Numbers low, spirits high was the motto for this week! It was 6:15pm and we only had 3 men at the fields while the Lucky Rollers had a full line. Luckily for us, the pink ladies have been showing up full force for us and we had all 5 of them there to manage to scrap together a line while reinforcements came. Sterling luckily is the fastest snake-wrangler in town and was able to show up quickly to help us get a full line on the field.
We started on a rough note. They held and then broke us for a 2-0 lead. We had no momentum and were just playing sloppy. Obviously, the numbers was an issue, but these few points did not go well. Sterling came in and we started scoring quickly. We had a riveting first half staying on serve and being down 8-7 despite quite a few lead changes. Second half was more of the same. On serve the whole time until 11-11 when we finally got a break. We would stay on serve until the final point where Lucky Rollers would turn it and Jared would throw a laser to the end zone to Trevor for the win. 15-13 win as Pink Slips improve to a perfect 2-0 on the season.
On to highlights! (and there are a lot of them) I never write about myself in these reports, but I’m going to start out and commend myself for playing in a cotton shirt the whole day. Our jerseys didn’t come until the end of the game, but I was dedicated to the pink and I think the pink shirt made a big difference on the day. Our ladies were amazing today. Regan makes getting unders look so effortless and I really think she can just get the disc whenever she wants. Any time we have a high stall count, there she is with a wide-open under. This was our first game that Wawa here. She is just coming off an injury, so didn’t play a ton, but she was critical in our zone defense and will be a huge help to the team this season, especially at full strength. Nan continued to be an awesome handler and I specifically remember a zesty upline she threw to Jared for the score at a critical point in the 2nd half. Jess was straight diming all day. She had a majestic hammer to me which was clearly meant for me and not for anyone else on the field. She also had a leaping catch followed by a backhand huck to me in the end zone for the score. The Jess to Billy connection was on fire tonight. Jo had a big catch in the endzone despite getting trucked hard. This girl has hands of steel holding on to the disc and we have reported that there is no concussion, so that’s a big plus as well. She also had a nice throw to Trevor for a score. Anthony racked another D on the night and has proven to be a great help to our defensive line. Sterling came in late, but made an immediate difference for us right upon arriving. Another player like Reagan who appears to be able to get unders at will. Cool as a cucumber with that disc. Schimmel, our 2nd half savior comes in late every week and makes a world of difference. Smart zone defense and chilly offense is what you get from him every week. Jared did more Jared things, notching 5 assists and a score while getting double covered for quite a bit of the game. And if you do not know his name by now, it is time to learn. Trevor Schrock. Easy MVP of the day and steal of the draft. Straight beast on both ends of the disc and endurance of an almighty god. 3 assists, 4 scores, and a D on the night is a wild statline and it doesn’t even tell the whole story. He is already an expert on the rail, catching multiple hammers and having well-timed sweeps when the defense sets up on top of him. No shot we would’ve won today without him.
On the opposite side, Drew was throwing a lot of wonky throws against our zone. We did not want to run much, so we elected to zone the whole day and between the hammers and flick blades, Drew racked up a lot of great throws to beat the zone, including a first-throw huck against me sleeping in the deep space. Cooper also was a huge factor in the handler set for them and the duo of Naomi and Jaylnne was VERY hard to stop on defense. This team is tough. A lot tougher than I expected (no disrespect of course). They play hard, physical defense. There were some fouls called, but all in good spirit, which is always a huge plus since people can get irritated in the heat. I think the pre-season rankings had this team ranked 7th and I don’t think that’ll be correct. They are young and run a lot. A LOT. A lot more than we wanted to run.
Next week, we’re playing the juggernauts of Oh Craps. #1 ranked team and undefeated so far this season. It’ll be bitter-sweet beating my old co-captain Joe, but sometimes you just gotta do it. Pinkies up! (takes sip of tea)