Chaos Theory, the women's ultimate Frisbee team, is advancing to nationals for the first time ever after winning the third-ever New England D-III Women's Regionals last weekend, hosted by Williams.
Over the two-day tournament, Chaos Theory went undefeated in seven games, securing one of three bids to the national tournament in Appleton, Wis., on May 19 and 20.
The team outscored its opponents 73-18 in opening round robin play, including a 15-3 victory over Bates followed by a 15-0 shutout against Brandeis. In Sunday's playoff action, Chaos Theory beat Wellesley 15-5 in the semifinal before besting Stonehill by the same score in the championship match.
"Last year, we came in fourth at regionals and lost to Wellesley pretty badly, so it's safe to say we're exponentially better than we've been in the past," said Clare Stansberry '14.
Though the team lost an unsanctioned match over its spring break trip to Savannah, Ga., it has not lost an official game all year.
"It was kind of a realization in the fall that we were a much stronger team than we had been in previous years," Stansberry said. "But we didn't really realize until we really started playing in Savannah just how competitive we were actually going to be this spring."
Leah Wang '12, Sadie Nott '12, Julie Bender '13, and Phoebe Aron '13 anchored the team at regionals.
"Phoebe, especially, catches the disc every single point at least several times, and even though she doesn't score that much she does everything," Stansberry said. "She played every single point of all of our games, and never took a sub."
Two first years, Elizabeth Carew and Sivana Barron, travel with the team, and appointed themselves the "kidneys" last weekend.
"They were like, 'you can survive without one of us but you have to have one of the freshmen,'" said Stansberry. "It bodes really well for the team in the future to have players like that. We need our kidneys."
Having secured the national bid, it is not guaranteed that Chaos Theory will actually compete in nationals—final exams and a lack of funding currently stand in the way—but the athletes are practicing in preparation to compete.
-Compiled by Sam Weyrauch.