Holy Family Catholic Girls Take Home 2012 HS Centrals Title
Christine Schulz
Posted: May 14, 2012 12:24 PM
The first HS Centrals had eight girls teams, all of them brimming with excitement and determination.
Centrals Day 1
In pool A the competing teams were Holy Family Catholic, Armstrong, St. Paul Charter and Neuqua Valley Girls JV. The pool B competing teams were Cathedral, Neuqua Valley, South HS and James Madison Memorial HS. For South HS and St. Paul Charter, it was their first tournament of the season. The favored team was Holy Family Catholic, who won the 2012 Chicago Invite. All the players who came out were at the top of their game. From Holy Family Catholic the players to watch were Kayla Fry and Kjersti Fry. Both played very well on offense and defense, giving the other players a tough game. Tess, #4 on St. Paul Charter, bid every chance she got. Other players to keep an eye on are Alexa Kaczor from Neuqua, #8 from Cathedral and #5 from South HS.
Holy Family Catholic managed to tear apart their pool play. All three teams they played fought hard for every point. In each game Holy Family proved how well their team works together. Their offensive and defensive game were top notch but they had to work for their wins. Armstrong kept up with Holy Family in the beginning of the game but soon Holy Family pulled out ahead. St. Paul gave Holy Family a defensive fight stopping them at every chance they could. Holy Family showed the girls division they weren’t an easy team to beat on the first day.
In the first round the most exciting game was Cathedral and Neuqua. The teams were fairly matched. Girls on both teams bid for everything from layout D’s to laying out for a point. The teams traded points up until half. Cathedral played really well offensively which put them at the top in the end. After the game Ella Hackett-Richer, Cathedral captain, said, "It was rough at first because morning games are tough for our team. We played pretty good but there were some fumbles with the disc."
Each point was long and intense in the Neuqua vs South game. Both teams played well and featured great defense. At half Neuqua pulled ahead. The South girls offense fell apart. The coach of South said, "They had a tighter man defense than we were expecting. We couldn’t really anticipate their first cut and second cut so we had to resort to the third cut."
Throughout the day many of the girls were bidding for every disc, especially the Neuqua and St. Paul Charter. They would bid for a D and to save a disc from a turnover. South and Armstrong were hucking it down field with no problem. Holy Family and Cathedral’s handlers were confident in their throws and swung the disc well. All in all, the teams today have shown their skill with moving the disc and their desire to have the disc no matter what.
In the final round of the day Cathedral and South took the game to the last minute. They were tied for a very long time, leaving both teams worn out. Then, Cathedral went on a 2-0 run. The South sidelines were loud and their spirits high. South came back but couldn’t hold on. The coach for South said "Our defense is where we want it to be but not so much our offense."
The spirit throughout the day was awesome. All teams were respectful of each other and made the tournament a friendly one. The girl’s teams stayed up mentally through losses and wins. Sportsmanship was obvious throughout the day.
Day one of high school centrals ended with Holy Family beating out their pool and also wins for St. Paul, Cathedral, South and Armstrong. The girls played hard all of day one.
Centrals Day 2
Holy Family Catholic
2012 HS Centrals Champions |
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As day two comes to a close at High School Centrals the winning team in the girls division is Holy Family Catholic.
The championship played out as predicted with Cathedral and Holy Family Catholic facing in the finals. Cathedral played hard and gave Holy Family Catholic the most competition they’ve had all weekend.
Cathedral kept up with Holy Family in the beginning of play. Although Cathedral was playing well, Holy Family took advantage of every mistake. Cathedral needed the upwind break but couldn’t get it. Eventually Holy Family took the lead and ran with it. Consequently, Cathedral didn’t have the stamina to keep up with Holy Family.
Nevertheless, not all games came out as predicted. Some girls teams received upsets in the beginning of the day putting them in a lower bracket than expected.
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Neuqua received a substantial loss to St. Paul putting them in the fifth place bracket. St. Paul and Neuqua traded both possesion of the disc and points all the way up until half. St. Paul was up at half, but Neuqua came back to tie the game. #4 on St. Paul was bidding throughout the game and it was obvious she wanted the win. St. Paul beat Neuqua on universe point.
Armstrong and Cathedral played a close low scoring game with many turns. Each team kept getting caught in the red zone right by the end zone. For the majority of play it was tied at threes. The wind it made it considerably harder for the teams to score. As soon as Cathedral went up by two the game was finished. Armstrong played hard but couldn’t pull through with the win. They were sent to the third place bracket to play St. Paul.
After a long day the third place game was tight game. The sidelines were pumped up and giving teammates support. The points were long, the girls looked tired but they played through to the end of the game. They switched back and forth between long points. St. Paul ended up winning third place but it was not an easy win. Armstrong made them work for it.