Unbiased YCC Girls Preview!

The girls division of the 2007 Youth Club Championships is rife with storylines and teams with something to prove. The presence of so many 2006 Junior Worlds players doesn't hurt either. The favorites get the top four seeds, but their order is bound to be shuffled, while the bottom three teams look for their chance to cause an upset and burst onto the girls ultimate scene.

Below the fold action...
Seattle earns the number one seed in the tournament, as the defending champions and traditional powerhouse look to remain the only YCC girls winners. Led by junior worlds players Drew Johnson, Alex Snyder, and Fiona McKibben, their deep roster draws largely from Northwest School and Nathan Hale. They will be looking to avenge their losses to Oregon school Churchill at Westerns, as the core of the number four seed has the experience of winning Westerns 15-3 over NWS fresh in their minds. They are joined by former South Eugene captain Julia Sherwood, along with another SEHS player and two from Crescent Valley. Oregon has been in Minnesota for several days already, and they are prepared to defend their title and avenge what appears to be a slight in seeding.

Meanwhile, east coast powerhouse Amherst sends a lot of players to New England, led by junior worlds and Brute Squad player Amber Sinicrope. Like Oregon, the core of their team has the advantage of playing together year-round. But their loss to Seattle at YCC's two years ago, along with their loss at Nationals to the Yale School several years ago, means that the east's dominance in girls ultimate is over. New England will do their best to bring the title to Massachusetts for the first time since Nationals in 2004. But their reliance on Amherst JV girls shows that this is not the strongest team that could come out of the Boston area.

With their own junior worlds and Rare Air stud Brenna Hokanson, Denver is out to prove that their second-place finish and defeat of New England in 2006 was no fluke. They hope to challenge for the title as well, with Box Lunch's Christina Ward adding more club experience to the mix. They beat New England 13-7 in the semifinals last year, in a junior-worlds-affected environment. But without New England's big names returning this year either (besides Amber), Denver is well-poised to repeat in the finals.

Among the other three teams, I can see Cincinnati coming closest to an upset against a team that doesn't take them seriously enough, but ultimately failing and losing a close one to Minnesota. Madison goes winless without the junior worlds studs they've had in the past.

Prediction:
Seattle 6-0
Oregon 5-1
Denver 4-2
New England 3-3
Minnesota 2-4
Cincinnati 1-5
Madison 0-6

Finals: Oregon 13, Seattle 11

The way the brackets work out, Oregon and Seattle could play twice in a row, making their first game meaningless if both go into the game 5-0. If so, I can see Seattle winning that game easily, before Oregon fights hard and reaffirms their Westerns dominance in the finals.