The latter part of the week we had been discussing our pool and what strategy we'd need to win. We were seeded first so we had to uphold that reputation. The saturday pool looked very weak against us and no one was really concerned. A bunch of 2nd and 3rd teams and one 1st team... no worries. In this tournament the games were to 15 or 50 minutes which seemed ungodly short to me. We started off playing Cardiff (Frills) 3. This was an all girls squad and most of them were freshers. We had alot of fun during this game mostly because of the never ending spirit of Frills 3. After capping off a 15-0 win we engaged in a game of tunnel tag (called stuck in the mud in the UK). The next 3 games of the day went similarly but none were as fun as Frills 3. We beat Bath 2 (BLT) 15-0, Bournemouth 1 (Heat) 12-3, and Plymouth 2 (Picnic) 15-0. So at the end of saturday we were 57-3 total points... not to shabby.
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| Field View *Note* Mud... lots of Mud |
So something different they do in the UK is shower at the fields... They have little field houses with multiple locker rooms that you have access too. So after the games it was team shower time... I was not informed of this and this ill prepared... I ended up borrowing a spare shirt to dry off with and some soap in the shower (which i did not drop). After the team shower we watched the 2nd team play their last game and then headed back to the house. We then decided on TGI Friday's for dinner. I played little to no part in the decision making process.. just sayin. I do absolutely love Fridays though. After the hour and a half wait for a table (for 25 people) then the 30 or so min wait for our food it was a long endevour. I started my meal with a Sam Adams Boston Lager, then Jack Daniels wings, followed by Jack Daniels ribs... soooooo good. So worth the not frugalness....
Sunday, after maintaining our seed, we were in the championship bracket (or thats the way i think they have it set up...). Our first game was against Bath 1 (BLT). They put up a good fight for the first half, trading points and such, then we started clicking in the second half to finish on top 11-6. So here it was the illustrious championship game. Turns out Exeter (Urial) upset Cardiff (Frills) to play us in the championship. By this time the wind was slightly breezy but not much more than it had been for the last game. The game started off with a very long point which we won. The next two points were also very long which we lost. Urial is up one break 1-2. We come back and trade the next 2 points, 2-3. Urial is playing one of the same zones that we run so we know how to break it and that is how we end up scoring.. their zone was not quite tight enough. We played the same zone against them, with me as a line trap mark and it seemed to work well. We ended up getting a few turns and turning the disc as well but that point we came out on top as hard cap was blowing. It is now 3-3 universe point (or sudden death as the UK version... i like u-point better... im gonna try and get it to catch on). I was on for the previous point but Ed, the captain, calls me for this line. Time to fight through a little fatigue... We come out hard with our FSU zone and the same deal ensues... we get some crucial D's and so do they. When it comes down to it their zone was too sloppy and poppers such as myself ran free catching upline after upline throws... I threw the last continue pass to win the game!!! :D The Skunks are officially the best in the west!! Final score 4-3
Well it was only 1 pm by the time we finished... Skunks 2 still had 2 more games. So a celebratory shower ensued followed by the cheering for Frills 3 in their game against our 2nd team... haha (2nd team won anyways). Skunks 2 then had an hour break between games so us first teamers left and had the traditional tournament sunday meal, KFC... (similar to love tap's golden corral). I indulged in a good helping of fried chicken and then we headed back to cheer on our 2nd team again against Plymouth 2 (Picnic). They were victorious and both teams ended up getting hardware.
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| Cap'n Ed and the Trophy |
After collecting our awards we made the journey back to Southampton where my facebook news feed was blown up with an astonishing figure $9,563,016.09! I'm so proud I could help add to such and insane amount of money raised for the kids. Way to go Penn State THON! What a great weekend :)
Cheers!
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