Midwest Mayhem

Since I have trouble studying as is with Ultimate on my mind constantly, I decided to channel my thoughts positively into writing WS's Regionals Recap.

FRIDAY - With much anticipation on whether or not Regionals was even happening yet, Woman Scorned debated throwing a party Friday night to possibly mimic the same fiasco that went down for Sectionals/Conference/whatever it's called now. With ISU's unique academic calendar, whether or not Regionals happened as planned made a big difference on how much time the kids had to study for the upcoming week of Finals. So basically, everybody was on edge. However, decisions were finally made and Central Regionals had successfully been moved to Middleton, Wisconsin. To Wisconsin Woman Scorned went.

At the amazingly nice Country Inn & Suites the team stayed at...hair was dyed, did and doned. The ladies went to bed with anxious hearts and colored hair, ready for anything that tomorrow had to bring them.

SATURDAY - Upon arriving at the "fields", teams warmed up to what appeared to be the backyards of a residential complex. A bit confused and chilled by the strong wind that swept through, teams got ready for the day. Want to know how strong that wind was on Saturday? Enough to knock a front tooth out of an Eau Claire lady (props Estelle). Oh yeah Midwest weather. Woman Scorned's schedule for the day was Minnesota, Luther and Eau Claire.

Minnesota

The Ninjas were ready to come out and play us especially after the fired up game at Sectionals. With similar weather conditions, the Regionals game could've gone either way. Unlike Sectionals, Regionals' games were heavily dictated by who won the flip since upwind points were both draining and difficult when playing against teams that could punt. Despite their high release backhands from their powerhouses DePalma and Andrea, and fast cutters, WS was able to clamp down on defense (for once) for the win.

13-4 W

Luther

Rumor has it that Freya's been wanting to beat us Woman Scorned ladies for a while now and any bystander could definitely tell that Luther wanted every point from us. The wind had picked up and the points were longer as each team tried to battle each other out for their respective upwind scores. Speed-demon Kristin Schultz and steady handles Courtney Greenley kept their offense flowing but WS kept their throws low and their patience on end for another win of the day.

15-8 W

Eau Claire

We haven't played this team all Spring semester which is odd for being Sister Teams (whatever it's called), we were a bit on edge as to what kind of offense and defense to expect from the made-over team. Many familiar faces graced the team but there were also many new faces, all of them extremely talented. The wind definitely dictated this game with a harsh up and down-wind and since Scorned lost the flip, getting an upwinder was crucial. Also, since WS beat Luther and Luther beat Eau Claire we needed to win to keep our #1 seed in the pool...if not, we would have a 3-way tie and a whole bunch of stuff would've gone down after that. The game started off with immense intensity as WS made it up-wind all the way to the endzone line at least 10 times. No joke, it was a 30 minute point. We didn't win the point despite our patient and carefully calculated passes and multiple upwinder points after that followed suit. Our frustration started to show as point after point we got denied by simple dumb mistakes. But understanding the importance of getting an upwinder hit our team all at the same time and we finally scored an up-winder, giving us the lead (7-6). After that, it was a calm and collected down-winder and with the impending soft/hard cap we were able to seal the deal.

8-7 W

After ending the day with an intense game, Scorned went back to the hotel and passed out. Ice baths were taken accordingly.

Compare and contrast time...there's one (painful) difference between these two pictures...can you tell what it is?

SUNDAY - Since we kept our first seed, we went straight into semis against Carleton the next day. We played at new fields (IM fields) and although the sun was shining the wind was chilly like none other.

Carleton

Yet another team we hadn't seen at all this Spring semester, we've always known that Syzygy is a team that no one should take for granted. Being our first opportunity to qualify for Nationals, WS went into the game with the mindset to win and never lose sight of Boulder. However, Carleton came out strong with their smart handlers Snyder and Reed and their surprisingly tall receivers. WS has always been slow and groggy on Sunday mornings but it was still a hard hit to lose to Carleton.

