Fall 2009

Theodore Suess Geisel Memorial Tournament

Fort Niagara, NY
2009-09-26


Rutgers

NJ
2009-10-03

Rutgers October 3rd/4th

The Roses have added 8 new players to our Roster this year. We welcome: Hannah Boone(Booner), Alyson Brokaw, Anna Carroll(Spork), Elle Glenny, Xenia Rudenko, Jacqueline Schriber, Jess Stitt, and Anna Woodford(Beans).

Rutgers tournament on October 3rd/4th was our first tournament after separating from our B team Thorny. Cornell was happy to escape the 40 degree rainy weather of Ithaca. We have decided to sub completely evenly in the Fall Season. It strengthens us as a team even if it means we do not win every game.

Rutgers overall was not as competitive as it has been in the past. Because of this, we are going to do one big write-up for our first 5 games.

Cornell vs. Saturday Opponents (75-8) (We played Columbia 15-0, Villanova 15-0, Franklin Marshall 15-2, Cross Over: Delaware Y 15-3, Quarters: John Hopkins 15-3)

Cornell played well all day Saturday. We faced teams that would give us unforced turnovers and we were capitalising. We didn’t play down to their level. We maintained our focus and scored more than 50% of points without turning over the disc. One of our main focuses this year is being an extremely strong defense team. We have been working on very tight man defense and hard marks. We forced many stall 9 throw aways and even more stalls. We decided to use the games as a learning opportunity and introduced force middle and zone defense.

Semis vs. Hofstra - Roses win 15-1

The Roses entered the semis against Hofstra ready for an aggressive team, as we remembered hofstra from regionals in the spring. We came out with relatively clean offense and close man defense, and were able to take a demanding lead early. Their handlers continued to throw up bladey hucks on offense, and they hassled our newer players on the mark, but to no great effect; Cornell closed out the game 15-1 to get into the finals.

Finals vs. Princeton - Roses win 11-10 (on universe!)

After rolling teams all weekend, the Roses entered the finals against Princeton a little flat. They threw a straight up mark, which has historically caused the roses problems. We were unable to get our flow going or utilize our deep game, and Princeton used quick handler movement on offense to capitalize on our turnovers. We soon realized that this game would not be as easy as the rest of the weekend. We had to mark up strategically for the first time all weekend. Senior Nikki Schwartzman marked up on Princeton's best cutter, completely shutting her down and getting several run through D's. Once she got us the turn, Nikki was running deep for the fast break. With the score at 10-8 Princeton, the roses played tight defense and clean, focused offense to notch up two more and bring the score to 10-10 as hard cap went off to take the game to universe point. The roses came out determined, earned a D, and cleanly worked it up the field and got the disc to Freshman Hannah Boone wide open in the endzone to score and win the tournament!

We left our first tournament with a close win knowing what we needed to work on for our next tournament Purple Valley.


Purple Valley

Williams, MA
2009-10-17

Purple Valley October 17th/18th

The Roses went to Williamstown Ma for Purple Valley the weekend of October 17th/18th. We were thrilled that the forecast of pouring rain did not come true! In fact it barely rained at all.

Game 1 vs. Tufts (Roses win 15-1)

We came out strong on offense with a flawless execution to our new spread offense. We didn’t get much of a chance to work our spread again, as we were on defense for most of the rest of the game. We ran our force middle defense, which was very effective at stagnating tufts already slow offense. We ran hard through D’s, and had 8 points with no turnovers- when we go the D, we converted it immediately.

Game 2 vs. UCONN (Roses win 15-3)

UCONN came out much stronger than Tufts. We had to work hard to get the first 3 points, and then UCONN answered with 2 of their own. They were running a 4-man cup and poor decisions and slow swings led to some D’s on our end zone line, which, when given enough chances, UCONN was able to convert. We stressed the importance of swinging the disc, and the catches stepped it up and we found our rhythm and took half 8-2. Another performance of note is Amelia, who was making amazing cuts from the deep position to gain yards each time we swung the disc. In the second half, we worked on sprinting down off the pull, and Sterling and Tree each had a D on the first throw. We also worked on a few of our end zone plays, with great success. Despite their good start, UCONN seemed to lose steam, and we were able to close out the game 15-3.

Game 3 vs. “Williams B,” aka “Williams Alums” (Roses win 10-9) (UNIVERSE!)

I don’t know whether it was our 3rd round bye, overconfidence, or bad luck, but we started out this game VERY flat, giving Williams 4 points before we answered. Williams was poaching, which was shutting down our spread, and their offense consisted of bladey hucks and cuts to the break side and back across the front. We stayed calm and adjusted, seeing that our spread was not effective, we switched to our vert stack. We needed something to get us on the board, and decided to throw a zone. It worked. Our zone brought up our intensity level and got us fired up, and we answered Williams with a 4 point run of our own. However, we were still shaken from our rough start, and we were unable to find our stride. We were plagued by uncharacteristic decisions, drops, and throw aways. Williams took half 8-6. We came out fired after half- we knew we could beat this team if we just played our game. We fought through and scored the next 3 points, taking the lead for the first time in the game. Williams answered and the hard cap went on: universe point. We ended the game on a good note. We worked it down and scored with relative ease, chilled on the endzone, and worked the dump and swing until we found our opening. If someone had watched the last point, they would have never guessed it was universe.

