Iowa City Scrimmage Recap

Although snow is on the ground in most of the Midwest, college ultimate is far from slowing down. This past weekend, we were privileged to attend a scrimmage located in Iowa City, hosted by Saucy Nancy. At this scrimmage, the top five teams in the North Central region last spring competed and got a little preview of what each other had to bring to the ultimate scene this spring.

Woman Scorned made the travel Friday evening and was kindly welcomed into the home of the Panther’s. Mr. & Mrs. Panther made us a delicious lasagna dinner for us, and the team relaxed watching movies and working on homework at the kitchen table. Mag found her kryptonite in the form of a cat named Jovi and almost died of an allergy attack before she was rescued by Mikey late in the evening. Special and Becca sent each other love texts and pictures or hearts, and Kaira cried out of joy and excitement while watching “Moulin Rouge.”

Game 1: Syzygy

Saturday morning meant game time. Scorned came out strong against Syzygy from Carleton College. Having the opportunity just to cleat up was enough to pump us up. Scorned’s sidelines were electrifying and Scorned took half in a very close game. As we tried out different combinations of lines, Syzygy fought back and the game ended in with a close victory for Carleton. Although we didn’t pull out the win, Scorned was looking good from many angles. There were D’s all over the field, insane throws, and contagious layouts. Syzygy’s lineup looked tough and they played with flow and consistency. They have height, speed, and experience that is hard to match, and Scorned is looking forward to the next match up with them!

Game 2: Bella Donna

Next up was University of Wisconsin’s Belle Donna. Although Scorned was amped from the first game, we lost our energy quickly. Bella came out ready in their first game of the day and took control right away. Scorned struggled to adjust our defense, and we were unable to effectively shut them down. Although the score was not impressive on our part, individuals stepped up in their roles and improvement was obvious. Bella lost a large part of their roster from last season, but they are still a strong, experienced force to be reckoned with. The experience of their veterans and the athleticism of their rookies, show the depth of their program despite their smaller roster.

Game 3. Saucy Nancy

Scorned ended the day with our third game against University of Iowa’s Saucy Nancy. Both teams came out fighting for the score, and the intensity of the game was high as it always is when our two teams meet up. In the past couple years, this friendly rivalry has been building stronger and stronger. With many friendships between team members, both teams having coaches who play on CLX, and a tendency of playing each other often, this rivalry has pushed both programs to improve. Both teams are familiar with each others strengths and weaknesses, the match ups were well thought through and sick plays were made all over the field. This will not be the last match up for us this spring, and Scorned looks forward to the next chance to play these ladies.

After games, Scorned hit up B-W’s and Pancheros for some food time. Daisy showed true samaritanship (definitely not a word) when she helped a visually impaired man find the mall. Karma came right back around and she got a free burrito for dinner! Scorned then came back to The Bubble and cheered on ISUC while they played their games.

Eventually we made it back to the Panther household for some much needed chill time. Some people did homework like good students, while many of us tested the proven theory of “teams that touch more, play better together.” The massage train went down while we watched “Bend It Like Beckham” in the basement. The night ended pretty well with some Central Region team bonding and singing of some great 90’s music, while Cami and Sam racked up quite a few rookie points.

Game 4: SOL

Sunday morning provided us with a chance to match up against one of our favorite teams, SOL! Although Scorned took a little bit of time to shake off the sleepy, we pulled together and grabbed a victory. This was the game when we really started to get into our groove and figure out what changes needed to be made, both individually and as a team. Caitlin “Monster” Bosco had the breakthrough game of her life with about 100 amazing layouts. Probably the coolest play of the game was a risky huck to Bosco in the end zone which was D’d by SOL but Bosco made an insane layout grab for the score! It was awesome, trust me. SOL played a great game and proved that they are ready to hang with any team that comes up against them.

Game 5: Bella Donna

Game two of Sunday meant a rematch with Bella Donna. We were ready to prove that we were better than we had performed on Saturday, and that we did. Scorned came out hard and the intensity on the field and sidelines was amazing. Scorned cleaned up our game and made the changes that we needed from the whole weekend. Each person put it all out on the line, which meant great layouts, big D’s, defiant team defense, and beautiful offensive flow. A chilly offense and strong handler defense made the difference in this game. Scorned took half but Bella took the victory in a very close game (universe point I think?). Bella still played hard as always and had some great plays too. We are looking forward to running into this match up again at MWTD, Easterns, or Centex hopefully before regionals.

Game 6: Saucy Nancy (Rookie Game)

The final game of the weekend was by far the best. Scorned was scheduled to meet up with Saucy, but the genius captains of both teams decided to finish off with a rookie game! Rookie had a rough definition and Scorned had about 9 girls ranging from 1 week of Woman Scorned to about a 1 year. While the game started out a little shaky, Scorned caught our flow very quickly. The vets hung on the sidelines supporting the rooks with advice, heckles, and cheers. We were not let down one bit, and our hearts swelled up with pride as the girls rocked the game with intense defense, big hucks, great grabs, and even several layouts! The game was slightly terrifying to see how much potential these girls have and know how it won’t be long until they will be schooling us on the field.

Overall, the weekend was pretty phenomenal. Scorned had a great time, and we would like to extend a big thanks to Saucy for hosting the scrimmage and inviting us to play. As far as the preview of the North Central Region, look out! These were only five of the teams that North Central has to offer, but there are likely to be other teams ready to make some noise this Spring. Luther, Minnesota, and many others are working hard and will no doubt be ready to bring some competition to the fields. Growth is evident and teams are obviously pushing to contend with the rest of the nation. It’s going to be a great Spring, so get ready!

ps. Highlight video coming soon.