June 13, 2023
By Evan Lepler
Tuesday Toss: Week 7 | Part one
- Carolina 2-0 through Texas
For the first time in franchise history, the Carolina Flyers went to Texas and returned with two wins in a single weekend. In each game, a guy who’s spent only some of the season on O-line exploded for a huge statistical day. On Friday, the Flyers comfortably pulled away from the Dallas Legion, 27-19, behind eight assists, four goals, and one block from Suraj Madiraju.
His plus-13 marked the highest single-game plus/minus across the AUDL this season. “I think with each game playing on the O-line, I’ve gotten more and more confident inserting myself offensively,” said Madiraju. “Early in the season, I mostly just cleared and made sure I wasn’t in the way, but this game I took space more aggressively than I ever have [...] The thing I’m most proud of in my performance against Dallas is that I completed all my passes, and honestly to some extent I just got lucky that so many of those completions happened to be in the end zone.” On Saturday in Austin, the Sol used a 5-1 run to transform a 17-14 deficit into a 19-18 Austin lead with 9:47 left.
But the Flyers, even on the second day of a back-to-back in the Texas heat, refused to wilt, answering with their own 4-1 burst to close out a 22-20 victory. No one had bigger numbers than Alex Davis, though he was also eager to deflect the praise after his nine-goal night. “I think in this game, a solid part of their game plan involved poaching off of me when I was on the weak side of the field,” said Davis. “I was able to recognize this early and communicate it with the O-line, and so we often looked for me on field switches or allow me to take the space in those situations since we knew the defender was out of position. This allowed me to get a lot of big under and deeps as well as goals. But it was really a team effort to make that happen.” Indeed, the Bracelet Bros put up some shiny individual stats, but the Flyers sixth win in their last seven games was a team triumph. “The team feels fantastic about pulling out the ole Texas two-step,” said Carolina Coach Mike DeNardis. “The biggest team takeaway is that our depth guys all played fantastic. I don’t think we get two wins if they weren’t all fire.”
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Minnesota moves to 5-1 with win over Madison
It’s unclear exactly how good the Minnesota Wind Chill are at the season’s midway point, but they are undeniably in first place and have a huge stretch ahead to prove they belong in the conversation amongst the elite teams in the league. Firstly, they’ll travel to Madison this Saturday to face a Radicals squad which they narrowly edged by one this past weekend. One week later, they’ll fly to Colorado for an interdivisional clash against the Summit. If that’s not enough, they’ll have another road test at Madison after that.
So these next three, all away from St. Paul, will say a lot about the Wind Chill’s overall level, which, in glimpses, has been clearly the class of the Central Division. In other moments, they’ve nearly coughed up wins with late mistakes, like this past weekend against the Radicals. “We definitely let them back into the game by not sticking to our principles,” said Minnesota’s Bryan Vohnoutka. “You can see it in the film, against their zone we sometimes had only 1-3 people around the disc with no one else within 20 yards. Huge credit to our handlers for keeping these drives alive. We also struggled late with recognizing help defense over the top; we hucked a few times to a player when they were double covered. That’s playing with fire, and we got burned.” And yet, while the Radicals had the disc with the chance to tie in the closing seconds, the end of quarter situation was once again not Madison’s friend, as the Wind Chill hung on for the 18-17 victory. The Radicals finished the game with four breaks, one more than the Wind Chill’s three, but Minnesota scored the last goal in each of the last three quarters, including Vohnoutka’s toss to Quinn Snider with 35 seconds left to break the tie for the final time. “The game came down to a defensive stand for the last 35 seconds of the game, and it was a pretty big identity moment for us,” said Minnesota’s Colin Berry. “We are historically one of the best defensive teams in the league. Can we win a game by getting one all-important stop? On Saturday, the answer was yes.”
