2019 Roster
Liz Barnes*
Liz was first introduced to ultimate in her home town, Cleveland, TN, where 10 v 10 pickup games were the norm. She moved to Chattanooga in 2014 to attend UTC. In hopes of finding a women's team, she stumbled upon the men's ultimate booth at a club fair. After a semester of playing with the men's team, Liz decided to revive and captain the UTC Women's Ultimate team (Moxie). She was Moxie's first ever Callahan nominee in 2018 and made the All-Region Second Team. Her club experience includes Nooga by Nature (2015), Encore (2016, 2017) and ‘Shine (2018). She and Colleen Wright captained the inaugural 2018 NightShade team. Liz recently moved to Nashville to immerse herself in the ultimate community. She is honored and ecstatic to captain NightShade in their second season. It may be difficult to spot Liz, due to her imposing 5'1" stature; look for the girl who is always dancing. Liz loves children and wants to hold yours, don't make this weird.
Claire Bidigare-Curtis
Claire grew up east of Columbus, Ohio and was introduced to the sport her Freshman year (2015) of college at Belmont University in Nashville where she ran the women's team (Ursa) for two years. She played with Encore (2017), Spanish Nationals team out of Barcelona while studying abroad there (Spring 2018), and Shine (2018). Outside of #livingultimate she loves producing/mixing music, spending time with her dog @korra1234567 and baking. Heres her shameless plug about the house show series she created in support of women in the music industry called Hen House: Check it out! henhousenash.com.
Lauren Bryant
Lauren played college ultimate at the University of Alabama and now lives in Huntsville, Alabama. She has played a variety of women's and mixed club ultimate for Encore, Gravity, and Method. Outside of ultimate, Lauren enjoys traveling and running with her dog Maddie.
Meaghan Creamer
Meaghan is originally from Syracuse, NY and started playing open ultimate her sophomore year at Providence College in Rhode Island. During Meaghan’s senior year she started and captained the Womens Ultimate team (PC WULTY) which still exists today! In 2016 Meaghan had her first club experience with Providence Mob (2016) and played this past summer with Nashville ‘Shine. She currently plays on the Vanderbilt Women’s team (VUDU) as she is soaking in her final year of eligibility. When Meaghan is not running around she is probably at a concert screaming lyrics she only half knows or in total relaxation with all the candles in her home lit (partial to lavender).
Julianne Louise Crockett
Originally from Omaha Nebraska, Julianne currently lives in Saint Louis where she teaches High School English. She has been playing frisbee since college, and competed at D-III Nationals 5 years in a row with TSUnami from 2011-2016. Juli was awarded the South Central Player of the Year in 2016. Recently, she helped found the Womxn's Ultimate Coalition of Saint Louis and the Saint Louis womxn's club team: Stellar. Outside of ultimate, she reads, writes, rock climbs, runs, coaches cross country and frisbee, and watches Brooklyn Nine-nine with her wonderful husband.
Maggie Dayton
Maggie grew up outside of Nashville, TN, and started playing ultimate in high school. She went on to play frisbee and captain the team at Vanderbilt University. She also got a degree in music education at Vandy and now works in Spring Hill, TN as an elementary music teacher.
Kayla Ferguson
Kayla was introduced to ultimate in 2010 by her husband, Rob, and dove head first into competitive women's ultimate on DeSoto. Over the past 8 years, she has played for and captained Nashville's women's team, Encore, and has recently made an entrance into the world of mixed ultimate with Trash Pandas where she can play with her husband and have her baby, Mila, supporting on the sideline. Outside of playing ultimate, Kayla's life includes co-coaching Vanderbilt's women's team, working as a traffic engineer, raising a future ultimate player, kayaking in the epically long Nashville summers, and spending time with all the family she has supporting her here.
Kelsey Foster
Kelsey is a Knoxville native who recently moved to Nashville for her new role in customer development with Pepsi. Her club frisbee career has consisted of playing for Nooga by Nature, Encore, Steel, and Shine. Kelsey is a competitive athlete who enjoys to play any sport.
Rachael Freedman
Rachael first started playing ultimate her freshman year at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. She graduated with a dual degree in mechanical engineering and business and a minor in product design. After graduating, she moved around the country for her job and played tournaments in 19 states (so far) and is hoping to one day hit all 50! Rachael's club experience includes Charlotte Storm, Pensacola Baywatch, and Nashville Trash Pandas. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to play women's ultimate again and to be part of such an incredible team of people.
