Women's Ultimate soars

By MATT D’ALESSIO

Mary Massacre, the University of Mary Washington’s women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, earned a spot the Division III National Tournament for the third year in a row this semester.

The tournament will take place May 18-19 in Milwaukee, Wis.

Mary Beth Moody, senior History major, who serves as team captain for Mary Massacre, said, “I think that we’re all honestly very humbled that we have this opportunity for the third year in a row.”

“We truly bonded as a team,” said Co-captain Devon Davis, senior international affairs major and economics minor.

“It was a personal goal of Mary Beth and mine to make the team a unit and create continuity for next year,” said Davis.

Mary Massacre, which is filled with the rookie talent of 15 new players, practiced heavily this year.

The team practiced three days per week, for about two hours each day.

The players also put in extra hours of individual work to mold their success through track workouts, throwing and watching film to improve their abilities, according to Davis.

“You can want something for a team, but in order to achieve it they have to want it for themselves,” said Davis.

Coach Neil Place, former player for the University of Virginia men’s Ultimate team, helped coach Mary Massacre this year.

According to Davis, Place was a positive influence who worked with the team “purely for the love of Ultimate.”

Given the team’s rookie makeup, the co-captains expected this to be a rebuilding year, according to Davis.

After the team’s last tournament before Regionals, Davis said, “ we re-evaluated and realized that we had a viable chance of making it to Nationals without sacrificing the development of our players.”

On their road to Nationals, Mary Massacre faced competition in Regionals against Wake Forest University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Catholic University, University of Richmond, Goucher College and top-ranked Elon University.

Throughout the regional tournament their only two losses were against Elon, who will also compete at Nationals.

With the national tournament only a few weeks away, Moody said, “It’s going to take a lot of work and fundraising to get there, but after seeing what this group of people is capable of, I think we can do it.”

“This season far exceeded our expectations, and we can’t wait to see what lies ahead for us,” Davis said.