Sunday “Quarters” Game 4 vs. Yale (Roses win 11-7)

In Roses fashion, we were the first womens team to show up to the fields (only the Buds beat us to the fields), and we were running late. At the start of the round, three Williams players showed up… We were supposed to play Williams but they decided to sleep in. In fact both teams from Williams decided to sleep in. So we ended up playing Yale in this round, who was supposed to play the other Williams team, knowing that we would both then advance to the Semis on our respective sides of the bracket. Because of the mix up, we did not start playing until 40 minutes into the round. We started on a negative note with them breaking us right away… but we answered with 4 points in a row (3 of which, we didn’t turn the disc). India had an excellent run through D to help us start this run. We also threw zone and they turned the disc on the first throw because the cup sprinted down before the first throw was released. (It also helps that Kelsey is baller at pulling!) They figured out how to break our zone and because of a few Cornell drops, they were able to score 2 in a row. Cornell again answer with 3 points making the score 7-3. At this point, we lost some of our focus and intensity and let them score 3 in a row to make it a tight game 7-6. We took a time out, regrouped and came out and scored the point to take half without turning the disc. Coming out of half, we walked down the field easily with a throw to Kelsey and a huck to Tree to make the score 9-6. The soft cap went on during that point because we had started the game so late. It was now a game to 11. Our last three points were not as pretty as we would like, but we were able to finish the game 11-7. There is a VERY noteworthy bid by freshman Hannah Boone to catch the disc and win the game. While this game was not our best, we definitely tried out a few new offenses and defenses and learned what worked and didn’t work.

Semis vs. Middlebury (Roses lose 5-15)

Going into this weekend, we knew that Middlebury was a good team. They had many very good players and did not sub them. They had excellent throwers and had great receivers who could come down with the disc. Cornell was in a funk that we could seem to shake during this game. Middlebury threw a hard 4 person cup. It was a tight cup and very difficult to break. Middlebury capitalized on every turn and never gave us the disc back. We worked hard to get the disc back but then we were not conservative enough with the disc to score every time. Middlebury took half 8-2. We came out of half determined to make it a better half; we scored the first point with a perfect huck from Kelsey to Amelia. But we once again struggled to break through their zone and were getting down on ourselves instead of being excited about the level of our competition. The final score was 15-5 Middlebury. We had a lot of things to take away from this game.

Placement game vs. Boston College (Roses Win 15-0)

Sometime between games… the roses woke up. We were focused and ready in this game. While the competition was not as good, we shut down every single cut. We must have had around 10 run through D’s in this game and I am not exaggerating. Nikki and Amelia had a competition to see who could have the most run through D’s and I guess all the roses need is a little competition. :P Freshman Jacqueline got one of the many run through D and then caught the score for bookends! The Roses played Roses Ultimate. We limited our turns and ran clean spread and vert offenses. We ended the tournament on a high note winning 15-0.

The Roses leave this weekend with alot to work on. First of all we need to figure out why we were so flat Sunday morning and how to change the mental attitude for next time. We need to work on our zone offense and get every player more comfortable in their role. We also would like to add a Horizontal stack to our list of offenses. We have a month of practices before our last tournament in Delaware, giving us plenty of time to prepare.


Piggly Fest

Delaware
2009-11-14

Delaware Piggly Fest November 14th/15th

For Cornell’s last tournament of the fall season, we went to Delaware prepared for any weather after our rainy, cold experience last year. But to our surprise, there was no rain and Sunday it was 70 and beautiful!!

We arrived to the fields Saturday morning to find big puddles and a huge strip of mud down the center. This was quickly overlooked at we started to warm up.

Pool Play Cornell vs. Delaware (13-2)

Cornell started out slow in this game getting broken in the first point. We traded for two more points before we got into our groove and finished the rest of the game with very few turns. We ended the game in 45 minutes giving us a long break before our next game.

Cornell vs. Towson (13-0)

Towson was the last team in our pool, but Cornell came out ready to play. We maintained our composure and our game and again had another excellent quick game. We tried out our force middle defense. Our man defense was unbeatable. I don’t think that Towson had one open upfield cut. We forced many stall 9 hucks and stalls.

