MHC Dish From the Pitch 2013 MHC Dish From the Pitch Championship Edition | Page 8

Camogie Girls Clash for Cleveland
by Jack Harrold
The final day of the
Milwaukee Hurling Club’s season is
often a mixed bag of emotions. On
one hand, it is always thrilling to
watch the championship game, yet
bittersweet for those not playing.
But, just because the Club’s season
is over hurling isn’t. With the
North American County Boards
(NACBs) and the 2013 Aer Lingus
International Hurling Festival right
around the corner, the pressure is
on for our traveling teams to
finalize their preparation for these
tournaments.
As we all know, hurling and
its sister - camogie - are team
sports. While the MHC is a co-ed
organization, it can be difficult for
our ladies to gain valuable teambuilding time together.
Championship Sunday, though, is a
special time when we get to see
what exactly our ladies are capable
of.
Though the field was
shortened in deference to the 7 vs. 7 format,
the MHC Camogie squad played as fiercely
as if it was the tournament day itself.
Divided into teams of blue and orange, the
play quickly got underway. Mid-fielder
Aislinn “The Beast” Leonard was, as always,
a beast on the field for the orange squad quickly transitioning play from defense to
offense with seeming ease. Devin Olson of
the blue squad and had the unenviable task
of matching up again Leonard, and
performed quite well, getting open for her
teammates’ passes.
In goal for the Blues was Michelle
Veralas; whose blocks were incredible. Only
the sheer amount of shots taken at her
allowed anything by. Her defender, Trish
Borzon was equally impressive attempting
to juggle two Orange full-forwards (Cecelia
Nieves and Ellen Burmeister) and stepping
up when Leonard drove down to the box.
On the other end of the field, Cory Johnson
tended to the net with rookie Laura Allen
and Amy Hoss providing help at full-back.
The trio did an amazing job switching marks
and clearing the sliothar out for their
midfielders to transition things.   Allen, in
particular, had an amazing defensive play

photo credit: Kerry Leonard
towards the end of the game and she was
able to get the ball in hand and stick pass to
Leonard with perfect precision that belied
her short time in the sport. Karen Seeliger
(last name as it isn’t Fink any more) and
Kathleen Moloney slung shots on Johnson
when they got their opportunities.
As the cool morning air abated for the
heat of the day, the crowd of spectators
began to grow. Though most people were
coming to see the Alumni and Championship
game later that day, they were extremely
impressed with the Camogie scrimmage.
“Now this is something to whet the
appetite!” exclaimed Eamonn O’Neil, Theater
Co-ordinator for Irish Fest, “These ladies
must be the best kept secret in town!”
In the end, the Orange team had built
a solid lead, but the real winners were all of
the ladies that participated in the
scrimmage. The Camogie team rarely gets
the recognition that the Men’s Traveling
Team receives, but they proved that
morning that they are just as committed to
all things Hurling (and Camogie) as their
male counterparts. Best of luck to our ladies
as they head down to Cleveland for th