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.
I would like to nominate Lily Hankes from Loyola Chicago Sirens for all freshman. She played four years in high school at South Burlington high in Vermont and for Equinox in 2021. She is always where you need her to be on the field, and has great field awareness. She is already so good as a freshman it’s crazy.
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I am nominating Ellie Cloe for All-Region. Ellie is a junior at Loyola Chicago for the Sirens. She has captained the squad for the past two years, both she and her team have made great strides in that time. Even though this season was hard for the Sirens, with two of their tournaments being cancelled for weather, she has stayed active in the Chicago ultimate scene and motivated her teammates to do the same, encouraging a love of the game beyond the college field. On the field she is a force, weaponizing one of the most diverse and effective throwing arsenals in the region to lead the Sirens’ offense through tough zones in the wind. Off the field she is caring and helpful to her teammates. She embodies excellence in both play and spirit.
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Lili Hobday here from Notre Dame Echo. I would like to nominate Mary Larson for rookie of the year. Never having played ultimate before this year, Mary jumped right in and quickly became a starting D line cutter. She has crazy field sense, sticky hands, and is an amazing defender. She is not scared to put her body on the line, getting lay out d’s on teams like UNC and Carleton. With less than a year of ultimate under her belt she worked her way onto our universe line, defending our opponents best players, becoming one of our most consistent cutters, and making big plays in the air. I am super excited to see her growth in the next few years. If she can improve this much in one season, I have no doubt that her ceiling is super high. She deserves props for her amazing rookie season.
I also would like to nominate Claire Hackl, Elena Dansdill, Cara Tinson, and Sydney Herczeg for all region.
Notre Dame coach thoughts:
Michigan: Tons of great players, so this list could go on, but these are the ones who were at the top of the scouting report:
Kat - (duh) great player and everybody knows her.
Calliope Cutchins - Really solid handler with great hucks. She improved her hucks lot from last year and gave them a consistent threat to push the disc deep.
CJ/Celia Flory - Again, great handler with good hucks. Performed well under pressure and took good care of the disc.
Sophia Harvey - Excellent athleticism and matches up well on defense with every team’s top cutter. Great player.
Zaza/Constanza Carpriles - Another great athlete with great defense. Also has good hucks and is a threat to move the disc down the field if she catches an under.
Notre Dame: I hate to not shout out the whole team, but I’ll go with the 7 on our universe line:
Claire Hackl - Excellent handler with great break throws and can get open on almost any dump defense. She’s key to the O-line offense’s movement and plays great defense
Lili Hobday - She and Kat are probably 1a and 1b for best players in the region. She can fill whatever role and do it well, though she almost always handled for us. She’s great at attacking from the handler space and plays excellent defense.
Anna Wagner - She didn’t get the disc as much as Claire and Lili, but she consistently made the right decisions and was a huge reason our offense was successful. She plays great handler D as well.
Elena Dansdill - Phenomenal cutter who wins most matchups in the air and is almost always open on unders. Great defense as well.
Sydney Herczeg - Key to our offense’s movement as a cutter against both zone and person. She’s only played 2 years but looks like a 4-year vet out there. Great timing as a cutter.
Cara Tinson - Huge athlete who seemingly runs down any disc in the air and makes lots of huge plays on both offense and defense. She has the ability to throw deep when given the opportunity.
Mary Larson - She has to be freshman of the year. She had no prior frisbee experience and came in and was getting layout D’s against top teams and was quickly on our universe line. She seems to come down with every disc, is almost always open, and is a great defender.
Northwestern: I don’t know their names as well, but they had several handlers who were really difficult to defend because of their break throws and ability to huck. I think one of them was #8, Catherine Chen, and another was #9, Lucy Peterson.
Chicago: Megan Morales and Gloria Adeola are worth all-Region consideration.
Purdue: Riley Dickson, Emma Armstrong, and Alicia Ader are all worth all-Region consideration.
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Some great talent in the region. There are some obvious shout outs in Kat McGuire, Lili Hobday, Calliope Cutchins, Constanza Carpriles.
I also want to give an extra special shout out to Annie Meilink from GVSU. They are a phenomenal player and really stood out. GVSU only had 7 players when we played them as the last game of the day on Saturday and despite being tired, Annie was still very difficult to mark. Also whipped out a crazy lefty scoober.
In terms of Northwestern players Cat Chen and Maddi (PJ) Lang are both excellent players. Cat players with a grace and skill level of very few people I have played with. She does so much: opening up the field with her throws, great handler movement, and strong defensive presence. She does it all so well and makes it look easy with her consistency. PJ is a wonderful defensive player. She flows well in sets and will play some extremely gritty handler D.
-Lucy Petersen (Northwestern captain)
I want to echo what pretty much everyone has been saying: Kat, Lili, Calliope are truly standouts in this region. Watching Annie Meilink from GVSU battle on their fourth game of the day with 7 players and keep defenders on their heels was astounding. A truly standout athlete who has quickly risen as a star of this region.
