Philly Classic:: Follow The Action!

[Michelle Ng]

Dear Ultimate Community,

Thanks to the harshest winter in Philadelphia history, several feet of
snow have covered the Philly Classic field site for much of the past
month. While the snow melted late last week, the forecast for the
weekend showed 70-80% chances of rain for Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday. The field owner told us that they could make a day-of call on
the fields, but knowing that there was a high probability of the
tournament getting rained out, we chose instead to mobilize our backup
plan. Little did we know that the 10 turf backup fields (with
lights!) we had reserved in State College three weeks ago would be
swept out from under us, leaving us scrambling for a way to
accommodate teams this weekend.

It is situations like this one that remind me of the amazing people
who play this sport. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to
Carly Maconaghy and Melissa May (Penn State) and Rhonda Good (Messiah
College coach) for spending countless hours finding us backup fields
this week. Carly and Melissa in particular went above and beyond the
call of duty. Carly spent her 21st birthday (while on spring break!)
making phone calls for us, while Melissa scrambled around State
College tracking down people who were impossible to get ahold of. In
the end, the hard work of these three people enabled us to find enough
turf fields to accommodate every team who wanted to play this weekend,
37 teams total.

And so, the action will go on, though not quite as scheduled. My
roommate, Amy Kendziorski (Texas) helped me develop a computer program
to handle the scheduling nightmare that is 5 field sites, each with
different constraints. You can follow the action through two mediums:

1. Score Reporter (still in the process of being updated):
http://scores.upa.org/scores/#college-womens/tournament/7052

2. Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/philly_classic

We will be updating scores as fast as is humanly possible given our
unique constraints, and we’ll try to capture some of our adventures
(there are sure to be plenty) via Twitter.

In addition to acknowledging the hard work of the Penn leadership
(Katie “Pimp” Poulos, Anna Spiridigliozzi, Octavia “Pimp” Payne, and
Melinda Snover), I would like to extend a thank you to the following
people for the role they have had in making this tournament happen and
in preserving my sanity: Kristen Lamm (Atlanta Ozone), Abby Stephens
(Wash U), Sam Huo (Wash U), Sarah Ebstein (Wash U), Kayla Burnim
(Northeastern University coach), Sara Jacobi (Boston Brute Squad),
Lauren “Ralph” Nelson (Boston Brute Squad), Katie Barry (ex-UCSB),
Anne Mercier (Ottawa), Charlie “Katie” Mercer (Maryland), Lindsey Hack
(UNC-CH coach), Sara “Pez” Peczkowski (Delaware), Jasmine Draper (Iowa
State), Lindsey Gapstur (Iowa State), Alyssa Olson (Minnesota), the
Melee 2008 graduating class, and all of my Showdown teammates.

It might not always be sunny in Philadelphia, but thanks to these
people, there will still be plenty of good ultimate happening this
weekend. :) Stay tuned to the action!

Sincerely,
Michelle Ng
Texas Showdown

[Peanut]

Props to everyone involved in getting this tournament running with all
these weather mishaps. I can't imagine the stress, long nights, and
hard work it took to pull this thing together and still have it be one
of the biggest and most anticipated women's tournament this year.

Looking forward to a great weekend of ultimate! (regardless of weather
conditions)

Peanut
Delaware Sideshow #22

[Knappy]

Great job, ladies, and good luck this weekend!
--
Posted from http://www.rsdnospam.com

[Sara Jacobi]

If there ain't backup fields, it ain't Michelle Ng. The fact this
tournament is happening despite the weather and field setbacks is
truly miraculous and is a true testament to the quality of the
tournaments Michelle runs. Amazing work Michelle!

- Sara

[Michelle Ng]

We are having technical difficulties with Score Reporter, but we will
try to get some updates up on Twitter. Games kick off at 7 AM.

[Michelle Ng]

Ok, we've hopefully found a better way to report scores:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Av7Uuzr_SGh9dEFkVVdTeDNpU3REbG5OVTVEUWRkT3c&hl=en

We will be updating scores as we receive them. Penn v. UNC and Pitt
v. Harvard now underway.

[Michelle Ng]

Leila Tunnell leads UNC to a 9-4 win over Penn. Two field sites in
State College are on the ground and the third is being prepped. Games
at Messiah College are postponed and will resume at 4 PM. Scores are
being updated in the Google doc.

[Opi]

Thanks to Michelle Ng who is an incredbile TD, Penn State, and all of
our other friends in the ultimate community who helped us get this off
the ground. Thank you to all the teams who came out and played (and
are still playing) through the ridiculous conditions. Thank you for
your patience and hopefully things will only continue to improve
throughout the weekend. The forecast calls for better weather
tomorrow!

Opi
#9, UPenn Co-captain

[Michelle Ng]

Games are going on at all three of the field sites in State College
and games will resume at Messiah at 4 PM. The new schedule for the
Messiah site has been posted to the Google doc (https://
spreadsheets.google.com/
ccckey=0Av7Uuzr_SGh9dEFkVVdTeDNpU3REbG5OVTVEUWRkT3c&hl=en) and we have
updated as many scores as have been reported to us. We will continue
to update scores as quickly as possible.

Thank you to all of the captains and coaches who have been
understanding of the difficult conditions we are working under. We
know how badly some teams need these sanctioned games and we are doing
everything within our power on this end. Also, a special thanks to
Katie Barry (ex-UCSB) who has been up with me since before dawn
running around State College. :)

More to come...

[Michelle Ng]

Holding down the last field site, most of today's scores have been
updated.

[Michelle Ng]

Most scores have been reported:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Av7Uuzr_SGh9dEFkVVdTeDNpU3REbG5OVTVEUWRkT3c&hl=en

Outstanding results will be posted as soon as I get those from teams.
Thank you to all of the teams who came and pushed through the weather
to get games in.

Michelle

[Michelle Ng]

All scores are now posted. Thank you to teams for getting those to me
in a timely manner! Check out the results in the Google doc.

Now on to Women's College Centex in t-2 weeks...

Michelle

[The Dick Formerly Known As Dennis]

"Now on to Women's College Centex in t-2 weeks...

Michelle"

She never stops, does she?

[Ryan Thompson]

Who won this game, Penn or UNC? The google doc says Penn.

[Jeff]

it was a miracle that any games were played this weekend. congrats to
the organizers for finding a way to make it happen on all turf
fields.

[Hack]

UNC won and went undefeated on the weekend.

[Michelle Ng]

UNC and Harvard were the two "top tier" teams undefeated on the
weekend... Because of the weather / finite number of turf fields we
had, we moved to a scramble format instead of typical pool and bracket
play. Saturday games were severely impacted by the weather, but
Sunday's results should provide a much better picture of where teams
stand.

UNC is a strong team-- they make extremely good use of blades to break
through zones and they play good team defense. Leila Tunnell was
clearly one of the top players out there this weekend, probably the
most complete package in terms of throws, defense, field sense, etc.
and without a doubt, a captain whose play and character demand more
from her teammates and opponents. If I had a vote for Callahan this
year, Leila would get it.

I also want to say a huge thank you to Katie Barry and Amanda Davis
for all of their help this weekend. They did an amazing job of
helping me hold down the State College field sites and went way above
and beyond the call of duty as volunteers. Also, a big thank you to
Lauren "Ralph" Nelson for holding down the Messiah site. Very
thankful for these friends.