OH MAN. I cannot and will not believe that collegiate ultimate is over.. a reality I will avoid for a long time I imagine. :'( I think that means I officially have time back to do things- like study? WEIRD!
Nationals! I ended up cancelling my flight and driving there and back with the team, which was a great choice because it yielded more team bonding time (and leaves me with a plane ticket for Chicago Heavyweights at the end of the summer to support Tool/Without Limits and ball it up with my coed team)
Getting out there was actually a painless trip and a teammate's family put us all up for a night in order to break the trip into two parts. Whoo!
We got in Wednesday evening and relaxed in the hotel, which was nice and certainly cost more than my BARGAIN hotels at 30something a night for nationals two years ago #yolo
Thursday we had our scheduled practice 11-2 where we got the surprise pleasure of sharing the field with the Wisconsin boys who went on to the finals. Spent the rest of the day eating and hanging out together. Team meeting to get us all pumped and on the same page for the first day of play.
Friday morning we got to "sleep in" with a first round bye but scheduled a long warmup for our game against Sonoma State. They were the three seed in our pool of five, and we hadn't seen them since our close loss to them at the end of Pres Day this season. We came out a bit strange, but it ended up being enough for an ultimate point win. A bit too close for comfort, and we knew we needed to work out some kinks. Then, we saw Wisconsin. Wisconsin was going to be interesting because we had played and beaten them twice at Music City but the games were always close and competitive (their athletes are a good matchup for ours) and we were hoping that third time wouldn't be the charm for them. Unfortunately, our inability to capitalize on our multiple shots at the final score resulted in a loss in ultimate point. Left the fields feeling pumped but feeling the pressure. We needed to step it up for Saturday play. I personally had a couple layout d's and scores and was feeling very happy with my ability to push myself individually to lay it all out there. My teammates made some FANTASTIC plays and we felt generally positive about what was to come. Saturday would mean EVERYTHING. Do or die.
And step it up we DID. Oh man, we came out FIRED UP for our game against Oregon. We got up 7-1 in the first half, then traded points in the second for a final score of 15-10. We adjusted to their offense and our suffocating d COULD NOT BE STOPPED. I hadn't seen us play like that on d.. maybe ever. Our offense also found itself again, having worked out the misconnections that hurt us on Friday. Then, we knew we also HAD to beat Ohio State to stay in the running to finals. We came out strong against them too and after a significant lead at half they probably allowed themselves to start mentally preparing for their pre-quarters game soon to follow and gave us a significant point diff to be proud of. Going from maybe not continuing on to WINNING THE POOL AND OVERTAKING THE ONE SEED felt great :) But we knew it wasn't enough, we had to want more more more.
Sunday we had an early game against Washington, who showed up ready to work their cup in the windy weather. Capitalizing on our turns in our 1/3 of the field and our mis-catches allowed them the all-important win into semis. As sad as it was, having played my personal best and knowing that we came and did what we wanted to do I have NO REGRETS about how the tournament went. It helped that they went on to have a significant win over Oregon in the finals too! I pretend that means we're the second best team in the country. I also like to think we are the MOST amazing group of women I've ever met.
This team has come to mean so much more than I could ever have known. More than my elite soccer team, more than my ridiculously talented cross country team even.. ultimate becomes a part of you that no other sport could touch. I will NEVER forget these five amazing years. I will never forget the women that have changed my life. This sport does things for people that I argue no other can. The relationships you build are indescribable. I will be so sad to not call myself a collegiate ultimate player anymore, but I know what great things are to come for the team! I cried some but mainly just for the end of the era and feeling happy we did what we wanted to. Not because I was sad with the result. Melee 2011-2012 met all their goals. And that leaves you feeling pretty darn satisfied.
5th place finish at nationals. Second best finish in the team's history since the Cara/Tina era of greatness. I think that this was a FANTASTIC season and in the end I actually wouldn't change anything. Though I would suggest using all five years of eligibility if you can :) Grad school people.
Melee Love continues, with or without me. And rumor has it I'm coaching the B team next year..
other comments-
Fun seeing the teams we'd been facing off against all year. Mad respect to UNC, Iowa State, etc. for their efforts this season! Bizarre to not see UCSB there. Same with UCF (who we did end up seeing on the sidelines!) Nice running into Christy from Kansas, etc. In the end, WashU really is a strong team and I wish them luck next season!
I'd also like to tell Michigan that we really thought they were another very athletic team. I think seeing them in the finals would have been MAXIMALLY entertaining for everyone due to the speed that would be on display.
At the start of the season the ONLY team I saw play and thought I saw going all the way to the finals was Washington. And, though honestly not the clearly dominant force based on the Nationals games outcomes (everyone had a loss), Washington had a great season start to finish. Congrats Element!
I guess I can continue to keep this blog post-Melee. I may need a little break though to re-group and find my new voice without my team of ladies behind me.
Club season begins. Start your engines.
xoxo
Libs
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