Northwest High School Girls
There is lots of parity in the Seattle Girls HS scene this year, but Nathan Hale has to be considered the favorite. They are bringing back almost all of their top players from the team that tied for 3rd at Westerns and the DiscNW championships and added some talented freshmen. They have had some close games (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBJPErAXhXs&index=3&list=PL3OdcvsLgRPsAuCVWfUdPBMpiS7SLTRug) but are so far undefeated against other Seattle teams. Hale is led by two WJUC players sophomore Ally Constantino and senior Ruby Cassidy, but have a deep supporting cast.
After Hale, there are several other contenders. Franklin also tied for 3rd at Westerns and as usual is a deep speedy team. They defeated Northwest this week. Northwest lost some stars from the team that made DiscNW and Westerns finals, but like Franklin has impressive depth of skill, giving Hale a tough game. Lakeside was a juggernaut last year, sweeping the Seattle Invite, USAU States, DiscNW and Westerns, often without some of their top players. They graduated two Ultiworld college freshman of the year candidates (Verzuh and Dunham) but still return 3 players that made the 2016 WJUC roster: Claire Trop, Kate Daugherty and Nariah Sims. They have struggled so far this year with Trop out of action with a concussion, but certainly have to be considered a top contender, particularly at the prestigious DiscNW championships, where they can ride their top end due to the game-a-day format. Roosevelt also graduated two Ultiworld FOTY candidates (Gellert and Wysen) and have also been hit with some injuries, but they beat Lakeside in an early match-up and should be contenders if they get healthy. Finally, as the top non-Seattle team at Westerns (tied with Roosevelt for 5th) Corvallis is likely to be right there in the mix among the top teams. They bring back many of their top players, including primary handler Beth Llewellyn and WJUC returner Clea Poklemba.
One additional team to mention in the (broadly) Northwest is Lone Peak from Utah. To get some better competition, Lone Peak came to Seattle in early March and went undefeated playing most of the top teams. There is a bit of an asterisk as Seattle teams are not allowed to start practicing before March, so they were still sorting out varsity/JV and putting their schemes in place, but Lone Peak showed impressive skills and athleticism and will have to be in the discussion for top HS girls team as the season progresses, complicated by their not playing on Sundays.