Abbey Hewitt
Abbey discovered her love for ultimate frisbee and its incredible community in college at Emory University where she first learned the game. Abbey went on to captain Emory Luna and made all SE region second team in 2013. She also enjoyed 5 USAU national appearances throughout her club career with 4 different club teams. She started her club career with Atlanta’s Bucket (2011, 2012, 2013), and has also played Ozone (2014), D.C.’s Ambiguously Grey (2015), and Texas’s Public Enemy (2016). She moved to Nashville over the summer and is excited to play with a new and amazing ultimate community. In her day job, Abbey is thriving in her new role as a Physician Assistant at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. While frisbee is great, her true love is her 2.5 yr old Australian Shepherd, Oliver.
Julia Hill
Julia "Chucks" Hill was born and raised in Minnesota where she first played (attempted) ultimate at Edina High School in 2009. Although her ultimate career there was short, she got back into it at Saint Louis University and has been playing ever since. She played college for SLU for 5 years and club for 4 years including Snap out of Minneapolis and Chalice out of St Louis which she is excited to be captaining this upcoming 2019 season. She is a physical therapist in St Louis and specializes in cancer rehabilitation, lymphedema and flexible athletes. When not playing ultimate she loves going to the theater, camping, dancing, and being her weird self.
Noel Holmes
In college Noel played, captained and was president of Scorch ultimate at the University of South Carolina. She has played women's and mixed club for the past 5 years. In her spare time, she coaches VUDU (Vanderbilt Women's Ultimate) and helps captain teams for Nashville Ultimate Leagues. Outside of ultimate, she loves traveling home to visit family/friends, going hiking with her pup, playing basketball and soccer, and doing pretty much anything outdoors during the summertime!
Eliza Hutchings
Eliza grew up in Southern Illinois, where she had her first introduction to ultimate frisbee in high school where they played in a swarm of 15 players per team. Her first real season of ultimate was in 2015 when she played for a mixed team called Thoroughbred. Since then, she's played three seasons with the mixed team, Chalice, and was a rostered player on Nightshade in 2018. Eliza works as a school psychologist during the day and enjoys watching the bravo network in her spare time.
Nora Kern
Nora is a Nashville Native who picked up frisbee after college and a lifetime of playing other sports (soccer for ever and then varsity crew in college). While Nora's frisbee career started at Centennial Park pick-up, she has gone on to play mixed club teams in Nashville, including the last 3 with the Nashville Trash Pandas, of which she is currently one of the captains. Apart from Frisbee Nora runs the non-profit Walk Bike Nashville, which is working to make Nashville a better city to get around without a car. She's passionate about transportation advocacy, loves talking local politics, and when not playing frisbee can usually be found on the weekends hiking or biking around the region.
Brielle Marie Le Clear
Brielle started playing frisbee her freshman year at USF in the fall of 2014 and fell in love very quickly. With that love came a thirst to improve her game. She took summer internship opportunities outside of Florida so that she could play in more competitive ultimate communities and grow as a player. Outside of frisbee she likes to do mostly outdoorsy things and pet dogs, lots and lots of dogs.
Mia Letterie
Mia recently moved to Nashville from Seattle, WA. She started playing frisbee in college where she played for the Whitman Sweets. Frisbee quickly became a sport she loves and her main community. Outside of frisbee, Mia loves eating good food, reading, and spending time outdoors!
Sofia Lima
Sofia got into frisbee because Merma played, and she's pretty cool. She is a senior at Vanderbilt University and captains the women's ultimate team there. Sofia made her debut in club ultimate this past summer playing with a Nashville mixed team, 'Shine. When she grows up she want to be a science writer.
Melanie Lindsey
Melanie is from Knoxville, TN and has played ultimate for the past 10 years. She graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2017 with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and works at an experimental nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She played for and captained the UT Women’s Ultimate team and has played for several mixed club teams. She’s the President of Knoxville Ultimate and is especially motivated to improve the opportunities for female ultimate players in Knoxville. Her favorite hobbies are sleeping and eating.
Ginger Price
Ginger was first introduced to ultimate in high school, but this was 15v15 on the outfield of a baseball field and everyone was barefoot (it was a ton of fun). Then in college she found her way onto the open team at UNF from 2010-2013. Throughout her undergrad and after, she played on a plethora of Jacksonville, Tallahassee or Orlando mixed teams (including 1 visit to Club Nationals in 2011 with Jacks on Jill). Ginger moved to Knoxville, TN, last year for grad school to pursue a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. She enjoys hiking and the changes in elevation and SEASONS, compared to her normal beach days at home (Jacksonville Beach, FL).
