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MUN Seahawks Women’s and Open Ultimate Teams compete at CUUCs

The MUN Seahawks Ultimate teams recently travelled to compete at the 2022 Canadian University Ultimate Championships (CUUC) in Brampton ON from October 14-16th, where the two teams had solid performances in Division 2; the women’s team placed 10th overall, and the open team placed 15th overall.

The 19-player MUN Seahawks Women’s team started the tournament on day one in the Division 1 Friday qualifier. The Seahawks lost two tough games, falling to Western and losing to Regina on an impressive universe point. After being reassigned to Division 2, the Seahawks started strong on day two, defeating Dalhousie 10-3, but fell to York and Montreal teams later that day. They continued into the final day playing their best game of the tournament early in the morning and were able to pull out a win against Laurier, 8-6, but were defeated by Carleton in the 9th place game to finish in 10th place overall in Division 2. The women’s team ended up coming away with a three-day record of 2 wins and 5 losses. The 15-player MUN Seahawks Open team had a record of 3 wins and 5 losses, and received an excellent average spirit score of 10.6.

The Women’s team had a historic debut at the three-day nationals’ tournament. They are the first all-women’s Ultimate Frisbee team from Memorial University to play at CUUCs. And, the MUN Seahawks Open team were excited to return to compete at nationals for the first time since 2019. The Memorial University Men’s Ultimate Touring Team, also known as MUTT, was established in 2013.

The MUN Seahawks Women’s team was coached by Melissa Wheeler and Lauren Law. “I couldn’t be more thrilled with how our team performed at the Canadian University Ultimate Championships this past weekend in Brampton,” Head Coach Melissa Wheeler says. “The fact that we were able to field a 19-person roster was a success in itself, but seeing the athletes dial in, stay focused and work hard every single point far surpassed my expectations. The future is extremely bright for women’s ultimate in Newfoundland and Labrador!” 

The MUN Seahawks Open team was coached by Michael Walsh and David Whitney-Brown. “I’m incredibly proud of the team’s performance at CUUC. Every player brought their best to the tournament and played with even greater intensity, grit, and spirit than we could have hoped for. In a single-tournament season with limited opportunity for competitive play in preparation, it can be a challenge to build team chemistry. However, the way our athletes gelled and supported each other both on and off the field was impressive, Head Coach Michael Walsh says. “Despite some very close losses and a seeding that saw us match up against a tough team for a second time, the team stayed positive and re-focused after each match allowing us to take a couple of strong victories on day 3.”

Tryouts for both teams happened in August with 34 ultimate players participating at the Open tryouts and 25 ultimate players participating at the Women’s tryouts. 

The teams are made up of MUN, Marine Institute, and College of the North Atlantic students. A number of the players on the Memorial rosters started playing competitive ultimate as part of the Storm program, Newfoundland and Labrador’s junior provincial ultimate team. The Storm program is for athletes between the ages of 14-18. Once graduated from Storm, local athletes can look to build their core ultimate frisbee skills and continue to play competitive ultimate as part of the provincial adult club traveling teams, Regiment (open) and Tempest (women’s). 

Well done and congratulations to MUN Seahawks Women’s and Open Ultimate Teams! The ultimate community has so much respect for the time, training and effort that you put into your season in preparation to go to nationals. We can’t wait to see you improve and improve on your CUUC records.

Here’s a recap of the Women’s teams CUUC results:

Day 1 (Friday Qualifier):

Memorial vs. Western: 3-7

Memorial vs. Regina: 7-8

Day 2 (Division 2):

Memorial vs. Dalhousie: 10-3

Memorial vs. York: 3-9

Memorial vs. Montreal: 2-9

Day 3 (Division 2):

Memorial vs. Laurier: 8-6

Memorial vs. Carleton: 3-10

Here’s a recap of the Open teams CUUC results:

Day 1 (Friday Qualifier):

Memorial vs. Sherbrooke: 7-15

Memorial vs. McMaster: 10-11

Day 2:

Memorial vs. Laval B: 14-13

Memorial vs. Sherbrooke: 5 -13

Memorial vs. Alberta: 11-12

Day 3:

Memorial vs. Trent + OT: 12-13

Memorial vs. Laurier: 10-12

Memorial vs. Algonquin: 13-7