The NC State women’s club ultimate team, known as Jäga, has had one of its most successful years since 2005. The team, led by senior and captain Ashley Powell, has received a strength bid for nationals already this year, but still needs to win out in the next postseason tournament in order to be guaranteed a spot.
The last time Jäga reached Nationals was in 2005 when they placed fifth.
Powell is a captain of the team and has been playing ultimate since she was a high school student in Chapel Hill. She is unique in that respect though, as most players who join have never played before.
“Ultimate isn’t super widely known, so we really try to focus on recruiting people who’ve never played before,” Powell said. “So you know we do all the fall recruiting events, like UREC recruiting events, Packapalooza, Recfest and we try to get people out and to try something new.”
Ultimate is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States; with over 700 teams in the collegiate division already, it is prime to turn into one of the biggest sports in the near future.
“As the sport grows in the area, and in the youth leagues it helps [with] getting more and more players who know what the sport is,” Powell said. “So I think that’s helped us out a lot recently.”
The club team has a strict practice routine where it meets three times a week for three hours each at Method Road Fields. Coach Eric Martin has been coaching the team for four years and holds the players to a tight regimen, where he focuses heavily on fundamentals and real game scenarios.
“We usually do a mixture of drills that we think will help improve our fundamentals and try to get a lot of scrimmaging in to get the experience,” Powell said.
The season structure is tournament-based with teams usually playing four tournaments in each semester. Tournaments typically last two days, with most being played in the Southeast, usually taking place in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. This makes the local teams all compete against each other often.
“The North Carolina teams are like the big rival schools, like UNC, UNC-Wilmington has got a pretty good team. Duke’s not bad, but I don’t think we have one main rival,” Powell said.
Jäga has performed well this year and currently sit at No. 18 in the DI Women’s division power rankings. Jäga is looking forward to getting to nationals and hopes to achieve the best finish in the 24-year-long history.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to be able to fight for a spot at Nationals,” senior Alix Robbins said. “Especially considering we have the best shot to go than we’ve had in a long time.”
