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Pounce beats seed at Nationals!!!
Pounce wins Spirit of the Game award for women's division !!(?)!!
Sarasota, FLA - October 24-27, 2002
2002 Club Championships
Three beautiful days of ultimate in sunny, sunny Sarasota. So many
stories, so many cherished memories. For some, the jubilation started on
the flight from Pittsburgh to Tampa (Wednesday, Oct 23rd). Upon
touchdown, the US Airways crew welcomed all passengers to Tampa, and
offered a special welcome to the Ultimate Frisbee players from
Pittsburgh, wishing them good luck in the National Championship in
Sarasota.
Most hopped into a rental car (thanks to Tina Jerzyk for organizing
ground transportation) from Tampa to our fabulous condos in Siesta Key.
Special thanks to Tracy O'Lare for securing accommodations for everyone.
Our spacious and comfortable condos (reminiscent of the Golden Girls)
were across from the white sandy beach of Siesta Key and a mere 15
minutes southwest of the polo fields.
DAY ONE - October 24 2002
Pounce had a quick start against Schwa (perhaps a little groggy from the
3-hour time difference), surging ahead 5-3. After a serious time-out,
Schwa managed to pull it together and take the first half 8-7. The
Official comment from UPA organizers sums up our first game: Schwa came
out flat to start against a distinctly high-spirited Pounce, squeaking
through the first half 8-7. The second half belonged to Schwa as they
finished 15-8. "High-spirited" indeed. More on that later!
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Left: Marie Norman is ready to launch her 45-yard flick towards the end zone.
Maybe someone will be making that cut for her?
Right: Karen Thorne has the break force covered.
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The day's second game, vs. Fury, had a few highlights. Megan Zdancewic
scored when she caught her own pass, tipped off the Fury marker's hand.
Nice! Straight out of our playbook! We split their deep player to score
against their zone (ok, it happened once)! Overall, we had a very
spirited game. More on our spirit later.
Who's got the disc? There's no contest that it's
Sarah Aerni! This hot grab against Fury (the eventual women's
finalists) was captured by super fan and sideline photographer Keith
Heffley during the second game at Nationals.
We met Fuse in game three with high
expectations for a good match. Shown right, Dara Stern stymies her
defender and releases another perfect backhand. They quickly defused us,
but we refused to go down without a fight. Our opponents may have won
15-8, but there was no confusion as to who came out on top with the most
spirited game. Yes, more on that later.
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Left:
Karen Thorne and Jacqueline Neilson play catch against Fuse.
Right:
Rachel Borchardt gets up and in front of the Fuse player to complete the pass.
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DAY TWO - October 25 2002
There were two tough games on our slate -
against Safari and Bait - and we played both games to the limit.
We kept Safari within two points (14-12 loss for Pounce at time cap).
"Rock on, Pounce!" say Debbie and Tracy O'Lare.
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Against Bait, we swapped the lead a few times
but eventually succumbed 15-13, once more at time cap.
You can send the disc under the mark.
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Or you can send it through the mark.
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Or you can execute a classic Marie
Norman high release over the mark. The defender from Safari is yelling
something in this shot. Is it.?
a) "Stall five!"
b) "Up!"
c) "Travel!"
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Hope Celani has the Bait player covered on defense.
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Chriss O'Lare comes up and down with another grab in the end zone.
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"Come on you guys!" Jax has encouraging words for the team.
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Look out! Chrissy Isbister has a laser in her arsenal.
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Tina Jerzyk gives the disc an extra squeeze.
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DAY THREE - October 26 2002
On the third day, we played for seed and we wanted to improve on our
initial ranking. This would require two consecutive wins.
We came out strong against Buttercup, finishing
them off 15-6. Our spirit, as always, was irreproachable.
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Anne Zacharias and Tina Jerzyk swoop in and contain the Buttercup offense.
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The next game was a rematch against Bait, who had just come back to
defeat Clutch 12-11. The kitties got psyched up to play (Mah! Chjitney!
Djatha!!!!) and came out very strong in the first half.
Chrissy Isbister delivers another strong flick.
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Ashley Smith is looking red hot. Defense has no chance on this play.
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Debbie Baird is sending this one to the end zone!
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WE WON! After a long, hard-fought and very spirited game, the kitties came up
with a win 15-14.
Hope Celani, Jacqueline Neilson and Marie Norman celebrate!
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We congratulate Bait on a great game. We declare that they are the master!
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Sing it for Ashley!
Our team is red hot! Our team is red hot! Our team is
R-E-D-H-O-T once we start we cannot stop!
We're number 13! We're number 13! We're number 13! We're number 13!
We want to extend our heartfelt
thanks to all the fans and supporters who came to watch our games and
cheer us on. Keith, Dan, Mark, Shannon, Mrs. O'Lare, Mr. Doolittle,
Jason, Carter, Victor, Tom, John. and, of course, to our mascot Ben
Banyas, who thrilled us at regionals and inspired us at nationals!!!
SPIRIT OF THE GAME
Now... about this spirit business. Pounce won the spirit award in the
women's division with an average score of 4.43 out of 5 for the entire
tournament!!! Marie Norman was selected by our captains to be the
spirit winner for our team. Yeah - we're all pretty happy about it! Go
Pounce!
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