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AlleyCats crush Chicago
Quietly, Indianapolis has won four straight, with their 26-17 rout over the Chicago Union this past Saturday being the most recent success story. The AlleyCats finished the contest with just 10 turnovers, tied for the second fewest in a game across the entire league this season. “I had a personal desire and goal to win this game by a lot,” said Indy veteran Travis Carpenter. “The days leading up to the game, I was not envisioning simply winning this game during my workouts. I was picturing a domination. I wanted this to be a statement game. I knew we could do it, and I would have been unhappy with anything less than a 7-10 goal margin.” It was the first time all season that the AlleyCats won all four quarters, prevailing, chronologically, 6-5, 5-4, 6-2, and 9-6 in the four 12-minute segments. “We played four good quarters, finally,” said AlleyCats Coach Drew Shepherd. “I was pleased. What’s even sweeter: besting that performance just takes basic discipline, herculean effort not required. A higher ceiling is not only reachable, but sustainable.” The AlleyCats finished 11-for-15 on break chances, while the Union went just 3-for-7 on those types of opportunities, another fact that Shepherd appreciated. “Against Chicago, we started exhibiting one of our 2023 mottos, ‘Champions hold,’” said Shepherd. The Union, meanwhile, find themselves a disappointing 2-3, but it would be wise not to dismiss their playoff chances quite yet. Their next three games are against teams that are a combined 0-14. Six of their final seven are against foes that don’t presently have winning records. The road to 8-4 is obvious and apparent if Chicago can stop hurting itself. “Our turnovers were simple turfed throws and misreads and drops,” said Union cutter Andrew Sjogren. “They sat back in a loose zone, and we weren’t crisp enough in our execution [...] We know we need to play to our standard on both sides of the ball to achieve success. The Central Division playoff race is going to be intense, and we need to start playing better to remain in the playoff race. It will be crucial for us to limit the miscues moving forward.”
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Hotbirds stay sizzling in Toronto
The first-half was a high-scoring shootout, but the Rush could not keep pace for the full 48. Through the first 30 points, the two teams shared 12 ties, but after Toronto evened the contest at 15-all early in the third, the Phoenix scored three in a row and seven of the next 10 goals, building a 22-18 advantage that ultimate became a 27-23 final. “Our mindset heading into Toronto was that we can beat any team if we trust our systems and play for each other,” said James Pollard, who led the Phoenix with six assists and two goals. “Main stories from the game include how unstoppable our deep attack was. CJ [Colicchio], Greg [Martin], and myself each were dominant downfield. Defensively, it was how we were able to generate turnovers downfield as well as backfield in the handler space. Shout-out to Eric Nardelli for becoming the Phoenix’s franchise leader in blocks with a Callahan. It felt really good driving back down having won three in a row. It would have been an awfully quiet ride home otherwise.” At 3-4 overall, the Phoenix have their next two games both against the 0-5 Montreal Royal, preceding a potentially season-defining rematch against Boston on Friday, July 7.
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Spiders stifle San Diego at home
The Oakland Spiders outlasted the San Diego Growlers in a sloppy Saturday night East Bay battle where neither team completed 90 percent of their passes. The difference might have been red-zone execution; the Spiders went 18-for-21 (86%), while the Growlers finished just 14-for-25 (56 percent).
“Turning over the disc 25 times isn’t going to win any games, and honestly I’m surprised we only lost by four,” said Growlers Co-Coach Kevin Stuart. “It was slightly windy, but we have to give them credit defensively. They were playing with energy and making things difficult.” Nine different Spiders tallied at least one block, while Chris Lung and Mac Hecht anchored the offense with five goals and five assists, respectively. “Oakland has definitely improved offensively,” said Stuart. “We didn’t play well defensively, but they took advantage and executed when it mattered.” Consequently, the Spiders are 4-3, tied with the Aviators for third in the West, while the Growlers, who’ve made the playoffs each of the past four seasons, are just 2-4, a game and a half back from the last playoff spot. “I hate to say games are must-win, but we are reaching that point in the season,” added Stuart. “I am confident in our team and personnel, and over the years we have a history of running off multiple wins in a row. We will need that as we go into the second half of the season.”
