Who are the best players in the Southeast region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
My name is Fiona Cashin and I would like to nominate Quincy Booth for freshman of the year - it’s not even a competition. She is easily the best thrower in the Southeast (perhaps the nation). Her lefty backhand is a force to be reckoned with. It is impossible to keep up with her. It is impossible to hand block her. It is impossible to defend her.
“She’s legit” -Bridget Mizener
“Quincy is the best! I love her!” -Quincy’s mom
“I’m scared of Quincy” -her opponents
“I have ginger power. What can I say!” -Quincy Booth
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FUEL’s Natalie Baumgarten is easily one of the best players in the SE and is a great contender for All-Region. If you haven’t seen her play, you’re missing out. She can catch anything…and I mean anything. She can sky players far, far taller than her or better positioned than she is and can lay out like no player I’ve ever seen. She can cut through any opponent’s zone and can always find a free space. She is so incredibly fast and never gets tired, making her an utterly terrifying middle mark. She shakes off any and every defender that comes her way. She’ll hand block, foot block, and face block you left and right.
GT - During our games, we were always looking for a matchup against Katherine Mittleider–she had dimes from the handler position, could push upfield when needed and sky any player on the field. At regionals Caitlin Aycock was all over the field offensively and defensively, making her an explosive and intelligent player.
UGA - Fiona Cashin is a huge player for Athena, making a ton of plays on all sides of the disc and does an amazing job of setting the pace for her team on the field. Quincy Booth is another player who can just get the disc to any point she wants it to go and on defense is the biggest deep threat.
UTC - Grace Marshall was basically every other when we played Moxie at Sectionals. She is a powerful cutter and was a player we consistently had to find new matchups for.
Tennessee - Macy Hudson, like Grace, was every other on the field during our game against them. She had incredible throws that opened up the field unlike any player I had seen at Sectionals.
Emory - A bit biased as I am Emory’s coach, but I am sure that Soju Hokari is one of the top players in the region. She has incredible speed, skills and field awareness that make her a dangerous threat on the field. She was second runner-up for breakout player of the year in the last club women’s season and those same reasons translate to her performance in the college scene. Accumulating a ton of Ds, assists, and scores, she was virtually unstoppable against many of the teams we played. She is also an incredible teammate and is the best person to have both on and off the field.
Jacksonville State - Annie Kelley was the anchor that held down a team that consisted of only first and second year players. An all around player that was an absolute unit. Her unmatched aggression on defense paired with her quick transition offense and big throws led her team to their second ever regionals appearance.
Alabama - Rachel Kern is one of the smartest college handlers I’ve seen. She rarely turns the disc over and was near impossible to shut down. She’s got throws, vision, IQ, and a calm head. The whole package.
UAH - Madison Oakman and Olivia Allen shred defenses with what appears to be no effort. Madison’s ability to distribute the disc anywhere on the field (shoutout to those inside breaks) and Olivia’s incredible athleticism and dawg energy made UAH a fun team to watch
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Florida - Natalie Baumgarten is phenomenal on both offense and defense, and is probably the fastest player in the Southeast. Natalie’s role for FUEL has expanded immensely this season, and FUEL relies on her to move the discs from the handlers to down-field receivers. In the last year, she has honed in her throws and makes continuations through any defense look effortless. Natalie is who FUEL looks for when they need a hero. High stall count? Chuck it to Natalie. The opponent has an “unstoppable” handler? Put Natalie on them and she will get a hand/foot block. An “unstoppable” cutter? I promise that Natalie will play the best lock-down defense you’ve ever seen.
UCF - June Cera is the foundation that UCF is built on. Nearly every other throw routes through her, and on defense, she serves as an impenetrable deep for the infamous UCF zone. June’s consistency, resilience, and athleticism is what has driven UCF for the last five years.
Emory - Soju is confident and composed in the handler space, and always find the open shot. On defense, she puts a lot of pressure on her opponent and makes incredible plays with a high level of precision and body control.
Tennessee - Micah Roberts is a secret-weapon for Tennessee. This girl is fast and will lay out for ANYTHING. She is a nearly unstoppable cutter who will aways find open space and make a heroic play to keep the point alive.
UGA’s Fiona Cashin is without a doubt one of the best if not THE best in the SE. Players can be good but there’s a difference between playing well individually and bringing a team together to success. Cashin is able to not only make a full highlight reel in one single game, she can also captain and run a younger, less experienced college team into going undefeated in sectionals and regionals. She’s a huge presence defensively a key role as a flex on offense. Her layouts are picture perfect, she’ll hand block anything and everything, and her field awareness is amazingly high which allows for her to make all of these crazy plays. Go Fiona!
