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| Photo: Judy Teasdale |
It's the established vs. the new for the women's DI title as the Seattle Saracens, a relatively newcomer on the women's scene, take on the established Beantown at Infinity Park. Seattle have been around for awhile but only in the last couple of years have they been under their current iteration taking in the best players from the region. The team has mostly played in Canada over the last year making them hard to read for their American opposition. Beantown are vey well known but that hasn't stopped them from picking up win after win.
As mentioned, Seattle has mainly played in British Columbia. The league in BC is a high standard and features several players that were a part of the Canada team that made it to the final of the World Cup last year. For the most part the women have had success beating teams but it hasn't been perfect. Still, if their play in the regionals at Treasure Island is anything to go by their 31-10 win over the Denver Black Ice and their 47-0 win over Santa Monica has them in a good position.
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There are plenty of standouts on the Saracens. Carrie White, Kelsi Stockert, Ryan Carlyle, and Ashley Kmieck have all been or currently are part of the Eagles set up. They also have a number of other players on the cusp of making an impact. Beantown also have a number of players with experience having been together for awhile.
Beantown haven't lost a match this year. They rolled through the Atlantic North going 7-0. They scored a total of 403 points while only giving up 24. That is the definition of dominance. In the playoffs they had a couple of tough matches against Boston and Chicago North Short before blowing out the Pittsburgh Angels.
For us, this match is a toss-up. Travel might be a major factor and the short flight from Seattle to Denver could be the big difference. We think it will be and that the Saracens emerge with the title.
DII
In DII it's the Sacramento Amazons against Wisconsin. The Amazons had a very tough season in NorCal against some very quality sides. It wasn't a perfect season either with losses to SFGG and the Berkeley All Blues. Still, it was enough to make it to the playoffs where They put big scores up on the Budd Bay Bandits and Kansas City Jazz. They then squeaked out with a one point win over the Austin Valkyries in the West final. They have experience and they will bring plenty of physicality.
Wisconsin also have experience and had a tough league season. They didn't finish first in their division instead finishing second to Milwaukee. About half of their season came in the fall but the other half in the spring they were perfect without a loss. Their run in the post-season began with a win over rivals Milwaukee and then a big win over Cincinnati. They continued with wins over Burlington and Augusta.