Stevinson Invite

University of Wisconsin Bella Donna / By

Back to California and no rain on Saturday.

Reebs began the day with a Callahan to give Wisconsin a 1-0 lead on Southern California. However, Bella falters 1-2 before Sandy hauls in two scores to give Bella command 4-2. Erin Moran and Jenny Gaynor add goals to give Wisconsin a 6-3 lead. USC responds to 6-5 before Sandy scores half 7-5. The clouds are threatening as Bitterman reels in a Callahan and Sandy scores her 5th break goal now 10-6. Bella runs away with the game 13-6 with 10 D’s total, as Reebs, McKain, and George all add score multiple assist and goals.

Next is Western Washington as the winds increase. Bitterman scores but WW is up 1-2. Gaynor gets a layout D and score, but WW takes a 2-5 lead! Bella pulls it together as Westgate and Sandy pull in goals to make it 5-6, before dropping half 5-7. Beginning half WW breaks to lead 5-8, but Bella Donna is chill. Gaynor and Bitterman snag multiple goals as Wisconsin breaks 5 straight times to lead 11-8. Neither observers nor timeouts could stop Bella’s intensity. Newman, Georgia, and Al pull in the last 3 points as Wisconsin wins 13-9.

Next up is Stanford as the winds loosen, still cloudy and 63ish. Becca, Schott, and Westgate scores goals as Wisconsin explodes to a 7-0 lead, overcoming 2 timeouts. Wisconsin never relents and wins 13-3, using aggressive D. Gaynor scores 4 goals, while Reebs and Sandy add 3 more. The 18 D’s and Callahan top the performance.

Last up is Oregon, as Wisconsin moves fields and wind. orientation.
Frustrating – the game went exactly as the first meeting. Oregon’s momentum was going up, Bella was in a lull. Oregon starts fast, Bella was never able to dictate. Erin Moran caught 2 goals and Bitterman added a score to tie the game 4-4. Bella turns 2 swing/dump passes and Oregon converts both in seconds to take half 4-7. Transition defense nowhere to be seen. Bella is able to break back in the second half to 6-8, but again cannot handle the perceived pressure of the moment. Soon it is 7-10, and ballgame 7-13. Oregon has a strong 5 person junky/cup that also goes man on the first dump, but it was Bella’s timidness and uncertainty that was their undoing. Bella had only 3 D’s against Oregon, compared to totals of 10, 13, and 18 in the first three games. If Bella can withstand Stanford in quarters and Washington in semifinals — it will be a very angry revenge seeking KillMode BD in finals..

Sunday – PICTURES

[Sunday morning Bella got to the fields early and fired up for elimination rounds with a speech (geared at the newbies) on the many reasons we needed yet another redeeming win against Stanford. Unfortunately, even after amping up the revenge factor, Bella still came out looking like we’d run eight Bascoms that morning. Stanford took a 5-0 lead before McKain threw to Bitterman for a score on a no-turn point. Unfortunately, the scoring trend didn’t catch on until Stanford had taken half 8-3. At this point the girls decided that losing in quarterfinals wasn’t something they wanted to be a part of and, led by a couple “Ridiculous”-earning plays by their captains, went on a 7 point run to bring the game to 10-8. One more layout-D by Rachael Westgate and the game was finally closed out at 13-10.

Celebration lasted about a minute before we had to pack up and sprint off to another field to play Washington in semis. The game was a fight the entire way, with amazing plays on both sides of the disc. Erin Moran skied O’Malley for a score and a D’ed disc in the Bella endzone was snatched amazingly an inch off the ground by Bitterman to save a goal. The largest spread in the game was when Washington took half 8-5. Bella fought back, however, and brought it up to 12-12 after a sick Mahowald D. Soft-cap had already gone on, but unbeknownst to both teams, hard cap went on during the point, turning it into a DGP game that ended in Washington’s favor after a couple unfortunate turns on Bella’s end. On a positive note, Sandy ended up +9 for the game, with the next closest being Bitterman at +4.
Bumped out of a finals appearance for the second big tournament in a row, the team rallied and looked forward to a redeeming game against UCSB for third place. The game started out strong with freshman Erin Newman earning a D and score for a bookends lead. After this the game stayed close until 4-4, but Bella stayed fired up with Julie getting a layout D in the UCSB endzone and Sandy hucking a full-field backhand in the same point. From here Wisconsin took it away and without much trouble finished the game 15-8.]
Sunday written by Georgia. Now back to Muffin:

Wisconsin aims to get outside in Chicago for the first time this spring — then clean up Centex to secure the 2 seed.

The main things that separate Bella are their depth, legs, and decision making. Undisciplined, but loaded with athletic talent and speed. More legs and endurance than any team. Even after coming back against Stanford and going 12-12 with Washington, both teams were way more exhausted than Bella. Literally, playing the same 7 players then calling timeouts to conserve their legs, while Bella puts out line after line after line of fresh legs. If only we could clean up the offense a little bit! Wisconsin plays unusual ultimate — making all sorts of unconventional throws, random cuts, and just plain silly decisions. It’s the midwest swirl opposed to the west coast spread. The undefendable star stack offense was drawn up during a timeout and run to perfection as well.

Best plays of the weekend including Sydney Dodkin’s getting a ridiculous sky poach D. Julie “The Cat” Chen making up 4 steps on a deep throw and getting a bidding D in the end zone. Sandy played the best semi’s of her life, going +9 with 5 goals, 3 D’s, 1 assist, and 0 turns. Erin Newman had several bookends with run through D’s and immediate deep goals. Gaynor had several nasty layout D’s and big hucks. Georgia played like Callahan, while McKain shredded marks. Laura Schott had a sick poach sky D while Maria Mahowald hit the ground multiple times to save possessions. Laura Bitterman was a constant threat to explode on teams, as Westgate played solid the whole weekend. Aimee Speaker played gritty hard-nosed defense game in and game out. Reebs caught a floaty catch and spiked it on a girl’s head, while getting injured all at once. Newman had a sweet bid catch in the end zone on a floaty Julie throw.

Next up, Hodag-Bella prom match-ups.