Alabama Ramma Jamma is one of the teams in the Southeast Region that often flies under the radar due to their small size and depth therefore not having a fair chance for their best players on their team to be display and recognize. This season, Ramma Jamma has some of the best players in Southeast Region who has led their team throughout a successful season. It is finally time for these players to be recognized, talked about, and considered when naming the best players in the Southeast Region.
All-Region Team Nominations:
Alabama’s Rachel Kern is hands down one of THE best players in the Southeast Region and deserves a spot on the All Region team. Some people might recognize her as the amazing “handler” she is but in my eyes she is one of THE best players in the region who can consistently play on both sides of the disc. Offensively, Rachael turns into one of the best handlers for this year’s Alabama team by being a player that her team heavily relies on when making the best decisions upline. Rachael not only has a wide range of throws but has the ability to show off those throws of when setting up her teammates to be in the best position when receiving the disc. Most of the deep shots that are thrown comes from the hands of Rachael just by her ability to read the field and the level of trust that she has within. As a cutter, Rachael is always one step in front of her matchups and can jump up/sky anyone who gets in her way. Defensively, Rachael is a force to be reckoned with and she is always on the hunt for a hand block and has the ability to put her body where her hands are when shutting down her matchups. Rachael NEVER gives up on the defensive side and this is shown time and time again throughout her game.
Alabama’s Mary “Mary V” McKinley is also one the best players for Alabama and joins Rachael as one the best handlers this season. Mary V is often a player that doesn’t get any of the recognition for the small things that she does. Offensively, Mary V is a small but mighty handler that can make her team look good with her ability to throw “trust” throws to her teammates. Mary V brings tons of experience to this Alabama team as she’s been playing since she was in the 8th grade and is constantly playing on multiple teams. Defensively, Mary V is the player that knows how to poach off her matchups in order to force the disc to turn. Mary V also has a defensive shape that will help her turn up the defensive pressure on her matchups in the heat of the moment. What makes Mary V a vital part to this Alabama team is that she is the ONLY player that has the ability to play every single point in every single game throughout the season and this alone should speak volumes to the type of player that she is destined to become more and more of! For those who have played Ultimate before knows that being on multiple points at a time can often take a toll on your body but for Mary V this is a place where she thrives and takes pride in the ability to push her mind and body through any physical obstacle that she might face in Ultimate.
Honorable Mention:
Alabama’s Mikailyn McCarty is a player that should be on everyone’s radar. Mikailyn is a rookie to this Alabama team but has the ability to show up in big ways. Although this is Mikailyn’s first year every playing Ultimate, she has grown so much over the year and has learn how to play her role as always being the biggest deep threat and stacking up multiple goals per game. Remember the name “Mikailyn McCarty” for next year because she is on the rise as she improves over time.
All Freshman Team:
Alabama’s Madison Sawyer should be one of the names mentioned on the “All Freshman Team” and here’s why. Madison joined the Alabama team in the fall and ever since she’s been a player that has never stopped growing with her range of throws and cutting ability. If you’ve ever seen Madison play it is safe to say that you could mistake her for being a “vet” but little does everyone know that she has never played Ultimate at any other level prior to her joining the team. Offensively, Madison plays with a level of determination. Madison is often the very first cut in the Vert Stack and will do anything to get the disc in her hands. What makes Madison so vital for this Alabama team offensively is her level of speed and quickness when attempting to receive the disc. Defensively, Madison is always there whenever her matchup makes a mistake. Often times as a “first” year player, there are challenges and limitations that players face due to the overload of learning how the game of Ultimate goes but that is not the case for Madison Sawyer because is constantly exceeding and pushing through the limits that first year players might experience. With Alabama being a small team that doesn’t have any full time coaches, Madison only has her captains and teammates to lean on in guiding her into learning and loving Ultimate which speaks volumes to Madison’s work ethic because she shows her team time and time again that she destined to be one of the best players in the Southeast Region. Once again, I believe that Madison’s name should be alongside other amazing freshman in the Southeast Region such as Quincy Booth because it’s so rare to see freshman like them grow so fast in Ultimate.
FSU
Lily Gullet doesn’t get enough attention. She can do it all. Sky throw wherever she’s needed she’s there. And she’s like really good at catching lizards. Take a gander
Ashlyn FSU- carbon fiber spaghetti noodle how did she catch that idk but she did.
Hannah Grimes - Queen of the southern skies.
Cam Curvey- center handler extraordinaire. Holds the team on her back. Always where you need her.
^all of the above played last season and have continued to hold the FSU fort down even with a young rookie filled team.
UGA- Fiona and Quincy (big Q they call her) are superstars too. Fiona flies slicing through the air like a cannonball of awesomeness and Q has the flowingest locks of the southeast. And can throw over just bout any1.
Also Roxanne from Fuel can catch like anything and is always right where she needs to be. And Frank too, low throws for dayzzzz
Also UCF June. Impressive. Throws and just the ability to just be there whenever her team needs her. She’ll come through