Iron Horse had a very successful season this spring. Entering their first tournament ranked 64th in the nation, they worked hard all year, beating key teams to grow to 21st in the nation.
Before the spring season even begun, Iron Horse showed promise in their performance at Missouri Loves Company in the fall. Their first tournament together as a team, Iron Horse broke seed by three positions to get 5th place. They beat tough competitors like University of Minnesota and University of Kansas.
In their first spring tournament, Iron Horse traveled across the country to Santa Barbara, California for Santa Barbara Invite. Playing tough new competition, coaches Michaela Ward and Anat Gross helped lead the team to a ninth place finish, breaking seed by four positions. The weekend included a particularly impressive offensive performance from the sophomore cutter Katie Madden (#5) as well as impressive defense from junior handle Miranda Neil (#11), who gained her first Callahan.
The next tournament Iron Horse attended was their own, Midwest Throwdown. Put on by Iron Horse team members Hannah Aaron (#2), Isabel Shapiro (#64) and Miranda Neil (#11), Midwest Throwdown was located in Columbia, Missouri. The team lost in a tough game against University of Wisconsin in the quarter finals, 6-8. Despite this, the weekend was a spectacular show of grad student Mary Hermann’s (#37) defensive talents in the back field. Her ability to read and attack the disc gave Iron Horse more scoring chances on tough upwind points. Junior Marissa Lerner (#35) showcased her versatility during the weekend, as both a handle and cutter, and excelled in leading Iron Horse’s zone offense.
Iron Horse traveled with Loca to Myrtle Beach to play at the tournament High Tide during spring break. While the tournament was not sanctioned, the Wuwu program took home a second place trophy.
The next sanctioned tournament was Centex, in Austin, Texas. Despite scorching temperatures, the team rallied to beat Northwestern, Iowa State, and Georgia Tech on Saturday. Iron Horse played a tight game against the nationally power ranked Tufts in quarter finals, losing on Universe point 10-11. Despite the on-field loss, the team came away from the weekend as Centex Dance Competition winners. Thanks to the work of the two choreographers – senior captain Steph Wang (#9) and junior handle Rachel Dreher (#6) – the team successfully defended their first place title from the year before. Rachel (affectionally called Rocky by teammates) additionally stood out as an MVP for the weekend’s play. Through non-stop layout Ds and continuous downfield deep look hucks, she lead both offensive and defensive lines.
After a long season with lots of travel, the team entered “The Series,” beginning first with Sectionals. Hosted by University of Arkansas, the weekend was a great chance for Iron Horse’s rookies to display the growth they had developed all year. Allison Murphy (#31) stood out as a deep cutter, coming down with many contested discs. Alli Levitas (#81) showed her defensive strengths in what turned out to be a very cold and windy weekend. She successfully shut down offenses in both cup and wall positions in the team’s many zone looks. Iron Horse ended up winning the tournament, placing first in the section.
Moving forward from Sectionals, the team traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma for Regionals. The weekend featured wins against Texas State, Kansas, TCU, Colorado State, and Colorado College. Throughout these games, notable performances came from handle Steph Wang (#9) and grad student Mary Hermann (#37) on the defensive line along with junior cutters Marisa DelSignore (#46) and Sylvia Snyderman (#17). Offensively, senior handle Rachel Stockdale (#32), junior handle Hannah Aaron (#2) and junior cutter Alex Rutherford (#15) lead the scoring. After seven long, hard-fought games throughout the weekend, Iron Horse faced Colorado Kali in the game-to-go to Nationals.
The team played a tight first half against Colorado, leading 8-5 at the break. In the second half, Colorado found a new offensive rhythm including some well timed deep looks. Kali ended up taking the game, beating Iron Horse 9-11 at hard cap. Iron Horse finished third place in the region.
Despite failing to make Nationals, Iron Horse has a lot to be proud of this season. The team climbed through the rankings, grew important team chemistry, developed new defensive and offensive strategies and gained life long memories.
The team is already looking towards what’s next for the program. Training for Spring 2019 starts now.