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Atlanta splits Northeast road trip
Atlanta and Boston both went 1-1 in Week 7, which began with the Hustle steamrolling the Glory on Friday evening in Medford, MA. Atlanta opened the game with three straight breaks in a wire-to-wire 21-15 victory, in which the Hustle led by as many as eight.
Without Ben Sadok and Orion Cable, Boston’s leader in assists and goals entering the weekend, respectively, the Glory managed to convert on just 13 of their 31 offensive possessions, while Atlanta produced 15 blocks. Brett Hulsmeyer and Mike Kobyra each tallied three blocks apiece, while Kennith Taylor, Christian Olsen, and Brad Seuntjens all had two. “We came into Boston knowing what our team could do and really took care of business there,” said Kobyra. After the Hustle became the 22nd straight opponent to lose against New York on Saturday night, the Glory found a way to bounce back in their Sunday showdown in Montreal, becoming the 14th consecutive opponent to beat the Royal. Boston’s O-line stabilized on Sunday, only yielding four break chances all game long, while the Glory’s D produced 12 breaks, bolstered by the first three blocks of Jac Carriero’s AUDL career. The Tufts alum and former top five Callahan finalist also had two assists against the Royal, along with scoring the first two goals in his AUDL debut against the Hustle. The Glory are 4-2 at the midway mark, but their upcoming five games are daunting, starting this Friday at New York, and followed by two contests with DC, along with road trips to Toronto and Philly.
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Two different kinds of streaks
The final game on the Week 7 schedule pitted Detroit against Pittsburgh, both teams mired in losing streaks. The Thunderbirds were at home, trying to snap a three-game skid. The Mechanix, meanwhile, were looking for their first AUDL victory since April 29, 2017, in the midst of a 65-game stretch of tough luck. After 12 minutes, Detroit actually held a slim 6-5 lead on Sunday afternoon, but Pittsburgh soon seized control, winning the second quarter 8-4, the third 5-3, and the fourth 10-5. It all added up to another double-digit Detroit loss, 28-18. Max Sheppard tallied five goals, four assists, and just the 11th 300/300 game of the season, while Clint McSherry added five assists, two goals, and a block. The Mechanix actually completed 11-of-13 hucks, but allowed Pittsburgh to connect on 14-of-19 deep shots. The T-Birds went 12-for-17 on breaks; the Mechanix just 2-for-9. When Detroit takes the turf in Indy this Saturday, they’ll be seeking their first win in 2,240 days.
The Hammer
Just in case you haven’t already seen the news, the AUDL decided to flex our Game of the Week this Saturday. We’re now headed to Madison for the Radicals pivotal contest against the Minnesota Wind Chill.
Originally, we were planning to cover the interdivisional collision between Portland and Chicago, but considering the Nitro lost their last two home games by the combined score of 56-29, the league wisely chose a shift towards a rematch between the Central rivals who’ve enjoyed countless close games against one another, including another one-goal nailbiter this past weekend.
It’s basically a must-win for Madison, who truly believe they can rebound from their 1-4 start and make a run at the playoffs.
“We are so close,” said Radicals veteran Thomas Coolidge, “But being close only means so much.”
Indeed, Saturday is genuinely going to be a massive moment for this exceptionally proud Madison franchise, which went 86-17 from 2013-18. Since the start of 2019, the Radicals are 20-19, with no playoff appearances.
“The three buzzer-beater and/or failed last-minute executions have been painful, but our mental resolve has remained strong,” said Coolidge. This is no small feat and would break many teams. This team is hungry and understands that better days are ahead. We see the growth at practice, we see it at workouts, and we see it in film sessions at both a player and coach level. This fuels the hunger [...] The talent is there to make that run at any time. Seeing that resilience and the work players are putting in outside of practice, I am confident we can work on our high variance, which will bring success. We are excited and can’t wait for this weekend’s rematch.”