Allyssa Raspa
Allyssa started off frisbee throwing with friends, and playing community pickup in Cleveland, TN. In 2015, she started going to UTC and has played with Moxie for four years (two of which she captained). Allyssa has played one season on HoneyPot (2018). Outside of frisbee she enjoys cooking and hiking, and various activities with her friends. This will be her first year on a pro team.
Sierra Rimmer
Sierra grew up in Knoxville, TN and attended the University of Tennessee where she was first introduced to ultimate frisbee. Ever since she caught that first disc, she was hooked. Sierra has since played on club and professional teams in the Southeast and is committed to spreading the sport among younger women.
Mariana Rodríguez*
Mariana was introduced to ultimate in the Spring of 2011. Her club experience includes playing for DeSoto, including one Nationals appearance (2011), Old #7, including a second place finish at mixed masters nationals (2018), and 'Shine. Mariana played on the inaugural 2018 NightShade team and is super stoked to be a captain for the 2019 squad. In addition to her love for ultimate, Mariana is passionate about rock climbing, hiking, and all things outdoors. She is originally from Caracas, Venezuela but has called Nashville home for 10 years.
Amy Schlabach*
Amy brings over a decade of ultimate experience to the team. She started playing frisbee during her freshman year at Boston University and captained her junior and senior year. Since then she has planned many youth clinics, tryouts, and tournaments as well as captained her fair share of club teams, including Safari (San Diego) and Encore (Nashville). Outside of ultimate, Amy works in marketing and is passionate about making people laugh, spending time with her husband and baby, and drinking delicious beer. Spending time on both coasts has really taught her when to bring her East Coast perspective and when to use her West Coast vibe. She is stoked for the season and can't wait to show her daughter her professional trading card one day.
Catherine Spencer
Catherine is an incredibly hard working and loyal person, and that drive has helped her to stick to ultimate as well as other aspects of her life. Her work title is an environmental/civil engineer. Although Catherine's actual work is tedious, the job has taken her to new and adventurous places she's never been before, and has introduced her to amazing and exciting individuals.
Nettie Stanfield
Nettie captained the high school Hornets for 3 years and the Unicorns for a single year, placing 9th at Nationals and 1st in state for girls teams that year. Nettie is currently a freshman student and player at Johnson University in Knoxville and studies English. Aside from playing ultimate, she enjoys hanging out with animals, writing, and watching ultimate highlight reels.
Stephanie Wang
Steph started playing ultimate in high school in Baton Rouge, LA. Through those high school years, being one of three women on the team (other 2 were her best friends), she experienced and loved the culture and friendships ultimate has to offer which led her to continue playing in college at Washington University in St. Louis (WUWU). On WUWU, she was recognized with All-Freshman honors in the region, became captain her senior year, and cried when her team surprised nominated her for 2018 Callahan. Her club experience includes playing on the women’s club team Queen Cake (2016) and mixed team Thoroughbred (2017, 2018). Steph lives in St. Louis, MO as a designer with her food-stealing cat, Alfie. When she not on the field, Steph is crafting/diy-ing, disc golfing, and looking for the best food spots.
Colleen Wright*
Colleen grew up in a suburb of Nashville and learned to play ultimate in 2002 from her older brother. She went on to play varsity soccer at Rhodes College before playing DeSoto/Encore for eight seasons, captaining the team to one Nationals appearance. She and Liz Barnes captained the inaugural 2018 NightShade team. Colleen serves as Board Chair for the Nashville Ultimate Machine and team manager for the 2019 NightShade organization. She lives in Nashville with her husband, Jake Wright. In her free time, she loves making homemade bread, wakesurfing, and doing home renovations. Colleen is a fierce competitor who was destined to play ultimate with a maiden name of Callaghan (pronounced Callahan).
Ellen Yu
Ellen has played in both the women’s and open divisions in high school and college, as well as mixed club. Most notably, she played for NC Warhawks (YCC U20) (captained), Triangle Tourists, Toro, and Raleigh Radiance. Ellen is currently a freshman at Vanderbilt University pursuing a biology major. She is from Chapel Hill, NC. Outside of ultimate, she loves making art, knitting, and watching anime.