Who are the best players in the Metro East region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
1 Like
Samantha Gonzalez and Jolie Krebs from SUNY Binghamton.
3 Likes
Jolie Krebs from SUNY Binghamton
2 Likes
Libby Knapp from Syracuse University
some plugs for Columbia players:
best rookie: Lili Boegnik. she consistently came down with clutch grabs and has the sneakiest inside backhand. Big ups to Sally Hirschwerk (a freshman who has only been playing for four months!!) as well for her handler defense, shutting down Binghamton’s top handlers in our game against them at Regionals.
best player: Liz Thomas. An all-around rockstar and consistently the hardest worker on the field. Liz is the rock of our D-line, taking the toughest matchups out of commission. On offense she’s been so successful both as an initiating and secondary cutter and is comfortable filling into the handler space with a super powerful flick huck.
1 Like
Jolie Krebs from Bing is apparently only a freshman? Still has to be POTY. Absolutely dominant player with excellent throws and incredible uplines.
I also gotta add another plug for Columbia players Maia Donald and Aviva Weinbum. Incredible duo in the backfield for Curbside’s O line, both with silky break throws and huge hucks. Those two can break any zone together.
Bea Ibes and Val Hsieh also must be shouted out. Both are incredible cutters for Curbside. Bea has great hands, a money around backhand, and can cut under or deep on anyone. Val’s defense as well is some of the best in the region along with Liz.
2 Likes
Heyo, I’m Adele “Crush” Kong (#97), one of the Cornell Wild Roses caps, and I wanted to bring attention to a few peeps that have been exceptional to play with/against! Also, we didn’t play against everyone in the region, so I’m not super knowledgeable about all of the teams. There isn’t any meaning in the order that I list people in–it’s just whoever’s name came to mind first/appears earlier on the roster.
Cornell:
All Region:
-
Daria “Tops” Pachucka (#11): Always goes to the right place and makes tough grabs both high and low (which has kept the disc in our possession more times than I can count).
-
Rachel “Grips” Zhang (#5): A quick and tricky hybrid who always gets open. Aggressive on D and is excellent at making the offense have a difficult time, particularly in zone as a short deep or wing.
-
Sheldon “Toes” Ennis (#23): Generates great offensive movement and stretches the field in all the right directions. Is a massive mark and plays shutdown D.
-
Sarah Hu (#45): Will run uplines for days, and usually leaves her defender in the dust with them. Has great puts and helps open up the field with a variety of throws. Bids for days.
Also shoutout to my co-caps, Amy “Peanut” Stephens (#6), who is a consistent handler presence that continuously generates flow, maintains order on the field, and loves working the offense while she’s playing zone defense, and Anna “Goods” Goodman (#13), who cuts for days for great gainers and seals off continuations in our zone.
All Freshmen:
-
Celia “Scrapes” Doherty (#17): Lives up to her name by not being afraid of hitting the ground and getting a few scrapes. She cuts with confidence to the right places and is also someone who stretches the field in all the ways we need.
-
Helen “Tank” Lim (#12): Reads the field to make the cut that we need the most. Is flexible to fill in the handler role if we need her to. Plays tight defense and is a consistent force on the field.
Binghamton: (Yay, our closest neighbors are going to natties! Awesome peeps, have great dance moves, 17/10 always love playing them. Tbh their team is pretty deep and pretty athletic too!)
All Region:
-
Jolie Krebs: She’s been mentioned a few times already, but she’s a a great (freshman!) handler that sends dimes into her teammates hands. Also quick on resets and aggressive on D. (Also nominating her for all freshman)
-
Danielle Dattler: Amazing athlete who will beat you to a space with a smile
-
Ava Champitto: Consistent handler who will break any mark and keep things moving
-
Faith Summers: A smart opportunistic cutter who helps organize the field
Yale:
All Region:
-
Ellie Jose: Beautiful hucks that are easy for her teammates to run onto and a dominant handler whose movement keeps pushing her team downfield
-
Lucie Warga: Quick and aggressive player that claims a space as theirs on O and plays tight D.
-
Wilhelmina Graff: Another dominant player that creates great movement down the field. Once she starts the flow, it’s hard to stop it.
-
Nadine Tong: Aggressive cutter that turns every clear into a viable cut. Tight defender who fights for the disc.
-
Katherine Sylvester: Quick cutter that always finds the open space for a connection. Stretches the field and takes advantage of split moments when their defense isn’t 100% focused on them.
2 Likes
Awesome to see some thoughtful replies here! I’ll lend my thoughts from the UConn sidelines.
Bing
You know the names. Jolie’s got great hucks, plays tough, works hard. Hard to argue there’s a better freshman in the region and an easy All-Region 1 pick.
I think Faith Summers is kinda slept on, she just does a lot of little things right that keep things moving and maximizes what she does with her touches.
