The Notre Dame's Women’s Ultimate team traveled to Chicago this past weekend for the Chicago Invite, the largest annual ultimate tournament in the country. In addition to the 64 men's teams that competed, thirty two women’s teams from across the US attended, two of which were the Notre Dame A and B teams.
Notre Dame A was placed in a Power Pool, playing some of the best teams at the tournament. They opened the weekend against Seattle HS, arguably the top youth team in the nation, having already beaten two top ten college teams this year. The team came out strong but Seattle eventually took the game and Notre Dame fell 5-10. In their second pool play game, Notre Dame A faced St. Olaf, working hard to gain a 12-11 win. They faced Truman State in the last game of the day, struggling in the beginning but coming back with fire to win 10-8. Sunday began with the quarterfinals game against well known competition Valparaiso. Notre Dame took the lead, but Valpo fought hard to bring the game to a tie. Notre Dame scored the last point to win the game 11-10 and move onto the semifinals. The semis saw Notre Dame vs Illinois, another regional competitor. Notre Dame A unfortunately fell to Illinois 9-11. In their last game of the tournament, the team faced St. Benedict, struggling with injuries and falling 7-11 to take fourth place. Notre Dame A is led by senior captains Molly Carmona, Kelsey Fink, and Eliza Herrero. Sophomores Mara Jurkovic and Emily Dowling played very well all weekend, contributing to many of the team's points and shutting down other players on defense. Notre Dame A hopes to recover completely and looks forward to Conferences, held April 12-13 in Lansing, Michigan.
The Notre Dame B team, led by captains Erin Cobb and Katie Kraemer, opened the weekend against North Park, falling by a score of 1-13. They played Central Michigan in their second game, falling by a closer score of 8-11. The third game saw Notre Dame B coming out strong, playing to tie the game but giving up the last point and falling 9-10. In their last game of the day, Notre Dame B pulled out a win against St. Olaf-B, taking the lead from the beginning and ending on a score of 7-1. Sunday saw bracket play losses to Central Michigan and Illinois-B and a forfeit to St. Olaf-B due to a small number of players. Notre Dame B also travels to Lansing in two weeks to compete in Conferences.