Cornell vs. James Madison University (13-4)

Cornell came out happy and fired up for this game. JMU only ran a horizontal stack so we were able to use our Umbrella (ella ella eh eh eh) defense. Cornell started out with a 6-0 run (with only 3 turns). In that run, new player Elle threw her first in game flick and then went deep to score. JMU scored the next two points. The first point happened because of miscommunication on a switch. The second point we turned it by our endzone giving them a quick point. We responded with a BEAUTIFULLY executed spread offense point. (Sterling hucking to Mackey deep.) We lost a little momentum in the second half turning the disc multiple times, but our defense was solid enough to get us the disc back. We were getting D’s rather than waiting for them to turn the disc. In one point, due to peer pressure from the sideline, Mackey hucked it deep… it was perfect. Sterling also had two cross field hammers to Tree in the endzone. Cornell finished the game 13-4.

Cornell vs. Princeton (15-2) (crossover)

We beat Princeton on universe point earlier this fall at Rutgers; we knew we could not underestimate them. Princeton has very quick handlers that pop out every single time. They move the disc very fast. The first few points were long. We were having trouble stopping the handler pop out but our downfield defenders were guarding tightly leaving Princeton with limited options. After Princeton scored their second point making the score 4-2, we took a timeout to talk about how to shut down the pop out and to refocus ourselves. After that, we didn’t look back. We were trying out our zone defense which looked unbeatable. India proved herself as a deep deep when she came from nowhere to sky a Princeton player for the D. In another point, Kelsey caught a throw as short deep and immediately hammered it to Amelia in the back of the endzone. Laura Seeho completely skied one of their best players, who had position on her. We finished the game with three turn free points winning 15-2.

Bracket Play Cornell vs. Northeastern (13-6)

Cornell was very very happy because it was 70 degrees and sunny!! The quarters game was against Northeastern. Northeastern went to nationals last year so we knew we needed to be prepared. We started the game with our beautiful spread, Tree cut deep as alpha and received a huck from Jackie, Jennine ran down field to catch a pop out from tree and was able to show off her triple jump skills as she jumped just far enough to make it into the endzone. The second point started out with a great heads up D by new player Anna Carroll aka Spork. We didn’t connect on offense due to our speed being cut in half by the mud. (Our throwers had not adjusted yet). But we were able to get it back when Jackie layout D’d the dump throw. (If only she had caught it for the Callahan.) When it was 3-0, Northeastern decided to mix it up and throw a zone. This caught us off guard. We had not played zone offense all weekend; they were able to capitalize on our mistake and scored. We were having trouble finding our groove in zone. They were able to score 3 of the next 4 points to tie it up 4-4. We put out a solid zone O line and proved that we knew how to play zone O by scoring the next 3 points in a row to take half. The first point of that streak, Sterling threw a crossfield hammer to Amelia who caught the hammer with an excellent bid. We started zone out of half, Mackey was huge in the cup as they tried to throw over her with a hammer. While they were able to score two points, we finished the game off with a 6 point run. (5 of which had no turnovers) Cornell wins 15-6.

Cornell vs. James Madison (13-6)

Cornell entered the Semis against JMU who we had seen the day before. But JMU looked more serious today. They had just had a close game against Hofstra and came out fired up. We traded the first 4 points. Then they broke us…. We took a time out and refocused. Someone switched in us because the next 4 points had no turns and were executed very well. Amelia even caught a Callahan!!! (Thank you Kelsey for having awesome Pulls!) We took half 7-4. The second half we had great D with a handblock by Amelia, and a layout D by India. Jackie and Laura had two back to back full field huck connections. Cornell won 13-6.

Cornell vs. Delaware Alumni (15-8)

Cornell was excited to play a very competitive game. Delaware Alumni all had experience, they were fast and had excellent throws and great grabs. We knew that Cornell would need to step up to win this game. And step up we did!! The Alums came out in a clam, and it didn’t even seem to faze Cornell, we were working it quickly and consistently between the handlers. Our dump/swing timing was perfect and our hucks were connecting. We went on an exciting 5-0 run! Delaware Alumni then score their first point catching the disc after Neela D’s it in the endzone. We took half 8-3. To start off the second half, Kelsey maintained the disc after a Delaware alum had a huge bid for her disc. Kelsey then hammered it to Sterling laying out. It seemed that many points, Delaware would struggle working the disc downfield (probably because of our team defense) and then we would get the turn and quickly work the disc down the field in 2 or 3 throws showing the alumni how it is done! Laura finished the game by throwing a beautiful forehand huck to Tree. Roses win 15-8. We could not be happier with the playing and attitude in this game. It is a great way to leave us as we enter finals and winter break.

The Roses know that while we have had a great fall season with a 19-1 record, we cannot become complacent. We all have things to work on individually and as a team. We are excited to work hard over break and return in the spring to face competition with our best foot forward.

One big thanks goes out to Anna Woodford’s parents for putting many of us up this past weekend in Delaware, you were amazing hosts and we greatly appreciate it. Thanks to Laura’s parents who brought us food on Sunday and made an extra trip to find us water! And Thank you Tree's Dad and alumni Sadie who came out, cheered and gave us support throughout the weekend. It was very exciting to share our success with all of you. :)