Spring break is always a fluster bucket of challenges. This year was nothing short of that, from determining the tournament to actually getting there, we were jumping hurdles the whole way. With the insanely talented combination of Cami, Pesch, Mag, Becca, and a few others, the team made it safely out of Ames and into Nashville at as reasonable of a time as possible. Probably the coolest part of this story is that Woman Scorned was COMPLETELY full squad!
Our first game on Saturday morning put us up against North Central Region friends, Belle Donna. These ladies have a rich history of bringing insane competition on the field, and they did anything but disappoint. Wisconsin’s handler defense was by far the most intense we have seen this season, and their cutter bracketing gave Scorned a little trouble during the early parts of the game. Becca and Cami had big grabs in the end zone, while Mag laid it out for another score. Daisy snagged a disc at the same time as a Wisco girl, and refused to give up the turn on offense. Bosco got a nice hand block in to force a turn, and Annihka was busting run-through D’s out left and right.
Woman Scorned over University of Wisconsin Bella Donna 13-10
The second game was preceded by a bye, during which much of WS watched the Michigan v. Rice game and put some great puppy temp. tats on our biceps, faces, calves, and necks. Bosco ended up looking fairly similar to Nationals 2011 (minus the blue hair), and the rest of us rocked our “puppy love” almost as proudly.
Game two put us up against Texas. Last season’s record with them was 1-1, with both games ending on universe point. Needless to say, we were excited to play this intense matchup again. Melee’s cutters proved difficult to shut down under, but our offense answered back just as strong. Despite last year’s difficulty breaking their unique zone, Kaira and Bosco managed to set the stage for our zone O, working it up the field with no less than 10 give-and-go throws to score the goal. Pesch had a great D in this game, with a quick and wobbly throw to Jess in the end zone for the snag and score. This game ended in hard cap with a super long and confusing conversation in which both sides worked their best to figure out exactly what the score was, and it became clear that neither Iowa State nor Texas proved to be very good at mathematical score keeping concepts (of Science and Technology…not mathematics).
Woman Scorned over University of Texas Melee 12-11
Our last pool play game and last game of the day was against UNCW. This game was much anticipated since the match up was rare if ever in the history of the two teams. There may or may not have been a few bets placed before and during the game, which intensified the competition and made for some great points. Alyssa had a sweet snag in this game. Daisy had a game changing D to pump up in intensity in the second half. Janani caught a goal to tie the game at 11’s, but UNCW took the game on Universe point with a great layout grab by Camille Patterson. While all of Scorned enjoyed this intense match up, Cami Nelson really had the game of her life. Despite her book ends with a HUGE D and sky for the score, Cami found her Seaweed twin (also Nelson #16) and locked down a jersey trade come the end of the season. Just when we thought Cami’s crush on UNCW couldn’t get any bigger, this game took her head-over-heals in love.
UNC-Wilmington over Woman Scorned 13-12
With the early finish in games, Scorned took advantage of the break before clinics to go check out the Country Music Hall of Fame…except it was $20 so they chose to dink around in Nashville instead (Apparently it was on Cami’s bucket list… but only if free). The day was followed up by all of WS learning a new thing or two at the WL clinics. After getting back from the fields, Gapstur’s aunt and mom had prepared a DELICIOUS spaghetti meal that we all devoured and followed up with some jacuzzi ice baths and movies before bed time.
Sunday morning came way too early after losing an hour of sleep due to the clock changing thing (I can never remember which is which). Game one was pushed back to 9 am thankfully, and Scorned was put up against Ottawa in the Quarters game. Weino and Denver got Scorned pumped up during this game when they busted out the flag and put the sidelines to work. This game was intense, with Ottawa fighting hard the entire game and never giving up an easy advance. At one point during a call, they all started speaking French and Scorned became uber confused and flustered. While they looked incredibly intelligent, working multiple languages, Gap kept skipping stall counts because she couldn’t remember how to count to ten in the right order. Becca, Bosco, and Daisy all rocked some D’s out in this game. Mag had a double bobble grab followed by a quick dish to Cami for the score, and Daisy made the last grab to end the game. Hoistad had multiple hand blocks in this game as well, to add to her lengthy list of them from the weekend.
Woman Scorned over Ottawa 15-8
Our Semi’s game was against Michigan Flywheel. This was definitely an exciting match up for us, and one we had been amped about all weekend. Last season, WS had several extremely intense games against Flywheel and developed an odd relationship that resulted in some friendly gift giving at nationals (we can’t tell you how much we appreciated that ladies…especially Mag). Scorned came out hard, taking the first 3 points of the game before Flywheel could answer back. Flywheel brought back the fight to make it close around 6s. Scorned took half at 8-6. Annihka had an insane grab, despite Michigan’s near D. Cami brought down a disc and gave a high release toss to Becca for the score. Gap and Bosco gave Michigan handlers the pressure defense needed to shut down their flow and result in a few Ds. Scorned fought this game out all the way to the end, taking the game 13-12 and maintaining control of the game throughout. This game was a ton of fun to play, both teams held great spirit and there was no lack of camaraderie on or off the field. Once again, Michigan got that flippin’ that cow bell cheer in our heads for the next couple weeks, but thankfully they refrained from the super catchy “great lakes, great times” one (I had that stuck in my head from Centex to Nationals last year). We definitely have some mad respect for their cheering dedication.
Woman Scorned over University of Michigan Flywheel 13-12
Finals were like déjà vu from the past weekend. Iowa versus Iowa State were in the finals and it was another North Central match up game. Scorned didn’t come out as well as Saucy and Iowa took the lead from the get go. The teams traded points with the wind most of the time, although for a while both teams were scoring up wind points. Scorned tied it back up at 12s, but Saucy took the win by scoring the next 3 points. The biggest highlight of this game was for our newest rookie, Bows (Megan Jenkins)! She had a sick snatch over her defender in the end zone. Sam had a great D in this finals game as well. The biggest accomplishment of the weekend was our fight as a cohesive team. Throughout the entire tournament, our entire roster of 21 girls was played, strengthening the depth of our team and proving our talent as a united force. We are so proud of our rookies and above for stepping up, making plays, and contributing to the team from the field to the sideline. Everyone truly gave their all for the team, and that commitment was evident through our games and field atmosphere.
Saucy Nancy over Woman Scorned 12-15
After games, the team did some cool down stretching and recapped the great contributions of each player to the weekend. With the exception of Cami snapping herself for finding her twin on Seaweed (kidding…but not really), it was very evident that we had done a great job of accomplishing our goals for the weekend and started our spring break (oh dozen) out the right way! Afterward, the majority of Scorned showered and headed to Texas for a team building retreat and scrimmage with UT outside of Austin, TX…. And some serious spring break action. Meanwhile, the rest of us hit up down town Nashville for some honkey tonkin’ and dinner. Gap’s aunt gave a tour of the town, and eventually Scorned ended the night dancing to some good old country music. The after party involved a repeat of SBohoneone, and some sister teaming it up with UNC Wilmington in an expedition to find the cheapest blue ribbon that Nashville had to offer. With an early start the next morning of 5:30 am, the rest of Scorned hopped in the van and make the trek back to Iowa.
The biggest thank you to Mag, Hoistad, and Jiear for being amazing and managing calling lines while killing it on the field. Thank you to Michelle for another great tournament. Thanks to all of the clinic coaches for your great advice. HUGE thanks to Cami, Pesch, and Becca for figuring out cars and stuff. Thanks to Texas for our team building scrimmage week.
Lindsey Gapstur #2 and Jess Langr #42
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