Princess at Yale Cup - April 7th and 8th

Game 1: Dartmouth vs. Tufts EWO

The morning was frigid and Dartmouth’s princesses were wearing just about every piece of warm clothing they owned. They got their adrenaline flowing by watching the first half of the Dartmouth Paintrain vs. Brown game, followed by a solid warm up. Dartmouth took the field with an intensity that rarely comes out during first round games and really kept Tufts on their toes. For the first half, Dartmouth and Tufts traded points. Highlights included a beautiful huck from Mandy to Dai for the score, a couple breakside hucks from Nora, and a pseudo layout for a score by T-ho. Princess Layout pulled out its clam for a few points which looked pretty good. After half, Tufts pulled away and Dartmouth struggle to contain their hucks and shut down their offense.

Final Score: Dartmouth 7, Tufts 12

Game 2: Dartmouth vs. Wellesley Whip Tails

At this point in the morning, not only did it remain freezing outside, but the wind started to pick up. Wellesley threw a lot of zone, but our handlers remained patient and slowly worked it up the field. For the first point of the day, one of the handlers shredded the cup with a pass to Bean who was tackled by a Wellesley girl. From a half tackled position, Bean threw a pass to Blair for the first point of the game. For the second, Katie threw a nice OI forehand to Bean in the end zone. Dartmouth started throwing a zone with a four man cup on Wellesley which forced a lot of bad hucks from their handlers. Masi caught a ton of Wellesley’s swill near the endzone. Dartmouth and Wellesley continued to trade points as the wind picked up. Nora hucked to Anna in the endzone who impressively caught it into her body to avoid her burnt had to tie the game up at 6s. Then, after a long wind and zone filled point, Nora threw a long OI to Masi in the endzone to take half, 7-6. After half, the soft cap went on and Dartmouth pulled through to a 9-7 win.

Final Score: Dartmouth 9, Wellesley 7

Game 3: Dartmouth vs. WHUFA

Whufa started out the game very strong, breaking our marks IO, hucking across the field, and contesting everything in the air. It was not looking pretty. Before long, Dartmouth was down 0-6. But, pretty soon Dartmouth shook it off and Katie threw to Bean for our first score of the game. We threw our zone with a four man cup and completely shut down Whufa’s offense. Bean forced a turn, and Nora threw to T-ho for the score. Then Dartmouth caught on fire and totally got inside Whufa’s head, going a 7 point run to take half 7-6. Whufa got pissed and played hard, but Dartmouth continued to play harder, winning the game 10-6.

Final Score: Dartmouth 10, WHUFA 6

Game 4: Dartmouth vs. Yale Ramona

Yale, (having acquired former captain Liz Middleton) came out quite strong, scoring the first point after a couple turns. Dartmouth came right back with a huck from Molly to Marika to tie the score, 1-1. Yale stepped it up and scored several points in a row thanks to many break throws by Liz and some quick cuts by Yale’s captain. Soon, Dartmouth went on a 5 point streak to take half, 7-5. After half, Yale threw a four man zone similar to the one Dartmouth had been throwing against them, and quickly scored, taking the game to 7-6. The soft cap went on. Yale threw another zone which trapped Tien on the side on the edge of the endzone. Tien calmly through a hammer over the four man cup to Molly to take the game to 8-6. The soft cap went on. Yale scored another point, but Dartmouth came back to score again, winning the game 9-7.

Final Score: Dartmouth 9, Yale 7

Dartmouth started the day as the 5th seed in Pool B, and finished the day with a 3-1 record which gave them 2nd seed in the Pool B.

Day II:

Prequarters: Dartmouth vs. Brown

This day started out even more miserably than the previous day. Not only was it colder and windier, but flurries were also falling from the sky. Dartmouth tried hard to warm up, but the bitter cold and a blustery cross wind interfered with most of the drills. Despite the difficult warm up, Dartmouth went into this game intense and focused. Although we hadn’t seen Brown yet this season, we knew it was an important game to win. Dartmouth came out fired up, and scored after a long windy point with many turns. Dartmouth then threw a great four man cup which forced turn after turn after turn. Brown tried to break the cup by sending in a girl to crash and throwing across into the newly made space in the cup, but Dartmouth’s sidelines were too good and the cup adjusted to entirely shut down Brown’s offense. Both Apay and Bean had some fantastic handblocks, and Dartmouth’s handlers (Katie, Nora, Tien, Masi, and Elsa) worked the Brown zone incredibly well. After a while, perhaps out of desperation, Brown began throwing a loose 1-3-3 which was quickly broken by our handlers to finish out the game.

Final Score: Dartmouth 13, Brown 6

Quarters: Dartmouth vs. Delaware

The wind continued to pick up just as Dartmouth’s game against Delaware began. Delaware was a very solid team with a zone similar to Dartmouth’s and a lot of good huckers. Although Dartmouth’s zone did put a cramp in Delaware’s offense, they managed to pull out a few long hucks to score. Delaware also had a thrower that pulled to the back of the endzone, so the Dartmouth handlers got trapped in the end zone with a four man cup. Dartmouth’s handlers worked the disc back and forth with a ton of patience, but as the disc got down the field, a combination of the cold and the wind led to several drops which Delaware managed to capitalize on. Delaware took half 7-3. After half, Dartmouth stepped it up a notch and started to close the gap. However, before long the soft cap was on, and Dartmouth couldn’t catch up fast enough.

Final Score: Dartmouth 6, Delaware 9

Consolation Game: Dartmouth vs. Tufts EWO

Dartmouth took on EWO once again, this time fired up. Dartmouth used its entire bag of trips – the four man cup zone, the ho stack, the clam, the “in disguise” clam - to keep Tufts on their toes and get their coach worked up. Dartmouth played great defense and strong offense, taking the game to universe point. Sadly, the game was lost on a Callahan by a Tufts player, but overall, it was a great game.

Final Score: Dartmouth 9, Tufts 10

Thoughts: This was a great weekend! This was the first time the Dartmouth women’s A finally played together and the gelling over the course of 7 games was incredible. There was a ton of intensity and lots of great things happening all over the field. As Masi might comment, “we have an exponential growth curve”. Tons of improvement happened this weekend, and I think there is much more to come. Watch out New England!