By Liz Coffin-KarlinThe Daily Northwestern

The Northwestern Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team will compete this weekend in the Ultimate Players Association College Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

Gung-Ho, the women’s club ultimate Frisbee team, won first in the region against 11 other teams to receive its national bid.

The team will play Friday and Saturday, with the championships taking place Sunday.

“The butterflies are starting to kick in,” said Weinberg senior Vina Chhaya, one of the team’s three co-captains.

Although the team is seeded last of 16 teams, Gung-Ho beat the University of Illinois, its main rival, at the regional competition after losing to the team during the sectional championships.

Other schools in NU’s region include Ohio University and the universities of Michigan and Notre Dame.

This will be the last national championship for the co-captains, who will graduate at the end of the year.

“I’m excited that my NU ultimate (Frisbee) career will end at nationals,” said co-captain Anna Schaefer, a SESP senior.

Gung-Ho has gone to nationals four times since the team was founded nine years ago. The last time the team made nationals was in 2005, when it placed 11th. Like this year, the team was originally seeded 16th.

“Our goal is to get to the quarterfinals, which means finishing in the top eight,” Schaefer said.

Because the team is seeded so low, however, its first day schedule is extremely difficult. On the first day, they will play Stanford University’s club team, which has won nationals for the last three years.

“I feel like we had a really great season,” Schaefer said. “Yes, I really want to do well this weekend, but I’ll be happy no matter what.”

There are 21 members on the team, including two graduate students.

Although the team plays throughout the year, the tournaments that “count” occur after Spring Break, Schaefer said.

The co-captains said this year they have an extremely strong group of freshman “rookies” who help to make the team strong.

“I think they’re more into it than we were,” Schaefer said. “They’re a solid group of rookies to begin with.”

Weinberg freshman Jessie Robinson said she agreed that this core of freshmen should help move the team forward in the future.

“I think that they’re going to be around all four years and continue to get stronger and better,” she said.

Chhaya said because she and the other co-captains began playing as freshmen, this weekend will be a culmination of their efforts.

“It’ll just be bittersweet this weekend, playing for the last time together,” she said.

Although the team will be away for Dillo Day, several members said they wouldn’t regret it.

“It’ll totally be worth it to go to nationals,” Robinson said.

Reach Liz Coffin-Karlin at [email protected].