr faced their toughest challenge yet and came out sparkling.
The Stars You Know
Alright let’s get it out of the way. Zoe Costanza is the biggest name on this field. With yet another dominant Nationals performance to hang her hat on, Costanza continues to peak at just the right time. Sporting incredible layout grabs, an unrivaled frisbee IQ that generates blocks like she has extendable limbs, and a throwing prowess that makes opposing defenses unsure how to slow her down, let alone stop her, Costanza is the full package. What is most impressive about her game this year is her ability to recognize the strong and weak space, and recognize when she has the hardest matchup of the game. Her ability to leave space open for her teammates to make plays has been on display all tournament, making opposing defenses question who they should actually slot their top defender on.
Outside Costanza, Haverford/Bryn Mawr’s biggest names are recent transfer Erica Collin and the dynamic handling duo of Clara Morton and Phoebe Hulbert. Erica Collin brings some much needed height to a fairly short in stature Sneetches squad, and she knows how to use it. Coming from a St. Olaf squad that had her mostly downfield, the Sneetches utilize her in a hybrid role, with Collin becoming a key contributor in endzone sets. Feeding Collin are Morton and Hulbert, who contribute highly in the backfield, distributing the disc on both O- and D-line. Their strengths are on full display against a zone, with Hulbert and Morton slicing up opposing cups with ease. This forces opposing teams to play person offense, letting the star-bellied squad win one-on-one matchups with their depth.
For Wesleyan, the two standouts are Scout Noble and Milo Brown. Both YCC vets, these young players have a wealth of knowledge and experience that they bring to an up-and-coming Wesleyan squad. Noble is the main linchpin on the offensive line, contributing to a majority of Wesleyan’s scores by relying on bold throws and decisive cuts. Noble is virtually unguardable in the reset space, always ready to get a dish from her squad if needed. With a quick release on virtually all her throws, Noble is phenomenal at slicing through zone looks before motoring to get the disc back five yards in front of the cup. Her speed and precision are surgical, and will be on full display in the final.
Not to be outdone, Brown leads an effective D-line for Wesleyan. Frequently taking the hardest matchups, including Grace Milhaupt, Lanie O’Neill, and Amelie Steer in the bracket, Brown consistently takes away the top options on resets and has a wide and scary mark to boot. Brown is especially skilled at denying upline cuts. While most defenders in this division rely on face-guarding in the handler space, Brown stays heads up with hips open to the defender and the disc, ready to make a play regardless of where the disc goes. On offense, Brown exemplifies similar strengths to Noble, albeit with a bit more “green-light” energy. Brown frequently looks for deep cutters, especially in transition. Wesleyan’s ability to play the field position game with Brown at the helm has worked wonders this season.
X-Factors
Highlighting just one or two players who will make an outspoken difference in this game from these incredibly deep rosters is incredibly challenging. With two days of high level reps under their belts, the picture of who the difference makers will be is becoming clearer.
For Haverford/Bryn Mawr, the obvious standout is Rufus Helmreich. Just a rookie, Helmreich has played an integral role in the Sneetches success the entire weekend. From deep, floating pulls to decisive layout blocks to blading arounds, Helmreich uses their entire arsenal to command the field. Complimented by a strong Sneetches squad, Helmreich uses their adaptability to fit whatever role the coaches need, from locking down Lucy VanNewkirk to running the dominator end zone set.
I would be remiss to not mention Sonia Nicholson. Nicholson joined the squad for today after missing pool play, and her energy has been contagious at igniting the Sneetches to success. Always smiling and laughing, Nicholson embodies Sneetchiness and truly loves her team. Flexing between the handler and cutter set with ease, Nicholson is capable of going every-other, and uses her athleticism to come up with almost anything. Counting out Nicholson would be a mistake.
Wesleyan has two players who have shown their skills through athleticism and hunger for the disc. First up is Sofia Canoutas-Nadel. Canoutas-Nadel is an electric player with jet engines strapped to her. Able to accelerate from a standstill to a sprint in no time at all, Canoutas-Nadel is rarely pressured on any cut she makes. Her real ability is cleaning up trash, especially since huck-and-play-D is a core gameplan of Wesleyan’s. While most teams expect their errant hucks to be punts, Canoutas-Nadel finds an extra gear and chases these discs down, frequently coming up with them. Her ability to use this explosiveness on defense is particularly impressive, as she comes up with a large amount of blocks from this pressure.
The Vicious Circles lean heavily on their captain and Donovan nominee Nat Sweet to be an anchor in the backfield. Much more conservative with the disc than Noble and Brown, Sweet balances brains with talent, swinging around marks and zone defenses with ease. Sweet is a strong playmaker without the disc, and has a knack for entering the right space just when her thrower needs her to. Sweet, alongside Brown, frequently takes some of the strongest handler matchups. If Wesleyan can muck up Haverford/Bryn Mawr’s handler core, Sweet will be a big reason why.
Sneetchiness vs. “Be Here With Us”
With the stage set, it all comes down to preparation, energy, morale, and on-field execution. Both teams have been building up to this moment for years. With everything on the line, the team that can stick to their game plan will likely come out victorious. One thing is for sure, this game will feature highlight reel plays and explosions of emotion. Grab the popcorn, it’s time to crown a new D-III champion!
