ZooDisc’s next step toward the ultimate goal of an Ultimate National Championship will come on familiar sod.
The UMass men’s ultimate team, which is ranked No. 1 nationally, will be the top seed at the New England Regionals, Saturday and Sunday, held at the Lower Boyden Fields in Amherst.
The event, which features the top 16 men’s and top 12 women’s teams in New England, is free for spectators. UMass is expecting a large contingent of the club’s alumni as well as local high school players to attend.
The UMass men (20-2) are attempting to earn one of the event’s two bids to the Division I national tournament, May 27-30 in Raleigh, North Carolina. UMass has reached the national tournament each of the last two seasons.
Northampton High School boys assistant coach Jeff Babbitt is ZooDisc’s top player and a candidate for the Callahan Award, which honors the national player of the year.
UMass opens Pool A play, Saturday at 9 a.m. against No. 10 seed Boston College, and will face No. 15 Vermont B (11 a.m.), and No. 8 Dartmouth (1 p.m.) before potentially advancing to bracket play.
The champion of each of the four pools advances to bracket play. The semifinals are Saturday at 3 p.m. and the finals are Sunday at 1 p.m. Bracket action will happen rain or shine.
No. 10 Harvard, the second seed in the tournament, is the next highest ranked team in the region.
Women’s play begins at 9 a.m. Saturday.
UMass is the No. 9 seed and will open in Pool A vs. No. 3 Tufts, Saturday at 11 a.m. UMass also plays No. 8 MIT (1 p.m.), No. 6 Middlebury (3 p.m.) and No. 1 Vermont (Sunday 9 a.m.).
The top four teams from each of the two pools begin single elimination bracket play Sunday at 11 a.m.
Dartmouth is the fourth seed in Pool B and is led by Amherst native Angela Zhu.
The champion earns a bid to the national championships in Raleigh, May 27-30.
The Amherst College men’s team, which goes by Army of Darkness, is the No. 8 seed at the New England Tournament in Smithfield, Rhode Island.
The top two teams (out of 12) earn bids to the Division III championships, May 21-22 in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Amherst is the No. 7 seed in the women’s regional tournament at Williams College. Mount Holyoke is in the field as the No. 2 seed and Smith College is the No. 8.
The top four teams earn bids to the Division III championships, in Winston-Salem.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com.