After an impressive spring season, the Dartmouth women’s frisbee team — also known as Princess Layout — advanced to the quarterfinals of Nationals this past weekend before falling to the top-seeded University of Oregon. The team, Princess Layout, went 4-2 overall at Nationals with its only two losses coming to Oregon and Stanford University. Oregon and Stanford met in the finals with Oregon taking home the national title.
Because the team has not qualified for Nationals since 2009, this is the first time that any of Princess Layout’s current players have had the opportunity to compete on the national stage, Ellen Plane ’15 said.
“It was a really exciting opportunity for us to be there,” she said. “We started the season with the goal of winning just one game at Nationals, and we ended up winning four games.”
Princess Layout was seeded seventh out of the 20 teams that qualified for the D-1 College Championships. The championships begin with the teams sorted into four five-team pools. The top team in each pool automatically qualified for the quarterfinals, while the second- and third-place teams from each pool were placed into the pre-quarters.
Dartmouth was placed into Pool B with second-seeded Stanford, the defending national champions from Ohio State University, the University of Washington and Middlebury College. Right off the bat, Dartmouth got off to a quick start. In the team’s first game, Princess Layout leapt out to a 8-2 lead over the defending champions. Dartmouth would not relinquish that lead on the way to a 15-8 victory over the Ohio State Fever.
Princess Layout’s second game of pool play came against Stanford, one of the favorites entering the tournament. A win would place Dartmouth in the catbird seat for automatic qualification into the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, valiant efforts from both Carolyn Susman ’18 and Eva Petzinger ’15 were not enough to overcome an impressive Stanford squad. Princess Layout ultimately fell to Stanford 15-6.
Heading into the second day of play, Princess Layout’s fate was still up in the air. Stanford stood alone atop Pool B with an undefeated record, while Dartmouth was tied with two other teams that had 1-1 records. By winning both of its second-day matches, Princess Layout could cinch at least a bid to the pre-quarters.
In the team’s first match of day two, Princess Layout dominated an overmatched Middlebury team. Middlebury, the lowest seeded team in Pool B, was unable to muster a consistent offensive attack and lost by a score of 15-6.
A win against Washington in Princess Layout’s final game would guarantee the squad second place in Pool B and a more favorable matchup in the pre-quarters. A win by the Big Green would also eliminate the Element from the bracket overall. In a thrilling 14-13 game Dartmouth managed to knock off Washington.
“Going into the Washington game, a lot of the general community felt like we shouldn’t have been seeded higher than Washington and that they were better than us,” Rebecca Leong ’15 said. “We managed to win and knock Washington out of the championship bracket, so that was very exciting.”
Ten different players tallied goals for Princess Layout, and Angela Zhu ’17 also contributed with a team-high six assists. Dartmouth never trailed in the match, but it was knotted at 13 goals apiece before Princess Layout notched the final game-winner.
In the pre-quarters, Dartmouth took on the University of Texas. Texas had surprised some in the tournament, after entering seeded No. 19 of 20 teams, by managing to place third in Pool C and qualify for the pre-quarters.
Two big runs by Dartmouth helped them hold off the upstarts from the Lone Star State. Princess Layout jumped right out to a 6-1 lead, besting the team’s Texan opponents. Then, after the Melee clawed back within two points, Princess Layout went on another 6-1 run to take home the game by a score of 15-9 and advance to the quarterfinals.
The next opponent for Dartmouth would be an intensely challenging one, the overall top seed in the tournament, Oregon. Oregon had won each of its four pool games by at least five goals and had not yet been challenged in the tournament.
Though Princess Layout fought hard against an impressive Oregon team, the team was unable to hang close with the tournament’s top seed. Oregon took home the win in a romp by a score of 15-6, led by Olivia Bartruff’s five goals.
Though Dartmouth fell in the quarterfinals, players were still extremely proud of the team’s performance.
Standout performers for Dartmouth in the tournament included Zhu, who led the tournament with 27 assists, Petzinger, who notched 11 goals and 13 assists and Piper Curtis ’17 who led Princess Layout in goals with 14.
“Obviously, [Zhu] is a great player,” Madeline Parish ’16 said. “That statistic is also really impressive, because we didn’t even play in the semis or finals. She’s a great player and a leader on the field.”
