Ladies Centex 2012

In 2009 Woman Scorned qualified for UPA College Nationals for the first time. We took the wildcard bid in the first year that the tournament was expanded to a 20 team format, and we placed tied for 15^th in the nation. After turning a few more heads and putting our name on the radar, a few more doors opened for our team in 2010. One of these doors came in the form of an invite to College Women’s Centex in Austin, TX.

In 2010, we entered as the 15^th seed and held seed winning only our cross over game that year and double forfeiting our last game to Ottawa for travel reasons. This first Centex really provided our team with an introduction to high level ultimate tournaments. In 2011, we started the tournament with a seeding which put us in division 2. This allowed us to play several other challenging teams and have the opportunity to win our cross over and break seed finishing 15^th at the tournament once again.

This year, Scorned once again made the 15ish hour trip to Austin to compete in the College Women’s Centex tournament. Coming into the tournament seeded 4^th, we had the opportunity to match up against 3 competitors we had not seen yet this spring season.

Cars arrived in Austin in shifts all safely and thankfully in time for games. Scorned was lucky enough to stay with THE CHAD LARSON (the legend, not the team.) Unfortunately, we were cut down to only 16 of our 21 person roster due to a variety of conflicts, but the team was held together from all sources via text, twitter, and in WS spirit. Friday night, the first cars of ladies hit up the field site for free pizza, games, and ultimate fun with other teams who had arrived early for the "Centex Mixer." The night ended early for some, while the late cars showed up at various times throughout the night.

Saturday morning finally came and the late start to games was a blessing for our team who were all feeling the pain of driving 16 hours to get there. We took the fields a whopping hour and a half early, which allowed us plenty of time to warm up and prepare for game one. Virginia Hydra was our first game of the tournament and they were definitely ready to give us some competition both on the field and on the sidelines (one of the only teams to challenge WS's cheering abilities at the tournament-and of course Flywheel). The first points of the game were fought hard with both teams keeping it close, but Scorned pulled away a bit to take half 8-4. With a clever suggestion from Annihka, Cami put “Meet Virginia” on Boomy at half and we attempted to serenade them from across the field. Coming out of half, Scorned let silly mistakes and less than ideal decisions allow Hydra to capitalize and bring the score up to 12s on universe point. After taking a breath and having Coach K/Dad remind us how we play ultimate best, we did our thing and were able to take the game point for the first win of the tournament.

Woman Scorned over University of Virginia Hydra 13-12

Our next game was versus regional match up Carleton College. These girls have the height and intensity to make any team intimidated, but we held our average of 5’4” line with pride and came out hard. Scorned was able to take the first few points before Syzygy answered back. Points were traded for a while, but we took half once again at 8-4. After some time in the shade and Coach Lana teaching us how to kill a mouse, we took the field ready to finish stronger than the Virginia game. We played hard and took the win but not without Carleton putting up a great fight to make us earn every point.

Woman Scorned over Carleton College Syzygy 15-10

Our final game of the day was versus the defending national champions, UCSB Burning Skirts. Our last match up with these ladies was at Nationals last year in a close pool play game where they took the game 13-11 and went on to win it all. Scorned was fired up and ready to hold the first seed of our pool by winning this last game. We took no time to get into our groove and took control of the game’s tempo immediately. Looking strong, Scorned took half 8-3 and hit up some shade to practice throwing goldfish crackers and gummy bears into each others' mouths. We also learned that Lana has an insanely large mouth. Coming out of half, we were ready to finish the game and get some rest for the people who had driven through the night. Scorned rolled out of half and took the win.

Woman Scorned over University of California Santa Barbra Burning skirts 15-7

After dinner and ice baths, some girls hit up the dance off to watch SOL win yet another title. Congrats on yet another amazing dance ladies! After the dance-off, second dinner was consumed, homework was at least attempted, the last unicorn was watched,and most of the team went to bed early. After shooting the shit with Mom and Dad (Kevin and Lana) for a while, eventually we all passed out with high hopes for Centex Sunday.

Morning came way too early with some confusion about a duck call ring tone and the song Halo bringing us back into a conscious state of mind. Slight car trouble slowed us down, but eventually we all made it to the fields with a little bit of time left to warm up and our first game was on started.

Pre-quarters had us up against Central Florida Sirens (not to be confused with Loyola Sirens, which we definitely did while trying to make friends at Nashville…awkward-sorry about that). We had seen these ladies at MWTD and remembered that they knew how to fight. Scorned came out a little groggy but took half 8-5. Scorned took half time to put on sun screen and finish warming up, but the Sirens came out of half more fired up and ready to fight. Miscommunication and disruption in our flow allowed Central Florida to take advantage and pull the score up to 10-11 in a game to 12. Kevin and Lana once again calmed us down and reminded us how to play our game. With some patience and concentration we took the field, got the O score to tie it up on universe. Fired up and not ready to give up our chance at the championship game, Scorned got the turn we needed on defense and converted the score to take the game.

