Glory Days Recap

Hey All,

Hold on...OOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGG

K...let's continue. This past weekend we played in Glory Days. I didn't write a preview because a.) I sort of realized that previews are a wee bit pointless during the fall when it's hard to judge how teams are going to look and b.) I had a feeling the pools would get switched around, which they did.

We went into the tournament ranked 7th out of 15.

Our first game was against Northwestern. During the first cut of the first game poor Jessi Gonzalez rolled her ankle and couldn't play for the rest of the tournament. She did, however, brave the cold weather to cheer us on all weekend. Mad props, Jessi. It was pretty clear that Northwestern was missing a few key players, so we didn't have too much of a problem with them. Also, Ashley Betke got a CALLAHAN. What. A. Baller. Final score: ISU 9, Northwestern 4.

Game #2 was against Kalamazoo. We played our rookies a lot, including two all-rookie points. Our rookies impressed me SO MUCH this weekend. We really have a solid group of newbies. Kalamazoo was very spirited and a lot of fun. We like them. Final Score: ISU 13, Kalamazoo 0

Game #3 was U of Chicago. This is a team that has, in the past, bageled us. We gave them a little scare at sectionals last year, but had never beat them. Well, we started off the game with a 4-0 run. It felt pretty good. At half the score was 7-2, but in the second half they started to make a comeback. We held it down and managed to pull out the victory. Final Score: ISU 12, Chicago 7

Our last game of the day was against Xavier. They are a brand new team and this was their first tournament, but you would never had guessed it. They had possibly the most solid handler we saw all weekend and they gave us a fight every point. Final Score: ISU 13, Xavier 3

That's right, we went 4-0. It was AWESOME...and the next day we didn't have to play 'til 11 sooo we celebrated Saturday night...A lot. haha.

The next day we had to play the winner of the Beastly (Eastern and Bradley's hybrid team) and Depaul play-in. Beastly won and we played them in the first round of the championship bracket. They scored an upwinder on us right off the bat and went up 2-0. We came back and did the same thing...a few times. We took them to half 8-3. The wind made each point take extra long and the game ended in cap. I was very impressed with Beastly! I really hope that both teams can get enough girls together for sectionals next Spring. Recruit, recruit, recruit! Final Score: ISU 9, Beastly 4

Our second game was against Loyola to decide who would play in the championship. We've always had a friendly rivalry with them, but we had never beat them before. The wind really picked up and thankfully we won the toss. No upwind points were scored that game and we ended up winning. I really would have liked to play them in a game with less wind, but hey...a win is a win. Final Score: ISU 10, Loyola 9

Championship Game
The championship game was the Lady Gnomes of ISU v. Gung Ho of Norwestern. Sunday they had some of their vets return, so this wasn't a rookie-dominated game for them. The wind was still pretty bad for the first half of the game and they won the flip (bummer). The game was basically just the two teams exchanging down-winders until the most wonderful thing happened. We worked the disc up the field and Colleen threw an upwind hammer to Jessica which gave us the break! This was definitely the pivotal point in this game. The sideline woke up, there was a lot more talking on the field and everyone was AMPED. After the point was scored I somehow managed to pull it just into Northwestern's end zone (uh WHAT?!). We got down there and after a brutal point Northwestern worked it up for an up-winder. After that the wind died down, which made a huge difference. Unfortunately the score was high enough that Northwestern managed to reach 15 before we could make our come back. Final Score: Northwestern 15, ISU 12

SECOND PLACE! When I put in our bid to Glory Days I told people that I believed ISU had a shot a winning the tournament and people laughed at me! Doing so well was HUGE for us. Everyone is finally starting to play to their potential and it's really showing. I look forward to next season because I feel that our team will finally have the confidence we've lacked for the past couple years. Now when we go up against teams that have beat us, even BAGELED us in the past I hope the Gnomettes will believe me when I say "We can win this game". I'm so proud of every girl on my team. The Vets did a great job of showing the rookies how WE play and the rookies stepped up and proved that they belong on the field.

Other highlights from the weekend...
Abby's 2348932480 handblocks
Catie Johnson bringin' it in the rookie game
Liz, Jess and Colleen not wearing pants for a game or two
Two 1st round byes...yeeah
Sam Dimmig's baller layouts coming off an injury
Amy being unstoppable in the Championship game...scoring the most points and RUNNING them deep.
Liz turning 20!!!
Overhearing someone on another team saying "wait...THEY'RE in the championship?!" referring to ISU. That's right! ha!
Becky's sticky hands...that chick does not drop the disc
Ashley's baller handling...I had a lot of people tell me how impressed they were with her. ALL STAR.
...I could seriously go on forever. BRING ON SPRING!

Sadly my reoccurring knee injury has crept up on me and it looks like I'll be taking a couple months off to go through physical therapy so I'm running at 100% by spring (fingers crossed). This was our last tournament of the season. Soon we'll start conditioning and working hard to get ready for spring. I have a good feeling about this team...

-Em Flan

http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=34&id=6704