Who are the best players in the Great Lakes region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
This year’s conference in Bourbonnais, IL has seen a lot of talent so far!
The Wheaton Mastadonnas showed up this year with over half the team being new players. It is extremely hard to pick a player which I think should be nominated for the All-Freshman award. That being said, Katie Bristol (#13) brought a level of athleticism, defense aggression, and field awareness rarely seen in young players. She has made several bidding Ds which stunned both teams and many players are astonished when they realize that this is her first year playing. Next year, I envision that she will quite hard to beat anywhere. For All-Region nominations the players which should be considered are Kathleen Walter (#51), who is a captain. Coming from Pittsburgh playing YCCs on Moxie and being a tough ROTC gal, she is the whole package with unparalleled knowledge of strategy and tricks. L’abri Keevy(#9), is a huge threat in the deep and has racked up the most spirit awards, Alexis McIlrath (#5), who consistently leads the handler movement and is a founding captain and member of the team, and Amanda Shim (#3) who works tirelessly as a cutter and flies through the air to grab some sweet Ds.
This is the first year we introduced coaches this year, however, both Ashley Wagner and Natalie Flemming have been an amazing part of our season and our success this year is highly due to their involvement.
Moving to the toughest team in the region, North Park brought great players into Conference this spring. Maggie Johnson is surely the best handler in the region and on defense may be considered for the best deep-deep in cup defense. She is constantly open and defending her one must decide what the most dangerous move you can shut down is because you will never shut everything down. Erin although injured for a part of the season and not as dominant on the field, still showed her strength as a handler and is a main part of the offense. Their coach seems cool, but I think he is confused as to what sport is being played because he always seems to have a golf club with him, hope no one gets hurt from golf balls flying through the air-eyes to the skies ladies.
Knox definitely showed up stronger this year than in years past. I would consider their best player to be a girl named Harambe??? or something like that.
Super excited to see Olivet Nazarene play this season. I don’t know the girls name, but the tall handler with lots of athletic tape on her leg is pretty cool.
Wish I knew some of the girls on Valparaiso, they have always been a good team. This year it looks like they had quite a bit of turnover, but were still a fun, awesome team to play!
So proud to play with and against such talented players this season!!!XOXO