Every year, Saucy takes an annual trip to Milwaukee for the No Wisconsequences tournament (No Wisco for short). It’s usually our first experience with windy weather for the season, so teams throw out zone defenses and the sport gains a new level of skill.
This year, however, that was not the case. Because this tournament’s weather is associated with the increasing awareness that winter is coming, it came to no surprise that with the early signs of snow so far this year, No Wisco was canceled. This was a sad moment for the team because it is many of our players’ favorite tournaments of the season. Personally, I was probably hurt a bit more than I should’ve been because this was the second time since I’ve been with Saucy that a tournament was supposed to be in Wisconsin (my home state) and then we didn’t go at the last minute. One day the team will get to meet my dog… Meanwhile, Shayman was hustling around trying to find us a new tournament to go to, since we had all taken time off for the tournament and were dedicated to playing that weekend. And that’s when we found No Missouronsequences (No Missco for short). Washington University’s team WUWU had decided to host a Saturday-only tournament on their outdoor turf field in order to accommodate for some teams that were out of a tournament this weekend due to the difficult Midwestern weather. We were honored to be invited and extra excited to go to St. Louis because Maddie Clark’s family offered to host us all for the night and provide breakfast and dinner for us on the day of the tournament which was extremely awesome and courteous and we could not be more grateful for how welcoming they were (like seriously, huge shout out to the Clark family for welcoming like 20 college kids into your home you are AMAZING)! The tournament consisted of Washington University’s X and Y teams, us, and Knox College, meaning we got to play all of the teams and experience new styles of learning. The weather that day was beautiful and warm (except for the brief rain spell) and we greatly appreciated the opportunity to play at least one more tournament in the sun before the winter season started. Also, because there were only 3 games for each team to play, we were able to start at noon, so the ability to sleep in was very nice. Our first game of No Missco was against WUWU Y. They played a tough zone against us, but we fought hard. Every point was a battle, but we persevered as we tested our skills. We were missing quite a few of our veteran players, but we tried a new strategy of handler and cutter movement that allowed cutters along the sides for easier breaks (a strategy implemented by our lovely coach Annë). The final score was 3-11. Next, we played WUWU X in a similarly well-fought game. WUWU’s two teams had similar plays and techniques, making it easier for us to anticipate their movement after playing the Y team. We fought hard and ended the game at 2-11. Our last game of the day was against Knox College (who had some reinforcements from WUWU’s teams due to low numbers). This game was an even match for the most part and was a nice way to end the day. It ended at 6-10 before we decided to play an extra point after hard cap to actually call it at 6-11. This was probably our most spirited game of the weekend and brought us together as a team (under the shade tent). Overall, we had a great time at the makeshift No Missco tournament hosted by Wash U! We may have lost every game, but the skills we learned will help project us through the season as we keep learning and growing individually and as a team. A weekend full of ultimate is better than a weekend without ultimate, after all. Thanks again to Wash U and the Clark family for hosting and to everyone else who contributed their time and money and efforts to make this weekend possible!
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This past weekend, Saucy took a trip to Ames for a one-day tournament. We saw friends, played some ultimate frisbee, and had an overall great time.
After our first game bye, we played Anarchy. The weather was pretty nice out-not too sunny, not to cloudy, maybe a little chilly, but not awful (keep this in mind for later). We decided to test out our zone defense on another team and it went really well, boding well for our tournament this weekend. Each point posed a new challenge, but our team rose to the occasion and knocked it out of the park, ending the game with a score of 12-3 after hard cap. Our next game was against UNI Monium. They were testing out their zone on us just as we were testing our zone out on them, so it was a good learning experience for us. The wind started to pick up quite a bit, making zone the best option for us anyway (remember this for later). They ended up beating us with a final score of 7-13, but we learned a lot about the way we play zone and had a good time testing out our skills against another team. Our third game of the day was against Iowa State. By this time, rain was starting to come down in bursts (will make sense later), so we really had to adjust. We kept practicing our zone and the score was close; 6-7 Iowa State at halftime, but every point was hard fought. In fact, our first two points were scored by layouts, first by veteran handler Claire Meyer and then by rookie cutter Olivia Schuster (anyone can layout!!). We hit hard cap a minute into a tied score, making the race for the 9th point the most vital one. Coach Peter Shayman told the sidelines that it was a universe point, but told us to keep it a secret so as to not stress out the line. With the players not quite grasping the gravity with every possession, it was probably the best sideline participation we’ve ever had. We finally scored and beat Iowa State 9-8 three minutes after we were supposed to start our last and final game of the tournament against UNI again. By this point in the tournament, we were all cold, exhausted and winded out, but we still played our strongest game and kept going for each and every point. We ended the day with frozen toes and a 1-7 final score after our captains decided to only play one half. As we all piled back in the cars for the end of the day, some people swear they saw flurries (yup this is the part you were supposed to remember all that other stuff for). I personally think it was cold, misty rain, but who knows. It did seem to be a day for change and new challenges, so I wouldn’t be surprised. Also, we (I) may have accidentally left the camera in Iowa City, but it’s fine because modern technology exists and we were still able to get some pretty groovy shots (for more pictures, check out Tamara Tingle’s Facebook photo album). Thanks to everyone who made it a great tournament! |
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February 2021
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