Who are the best players in the North Central region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
Tessa Berry at UW-Madison is a true freshman and she can obliterate a mark with her throws. She has one of the smoothest inside forehands I’ve seen and can also bomb a forehand and should definitely make the all-freshmen team.
Kate Lanier - Carleton College Syzygy
Incredible player and so spirited
Speaking about strictly Lake Superior as I am one of the coaches for Marquette- Moxie.
-Fiona McGilligan (Blackcat): Not only is this girl tall, she remains calm with the disc, throws with ease around defenders, and has insane accuracy.
-Hayley Smith (Blackcat): Hayley puts her body on the line for every point and is a true workhorse. Hard to match up on, incredibly smart, makes me miss playing on the same team as her.
-Alix Raymond (Galaxy): Intense player, can do pretty much everything on the field. Very impressed with her during Conferences.
Now onto my own players (seems incredibly biased but have to do it):
-Suzanne Britten (Moxie): If this girl doesn’t make it, the discussion board is rigged. Displayed a disgusting amount of precision with her throws, grit, and field awareness at Conferences. Threw over 60% of assists, found holes in cups for full field completions, and played almost every point. Been a captain for 3 years and one of the best players I have seen in college.
-Bria Osterberg (Moxie): She may look tiny, but she can sky you with ease. Saw her jump over a girl twice her height more than once this past weekend. Gets an insane amount of d’s, go to iso, lays out for anything she needs to and catches 99% of throws in a 20 yrd radius of her. As a sophomore, this girl is one to watch for years to come.
As coach of Iowa Saucy Nancy, I wanted to point out a few players that stood out this year and should be considered for all-region teams, both on my team and teams we played:
#12 Erin McFadden (Iowa): Erin is an amazing athlete and incredible defender, always guarding the opponents best deep threat and usually winning her matchup. Erin is a workhorse on the field, leading the team in points played and D’s at regionals this past weekend. On offense, she is either getting the disc deep or is wide open under, and has such poise with the disc, rarely turning it over.
#15 Michele Siamis (Iowa): Michele averages at least 3 hand blocks a game (unofficial) without sacrificing her mark. Easily has the most handblocks I have ever seen in 13 years of playing/coaching/watching ultimate. She is no slouch in other aspects as well, a great cutter with smooth throws and excellent decision making.
#4 Esther Chovan (Iowa): Esther is the do-everything handler on Iowa, with smooth break throws, excellent hucks, and devastating upwind throws, which were a necessity in this extremely windy season.
#23 Lauren Meyer (Iowa State): She is tall and fast and so solid with the disc. Was a constant threat for deep shots and always in position to get a D.
#5 Megan Halverson (Iowa State): Excellent handler. Led State to comebacks against Iowa both days of regionals by making great adjustments to counter our zone, eventually just breaking through and getting the upwind breaks they needed.
#24 Megan Jameson (Iowa State): Another fast deep threat for State and perfect complement to Meyer. If one of them was covered, the other was open.
Carlton and Minnesota also had a ton of great players, but they crushed us so it was hard to tell who was doing what, and I’m sure their top players probably didn’t play too much. #17 on Ninja stood out.
#13 Danica Porter (Iowa) should be considered for All-Freshman team. Came into the year never playing before and ending as a key handler for Saucy, a solid defender who puts her body on the line with layouts, and makes excellent decisions with the disc.
Iowa State
Megan Jameson is such an athletic cutter and was doing everything for ISU in the downfield space. She and Megan Halverson worked really well together. Speaking of which, Megan Halverson’s throws continue to be unaffected by the wind. She can put the disc through 2 defenders standing arms length away she is that precise with her throws.
Minnesota
Kayla Blanek is POTY caliber good. She is a cheat code in the deep space, constantly dunking on her defenders. I saw her defender clearly have better positioning, and this mattered not at all. Kayla will get the disc. She is such a huge target for Minnesota and hilariously good as a deep in the zone.
If the target isn’t Kayla, then Ellie Sjordal is going to punish you in the cutter space. She’s fast, athletic, and attacks space in a way where she’s always open.
Louise Beck runs the O-line and is a super impressive handler, always open with big throws.
Jessica Halverson is another handler who’s throws were unaffected by the wind. Her inside forehand to break a mark opened up so much space for the rest of the team. It’s fun watching Beck and Halverson work together.
Carleton
Maya Powell’s throws were unaffected by the wind when we played in our game that had 20+ mph winds. She was the general for the upwind line, telling her teammates where to go and then delivering beautiful inside flicks to the breakside. Super poised and an excellent choice for POTY.
Karen Ehrhardt is such an amazing cutter. She makes layout bids on deep shots look so effortless. But she can go under and is just as dangerous in that space. Should be an easy 1st team pick.
Kate Lanier is an obvious FOTY. During our game, the O-line ran through her and she was pretty unstoppable.
Lauren Carothers-Liske is another freshman for Carleton who is such a big target and knows how to box out a defender. She was getting so many yards for Carleton and could get open last second. Super impressive player.
Wisconsin
Obvious biases coming at you now, but all these women are so deserving of all-region if not POTY. I’m also leaving so many off since I’m going to keep it to four.
Sarah Mondschein is our Callahan nominee and oh man do I have feels for this woman. She is such an explosive, competitive player who totally embodies spirit. She will sky you dirty (also cleanly) when you think she has no play on the disc. Think that disc is floating out of bounds? Oh whoops, Mondschein just swooped in and made a line toeing grab and then broke your mark for a score.
Brittany Kokinos has been such a dominant power cutter for Bella this year. She is good for at least one jaw dropping layout save a game, although I’ve seen her have 4 in one point on multiple occasions. She can bomb it when she gets it on unders, or give and go the entire length of the field. She’s often tasked to match up on the most athletic cutter and she can shut them down or get layout d’s on them. She’s 5’3 and I’ve seen her sky women who’ve had over 5 inches on her.
Margaret Walker is the real deal. She can throw the disc any way she wants. Pinpoint accurate hammers, breaks inside/around, full field hucks backhand or forehand, etc. And she’s always open. I think I saw her get shut down for only one cut this entire weekend. This is not hyperbole. She good.
Mila Flowerman is the epitome of a selfless cutter, but don’t take that to mean she’s not deadly. She eats up unders all day as a cutter and knows how to distribute the disc to teammates to keep that super offensive flow juicing. As a deep defender, she eats it all up. Dang, I don’t think there was a Kayla/Mila matchup and spectators are the sorrier for it.
Others
Alyssa Kleppe is a powerful and explosive cutter for Minnesota–Duluth that did everything for her team. Strong defender and should get a nod.
Suzanne Britten for Marquette was placing hucks wherever she wanted on the field. Strong thrower that also deserves a nod.
Unfortunately didn’t get to see Iowa this year.