On Northwestern, I want to nominate Cat Chen, Maddi (PJ) Lang, and Lucy Petersen. Cat is such a smart, seasoned player that somehow always finds a way to get the disc just when you need her to. She makes getting open in the handler space look effortless, she puts up big throws as if she was born to, and then somehow also has that striking defensive intuition that earns her layout D’s, hand blocks, and big turnovers. She is always exactly where you need her to be.
PJ plays with heart and fire, constantly working on the field for her teammates. PJ’s defensive prowess stems from her intelligence and tenacity – that when combined – make her a fearless, hungry, defender. However, it would be incomplete to not talk about PJ’s offense, too. She is just as committed and hard-working in the handler space. Together, she and Cat post a very powerful duo for our O-line.
Lucy is a force to be reckoned with. Lightning fast, she has emerged as a threatening handler, with smart, big looks that are offset by cheeky, quick throws. Lucy comes off an ultimate career as a cutter, though, and she uses this to her advantage not just in the handler space but as a cutter as well when called upon. She will run you around and then go to work on you. Don’t be fooled that Lucy is only a speedy player, as she backs up her athleticism with sharp shooting, poking holes in zones and breaking marks. When she is not dusting opponents and running the offense, she is a true defensive threat. She goes up to make the big plays on defense (as anyone who watched the first half of our Michigan game might remember), but also has tweaked to perfection the small nuances of good defense – she is a tough mark with hand blocks to show for it.
Cara Tinson from ND Echo here. I’d like to reiterate what Lili and Chris said by nominating Mary Larson for rookie of the year! She had never played ultimate until this year, and very quickly became a valuable part of our universe line. Early in the season she was getting layout D’s at Queen City against UNC and Carleton, and had continued to mark up extremely well against the top players in the region (for example, we had her on Kat whenever we played Michigan). She also was extremely quick to learn the fundamentals of ultimate, in terms of cutting, defending, and throwing. As described by teammates: “a beast.” The amount of growth as a player and her value on Echo has led me to not be able to imagine anyone more deserving of Rookie of the Year.
For all region here are my nominees:
Michigan:
- Kat McGuire: an obvious pick. She’s an incredibly hybrid player.
- Sophie Harvey: a great cutter who did some damage to us. I was lucky to mark up on her whenever we were on the same point, and she easily proved just how good she is, serving as a valuable part of Michigan’s team. Her cuts and throws were consistently exceptional, making her incredibly hard to mark.
- Zaza/Constanza Carpriles
Purdue:
- Riley Dickson: an awesome player who was always fun to play against, and showed how strong of a leader she is every game. A really good handler who could fill as a cutter when needed and do some damage. She was constantly making great decisions, and had a killer high release to break zones, even in the 30 mph winds we had at Conferences.
Notre Dame: similar to Chris, I’d also like to nominate our Universe Line
- Lili Hobday: a truly excellent handler for us, but can play literally whatever position we need her to. An obvious choice for all-region.
- Sydney Herczeg: an incredibly athletic player, mostly serving as a cutter for us but was able to handle (and did so incredibly well) when we needed. Such a good player, especially for this being her second year playing.
- Claire Hackl: such a consistent handler for us. She was an anchor for the team, as a captain and as a player. She controlled the offense when she had the disc, and always made great decisions with the disc.
- Elena Dansdill: an amazing cutter, like Claire she has been such an anchor for the team, as a captain and cutter. It seemed like any 50/50 disc near her was hers. It was really hard for anyone to beat her in those situations.
- Anna Wagner: an extremely confident handler who always made the team feel comfortable when she had the disc. Great movement and throwing, we would use her as an example for our handler flow and how to mark handlers and cutters.
- Mary Larson: see above rookie of the year nomination
I was an Assistant Coach for the Loyola Sirens for the Spring semester, so I unfortunately don’t have much information around other teams star players or know their names. We also did not have any tournaments leading into the series, so I’ve only been exposed to teams once or twice, so sorry for being one sided. There are some players on the Sirens I think are incredibly deserving of some praise and even a nod towards an All-Region spot:
Ellie Cloe- Ellie captains the Sirens and is the motor that runs the offense playing the main handler role. She is a grinder when she is on the field, making it a priority to get the disc moving through her to other players. She also steps up on defense when a turn happens by poaching lanes, helping out on deep looks, and running fast breaks when a turn happens.
Renee Page- Our most consistent cutter who has been playing for a little over a year. I haven’t had much time with Renee, but I think that she has had incredibly upward trajectory in the few months I’ve spent coaching. She is always working to get into the right spots on offense and keeps the flow going when things stall out. She also generates a lot of turns on defense by sticking close to her person on uplines and unders and rarely loses against a jump ball.
All Rookie Shout-Out
Lily Hankes- We had a lot of turnover between fall and spring this year, but bringing on Lily to the Sirens helped wipe away some of that stress. She not only integrated with the players well, but was able to jump into the field and keep up with our team right away. She was a constant defensive presence on everyone she guarded, making plays and bidding for anything that was within reach (or out of it). She became one of my go to’s for hard assignments and was able to keep up and maintain pressure on some of the best players on the other team. Her growth as a freshman was immense, and that was only for one semester of play.