Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Nationals Bound

Well, a very intense and tiring weekend at Regionals is over. And the close of the spring semester is upon us. The timing may have been terrible with school but everything came together just the way Melee would have wanted.

We went 4-1 in pool play on Saturday. We came out hard against Rice, but couldn't pull it off in the game against WashU losing by 3? I got injured during the first half of the game and between dealing with that/talking to the trainer can't say much about specifics from what I saw during the second half our defense just wasn't on the way it normally is. We managed to re-group and wins over CSU and SLU put us back where we wanted to be.

We knew this would mean Kansas in the morning. Playing them was a good time, and their captain Christy is one of my favorite women in the sport- athletic, knows the game, a great leader for her team and fun as all get out. That meant advancing to semis for a sectionals re-match against A&M. Those girls had put in a good weekend with such low numbers and big huck completions kept them in it for a while, but we finished 15-10. On to the finals

Colorado College lost to WashU in ultimate point on their side of the bracket, so, we geared up for an intense game. Going in to the 8th game of the weekend Melee pounded some Redbull (not me, yuck) and got our sideline energy pumped up for what became one of the most dramatic and memorable games of my collegiate career. From the sideline (injured, remember) I saw a lot of great things and some raw athleticism on both sides. WashU's fourth-year stud athlete ran down one of the zippiest hucks I've ever seen for a score and looked straight up like a cartoon character kicking up dirt at a dead sprint. Slevinn and Sharon's huge grabs were so clutch during the finals, and Melee took care of business in the end (despite some errors that gave up our early lead, then got us down towards the end of the game) score a couple of breaks to win it 15-14. The crowd was SO supportive of us and that, in the end, may have been the difference. We were so pumped. Honestly, I was sobbing. It was a great way to end the last regionals, and I got together with the 7 other Melee-ers finishing this semester and celebrated. 

Looking ahead to Boulder- we've got a couple of weeks to train, and work out the kinks (red zone conversion people), but once school ends we will be able to focus a little more easily- though scheduling gets a bit crazy when times of practices and all that change. My flight's been booked. I'm ready to roll. Shout out to all the other teams that qualified and can't wait to see who else will be joining us after this weekend! Most of us are still shocked UCSB won't be there- mad respect. I hope Melee can do some damage and have an amazing time. 

School-focused for a bit until then. Eager and excited, but it's a lot easier knowing we're going :) See you in Colorado! 

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