3-11 L

Eau Claire

I've always felt that Midwest Women's teams have always held grudges, especially when they get the chance to play a team they loss to just the day before. We knew that Eau Claire was going to come out hard but we took the Carleotn loss hard and managed to stay focused. Solid handlers Gartner, Iansa and Jess broke mark after mark to the wide-open cutters on the break-side of their vertical stack. Desperate hucks were also caught by their youngings and road runner Melissa Jordan and although the wind wasn't as strong as Saturday, it was still present enough to impact our game. I personally took the Carleton loss hard especially as a sideline observer so I taped the shit out of my ankle and hopped into the Eau Claire game all fired up. I had sprained my ankle in the MN game the previous day and thought I was done for the weekend but after RICEing as much as I could, I called it good enough to play. We played shut-down defense and were able to wrap up the game for the first win of the day.

9-4 W

Wisconsin

This game meant a lot more to Woman Scorned than people probably knew. This game was our last chance to qualify to Nationals. Woman Scorned has never beaten Bella Donna in WS history. Bella Donna has always (as far back as my college knowledge extends) qualified for Nationals, even getting as close as semis last year. Tempers were flared during this game but that's to be expected especially when you're putting National qualification on the line. That said, some amazing offensive and defensive plays were also made. Handler enthusiast McCain (from what I heard through the grapevine) was nursing a similar ankle sprain to mine although much more recently (the game before against MN...damn those Ninjas, too darn fast) and had sat out the first few points of our game but eventually hopped into the game after WS started the game with a KAPOW! And by KAPOW! I mean, getting an up-winder right off the bat bringing the score to 2-1. Closely followed was an efficient transition from defense to offense and a down-wind score, 3-1. Bella scores a down-wind but we catch them high in the stall-count near their endzone and we convert another point, 4-2. Similar plays follow and Bella takes a time-out, 6-3. WS's feeling good. So good we stayed fired up after the time-out and score again, 7-3. A quick score by Bella forced us into a time-out to make sure to keep our heads in the game, 7-4. Losing our groove, we stumble through the next few points, layout D's coming from both teams, Bella takes half, 7-8. Heads were low at our dumbness to think that the game was in the bag far too early in the game. But then something magical happened. A light switch flicked on. The same thought traveled through all of our minds..."We are going to win this game. We can beat Bella Donna. We, Woman Scorned, are going to Nationals." We came out of half-time down but with our heads up. The next few points were riddled with turnovers, iffy calls and some sick tenacious D. Before we even knew it, it was game.

11-8 W

Personally, it hasn't hit me yet. Maybe it's because all along, before even the first point was played at Regionals, I knew we were going to Nationals. Not saying that our competition was going to be easy (it was anything but) but I knew that WS always had the potential (PE = mgh...got a Physics final later today.) Or maybe it's because of the lack of sleep from Finals week. I really don't know. But I know that the next 3 weeks of training and practicing with my team is going to be just great. Nothing's going to bring me down.

My fellow team mate Britt asked me at a gas station stop (that everybody seemed to have rendezvoused at...WS cars, ISUC, Nebraska, Carleton, even Lana's HS basketball coach), how it felt to catch the winning point both times to the game that qualified us for Nationals. And I honestly responded "Oh, I didn't even think about that." And nobody should think about it that way. It's not about the winning point (whether it be a desperate hammer to the far end of the endzone) or a Callahan (ok that'd be cool) but about the combined team effort. It's about how every one of my ladies was either playing their hearts out on the field or yelling their voice hoarse on the sidelines. To me, every one of my team mates caught that winning point.

Congrats to Saucy, IHUC and LUFDA...see ya'll in Boulder.

Thanks for all the WS alum, ISUCers and other fans that supported us this weekend. And as always, a shout out to our amazing coaches Lana, Kevin and Memo.

Mag #08

The painful difference? A fallen soldier.