Stella played in her first tournament of the year on the last Saturday of May. Thankfully, the rain held off, but the wind certainly didn’t; before the last game, part of the team witnessed some bleachers being blown over. Luckily however, Stella was able to play right through. The team came out strong in the first game against Lotus, Toronto’s women’s touring team, and the game ended in a tie. Stella’s next game was against Storm, Montreal’s women’s touring team. Stella lost the game, but went down fighting. In the afternoon, the team faced Lotus once again. Stella lost, however the team was really beginning to get a feel for how each other played. In the final game against Storm, one of Stella’s goals was to have the best game of the day. The team definitely delivered, powering through the opposition’s zone, despite not having practiced zone offence yet. In the end, Stella scored on universe point. Well done ladies!

Boston

            Boston was an important tournament for Stella, and was good for showing the team what needed to be worked on prior to Nationals. Though the team did not finish as well as was hoped, it was nonetheless a pretty good tournament. On Saturday, the first game was played against Pop, where Stella won the game 15-8. Next, Stella played Ozone…where the team witnessed why female coaches are better than male coaches. Stella fought hard, and partially due to some confusing arguments involving soft cap and hard cap, sadly lost the game 12-13. Stella then proceeded to play Lady Godiva, winning the game. Next, as the sun began to fade away and dark clouds approached, Stella began her final game against Bent. The score was 0-3 when lightning struck in the distance followed by the sound of thunder, and the horn sounded for all teams to clear the fields. Unsure whether games would continue or not that day, Stella retreated to the shelter of a nearby building. The game was postponed until the next day, so the team went off to some Mexican restaurant, sailing…er, driving through a river that had formed in one of the streets due to all the rain.
            Sunday began with a continuation of the game against Bent. Though already down three points, Stella tried hard to regain lost ground. The team ended up losing, but only marginally. The quarter finals game was played against Nemesis. Stella played a good game, but lost out on going to the semi-finals, the score 10-15. The last game of the day was played against Storm. Though Stella lost the game, the team will definitely be ready for Storm should they rematch again.
            A big thanks to the Scarlett ladies Jamie Vance and Emily Sangster who joined Stella for the tournament! 

Regionals

            Stella had a very successful weekend at Regionals in Waterloo. On the first day, games were postponed an hour because of a huge thunderstorm and lots of rain. Miraculously, it subsided, and the rest of the day was mostly sunny, though quite windy at times. Stella’s first game was against Toronto’s Feisty, where Stella came out on top 13-0. After that Stella played PPF from Waterloo. Stella once again emerged victorious. After a lunch break and some marvellous donuts from the Love family, Stella faced off against her sister team, Scarlett. Stella was impressed by the grittiness that was shown by Scarlett, but still ended the game with another 13-0 win. The last game of the day was played against Lotus. Though Stella was down 3-7 at half, the team fought hard through the second half, ending the game in a loss 7-8 with Lotus having only scored one point after half to Stella’s four.
            On the second day, Stella started off by playing Lily. Coming out strong, Stella won the game 13-1. After lunch, a rematch against Lotus was had. At one point, Stella was down 0-5, but fought to stay in it. The game ended 6-12 for Lotus. After that, Stella had to have another rematch, this time against PPF, to play for the second-place title. Though tired and suffering various injuries, Stella came out on top once again, finishing second place overall.

No Borders

            No Borders was Stella’s last tournament before Nationals. Despite dismal weather predictions and rough field (read: mud puddle) conditions, Stella did quite well. The first game on Saturday was played against Sugar Shack, a team from Vermont. Stella came out strong right away, and won 13-1. Next, Stella played Lotus. The team continued with the intensity shown in the previous game, and was up by one at half. When hard cap sounded, the teams were tied 11-11 and Stella had the disc. A time-out was called, after which an argument ensued over whether or not time-outs were allowed in hard cap. It ended up being a turn, and Lotus scored the winning point. Next, Stella played QUB, a team from Quebec. Stella won the game 13-5, then proceeded to a two-hour bye. After that, the team warmed up to play Brute Squad, a team from Boston. The team was up at one point, but unfortunately was unable to keep the lead, and Brute Squad won 13-10.
            On the second day, all games except the top eight men’s and women’s teams were cancelled. Thus, Stella was scheduled to play Dame in the quarter-finals, a team made up of many of Ottawa’s older ladies (plus Courtney). Stella won by a score of __-__, after which it was decided Dame would field their oldest line (38+) and Stella would field their youngest (22-) for a point. After this, Stella moved on to the semi-finals. The semis saw a rematch of Stella versus Lotus (the sixth time the teams played against each other). Though Stella fought hard, the game was lost by a score of __-__. The team didn’t play Storm for final placing, so final placement was either third or fourth place. The tournament was pretty successful, and a good lead into Nationals in a few short weeks, where Stella will be ready and raring to go.