At the end of last spring, Saucy said goodbye to nine players. A big challenge for us this fall was to find a way to recruit more players, and for the returning players to step into leadership roles themselves, despite many of them only playing for two years. This fall was a huge leap forward for us, not only in gaining 11 incredible and dedicated rookies going into the spring, but also in the leadership that the vets displayed on and off the field this fall season. Here’s a breakdown our fall season and how we’re looking to use this success to spring ahead (see what I did there- HA). Firstly, out of 25 players, 11 of us are rookies. That’s a lot of new blood and no-chillie endzone plays. The fall season is great because it offers rookies experience playing against other competitive teams in unsanctioned tournaments. With so much of our team comprised of rookies, they were put on competitive lines early, and stepped up to the challenge with gusto. Some highlights include Alexis, who has become a dependable cutter and defender, and even laid out twice in one game. Tricia, who became a handler from day one, is A1 and makes smart plays with the disc and is flawless in cutting in a handler formation. Mo, who makes great deep cuts and can sky girls with an impressive two inch vertical because she’s like 7 feet tall. And Brooke, who played ultimate in high school and now dominates the field with her sharp cuts and impressive disc reading skills. This is only the start of our incredible lineup of rookies, I couldn’t fit all of them in here, but their dedication to the team and learning curve from Grinnell to MLC is unparalleled. Major props to all of you! We started off at Grinnell going 6W-0L, but because of a fluke in the way the pools were arranged, we didn’t win the tournament. That’s A-okay though, because we’re always winners in our hearts. :) Grinnell was a great time for the rookies to get acquainted with the competitive play, and after weeks of practice focused on learning the basics of vertical stack, horizontal stack, and the fundamentals of a good mark, it was a beautiful moment to watch our rookies go off on their own and compete in some quality rookie points. The vertical stack was in a straight line in the middle of the field. We were all very proud of them. At No Wisconsequences, our rookies found out through trial and error that seniority determines who gets to sleep in beds and who sleeps on the floor at hotels. On Saturday night, Sam won free jerseys for the team! This was our 3rd time winning a free set of jerseys in three years! Overall in the tournament we went 3W-4L and finished 6th. Throughout the weekend, we played some tough competition like the Minnesota Ninjas (7-12), and continued to improve on our fundamentals. One of our main goals in the fall, and continuing into the spring is, as Hanky told us in a timeout huddle, to play solidly fundamental ultimate. In games against St. Olaf (9-8), SOL (9-4), and even in our tough fought last game against Shockwave (7-8), we played fundamentally sound ultimate. Throws were smart, cuts were good, and turnovers were minimized. A huge lesson to take into the spring for us is to play smart - and to go to the Patagonia raffle on Saturday night, which also a very important ultimate tip. In Ames to Please, we went 5W-3L overall and finished 9th. You can read more about the tournament in a previous blogpost here, but one of the highlights of the tournament was the last game against WUWU on Sunday. If you’ve played ultimate before, you understand that the last game on Sunday is the most grueling, and simple actions like running onto the field after a point to high five your teammates become infinitely harder when your legs refuse to work. At halftime, our energy was drained, but we pushed hard and came out on top 10-9 with some excellent bursts of energy on both offense and defense from vets and rookies alike. At the crux of the fall season, we played at MLC, going a strong 6W-2L for the weekend and finishing 5th. One of the things we realized we needed to work on as a team is conditioning (sure we shampoo a lot, but hair also needs the nutrients that conditioner supplies to look its best). Our last game on Saturday was against Betty, and even though they went to nationals two years in a row and had more experienced players than us, the level of competition we played was below our standards. We were tired after three games and ended up losing 4-13. Perhaps the only low point of the weekend though, Saucy came out roaring in all of our other games. Vets Raleke, Johnson, and Havel all got layout D’s. Rookies Mo and KB both had greats plays on offense and defense, and all around, the improvements from the beginning of the year were outstanding. On Sunday we lost against Notre Dame 6-8 in an all-out physical warfare of an ultimate game. It was heart-wrenching, but we played up to them to the last point. Liz told us in the post-game huddle that the score didn’t reflect how hard we fought. I think that philosophy is something to take into the spring as we continue to grow and learn. We’re a young and relatively inexperienced team. As we spring (ahhh yes, you see what I did there again?) into the next season, we will face teams who will be better than us, faster than us, and have more experienced players than us, but we must continue to exude strength in spite of the circumstances and stay fundamentally excellent. This is a rebuilding year and I am beyond impressed that we have been able to fight as hard as we have and accomplish as much as we did, but we still have mountains to climb and recycling to pick up between games before we’re finished. As we retreat into the winter workout grind, I assure you that we will continue to work hard and stay dedicated to being the best version of ourselves on the field that we can be. HFS, Novick |
AuthorParty Cat Archives
February 2021
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