Atlanta Cup: October 11-12, 2008

report ... by Emily Zander

Chicago enjoyed some great successes this weekend in Atlanta, including appearances in the Women's semifinal and Men's final. Although the final results didn't exactly fall in our favor, we had a great time, made some great new friends, and reaffirmed our dominance as the most fun team to be on and to be around.

Saturday included three games each for the men's and women's teams. The men opened up tournament play with the 8am game against the Toronto Lions Juniors. Visiting Rye-team-member Dave made his CFHC debut with two goals against the rival Lions. The game ended in a 2-2 draw. In their second game of the day, the men beat Atlanta with a score of 2-0. Julian nearly had a goal, but it was stopped by the body of an Atlanta defender. Shahid converted the penalty stroke to put the Chicago men up 1-0. Dave finished off the scoring with his third goal of the tournament. The men's third game was against the Stallions, and was a bit of a blowout at 4-0. Goals were scored by Arno (2), Shahid, and "the fabulous #55" (Dave).

The women began on Saturday morning against the Lucky Dragons, who managed a lucky short corner goal early in the first half. The CFHC weren't able to get on the scoreboard in that game and lost 1-0. The second game of the day for the ladies was against Bermuda. Chicago dominated the entire game and Theresa converted on a penalty stroke to give Chicago the win, 1-0. The third game was against the distinct underdog Vanderbilt. Chicago again dominated and won 2-0 with goals from Mags and Laura. The ladies were happy to have finished the day 2-1, but dug themselves into a bit of a hole in terms of points-standings and goal-differential. Sunday morning's game became a "must-win" situation if the ladies were to continue into the crossovers.

Sunday's games began bright and early as the Chicago women faced off against Tampa Bay at 8am. The women got off to a thrilling 3-0 lead going into halftime with goals from Mags, Laura, and Betsy. Coach/manager Sanjay gave an inspiring half-time pep talk, encouraging the ladies to "keep it soft." Despite being thoroughly confused by this advice, the ladies dominated again in the second half and received goals from Betsy and Tina. This put the women in 4th place, giving them a crossover game against #1 Miami. After a long break between games, the Chicago ladies did a little bit of jazzercise/aerobics/cheerleading to warmup for their biggest game of the weekend. The two ladies teams rallied back and forth exchanging shots and corners. Unfortunately, Miami was able to put in a goal off of an oddly-bouncing long corner with about 2 minutes left in the game. The Chicago women were unable to answer with a goal and lost 1-0. The consolation came in knowing that the Chicago ladies had given Miami their best and hardest-fought game of the tournament.

The men entered Sunday in first place and stayed there after beating Bermuda 4-0. Goals were scored by Shahid, Arno, Steve, and Nadeem. This win put the men into the crossover as the #1 team, where they faced off against Florida. Dave gave a great performance in the attacking circle, opening up the scoring with a reverse chip from close range. Moments later, Julian nearly scored on a spectacular short corner play but his shot was stopped by the defender's feet on the goal-line. Shahid once again converted the penalty stroke. Another exciting moment in the game was the amazing penalty stroke save by Shayan, who made a diving save to the right side of the cage to knock down the Florida captain's shot. Chicago went on to win the game 3-1, with additional goals by Dave and Shahid. With this win, the men locked in a well-earned position in the finals against the Toronto Lions Juniors.

The men's final was extremely intense. The teams exchanged many shots from the field as well as short corners. The Toronto goalkeeper kept the Chicago forwards scoreless, despite some seriously amazing shooting. Visiting Tri-State player Chris had two separate opportunities to score with drag-flicks on corners but somehow managed to defy all rules of physics by hitting the post both times. Regulation ended at a 0-0 draw, so sudden death strokes ensued.

Shahid struck first, scoring his stroke. The Toronto player also scored, evening the score at 1-1. Dave was up next and was unable to convert, leaving the Chicago men in need of a miss by the Lions if they were to stay in it. But, the Lions converted their second stroke, leaving Chicago in second place. It is never ideal to decide a game in penalty strokes, particularly the sudden death variety. The Chicago men won the game on all fronts other than the final score; they were poised, organized, creative, sportsmanlike, and left the field with tremendous dignity despite not winning the tournament.

Off the field, the Chicago Field Hockey Club made quite an impression on Atlanta. Highlights of the Saturday night, Hawaiian-themed social included: a delicious buffet dinner, seemingly endless hours of dancing, limbo and shot-taking by the new players (Tony, Courtney, Chris, and Dave), and (my personal favorite Saturday night highlight) Theresa wearing a bright pink muumuu!!

All in all, it was an awesome weekend. As mentioned before, though the final results were not exactly what we were hoping for, we played great hockey, made some great friends, and had a lot of fun. If there was an official award for the classiest, most sportsmanlike, and entertaining team, it certainly would have gone to us.