Saturday
Saturday started with two tough fought games against Wheaton and Indiana, the 1 and 2 seeds in our pool. We had to win one of these games to get to the championship bracket. We came out slow in the first game, against Wheaton, and went down 5-1. We started to get things together and pulled to 6-4 by half. We held till 10-7, and an unfortunate turn on a dump by yours truly gave them an easy score to take the game. Our next game, IU, we came out read to play, and battled like crazy in the first half. We hung in, only down one at half, 6-5, by great play and sheer toughness. Our man D kept us in the game, for a change, and we really shocked Indiana, who thought they would have a walk of a game. Indiana tightened up their game after half, and came out really strong, getting a couple of breaks, and eventually winning 11-7. Two great games that showed we can hang with the good teams out there, but that we still have some work to do. The rest of the day we played strong and beat the teams we were seeded to beat, UofI Chicago, Depaul, and Northern.
Sunday
Placing third in our pool required that we win out on Sunday, to achieve our regional goal. Our first game was against the familiar Southern. We played a good, competitive game against them, but our desire to win the four games that we had to play today, and make our first appearance at regionals helped us carry this first game without too much trouble. We won this game 15-10, Game 1 done. In our second game we were matched against the Lost Boys of North Park. We came out strong in the first half, taking a couple of breaks to get up 7-5, but after a well-placed timeout, the Lost Boys made their own run, tying it at 7's. The point from hell ensued. The point to take half lasted about 20 minutes, with some of our highlights being multiple layout under D's, tight marks, and a general toughness to our D that had been lacking all season. However, our O was also hectic and rushed, and for every great D we got, our O gave the disc back, seemingly forgetting that we were throwing in the wind. However, 20 minutes later, our O converts and takes half 8-7. Coming out of halftime, we let give up another break, tying it at 8's. And then another. A few points later, it is 11-9 NP, and we are getting pressed to score goals, as North Park is not giving us as many chances to score as they were early in the game. The game is soft-capped at 14, and NP has GP with a score of 13-11. ISU misses the chance to score downwind, and NP takes the disc all the way up the field, and calls a timeout on the goal line. We come out of the timeout pumped to D up, but NP gets a breakmark score to secure the win. NP 14 ISU 11. Bummer. We play a half assed game against Chicago, but can't summon a good effort with our goal missed, and a lot of our studs hurting from the rough weekend.
All in a all this has to be the best an ISU ultimate team has played. I could not be more proud of the effort, toughness and camaraderie, and I have to say, I am effing pumped for next season. Regionals 2011 Gnomes. Lets get after it.
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