Woman Scorned over Central Florida Sirens 12-11

Quarters provided us with a game against UBC who had really cool animal jerseys. Scorned came out fired up and took the first 5 points of the game. UBC took a T. O. which allowed them to regroup and answer back with a 3 point run of their own. Both teams recuperated and set their groove, but Scorned took half 8-6. In the half time shade, Scorned did some soul searching and found the answer to our game through Kevin’s advice of unselfishness and teamwork. Coming out of that half time, we really set the tone for our style and the rest of the tournament. Finding our flow, we finished off the game 12-10 and were on our way to the semi-finals.

Woman Scorned over University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 12-10

Semi’s was against our friends from Michigan. This matchup was one we saw at Nashville in the semi-finals only a couple weeks prior. Scorned started the game with Boomy blaring some Gaga and Scorned immediately playing our game. Michigan proved to be a tough competitor, never allowing an easy score and making us work for every D. Much like Nashville, this was a very intense game but not at the expense of great spirit and friendliness on the field and sidelines. Fighting every point, Scorned took half at 8-5 and finished the game up 14-10. They also did the Great Lakes Great Times cheer which has been in my head ever since...

Woman Scorned over University of Michigan Flywheel 14-10

Finals provided us with a rematch from the Saturday’s last game. UCSB took the field with us, ready to give us a run for our money. Scorned came out fired up as well, and took the control of the game with our offense still flowing beautifully. Offensively, the skirts made us work on D, testing our endurance and strategies. The skirts had some great plays with huge layouts, but we were working the disc too well to be stopped. Scorned took half 8-4, keeping in theme of the weekend (lots of 8-4 half time scores). The second half just amplified our excitement. We rolled out of half, working the offense and shutting down on defense. Every player on our line was working hard to make plays and our depth, training, and intensity really showed through. We took the game win and the tournament win for our first ever Centex championship!

Woman Scorned over UCSB Burning Skirts 15-8

After cool down and snaps, we jumped in the car for a 16 hour, character building drive home through the night. Monday classes were rough, to say the least, and WS ladies were passing out in buildings all over campus to attempt to catch up on lost sleep. We are so excited about our win, happy to be back in Ames as a whole team (safe and sound), and ready to see what happens with bid allocations for the North Central Region (four, four, four!).

We would like to say a HUGE thank you to Michelle for another fabulous tournament. Also thank you for the opportunities you have provided us the past years to get us here. Big thanks to Texas Melee ultimate, first a great 3-day scrimmage over spring break and then a great Centex tournament! You guys rock.

We want to send a special thank you to Chad Larson for letting us crash his house and get the full "experience". It was amazing! Gigantic thanks to Rachel Derscheid and Jon Staron for celebrity coaching us the week before Centex. Also thank you for the goodies. The Red Thunder definitely saved lives on the drive home (Cami drank like 6). Thanks to Mom and Dad for coming down to coach us. Huge thanks to everyone who followed us the whole weekend with text messages and Twitter. We read them all out loud and they kept us fighting hard!

Tournament Highlights (brought to you by Magon and Jiear):

-I think overall the team showing how much they valued the disc and being ready to catch any disc that was in the air. i.e. Sam's bid from out of no where, Jess's countless assists, Becca's grab from the inside of the party ball, etc...

-coming out strong on the first couple of points in all games.

-the patience in our zone and the handler D.

-Becca's sweet handler D's

-Pesch's grab D as a marker in the cup

-quick transition zone D to man D

-fast breaks!

-Break cuts/options and break throws.

-our INTENSITY!!! thank you Red Thunder.

-zone offense and the ability to change our game plan according to what the cup was or was not giving us

-being ready to go on and off when called

-meeting THE Chad Larson

-Anne's 3 goals and shut down defense
-Miah denying the deep option in zone

-Rookie point/assist + score (Bows to Jess)

-Sam's layout score (from an accidental mac from Bosco)

-Cami's multiple macs (the Macassistor!!!)
-Denver's shut down handler D all weekend and rocking the flag per usual

-Jess catching multiple scores that weren't meant for her, but she was always there for the tip

-Becca getting the Skyd Playmaker award

-Mag getting the Skyd tournament MVP award
-Anne staying up as shotty the entire drive back to make cars of 3 or 4 possible

Shout outs:

Congratulations to Daisy for getting a JOB this weekend (like a real person one)! We are so proud and happy for you.

Congratulations to Coach Dersch (founder of Woman Scorned) for passing her defense this week. She is now Dr. Dr. Coach Dersch!

-Lindsey Gapstur #2