EUCF - Women's Division Pool Preview

My most interesting pool stage storylines ahead of the start of action

The European club championships starts this Friday 29th September. I’m looking forward to watching the action on ulti.tv as always, and here are what I think are the interesting storylines during the pools. There will be many I missed so let me know about it in the comments below or in my discord!

Also check out my previews for mixed and open divisions

Pool A - Top of the Table Clash

The JinX - Gravity game could be the pick of all the pool games. Both teams qualified through the Invite tournaments early in the year - JinX reaching the final of Elite Invite while Gravity won the UK Spring Invite. That means we haven’t seen these teams in European competition for 4 months - as this is the first season of the new European competitive structure it’s going to be interesting to see which teams benefit from the early qualification and which teams are hurt by the lack of competitive reps.

I wrote about JinX earlier in the year after Elite Invite. Along with Gravity they are the most interesting team at the tournament to me - either all their undoubted talent will click and they can seriously challenge, or their frailities against zones will remain and they’ll be knocked out early on what looks like a windy second day of action. A team with the skill and experience of Anna Gerner, Nici Prien, Sarah Eklund, Oda Homlong, etc, is surely too smart to fall for the same traps again.

Gravity, meanwhile, had a poor championship last season but two semi final appearances in the previous two events. I think last season was a aberration and they’ll return to the form they showed previously. They present the potential to really mix up offensive styles - the trio of Helen Barron, Cliona Doyle and Jessica Chambers excel playing an isolation heavy small ball while they also have a deep arsenal of strong, slightly unconventional, throwers led by Aine Gilheany and boosted by the Swiss pickup Linnea Seibert. In short, they are well equipped to handle the different styles of opposition team, and also the changeable weather. They also boast a suite of excellent zones - leading to a potentially fascinating clash of styles with JinX.

Pool B - How Good are Mooncup?

Mooncup - the women’s side of the Mooncatchers club - qualified in style from their region, winning each game relatively comfortably. They boast an extremely strong French contingent including the EUC Mixed champion Bornot sisters. They have undoubted talent and momentum coming into this tournament so their match against Yaka should offer a glimpse into how realistic a Mooncup challenge at the tournament is. Yaka lost pool games on their way to winning Elite Invite and London Invite, so they are definitely one to target for Mooncup.

Before they face Yaka however they’ll have to see off a Troubles team that looks to have finally brought it’s strongest looking side to EUCF - they won’t be a pushover and will fancy their chances of taking down one of the favoured teams in the pool after a strong performance in regionals.

Pool C - The Battle to Avoid Elimination

Shout look by far the strongest team in this pool and I don’t anticipate any problems for them. The real interest here is the battle between Iceni, Box and Spice to avoid finishing last and early elimination from the tournament. Iceni are coming off a UK Nationals win so will be confident that they have what it takes but both Spice and Box have shown great form at times this season. I don’t think I would be surprised by any combination of results between these 3 sides - could we see the dreaded 3 way tie elimination for one of them?

Pool D - Will East Block lay down a marker?

The ascension of East Block to the top of European ultimate has been eagerly tracked throughout the season - this young Czech side have bags of athleticism and skill, and they are rapidly learning from top competition what it takes to win. This group will be a great of test of their ruthlessness and consistency. East Block have found themselves in too many scrappy dogfights over the course of the season - although I love that they are always up for the fight, they’ll need to show a more clinical edge to their game if they are going to seriously challenge for the podium.

Looking ahead to knockouts

Shout and Yaka have carved up the last few championships between them and neither look in any mood this season to have that change. Yaka have won both Elite Invite and London Invite, which Shout performed well early season and have reloaded with the addition of the star of EUC, Charlotte Schall.

The chasing pack will need to step up their game and answer some serious question in order to challenge. Can Gravity return to the form of ‘19 and ‘21, and take the next step? Will JinX figure out their zone issues? Can Mooncup find chemistry and take their A game to the top teams? Will East Block take on all the lessons from an extremely long, competitive season for their players? Will Iceni’s return to UK glory indicate a return to European glory? Or will another team emerge out of nowhere?