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.