DC SHADOW - MARCH 28TH, 2024
Opening Game Preview: DC Shadow at Raleigh Radiance (April 6th, Away Game)
DC Shadow begins their 2024 season on the road in North Carolina against 2023 PUL champions, Raleigh Radiance (full roster here). Last year, Shadow and Radiance traded victories as Shadow won the matchup on June 3 (15-12), but lost to Radiance in the PUL Championship semi-final (12-15). Radiance adds to its 2024 roster three experienced players in Lindsay Soo, Jenny Wei and Tyler Smith. Radiance is known for its core players building chemistry by playing together at the college, club and PUL levels. Shadow built chemistry of its own recently and will be looking to continue the success they had against Radiance players at the 2023 Club National Championships. A tough match at the start of the season will be a testing ground for both teams to demonstrate who has developed the most chemistry in the preseason and can address any early challenges.
While the team will be away, we hope you might join the DC Shadow community for a game watch party at Tight Five Pub! We hope to see you there and at our home opener on April 13 against Nashville Nightshade!
Invitation to our DC Shadow Watch Party at the Tight Five Pub in Adams Morgan Northwest DC from 5:00PM - 7:30PM EST
Design Reveal: DC Shadow Light Jerseys
The 2024 Premier Ultimate League season is almost underway! Tayara Romero Peña once again is here to give us an insider perspective into the creative process that she goes through to provide our organization with a brand new light jersey look. Tayara says more about the creative process:
“When it comes time to design any jersey, it’s like the night before tournament for me. What I mean by that is the jersey design process is so complex and comes down to relying and trusting the work and practice I’ve put in to show the results now when it matters the most.
For me- especially this time around, it was a bit frustrating. Having undergone rough emotional and physical circumstances with my rehabilitation process from my ACL and meniscus tear over the past 9 months, I have had the pleasure to add beautiful and great new experiences from opportunities my communities was able to present to me. However, with not being able to participate in the sport I have dedicated myself to since I was a kid, I was left struggling to stop myself from feeling resentment because I was still active in the Ultimate community, but only as a creative at the time. This led me down the path where I am today, now, extremely proud, and triumphant of my recovery and finding more peace in all parts of my identity besides simply competing.
With our Shadow branding, some could say ‘there is not much you can do’ with it since we mainly have a black to white gradient color palette, but that is where they very clearly are not me. The neat trick with the Shadow branding is playing around with the concept of ‘negative space'. What that means is playing around the empty area around the subject/design element, rather than being solely fixated on the element itself. It allows for different panes of perspective for our jersey design while at the same time, you get to make some more complex design elements and still not have the jersey look super cramped or busy.
I wanted our light jersey to be allude more to our iconic dark jersey. So here we go: Our sponsor, league, and team logos are in the same place as our dark. The only difference in ‘logo elements’ compared to the dark, is the lack of the DC flag at the back neck area on the white and this is very much on purpose. We now have a brand new sleeve element, where we have some framing of our shoulders with a black lined box which leads us to a respectively proportioned DC flag at the ends of the sleeves. Down the side seams of our new light jersey, we will have two black bars with 3 white lined stars in each, again, giving an allusion to our DC flag, but with the stars intertwining with the bar element and so that the jersey structurally isn’t too busy on the front or back. It would be redundant to have the classic DC flag at the back neck area with the many allusions to it around the jersey, but to give the notion that our DC communities envelop or is intertwined with every athlete part of the DC Shadow organization. And finally, our ‘Washington DC SHADOW’ front chest element, with an emphasis on ‘SHADOW’ with a black bar streaking through, but which also connects our side seam bars + stars elements.
I am always still a bit suspicious with how it will come out in real life, because with many lessons, I’ve learned to not 100% trust mockups. But, I also know who and what type of creative I am, so I’m very excited to see our 2024 squad put on these new threads to hopefully bring it home at last. You can grab one of our iconic looks with a limited supply provided at our home games! or you can always purchase and order one from our DC Shadow VC Ultimate Team Store, any second any day :)!” - Tayara Romero Peña
Team News You Need to Know
DC Shadow would like to congratulate Margaret Walker and Jackie Wang for being named the 2024 team captains!
“I'm excited to captain with Marge this season! I aim to ensure that this season is an enjoyable experience for all as we are bringing together the top players from various communities together to win a PUL championship. By elevating the voice of the players and working with our coaching and ownership team, we want to show the division that the DC community is prepared to win it all.” - Jackie Wang, DC Shadow Captain
In two pre-season roster moves, DC Shadow Head Coach promoted Florence Brooks to the full roster from the practice squad. In addition, he added Tayara Romero Peña, who continues her recovery from an ACL injury, to the practice squad. Congratulations Flo and Tayara!
Pictured above [Left to Right]: Margaret Walker, Jackie Wang, Florence Brooks, and Tayara Romero Peña
Three DC Shadow Players Make Team USA WUC Roster
Kami Groom, Caroline Tornquist, and Claire Trop will represent Team USA in the women’s division of the 2024 World Ultimate Championships. It is a return to the US National Team for Groom nd Trop and a first-time selection for Tornquist. Of the 558 applicants for the national team only 72 made one of the three teams (Open, Mixed and Women) competing down under. The World Ultimate Championships will be held August 31st through September 7th at the Runaway Bay Sports Precinct in Gold Coast, Australia.
Sponsor Spotlight: Dew Drop Inn
DC Shadow is pleased to announce that the Dew Drop Inn is returning in 2024 as a team sponsor. The Dew Drop, located at 2801 8th St. NE, will host an after-party following each DC Shadow home game. We hope to see you there.
Volunteer with the DC Shadow!
We need you to help us put on some great events! Our home games on April 13 (Nashville Nightshade), May 4 (Raleigh Radiance), and June 1 (Austin Torch) will require a lot of help and we’re looking for great people to help. Fill out this interest form and help out a great team, learn what it’s like behind the scenes, and get free admission to the games that you volunteer at.
DC Shadow Tickets on Sale Now!
We hope to see you at all three of the DC Shadow home games on April 13 (Nashville Nightshade), May 4 (Raleigh Radiance), and June 1 (Austin Torch). You can save 20% if you buy a season pass! Single tickets and group rates are also available.
