Boston Invite Recap
By Katie Talay, Anna Membrino, and Akina Younge
This weekend BENT headed up to Boston for our first tournament of 2013! Like most first tournaments, Boston Invite was a building weekend for us: on Saturday we shook off the cobwebs from months in the off-season, and on Sunday we proved that we had grown dramatically throughout the weekend and from last season.
Our first game against Nova started out rockier than we had hoped. Coming out tired and flat against the focused Nova squad, we quickly learned how important positive energy is to our quality of play. Nova scored the first few points on the board and we trailed them for the rest of the game, unable to fully recover. Final score: 15 -13 Nova.
Game two against Lotus quickly became the Judy Jarvis--Becca Tucker show. Supported by a newly-gelled offense and gritty D-line plays, the two threw score after score to each other and brought home the win. Final score: 14-10 BENT.
Next, we, Miley Cyrus, and whoever sings "The Wobble" faced off against Stella. Who can stop that combo? We kept the energy up, throwing diverse defenses and using our patience on offense against the talented Stella team. Final score: 15-12 BENT.
By Katie Talay, Anna Membrino, and Akina Younge
This weekend BENT headed up to Boston for our first tournament of 2013! Like most first tournaments, Boston Invite was a building weekend for us: on Saturday we shook off the cobwebs from months in the off-season, and on Sunday we proved that we had grown dramatically throughout the weekend and from last season.
Our first game against Nova started out rockier than we had hoped. Coming out tired and flat against the focused Nova squad, we quickly learned how important positive energy is to our quality of play. Nova scored the first few points on the board and we trailed them for the rest of the game, unable to fully recover. Final score: 15 -13 Nova.
Game two against Lotus quickly became the Judy Jarvis--Becca Tucker show. Supported by a newly-gelled offense and gritty D-line plays, the two threw score after score to each other and brought home the win. Final score: 14-10 BENT.
Next, we, Miley Cyrus, and whoever sings "The Wobble" faced off against Stella. Who can stop that combo? We kept the energy up, throwing diverse defenses and using our patience on offense against the talented Stella team. Final score: 15-12 BENT.
Alas, at the end of the day our focus ebbed and we lost our fourth game to the athletic QUB players. The fight was tough, but their quick movement, precise throws, and secret French plays outdid us. Final score 14-10 QUB. Sunday brought us four pairs of fresh legs in Megan Randall, Kelly “Beezus” Hyland, Cassie Wong, and Ashley Daly. Armed with a refreshed D-line and a fully charged JamBox, BENT took on Green Means Go. New York maintained control throughout the spirited match, helped tremendously by an active sideline. The game was marked by great defensive plays on both sides, with a notable match-up of former college and club teammates Tucker and Keri Dorko. Final score: 14-10 BENT. Our most-anticipated game came in the afternoon against our regional rivals, Brute Squad. We had been itching to see them again since the exciting game-to-go at 2012 Regionals, in which they earned the win. Although this wasn’t the tournament’s championship game, the energy and intensity from both teams certainly made this match-up the game to watch. |
The start of the game proved that both teams were focused. Brute earned the first break, but BENT knew to keep working, answering a few points later with a break of our own. The teams were so well matched that one point in the first half lasted nearly 30 minutes! We continued to trade points and eventually made it to half, BENT leading 8-7.
Half time = Dance break.
In the second half, both teams held on offense until Brute earned the first break, making the score 10-9, Brute. But our O-line didn’t back down, tying the game up at 10-10. With the soft cap on and game to 12, captain Wong got bookends to make the score 11-10. We kept the same D-line in and Katherine Cole showed that that was the right decision when she got a key interception on the sideline, giving BENT possession. The disc eventually found itself in the hands of Hyland who floated a backhand huck to Wong in the endzone. The disc seemed to hang forever, with Wong and her defensive match-up vying for space. Wong was able to come down with the grab, marking the end of a thrilling game. Final score: 12-10 BENT.
This win marks the first time in BENT’s five-year history that the team has earned a win in a match-up against a top tier Boston women’s team during the season. Both teams will likely believe that there is much work to do, but it was an exciting, athletic, beautiful game to watch and if anything, it is a small indicator of increasing parity among the country’s top-level women’s teams.
In the second half, both teams held on offense until Brute earned the first break, making the score 10-9, Brute. But our O-line didn’t back down, tying the game up at 10-10. With the soft cap on and game to 12, captain Wong got bookends to make the score 11-10. We kept the same D-line in and Katherine Cole showed that that was the right decision when she got a key interception on the sideline, giving BENT possession. The disc eventually found itself in the hands of Hyland who floated a backhand huck to Wong in the endzone. The disc seemed to hang forever, with Wong and her defensive match-up vying for space. Wong was able to come down with the grab, marking the end of a thrilling game. Final score: 12-10 BENT.
This win marks the first time in BENT’s five-year history that the team has earned a win in a match-up against a top tier Boston women’s team during the season. Both teams will likely believe that there is much work to do, but it was an exciting, athletic, beautiful game to watch and if anything, it is a small indicator of increasing parity among the country’s top-level women’s teams.
This early in the season it’s hard to tell where the teams will go from here, but it is clear that future games between BENT and Brute Squad will be exciting ones to watch. We expect that all eyes will turn to the Northeast Women’s division this year to watch more high quality, spirited Ultimate! Donate to BENT Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter |