Well, guess I fell off the blogging wagon somewhere between Sectionals and Regionals.
I will attempt to catch you up- as painful as this trip down memory lane may be
Regionals Day One we pulled an "upset" against the higher seeded A&M, but it wasn't enough to win the pool after a pretty substantial point diff loss to Colorado College first game. We had to come out completely strong, but it didn't pan out. We were happy to right our wrong in the within-Section battle, though.
One of the worst parts about Day One was game one losing our captain/MVP Whitney "Titty" Miller. Her wrist got smushed and I got to accompany her on her subsequent trip to the ER. She is entertaining on vicodine though.
Day Two we had our final pool play game then on to a game against Kali, who were also at Nationals last year. They had been let in to the tournament after Missouri State withdrew and had nothing to lose and everything to prove. They had thrown their pool play game that morning to focus on beating us (good strategy coaches).
We had an 8-3 lead on them at half with our upwinders against their zone driving a nail in to the coffin. Me and the other veteran handlers were really proud of what we were accomplishing and could see the win. Unfortunately, second half (despite our lead) we were unable to score the easier downwind points and let Kali back in to the game until it came to a hard cap loss. Really disappointing finish and crushing of all our Nationals dreams.
Looking back, I think we had all the tools and talent to have done major major damage at Nattys (few teams could argue that) but we didn't put in the work. We came in to the season all oriented and committed but didn't convert. The time in practice and out have to be 100%. Keeping 20plus girls all on the same level is tough, and one that any team in the finals at Nattys will have overcome.
I write this post from a roadtrip to National Parks (currently in Montana), while a lot of my teammates are spectating at Nattys and supporting our men's team.
This was a crazy season for women's ultimate. Victory is out there for the taking. I'd call UCSB in the finals.. and Colorado College seems to be doing some damage so I could see them making semis. I haven't seen any highlights or know any results since I've had such limited internet on the road but am about to go check that out now..
I want to say-- play a fifth year of ultimate if you can. I am so thankful for that opportunity next season and turned down Wisconsin and Colorado to stay and put my heart and soul in to one final go with Melee. I love them. I love ultimate. And everyone should play for those two reasons.
