CUUC 2009- Women's Preview

Nation,

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CUPA took a very important and bold step last year by hosting nationals in Edmonton. Short term, it saw a small tournament, smaller than it hoped. However, it spread awareness to a key area of the country. The major dissapointment is that the University of Alberta will not be sending teams to CUUC 2009 after such an investment was made in their city the year previous.

In 2009, university nationals return to Montreal and both open and women's divisions will be heavily populated with talented teams.

It looks like there are two clear cut favorites to make the finals (UBC and Ottawa) followed by a glut of teams that could either make semis or fall out of quarters. That large group of teams after the top two will be providing the suspense and excitement as the games are played and scores are posted.

The format is 14 teams, two pools and two day pool play. Here are the team reviews based on current schedule and seed. (Schedule subject to change)

Full reviews of all East teams that participated in CEUUC 2009 can be found here.

Pool A

• University of Ottawa Lady Geegees
• UdM Ultimate Diva
• UT Torontula
• UWO Sharkbait
• Queen's
• McMaster
• Carleton Stealth

U of O Lady Gee Gees take the top seed, and equally share the title of championship front runners from UBC. Ottawa looked focused and determined during CEUUC 2009, and won the tournament in style. Expect this team to be in the semis,

UdM Diva shocked many with their 2nd place finish at CEUCC 2009. They only had 12 players playing, which made this brand new program even more impressive.

The next three teams are established programs that seem to be going through a year of transistion/development. Torontula rebounded from a tough CEUUC 2008 and finished 4th in 2009. UWO Sharkbait finished 6th at easterns this year, and have a lot more talent capable of better performance. Queens Paper Bag Princess finished 7th at Easterns and such an established program will be looking to improve on that.

McMaster and Carleton Stealth finished 9th and 10th respectively at Easterns. They will be looking to take advantage of any teams above them that fail to perform up to their abilities.

Pool B

• UBC T-Birds
• McGill Martlets A
• US SWUP
• Guelph DOA
• Dalhousie DKUT
• Sherbrooke
• McGill Martlets B

UBC Thunder Birds enter the tournament as the two time defending national championships. Viewers will be excited to see this tournament playing Ottawa, in the hopes of answering which team is the best women's team in ultimate this year. Of all accolades, the fact that this team won the 2008 UPA College Championship is remarkably impressive and speaks to their talent level.

McGill Martletts A finished a respectable but dissapointing 3rd place at CEUUC 2009. As mentioned in previous posts, this team has had a very steady decade and would like to cap it off with another national championship in their own city. They are a serious contender.

University of Saskatchewan SWUP enters the tournament as an unknown and will find themselves fighting off a number of good teams to hold their seed. These teams include an up and coming University of Guelph DOA team (5th at CEUUC 2009), Dalhousie (DKUT) and Sherbrooke. McGill Martletts B team is the only second team to make an appearance, and will look to improve on their 12th place finish at CEUUC in front of the home town fans.