so i guess i began writing this post with the title “freedom” (jah weed) before college nationals but never finished. oh yeah and also its been since centex that i’ve written in this, so much has happened since then that im going to sum it up in sections, starting with the series.
bittersweet boulder + the road that led there
the series started off with a disaster* in more ways than one. we went into sectionals coming off a huge showing at centex. this wouldve been a 3 peat title for the nc section but we fell short and hard. the weather forced us to play on turf fields and seaweed being seaweed no one had turfs…or even tennis shoes. most ironically we had to actually play barefoot. so we played 2 games barefoot and won the pool the next morning to eventually meet carolina in finals. patti tears her hamstring early in the game and we dont recover, they win 13-9. to say we played bad would be sugar coating it but without that loss, regionals may not have panned out the way it did. held on our home fields in wilmington, we had something to prove, a loss to avenge and a trip to natties to secure. from the first minute of the first round, we went off. a hitch in the 4th game of the day was our only falter, onto sunday morning. my favorite day of the year, sunday of regionals.** you could tell everyone was nervous, our first game was against james madison and we were tweaking out on each other. in semis we met up with virginia*** who came out swinging, it was back and forth between us for maintaining control of the game but we eventually got to 15, while carolina sat on our sidelines (already ousting maryland). we had made it to boulder, both UNC and us. this was for seeding at nationals and (what its always really about) the win. the game starts, we go down 2 to begin with. i was trying to bust these around backhands to sara casey up the line that would float dangerously long and high, one didnt work out and it was a turn on our defending endzone. carolina walks it in and i walk 70. from the sidelines i hear nikki and patti**** saying “reel it in claire, reel it in”. we did just that, our offense was conservative and our defense was relentless, final score: 15-3. we were going to the ‘ship in style. before that game, we had watched the seamen lose heart-breakingly to UVA. it was surreal to see, and hard to swallow: the final win was not just for us, but for them and the alumni that lined the endzone, cheering and heckling all day long. but our run was not over, we had the momentum, got the Pool of our dreams (being the 3rd seed overall), and it seemed like nothing in the world was going to stop us from getting to finals in boulder. two a days-graduation-work-summer school-beach and then we’re playing cal at 2:30 on friday. receiving the first point, four man ends with sara casey to logan going deep, it was beatiful–pull–pie queens roll four. at some point during the first 5 points i legitimately thought i was not going to make it through this game, let alone the tournament. my lungs were rebelling against the whole from sea level to 6,000 ft deal. we had a talk and they eventually cooperated. from there we fought back from the 3 point deficit, taking half 8-7. that wasnt good enough for anyone/mdk/final score: 15-7. onto virginia, final score: 15-9 (battle, always a battle). going into saturday morning we were facing UBC, a team we hadnt played or seen play all year. we finish the game with 2 tmfs and a final count of 15-6. i dont remember much about that game, this is the point where i’ve started to repress memories…colorado college. the 4 seed. colorado college. both teams are 3-0, this was for the 1 seed in the pool and a much needed bye into quarters. we went into the game like every other game of the tournament, first minute first round. it was windy, and a usau article about us hinted at going zone. which they did, and we threw it back to a less success. what we were doing just wasnt working well and colorado college was taking full advantage. final score 11-15, speechless and onto prequarters vs carleton. they came out a little flatter than we’ve seen before, and we capitalized but the second half was a different game. it felt like every other point, a different part of my legs would cramp. i could feel it from the pull to the last throw before taking an injury. final score: 15-10 (i think). Quarters vs. Stanford. i couldnt bring myself to take an icebath, exhausted all i wanted to do was sleep, which proved more difficult than i thought it would. that night, god knows why, me lizzy and patti were all awake around 3:00 am, starving and raiding the fridge for our leftover tacos***** the warm-up lap was painful, we were going into that game having already played about 120 points. our minds wanted to make it to semis, our bodies wanted to go find a jacuzzi and post up until it was time to leave. our old school vert stack buckled from a force middle man defense. our cup (120 points each cup) wasnt as strong as we had been at centex. my pulls were going maximum 40 yards to which not-just-a-novelty-puller sara stepped in with fresh arms. we were fighting, we were losing, but we were fighting. around 11-8 we started making a comeback, we scored 2-1 and the game was at 12-10. this goal was important, the most important. the cap went on, it went on before this (game to 14?), it wasnt impossible, the momentum had swung in our favor for the first time the whole game. we had it 10 yards outside our endzone on a stoppage. the disc goes out, some words were said, a time out was called, a tmf was given, and it was hard cap: we lost the game. with tears in our eyes, we played 70 yards of defense and collapsed. it was over. i’ve never been more disappointed in anything, which could reflect more on my 21 years of life than anything, but, to this day that is it. i wouldnt get to take the fields with sara, kelly^ and patti again. that was the worst part of it all.
*literally, a natural disaster, tornados tearin’ up the southland
**anything can happen, its like a sporty soap opera: so much glory so much disappointment all in a few hours
***virginia is one of my favorite teams to play because they never give up. ever, they fight to the last point win or lose. we recently played them at wolfpack this year and they are going to be a very dangerous team not only at the regional level, but nationally too. watch out for them.
****out from sectionals: we had a few talkin tos about cleating up for that game. oh capn my capn.
*****one of those “eat your feelings” moments
^it was after nationals that i decided to play phoenix, up until that point i was undecided leaning no. i wanted to keep playing with sara and kelly, and i wanted to get out of quarters. this post is already too long, another to come about club season
