Tufts Ewo

Tufts is going to Nationals! After a great weekend of Ultimate at the New England Regionals, the Tufts Ewo secured the one and only bid to the D-I Women’s College Championships in Boulder, CO at the end of May.

Regionals began with an early 5:45am wake up call at the wonderful Chute residence, complete with hundreds of bagels, coffee, and juice. The Ewo made their way to Hanover where they would be playing Brown, Smith, and Northeastern-B in pool play. The weather was cool and there was a constant drizzle for the first couple games, but the Ewo used the wet fields to their advantage and dirtied up their jerseys the best way possible. The Ewo came to Regionals ready to show New England exactly why they deserve that spot at Nationals, and that’s exactly what they did.

Regardless of the team they were playing, the Ewo played hard every point. By the end of Saturday, the ‘Wo beat Brown (15-1), Northeastern-B (15-1), and Smith (15-5) and secured an advancement to the Quarters on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning started again with a 5:45am wake up call and bagels, and this time the Ewo were looking forward to play some of their big time rivals in the quarters, semis, and ultimately the finals. The ‘Wo faced off against the familiar Harvard Quasars in the quarters. We took half 8-3 after some big plays by Qxhna Titcomb (’15), Michaela Fallon (’14), and Hailey Alm (’13). After half, continued to make solid offensive plays, rarely turning it over. On defense, Hannah Garfield (’14) caught a callahan to bring the score to 14-4, however it took three more points from the Quasar until the Ewo finally buckled down and ended the game. Final score, 15-7.

In the Semis, the Ewo got ready to play old time rival Dartmouth. After seeing them at College Southerns we knew they would be more prepared against our team and knew we were going to dig even deeper in order to get through to finals. Our first three points were scored by Hailey Alm, with great throws from Claudia Tajima (’13) and Mia Greenwald (’14). After a great huck from Hannah Garfield for the score, the ‘Wo took half 8-4. In the second half, Tufts and Dartmouth continued to trade a couple points before great plays from Emily Sheilds (’14) gave the Ewo the momentum they needed to finish the game. Final score, 15-8, and the Ewo advance to the Finals.

And of course, New England Regionals wouldn’t be the same is Tufts and Middlebury didn’t face off against each other in the Finals. With one game left and our season on the line, the Ewo were ready to play the game they’ve been prepping for all season long. Right away Midd scored the first point on offense. The Ewo answered and brought it to 1s almost immediately. And so began the most nerve-wracking half of our entire season as both teams continued to score on offense, trading points the entire way until Tufts had a short break, taking half 8-7. Starting on offense, the Ewo were ready to pull away. Claudia Tajima found Mia Greenwald and the Ewo were finally up by two. The ‘Wo killed it on defense in the second half, now shutting down Midd on nearly every point. Claudia Tajima once again had huge throws that found Emily Sheilds and Qxhna Titcomb downfield, and the Ewo took the game. Final score, 15-9, and the Ewo advance to Nationals.

With classes over and ample amounts of free time, the Ewo have been working hard these past couples weeks to give a showing at Nationals. The College Championships will be taking place in Boulder, CO, May 25^th-28^th.

The Ewo split Sectionals, the start to the series, between BC and Tufts’ very own home turf last weekend. The Ewo were seeded first in the Boston Metro pool, including Northeastern, Harvard, MIT, BC, and BU. With only 5 bids to Regionals in May, all teams would be fighting for top 5 to continue their season.

On Saturday, The ‘wo matched up against Northeastern, MIT, Harvard, and BC, beating all of them efficiently and letting up no more than 6 points against biggest threat, Northeastern.

On Sunday the ‘wo woke up excited to play at Tufts in front of friends and Family. First we had final pool play against BU, beating them 13-2. The Ewo then had a long bye until the semis vs. MIT. Semis proved to be a quick game with the ‘wo pulling together a 15-2 win giving them ample amount of time to rest up for the finals vs. Northeastern.

In the Finals, the ‘wo came out a little flat, letting up some easy goals to NE. The ‘wo kept up but started getting in their heads during the second half. After an amazing Callahan by sophomore Michaela Fallon, the ‘wo got back on top of their game and finally ended it, final score 15-11.

With two weeks left until Regionals, the ‘wo are dedicating nearly every day to workouts or practice. This year the New England region has been allocated only one bid to Nationals, making Regionals a true fight to the finish. Regionals will be held at Dartmouth in Hanover, NH on May 5^th and 6^th – If you’re in the area come out and cheer for the ‘wo as they fight to defend their title of New England Champions!

The Ewo made the long drive down to Statesboro, GA last weekend to start their spring break off at College Southerns. With low competition and a high seeding, Tufts had their eyes on the $500 cash prize. Southerns also proved to be an excellent tournament to give everyone on the team a great deal of playing time. Sidenote: Three of our players (Michaela Fallon, Olivia Rowse, and Mia Greenwald) could not be there, so the Ewo were sporting a small squad of 15 girls, including two injured players.

Tufts took off on day one and crushed Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, Florida-B, and Notre Dame, giving up no more than 3 points per game. The Ewo started off Sunday with one more game of pool play against Florida State-B that ended quickly.

Cornell was up next for our first game of bracket play. The Ewo were unsure of Cornell’s strength this year and came out hard once again, winning 13-3 – a surprising victory considering Cornell’s reputation over the past couple years. Next up, familiar rival Dartmouth in the Semi’s. The Ewo were pumped coming off their game against the Roses and were excited to face off Princess Layout before they undoubtedly played them again at Regionals. Dartmouth played some strong points, but ultimately they couldn’t keep up with the Ewo’s killer defense and speedy deep field cuts, giving the ‘wo a 13-5 victory and advancement to the Finals.

