Monday, June 15, 2009

MARFU U23 takes 3rd at 2009 NASC - Part 2 of at least 3

So ... Friday was rough. We got out of our hotel a bit (we needed it bad) and enjoyed a nice family dinner at "Kings", complete with an Angry Mob and 28 spoons.

And Saturday we regrouped. We slept in, did a nice pool recovery session, and reviewed some of our most prominent technical and tactical issues. Since Northeast pretty much kicked our ass with a kicking game, we knew we needed to sort that out.

Coach Kate Nichol was a huge asset, walking the back row and back triangle players through their running lines, and looking at the details via coded video. Each unit spent some time in front of the computer, and out to training we went.

We worked on our kick counter kick game, our team defense, pattern of play, and did a little work with the forwards on body position and channel 1 tools.

Q-Doba, a fantastic rookie skit, and time for bed. Everyone wanted a victory pretty badly, and with our large roster we were able to rest some dinged up players and let some fresh legs give us an extra jolt. The turnaround was tremendous - while we still have a way to go as a team, the improvement from Friday to Sunday was nothing less than stupendous. Our counterattack and kicking game was one of the strongest aspects of play, out tries game from big team efforts and persistance to the pattern, and the final try of the game was inspirational (though Hutch, Natalie, Moira, and Danielle will argue about exactly WHO was responsible for the inspiration.

Match Roster is below, scroll down for the video.

1. Kristin Lucas (UVA)
2. Maddie Kriebal (Westchester)
3. Molly Walter (Mary Washington)
4. Betsy "B-Train" McCracken (Nova U19)
5. Ugochi Madubata (Princeton)
6. Monique McQueen (Virginia Commonwealth)
7. Kaitlyn Rooney (American)
8. Laura Miller (St Mary's College of Maryland
9. Hannah Bennet (Drexel)
10. Kate Rada (Westchester)
11. Jess Weiss (DC Furies)
12. Tanya Gouws (University of Maryland)
13. Moira Sommerdyk (Temple)
14. Danielle Monica (Temple)
15. Meg Lamm (Westchester

Replacements:

Monique Compito for Monique McQueen
Melissa Hutchinson (Shippensburg) for Kate Rada
Sara Shanely (Virginia Commonwealth) for Bennett
Sara Glick (Westcheter) for Kriebel - Lucas to 2
Mary Bocchino (Westchester) for McCracken (Miller to 5, Rooney to 8)
Emily Refsnyder (Westchester) for Madubata
Natalie Monroig (Shippensburg) for Lamm

MARFU U23 takes 3rd at 2009 NASC - Part 1 of several

It's been a long and exhausting 5 days, but very exciting for the young Sharks. I'll go into some detail regarding our preparation on my coaching blog, but wanted to get an update out quickly.


Friday was a tough day for us - with only 6 returning players, and 22 fresh faced rookies, MARFU took the field against NRU. We were a bit outmatched by virtue of size and experience, and the NRU took advantage of our inexperience with a brilliant tactical game. They controlled much of the possesion and repeatedly forced us to play out of our red zone. A stern whistle by the referee's saw 2 penalty kicks and a converted penalty try to to NRU in the opening 20 minutes, and while the young Sharks adjusted at half, it was just a little too late.

MVP awards on the day went to American University flanker Kaitlyn Rooney, who made a huge impact both offensively and defensively - all in her first select side experience. Congratulations Rooney!

The match highlight video is below the game roster. NRU and MARFU line breaks and tries are all combined, so you may see a couple of try scoring clips twice. Final score MARFU 12, NRU 42. The star on the day was certainly NRU's 10, who absolutely punished every MARFU infraction with penalties, and placed precision tactical kicks all game long. NRU wnt on to win the tournament in convincing fashion, dusting off the Midwest 43-5 on Sunday. They were clearly the class of the tournament. Congrats to NRU.

Next post will feature the exciting MARFU/PACIFIC U23 match (which MARFU pulled out in dramatic portion to avoid relegation and remain in Tier A).

Friday's Roster, scroll down for video...

1. Mia Delina Escobar (Drexel)
2. Kristin Lucas (UVA)
3. Molly Walter (Mary Washington)
4. Emily Refsnyder (Westchester)
5. Ugochi Madubata (Princeton)
6. Monique Compito (Virginia Tech)
7. Kaitlyn Rooney (American)
8. Laura Miller (St Mary's College of Maryland)
9. Sara Shanley (Virginia Commonwealth)
10. Melissa Hutchinson (Shippensburg)
11. Meg Lamm (Westchester)
12. Tanya Gouws (University of Maryland)
13. Moira Sommerdyk (Temple)
14. Danielle Monica (Temple)
15. Natalie Monroig (Shippensburg)

Replacements:
Maddie Kriebel for Escobar - Lucas to 1, Kriebel to 2 (Westchester)
Sara Glick (Westchester) for Kriebel - Lucas to 2
Monique McQueen for Monique Compito (Virginia Commonwealth)
Angela Yue for Lamm (Westchester)
Sasha Stauffer for Tanya Gouws (Sommerdyk to 12
Hannah Bennett for Sara Shanley

Trys - Hutchinson, Monroig
Conversion - Monroig