News Recap: 2011 College Women's Regionals (North Central)

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Recap: 2011 College Women's Regionals (North Central)

Robyn Fennig

Posted: May 3, 2011 01:02 PM

Women's Division

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North Central
Regionals Recap

"It has been unreal to see how far this program has come over the last few years."
- Iowa co-captain Andrea Uhl

North Central Regionals was yet another demonstration of how weather in our region can change a tournament, and a demonstration of our coordinators’ resiliency and flexibility to make it all happen. Much like many other regions, the entire North Central was bombarded with rain for weeks, increasing the difficulty of securing playable fields. The folks in Madison, WI really stepped up to make the event happen. Thanks to all who helped secure playable fields, allowing for this tournament to happen! But now, onto the re-cap.

Saturday’s conditions in the women’s division were the most difficult that many teams have faced this season, perhaps ever. With 30 mph winds with 40+ mph gusts, upwind offense was intense. In Pool A, Iowa State went undefeated, exhibiting calm, collected, patient offense. Woman Scorned was able to score the most upwind points in their pool, allowing them to earn a bye into semi-finals on Sunday. Placement for 2nd through 4th in Pool A was determined by point differential. Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s last upwind point in hard cap in their final pool play game earned them a 2nd place finish, while Minnesota secured 3rd, and Luther finished 4th.

In Pool B, Iowa was able to squeak an upwind point on hard cap vs. a tough Bella Donna team in both teams’ first games on Saturday. Saucy Nancy struggled throughout most of the game with Bella’s tough defense. Sophomore Audrey Erickson’s layout endzone grab at the end of the game helped to seal the 1st place finish in the pool for Iowa. Wisconsin had yet another hard game immediately following vs. Carleton College Syzygy. Syzygy pulled off a one-point win in cap. Nebraska, though winless in pool play, was able to put up impressive scores in all three games on three veteran heavy teams.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Anna Shanedling

Quarterfinals matched Carleton against Minnesota and Wisconsin-Eau Claire against Wisconsin. Carleton and Wisconsin won by relatively large margins with point differentials of ten and eight points, respectively. This created some tough games for semi-finals. Carleton won handily over Iowa State 11-3, while the Iowa vs. Wisconsin game was closer, 11-7. The finals matched up Carleton with Iowa for the second time in the weekend. Both teams scored numerous up-wind points and switched between zone and man-to-man defense, showcasing versatility and athleticism. Iowa co-captain Andrea Uhl says that "It became pretty apparent early in the championship game that Saucy Nancy was actually going to win Regionals." Saucy has developed from a team struggling to make Regionals back into a national contender in a few years," she explains. "It has been unreal to see how far this program has come over the last few years. We used to go into games against teams like Carleton and Wisconsin with the mindset that we would be lucky to score even a single point."

The backdoor finals featured Wisconsin and Iowa State. This game featured numerous momentum changes. Bella Donna, demonstrating its veteran ability to keep fighting tooth-and-nail came back from a 3-7 deficit to take half at 8-7. Iowa State came out of half strong, scoring 4 unanswered points to secure the third and final bid to the big show in Boulder, CO. Iowa State graduate student handler Lindsay Gapstur described Woman Scorned's journey to the College Championships. "Scoring upwind points on Saturday when other teams hardly made it half way up field, losing in semi’s, and winning the backdoor game for our 2nd team appearance at College Nationals- all of those were done together with few stand out players or plays. We truly came together as a team and a program this season. The cohesiveness of our team and the support from alumni, coaches, friends, and other teams in the region gave us more drive than ever walking into that backdoor game. We pushed each other and had improvements with each game we played. Honestly, I don’t think this is our peak, and now we get 3 more weeks to prove that."

This is the fifth time in the Iowa's history and first time since 2005 that Saucy Nancy has qualified for the College Championships. Carleton returns to the college championships for the 23rd time in its program’s history. While Iowa State makes its second appearance ever, and first since 2009. Congrats on a great weekend to all teams, and best of luck to Saucy Nancy, Syzygy, and Woman Scorned at the Division 1 College Championships in Boulder, CO.

Bulletpoint Highlights:

Last minute move of fields from Appleton, WI to Madison, WI due to weather
Semis: Iowa wins over Wisconsin 11-7, Carleton College over Iowa State, 11-3
Finals: Iowa wins over Carleton College, 11-8.
Backdoor 3rd Place Game: Iowa State over Wisconsin, 11-8
Iowa Saucy Nancy, Carleton College Syzygy, and Iowa State advance to the Division 1 College Championships in Boulder

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