The Ewo faced off against number one seed, Ohio State, in the Finals. Ohio had been crushing teams all weekend just like the Ewo and it was finally time for both teams to see some real competition. The Ewo came out strong with great defense by Hannah Garfield (’14) and Claudia Tajima (’13), immediately taking a 3-0 lead. Ohio came back with a couple strong offensive points, but it wasn’t enough and the Ewo took half 7-3 after some great plays by Emily Shields (’14) and Qxhna Titcomb (’15). After half the Ewo kept it up and played just as hard, finishing the game with a great throw across the endzone from Claudia Tajima to Eliza Earle (’12). Final score, 13-5.

After lots of cheering, the Ewo received their Champion shorts courtesy of Five Ultimate, as well their $500 cash prize. Although the ‘wo were pleased with their performance, they knew there was still a lot of work to be done in order to compete with real competition. After that, the ‘wo hopped in the cars and drove to Myrtle Beach, SC where they would practice and bond for the next week in preparation for the rest of their season.

Despite going 2-5, Stanford Invite proved to be an exciting and wonderful weekend for the Ewo. We left the cold, grimy snow in Boston and were greeted by 75 degree weather and cloudless skies all weekend long (and no wind! Can you believe it, Gantcher actually trained us well!) Seeded last in the tournament, the Ewo rolled in with nothing to lose and used it to our advantage.

After a first round bye, the Ewo started off strong against 3rd seed Washington (weekend Champions) Saturday morning. After Washington took half 7-4, the Ewo dug deep to bring the game to 7′s, but it wasn’t enough and Washington won 13-9. Next up was Pittsburg, seeded above us. After coming off the Washington game we were fired up and drilled Pitt in to the ground, winning 13-8. Final game of Saturday was UCLA, an athletic and deep team. Ewo kept up the intensity and went up 3-1 at the beginning of the game, but UCLA ended up taking half 7-5 after a couple long points. Ewo fought hard for this game, but couldn’t stick it, losing 13-10 to UCLA.

Sunday morning the ‘Wo rose at 5:45am for an early 8am game against Carleton. After beating them last year at Centex first thing on Sunday, we were ready for a repeat. The first half consisted of long points with a sick layout D from Claudia Tajima (’13), and sly endzone hucks from Hailey Alm (’13) and Emily Shields (’14). Carleton took half 7-5, and then went up 8-5 on the Ewo. Losing was not an option for the ‘Wo in this game, and we came back to tie them at 9′s after a deep throw huck from Eliza Earle (’12) to Shields, and a crazy Hammer – dump – Hammer – to score between Claudia and Margot Lieblich (’13). It was a tough game, and after softcap the Ewo ground out an 11-9 win over Carleton.

Up next were 2011 National Champions UCSB, seeded 2nd overall. The ‘Wo were pumped and fired up after the sweet victory against Carleton and wasted no time with the Burning Skirts. After trading points, the Ewo took half 7-6. UCSB came out strong for the second half and went on a 4 point run, later closing with a win of 13-9. Highlights included a sick layout grab from Alex Earle (’14), more hucks from Hailey, Claudia, and Michaela Fallon (’14), and a sweet poachers D by Rachel Rhodes (’12).

Last pool play game was against Stanford and the Ewo entered the game just as pumped as the first two. By way of some bad decision making and a hard zone defense from Stanford, the Ewo dug themselves in to a hole during the first half, allowing Stanford to get ahead 7-4. We came out strong in the second half with hard cuts from Shields and Lily Berger (’14) and a hammer by Michaela, bringing us up to trail Stanford 12-11. The Ewo made Stanford work hard for their final point, final score: 13-11.

Stanford ended our pool play, and Ewo broke seed to play UBC in bracket play for 9th place. After two days of running hard and giving each game our all, the ewo were tired and it showed. UBC was fast with the disc and kept breaking the Ewo’s tired mark. Final score: 15-4. Tufts takes 10th at Stanford Invite.

The Ewo have returned to the east coast with sunburns and excitement for the season. Stanford Invite was our first tournament and showed that we can and will compete with the top teams in the country this year. There’s a long road ahead of us — more fitness, agility, and skill to be worked on — but the ‘Wo are confident in their team this year and hope to bring some attention to our ever growing program. All the thanks in the world to Salty Jess Madding for hosting all 18 of us.

Welcome to Tufts Women’s Ultimate! We are so excited for the new season to start.  The Ewo (Elephant Women) are nearly 60 strong this year and contain two great teams–the Ewo and the Bwo. While both teams compete at a very serious level, last year the Ewo competed in tournaments such as Women’s Centex (placing 3rd), Keystone Classic (3rd), and the college series which took them Boulder, CO for the D-I College Championships. While maintaining a solid practice and workout routine year round, both teams are committed to the spirit of the game and having a good time!

Contact information: Current Ewo Captains: Claudia (claudia.tajima@tufts.edu), Hailey (hailey.alm@tufts.edu), Miley (eliza.earle@tufts.edu) and Rodeo (rachel.rhodes@tufts.edu)

Bwo Captains: Spud (michelle.ichinco at gmail dot com), Spork (j.scolnic at gmail dot com) and Piney (allison.wahrenberger at gmail dot com)

Ewo at Nationals in Boulder, CO — 2011

Ewo after placing 3rd at Women’s Centex, 2011