Warning: This is really long. A lot of good things happened this weekend by so many different people and I don’t want to leave stuff out.
This past weekend was the final tournament of the season in Northfield, Minnesota. It was our last chance to show ourselves and the central what we’d been building on all season. We came into the tournament seeded 6th with 17 players and one gimp on the sideline (me… ::tear::).
Our first game of the day was against Wisconsin Milwaukee. It was a little breezy out so the majority of this game both teams played zone. On defense, Carolyn was playing wing and racked up multiple D’s. On offense we were doing a good job moving the disc - the cutters were completing a lot of continuation throws, especially Kristen who got at least 6 assists in this game alone. Overall we came out much stronger in this game than we tend to in our first game of the day, since we usually start out kind of slow and sloppy. This time everyone was playing intensely from the beginning which really set the tone for the rest of the tournament.
15-3 Saucy over Wisconsin Milwaukee
On a sad side note, unfortunately during this game Alli sprained her knee after catching a disc off of an incut so we were now at 2 saucies down and 16 to go.
Next we played Wisconsin Eau Claire, who we’d only played once previously at that one shitty weather tournament. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect, although we knew they’d be good. In this game I thought Chelsea’s defense really shined- she got multiple handblocks (as usual… that girl has a hellaz good mark) and had some other good Ds as well. Bekah also played very well this game, and went after everything as usual. We did a good job working through their zone and got a few upwind points, but other times we seemed to have a little trouble putting it away (generally because Robyn seemed to sneak out of nowhere and D something… so I guess I’m kind of okay with that in a way haha). This was a really exciting game to watch, there were a lot of long points and sick plays by both teams. In the end Sol won in soft-cap but it was a hard fought game by both teams.
10-7 Wisconsin Eau Claire over Saucy
The third game of the day was against Wisconsin B. At the beginning Saucy seemed a little tired from the long game against Eau Claire and wasn’t playing as cleanly or aggressively as in all the other games of the weekend. Also Atropa was really planning pretty well… it’s neat to see a women’s B-team that can play on the same level as a lot of other college teams. Ultimately though, Saucy started to pick it up. Dre put up a lot of good hucks in this game. Katie played defense really well and caught her first Callahan. In the end the game resulted in a win by Saucy.
15-7 Saucy over Wisconsin B
Our final game on Saturday was against Marquette. Our cutters were getting a little tired by this game, and therefore Megan cut some points instead of handling. Megan also had multiple run from behind Ds, which are sweet obvs. Justine did a good job handling in this game, getting a few assists and snagged a tricky grab in the endzone for a score. People also were really throwing themselves on the ground this game – Bekah caught at least one awesome layout and Audrey had her first layout D.
15-5 Saucy over Marquette
Breaktime = Pizza om nom nom + INOB/flutterguts in pool + studying for finals AHHH + creepy lovedolls + sleep. Also Alli won the snuggie!! She has been such a dedicated member of Saucy and always wants to work hard to make herself and her teammates better. It was a real bummer to see her get injured in the first game of the day since it was her last tournament with Saucy and she is one of our more experienced cutters. We love Alli Patch.
The next day Jen decided she couldn’t play on a stress fracture… wtf?!?! (well actually she thought she “had a few points” in her but really she couldn’t even walk and is now in a boot… she’s Boot Jr!) . So we were now at 3 Saucies down, 15 to go.
The first game of the morning was against Iowa State University (of Science and Technology). ISU has been our primary competitor all year since we played them more than any other team - this was our 7th game against them. From the six previous games (2 wins, 4 losses) we knew we were capable of beating them, but it would definitely be a hard-fought game. Saucy was very in it and solid this game. All the girls on the field were giving it everything they had and all the girls on the sideline were yelling their lungs out. We had a little difficulty in this game avoiding poach defense (especially from Jazz) and could have used the breakside a little more, but overall we were getting done what we needed to do. Chelsea T was awesome on defense… ie that one time she got a layout D from behind on an incut. KP was also really good on defense, she got at least one handblock, and made very few mistakes on offense (in this game I really noticed how consistent of a player KP is… if she wants a disc to go somewhere it gets there about 97% of the time). Liza also played her best all season in this game. She had very few drops (if any… I don’t remember but she definitely didn’t look like a rookie), was very involved on offense and defense, and scored the game winning point.
13-10 Saucy over Iowa State
After beating ISU, we were still in the second place bracket and got another chance to play Wisconsin Eau Claire. For this game we had observers, which was a neat experience for us since we’d never had them before. Surprisingly, we didn’t go offsides at all!! Anyway… on this day there was more man defense than in the game against them the previous day. There were some really good layouts by Katie and Bekah in this game (I was so sad when Bekah’s layout D was caught because it looked real good) , and I also have to hand it to that one Sol girl for her toe-the-line layout… that was impressive. Audrey and Kristen also looked especially good on offense in this game. Kristen somehow just manages to always keep going and going and going… plus she holds onto EVERYTHING even though she falls more than anyone haha. Audrey had some really good grabs and skies in this game, she’s become such a good tool twin and I’m sure her mentor is proud. In the end Sol won this game, ending our time at regionals with a 4th place finish.
14-10 Wisconsin Eau Claire over Saucy
Overall we were very happy with how this weekend went. It was sad that the season was over, but we ended it on such a high note. Every single person on Saucy peaked at this tournament, the most important tournament of the season (okay well except for maybe me and Alli and Jen haha… not funny… real sad). Cutters that had previously been unsure of their throws were completing upfield passes. Girls like Michelle and Sarah A who had struggled with laying out all season but were determined to do so, did it well multiple times at this tournament when it mattered most. Our younger handlers, like Justine and Carolyn, played with confidence and had numerous assists. And our most experienced players gave it their all and never seemed to get tired. Given how well everyone played this weekend, there was very little not to be happy about. It was such a good end to an awesome year.
-Alyx
No comments:
Post a Comment