No Wisconsequences 09: Make 'Em Say "Uhhhh, Na-na na na"

On Friday night, everyone piles into Jess Haller's house...and by pile, I mean sprawled with room to spare. SOL brought a decent sized team, however was very short on handlers, with Iansa Zaldarriaga, Ashley Steiner, and Amy Brown M.I.A. on the weekend. But it was cool that our coach, Pat Niles, was coming down to help us out.

SATURDAY-POOL PLAY
We went into the weekend seeded 6th, which meant power pools. We knew we'd have a tough schedule and came out fired and ready to go.

Game 1 vs. Iowa State Women Scorned
ISU came out equally as fired up, as SOL and the Women Scorned played hard-fought points, trading possessions and playing extremely aggressively. ISU's roster is full of athletic, aggressive, intense players. The Women Scorned are always pushing us to our limits and making us have to dig deep and work hard for every single point. No point is a given. SOL was able to get two break points in the game, and came out on top 1 But what I really love about playing them, is that at the end of a game, it's all smiles. These girls are genuinely nice people and love working hard too...and that every time we play eachother we know it was a good hard, fought game. And I am trying to avoid being tabletopped by Christine Rosen so hard...she's a sneaky sneaky girl. But, alas, I am on the lookout, at least most of the time.

Game 2 vs. Michigan Flywheel
Flywheel, perennial nationals qualifier from the Great Lakes, was seeded first in our power pool. However, they were notably missing some clutch veteran players, and brought a team of new players. We came out hard. Off of the first pull, the disc was centered to me, and Anna Hettler blew past her girl for a huck-score. SOL pulled, got a D, and a break. We went up 2-0. Michigan got its first point of the game to make it 3-1. SOL controlled the tempo of the game, working up and down the field. Many of our newer players were playing a lot of points. Our offense looked great, aside from some drops. We pulled out ahead 12-7.

Bye Round
Anna put on Neil's pig suit and frolicked around. She even warmed up in it for our next round.

Game 3 vs. Wisconsin Atropa
SOL came out on fire. We played some sick zone-D against a small, and notably vet-missing Atropa. Our cup kept the disc within 20 yards of the endzone most of the time, allowing us to set up some good iso-match ups for scores. Hannah Glader played some good zone D, helping out and filling spots on the wing. She even booked it deep to help me out after I missed a D and got a D against Renee (who is much taller than her). Great effort and intensity was radiating from every member of SOL who won the game 13-1. After the game, one of the most eppic games of ultimate ninja ensued between members of Atropa and SOL. Renee was loving the new game. We divided the huge group in two, and the top-five of each circle came together for a battle royale. It was me vs. Tracie Anderson in a vegetable walk off to "spinach." I am pretty sure that Tracie came out on top. At least, I voted for her. I'm not exactly sure how to personify spinach accurately.

Game 4 vs. Northwestern Gung-Ho
Northwestern has some good handlers, and a few cutters with some co-ed club experience with the team NURD (which SOLmates Jess Haller and Beth Wright have played for too). We came zone on them and shut down their offense quite effectively. Anna Hettler had FOUR handblocks in that game, including a handblock for a 3/4-field huck score (let's face it, after how sick that handblock was, I was making sure she was scoring). I mean, that handblock literally landed on the throwers foot. It was ridiculous. SOL came out on top 13-3.

SATURDAY NIGHT-Tournament Party
SOL attended the tourney party and once again had a ton of fun. A massive game of Ultimate Ninja ensued with Tracie Anderson dominating everyone. Martha Harris won the SOL-started limbo for the second year in a row. The girl from Winona took second again, Pat Niles took third with a pulled hip-flexor, and two other guys took fourth and fifth. Pat and I lost in the championship game of the Cornhole tournament to two pros from Luther. But I did win a sweet Patagonia jacket from the raffle. That would make me a winner of a sweet prize two years in a row! Estelle, Beth, and Kathleen made off with a crap ton of pizza and garlic bread at the end of the night. Probably making them the biggest winner of the evening.

SUNDAY-Bracket Play
Because we won the power pool, we got a first round bye...automatically qualifying for quarters.

Round 1 (Quarters) vs. Valpo Chicks Hucking Discs
Valpo came off of a pre-quarters win against Illinois, and was looking good. Their handlers moved the disc well, getting some breaks off early. SOL and CHD traded points early. However, it was SOL that was able to put on the burners and outlast in the long points.

Round 2 (Semis) vs. Northwestern Gung-Ho
We faced Northwestern again, but it was a much different game than on Saturday afternoon. Northwestern used their handlers a lot more to work the disc, rather than relying on their cutters. As a result, Northwestern went up 2-0. We knew that we had to switch our game plan and put a lot more pressure on their handlers. Making some defensive changes, we were able to turn the game around and come out on top. Our newbs starting to confidently make pick and foul calls, helped keep the game from getting too out of hand. This was our first observed game of the season, and our new girls reacted well.

Round 3 (Championship Game) vs. Wisconsin Bella Donna
I love playing the Bellas. They push us so hard and we get better every single point. It was especially exciting since their line up included Georgia Bosscher, Sandy Jorgenson, and Emelie McKain this time in addition to their strong players we faced at Hucktoberfest like Jenny Gaynor, Jenny Koll, and Laura Bitterman. We were without co-captain Anna Hettler who had gotten food poisoning on Saturday night, club player Martha Harris (who still has mono), Moria Farrell, Nicole Schlicting, and Iansa Zaldarriaga. We were down to five handlers for this game. It would be at test of SOL endurance and solid decision making. The Bellas came out intense from the first pull. SOL confidently, and patiently worked the disc up for the first score to Brit Gartner, open in the endzone. Brit played extremely well. She was, however hurt early in the second half and sat the rest of the game out...bringing our handler count down to four. We initially started out in a zone D, but the Bella handlers ate through it. After we made a late switch to man, we were able to better challenge points. Offensively, I was impressed with the way our handlers were able to swing and get past the Bella zone (it reminds me of a match zone I once played in basketball...). I think that Tracie Anderson proved again that she has some of the best hands around, out reading players like it was her job and making sick grab after sick grab on some shady hucks. Heather Wroten picked up her defense, getting some huge Ds in the air. Notably, Emy Marier in her second tournament ever, improved her shut-down defense. The Bellas made an offensive switch, choosing to run a side-stack iso-ing Laura Bitterman, which proved to be very effective, as SOL's legs were running out of gas after playing with relatively low numbers, especially the handlers. We still were able to force some turns and hasty decisions...but were unable to connect in the endzone. We were unable to pull it out and lost 13-8.

One of the things that I'm really happy about is how our new players adjusted in the championship game when the intensity was turned up. Cutters were making great cuts, getting open by timing cuts well. Eventually, the catches and throws will come with more repetitions. It's the things, like seeing the field, that are difficult to teach, and were done quite well by many of our newer players. I think that the newbs responded by increasing their defensive intensity. We haven't gone into depth about man coverage, and Pat and I both commented on the way home how impressed we were with the shut-down match-ups that were created for many posessions. I am quite pleased with the way we played, and am for sure looking forward to taking the Bellas on with a full roster.

What a great weekend. I think the highlight of the trip was at Panera after our game. Kathleen Nottingham made me laugh quite hard, and I'm not sure she quite intended on it. Such a great time. Looking forward to seeing more of her as her orchestra duties unwind a bit.

Great job this weekend. I think it was better than the homecoming that I missed...again, for ultimate.

EC Chillout split squads next weekend...fun fun!