Through a long two days of competition, the girls ultimate frisbee team put up a strong fight at the HSNI (High School National Invite) tournament on June 13 and 14, hosted in Allentown, PA.
They went a heartbreaking 0-3 on day one, fighting hard but ultimately having no victories to show for their efforts.
In their first game against South Eugene, they lost by 5. The games that followed ended up coming down to the wire, especially the second game, against Lincoln, ending 15-14.
The Haven boys team came to cheer them on towards the end of their second game, where it got very intense. Both teams were all gas, no brakes.
“It’s commonly said that we play better when our boys [team] shows up,” junior Tess Kelly said. “Compared to other sports at Strath Haven, we are very close to the boys, and we are also a very close-knit team, so we always cheer for each other.”
The team went into day two with a positive mindset despite setbacks.
“It’s unfortunate how our day one ended up with our pool play, but all we can do is try our best, and go into tomorrow hopefully pushing for a better result,” senior team captain Tianyue Wang said on day one of the tournament.
Although they weren’t in the winners bracket, the team bounced back on day two, going 2-1.
The team looks forward to next season, even if they don’t make it back to nationals. Team pride and culture fuels their passion for the sport.
They also learned a lot of important lessons from nationals this year, facing tougher and tougher competition along the way. Even if they lost, they put their best foot forward in every matchup.
“I think that as long as we keep our team culture and our team spirit alive, it will be a great season next year,” Rieger said.