Samantha Gonzalez, Danielle Dattler, and Ava Champitto all deserve recognition, can’t fault anyone for prioritizing one or two of them over the others.
Yale
Wilhemina Graf is probably the only player I’d say can compete with Jolie Krebs for the POTY in the region. Intense player who can do a bit of everything, and when she gets going in their give and go games is when it really feels like you can’t stop Ramona.
Ellie Jose is definitely one of the best handlers in the region, she makes a lot of gritty reset plays, plays above her size on defense, and of course, has a pretty diverse throwing skillset.
Ellie Marmantov, Nadine Tong, and Lucie Warga are also all strong for Yale.
Columbia
Liz Thomas should definitely be getting All-Region 1 consideration and it’d be a crime if she doesn’t get one of the 14 spots. A threat going deep or under and a strong defender, skillful receiver, too.
Maia Donald and Aviva Weinbaum are both handlers whose break throws and hucks help make the Curbside offense go. I’m not sure of which of their tall cutters was the one with great hands, but one of them was making some really challenging catches the couple of times we played them.
Cornell
Crush gave a pretty good rundown, but left herself off of the list. Her ability to get open as a reset and do damage with big curving hucks was definitely a big part of why Cornell was one of the best teams in the region.
Daria Pachucka was one of the toughest cutting matchups we faced at Regionals, great timing and hands. Set up routine smart plays, but could also make tough ones when things broke down.
Celia Doherty also stood out when we played them in quarters as a potential All-Freshman.
NYU
We played NYU three times in the past couple of weekends, so I got a chance to see them a lot.
Kathy Eo had some of the best backhand hucks of any team we played against, even against marks set to stop it. We dedicated a lot of our defense to containing the looks available to such a dangerous thrower.
Emma Knobloch, Sophia Wang, and Ari Davydov all deserve recognition, as well. I think Davydov is a first-year player, but a sophomore.
Rutgers
Olivia Woodruff might have been hurt at Conferences because she didn’t play a ton, but I was struck by how skillful of a thrower she is, and with her height, she really could be a nightmare matchup.
UConn
Caroline Eldridge (#15) is one of the best players in the region and should be considered for All-Region 1. She’s long and fast, wins a lot in the air, and generates a ton of blocks. Had 19 goals, 10 assists, and 12 blocks in 67 points at Regionals.
Hyunah Boo (#46) is a freshman from Lexington, MA who had a tremendous season for us, getting put in as a main handler. Was second on our team in assists both at Regionals (11) and on the season (33). Amelia Colombo (#13) and Melissa Tian (#22) were also high-contributing freshman for us.
1 Like
Id like to lend my thoughts from the Binghamton sideline, and shout out a few of the many excellent players I saw competing this past weekend.
Binghamton
While the names that we are seeing mentioned already (Samantha Gonzalez, Faith Summers, Ava Champitto, Danielle Dattler, and Jolie Krebs) absolutely deserve the recognition they are receiving. There are a couple of players on this deep roster that I want to ensure don’t get overlooked.
Anna Purtell (#30) is a player that really does it all for the Binghamton team. With strong throws and a high Ultimate IQ she gets open consistently and keeps the disc moving with smart decisions. Her high ultimate IQ also makes her a strong defensive presence, as she just does all the little things right adding pressure and generating turns. If you bore witness to any of her possession saving bids at regionals you would be praising her name already.
The other Binghamton player that need not be overlooked is Alyssa Pelkey (#31). One of, if not the fastest player in the metro east. The explosiveness that she possesses lets her get open in the tightest of spaces against even the toughest of matchups. Alongside any of the crafty Binghamton handlers she can be used to facilitate enough movement to break through nearly any zone. On top of all that she is a very capable thrower that can handle with confidence when needed.
Columbia
I’m pretty much in agreement with Keith when it comes to Liz Thomas (#66), it would be a crime for her not to make the 14.
Bea Ibes (#6) was a strong cutter that stood out among a very athletic and well trained Columbia team.
Also want to second md3732 in their mentions for rookie considerations. Boegnik had some incredible grabs, and Hirschwerk (#44) played what might have been the best handler defense Binghamton saw this season.
Cornell
Crush (#97) had one of the prettiest hucks of the tournament floating a backhand into the back corner of the end-zone for her cutter to just run right onto. I’m not sure where she falls within the region, but her ability to stretch the field and put out hucks makes her absolutely worth consideration.
Yale
Crush said it best earlier when she called Wilhelmina Graff (#10) “dominant”. Capable and smart as a thrower with great handler movement. On defense however was where she really stood out. In the final against Binghamton the best thing most of her matchups could do for the offence was sit back and focus on keeping Graff out of the play.
Ellie Jose (#7) is a strong player with a versatile throwing arsenal that seemed to always take on one of the tough matchups, but she would grind through whoever it was. Definitely an all region contender.
1 Like