Ultimate Frisbee Makes Nationals

By CHRISTOPHER VELLUCI

With the women’s basketball team being crowned Capital Athletic Conference champs and making it to the Elite Eight, and softball squad having the reigning CAC player of the week player two times running, it appears that the University of Mary Washington women’s sports teams are taking off. However, it isn’t just the varsity sports that are having successful seasons, as certain club sports are taking off as well, specifically UMW’s women’s ultimate frisbee team: Mary Massacre.

Last weekend, April 14 and 15, the women’s ultimate frisbee team went to the University of Richmond for Regional competition. While southbound, UMW proved themselves on the field by winning six of the seven games they partook in, four on Saturday and three on Sunday. The Massacre went up against Goucher Collgee, Wake Forest University, Elon College, Catholic University, St. Mary’s College, and the University of Richmond. Mary Washington finished with an average score of 15-5, proving themselves a force to be reckoned with as they advanced to the regional championship game.

UMW competed against Elon in the battle for regional supremacy, a team who the Massacre had already beaten once before in the tournament, but Mary Washington fell to the Phoenix 15-5 with the title on the line. With Elon crowned region champ, Mary Washington captain Chelsea Lewis, described what happened in UMW’s defeat at the hands of the Phoenix.

“The first time we played them we had fresh legs,” Lewis said. “The second time we were missing some [players] due to injuries and we were also more tired from [the earlier games].” Lewis also gave credit to Elon, stating, “They’re also a phenomenal team…and not someone I was ashamed to lose to.”
Even though Mary Washington didn’t’ win the regional championship, the women’s ultimate frisbee team will still be going on to the National stage that is set to be Appleton, Wis. starting on May, 19. There the Massacre will compete against 16 other nationally ranked teams. Although the seeds have yet to be released, Lewis believes the team will hold either the 13th or 14th seed on the national stage. When asked how she thinks the team perform at the next level, Lewis kept a level head and seemed realistic about the team’s expectations.

“I hope [we] do well,” Lewis said. “However, [this] will definitely be a learning experience. There are some amazing teams and we could learn a lot from them.”
This is the women’s team’s second consecutive year going to Nationals. The Massacre have been practicing in two hour sessions, three times a week (4:30-6:30 p.m.) along with “extra track workouts and throwing the disc around whenever [they] can.”

The team continues their attempt to grow as a unit, and encourages those interested to come to tryouts in the fall semester.
“Anyone and everyone are welcome to join,” Lewis said. “I never even played a sport in high school but it was really easy to get into.”