We had the final game against Northeastern this morning. It was drizzling a little bit with some wind. Both teams played a lot of zone. The off-point in the cup sometimes drew away from the cup to cover the other handler, which threw us off a little bit. There were some great hammers/around the cup from Amy, Catherine, and I but our zone offense seemed pretty stagnant. There was a lot of issues with the poppers working with each other and with the wings. So it seemed like Catherine and I were just swinging it back and forth, get pushed back and losing yards because the off-point kept biting on the other handler. This should have left a huge hole in the cup but we weren't filling it.
When it wasn't zone, our offensive flow looked really good. Everyone was really open, the dumps were able to get open, and we had a few really nice dump-swing-score-on-the-break-side points. The first half was neck and neck. At one point they had a run going until 7-4, but we caught up to tie it 7-7. Then they took half 8-7. The second half of the game things just kind of fell apart for us and Northeastern played a very good game as well. They had a lot of run-through Ds and really great catches. They also had some really awesome pulls that landed in the endzone (I want to learn to pull like that!!). I think this is the half where Doris got slide-tackled by someone, injuring her elbow/arm (its her left, so its ok). She also got bowled over by Jenny. Anyway, sMITe managed to get a point in at game point to bring the game to 8-14, but Northeastern pulled away with the win at 15-8.
We licked our wounds and psyched ourselves up for the backdoor game-to-go against Dartmouth. We looked at each other and told ourselves that this is OUR GAME. WE WANT IT MORE.
They played a lot of zone D on us but we were able to throw it around and through the cup. Our man defense looked really good. There were a lot of high stall-counts and we even stalled them a few times because nothing was open upfield and the dump was pretty well-covered. I told myself that my girl was not gonna get open, and I think the entire game, my girl only got it once or twice. It's a pretty satisfying feeling shutting down cutters. There were a few ridiculous calls this game. One time I D-ed a huck and my girl called a foul on me. I should've gone to the observer, who would've ruled in my favor. But it was a contested foul and went back to the thrower. I felt robbed of a D... it's not every day where I block a deep throw. :( Some other ridiculous calls: Doris' awesome layout grab in the endzone for a score and her defense tried to say the disc was down. Wtf? Another time: Erika and her D grabbed the disc at the same time and her D tried to say that she was there first. Observer ruled in favor of offense. (Go Erika!)
Another time: I was guarding their dump and my girl tried to run through me and stomped on my foot - I called a foul and she contested (her reason: you were in my way... I can't help it if you're in my way and I'm trying to go there). This time I was smart and went to the observer, who called an offensive foul on her so the stall count stayed where it was. (What would've happened if the it was ruled against me though??)
Anyway, the first half was neck and neck and we took half at 8-7. The second half our offense looked really really good, both man and zone. Again, there were a lot of high stall counts and even stalls - our downfield D did such a great job of covering people. I remember being especially psyched when I got a run-through D and then hucked it to Jenny for a score. The last point of the game we were so psyched that we were one point away from going to Nationals... we worked it up the field and got a little too over-excited and threw the disc away. Dartmouth worked it towards their endzone and it got D-ed by someone awesome. And again, sMITe worked it up the field (everyone touched the disc in amazing offensive flow). Soon Smeri had the disc and dumped it to me. But I was like 5 feet from the endzone and there was so much clogging in the endzone because again, everyone was too overexcited for the disc. Suddenly Catherine made a great cut up the line and I made an easy 10-foot pass to Catherine for the score :) We came away with 15-8, only letting them score one point in the second half.
Holy crap I can't believe it... sMITe is going to Nationals!!! I feel like I can write that over and over again... sMITe is going to Nationals!!! Nationals!!! I'm so proud of everyone this weekend. Everyone really stepped it up, kept each other motivated, and communicated to each other. One of the things that struck me about this team, is that even though during the Saturday Dartmouth game, they had a ton of fans (most of them annoying and some of them dressed up as dinosaurs and teletubbies) who erupted in cheers when they scored. But sMITe didn't let that faze them; they just kept their heads up and played their game.
Some quotes from this weekend:
"Let's do to Dartmouth what Northeastern did to us." - Anne, right before the start of second half of the game-to-go against Dartmouth. (which we did).
"I really want to go to Nationals, but I'm afraid then I'm not going to graduate on time." -Catherine, after our first win against Dartmouth
"GRRGGGGRGGGGGARHGHARHGHHGHH" -Coach Jin with her biker gloves because Smeri wanted a T-rex impression
"Throw a hammer next time!!" -Darlene/Jin, to Karen after she threw a crappy blade to Doris who caught it. :/ (I was trying to do a bendy throw.)
"OMYGOD" -Doris, right before she caught the crappy blade from Karen.
"Does anyone want to drive with someone with a mild concussion??" -Daphne, when we were getting ready to drive back
"I'm just happy we get to play another tournament together" -Amy, on the ride back to MIT
"OMG I LOVE YOU DORIS!! And I haven't even said that to NG yet!" -Karen, when Doris laid out in the endzone for the score
"Yet... she said 'yet'. There's hope for you." -Yang, to NG.
Thanks to all our fans who came out to cheer us on this weekend: Liver, Shuang, Genevieve, Yang, MattyB, NG, Nurit, Ali, Erika's mom, Mr & Mrs. Barry :) And I heard that Liver was updating the score on her away message during the games for far-away sMITe fans :) You guys are amazing :)
And finally, a picture of Doris looking pregnant:
