July 2, 2024
By Evan Lepler

By any measure, Week 10 featured some of the most thrilling frisbee of the entire season.

Just not in the two marquee games. 

Carolina-DC and Salt Lake-New York, from a dramatic standpoint, were a couple of duds, both featuring East excellence and excessive amounts of garbage time. 

But two traditional Central Division rivalries both offered relentless intensity with riveting conclusions, while Colorado and Seattle engaged in one of the wildest back and forth games in recent UFA history, culminating with the Cascades clinching their first playoff berth in eight years. 

We’ll obviously delve into many of the details, but firstly, a quick update on the four divisional playoff races.

Central Division

Minnesota (8-1) has clinched the top seed in the Central for the second straight season, while Chicago (5-4), Madison (5-4), Indianapolis (4-4), and Pittsburgh (4-5) are the four teams competing for the final two spots. As for who’s the favorite to finish in second place, the Radicals have the luxury of playing their final three at home, but none of their remaining games—all against their fellow playoff contenders—are gimmes. The AlleyCats also control their destiny, but also play their final four on the road, including a challenging interdivisional contest with Colorado this coming weekend. Pittsburgh’s the only team in the group that doesn’t fully control its own fate, as there is a scenario—albeit unlikely—where the Thunderbirds could finish 7-5 and still miss the postseason. 

East Division

DC (9-2), Boston (7-2), and New York (7-3) have all clinched a playoff spot, but the seeding remains very uncertain. Determining the top seed and home-field here will come down to the final weekend of the season, when the Breeze travel to New York and the Glory have a doubleheader road trip in Canada. It’s very possible that this could come down to the “Adjusted Division Point Differential” tiebreaker, which would mean this won’t be settled until after Boston’s final game in Montreal on Sunday, July 21.

South Division

Atlanta (8-2) and Carolina (7-2) will definitely be the top two seeds, but the site of the South Division Championship Game likely won’t be determined until the Hustle host the Flyers in both teams’ regular season finale. And while there’s little doubt that Austin (5-5) will be the third playoff participant in this division, the Sol technically need one more win, against either Houston this Saturday or Dallas on July 20, to officially clinch.

West Division

No one predicted that Seattle (8-2) would be in first place in the West with three weeks left in the season, but the Cascades have a half-game lead over Salt Lake (7-2) following their contrasting Week 9 experiences. Presuming the Shred don’t stumble as a heavy favorite in their next two games against Portland, the Week 13 battle between Seattle and Salt Lake in Utah will determine who claims the top spot and home-field for the West title game. The race for third place became much spicier after Oakland (5-4) lost twice in Week 9. The Spiders can still clinch their first playoff berth since 2017 by winning at least two of their final three games, but Colorado (4-6) and San Diego (4-6) remain alive. There’s a relatively realistic scenario—particularly after seeing the Spiders’ SoCal struggles this past weekend—where all three of these teams finish 6-6. If this happens, and one of the Spiders’ final losses came in San Diego, then the tiebreaker would be combined point-differential from games within in the three-team group. That would be bad news for the Spiders and a positive development for the Summit, who would win the three-team tiebreaker unless the Growlers defeat Oakland by seven or more in their meeting on July 20.

The Full Field Layout

The craziest game of the weekend was the Summit’s Saturday night contest in Seattle, where the Cascades twice created sizable leads, giving them away both times, before crafting an epic finish in front of their energized home fans. 

“I would say that was the game with the most momentum swings I have ever played in,” said Seattle’s Spencer Lofink. “Usually, in a game like that, once a team gives up a lead it is hard to get it back. In this game, however, we jumped out to a big lead, then lost it, then got it back, then lost it again, then finally managed to win by a very narrow margin. It was a very bizarre to be a part of a game where neither offense could get anything going for any sustained period of time.” 

Seattle scored seven of the game’s first eight goals, breaking the Summit five times in the first 14 minutes, but then surrendered five breaks in the final 10 minutes of the second quarter, including four straight in a disastrous 75-second stretch that brought Colorado back within one at halftime. Another break to begin the second half tied the score at 10-all, but as you already know, the turbulent ups and downs deciding this critical West Division result were far from finished. 

“The Seattle game was certainly a rollercoaster,” said Colorado’s Kai Marshall.

Three consecutive Cascades breaks made it 15-11 with 4:34 left in the third, but then the Summit responded again, scoring four straight goals to create a 15-all stalemate by the start of the fourth. When Alex Atkins connected with Noah Coolman on a 69-yard huck just 30 seconds into the final quarter, Colorado had its first lead of the game, though obviously plenty of drama still remained. 

“The D-lines for both teams were on fire,” said Seattle’s Khalif El-Salaam, “in terms of applying pressure, getting blocks, and able to go on runs.”

The chaos continued with Colorado and Seattle see-sawing the lead several times in the last seven minutes. The Cascades went up 17-16, then trailed 18-17, then led 19-18, all amidst enormous intensity, playmaking, and stakes. Through the first 37 scores of the game, a remarkable 21 goals were breaks. 

Trailing by one with just over a minute left, the Summit delivered one of their quickest holds of the game to even the score at 19-all with 49 seconds remaining. But Seattle answered with arguably its greatest highlight of the day, and perhaps the franchise’s biggest moment since Donnie Clark’s iconic block at Championship Weekend in 2016. 

The Cascades calmly whittled the time down until Lofink launched a laser forehand for a sprinting Tommy Li, whose fantastic full-extension score with five seconds left gave Seattle a 20-19 lead. 

“I knew when I caught the disc there was only about 10 seconds left, so when I saw Tommy going deep with two defenders behind him, I thought it was the best shot we were probably going to get,” said Lofink. “Tommy is definitely one of our fastest cutters so I decided to put the disc out pretty far in front of him so neither of the defenders had a play on the disc. When it left my hand, the throw felt good, but there was definitely a part of me that worried I had overshot him. When he made the catch, everyone rushed the field to celebrate the moment together. 

“That was probably the most emotional win this franchise has had in eight years, and it really felt like the last few years had all built towards that specific moment. Lots of happy tears in many of our eyes.”

The climactic moment held up when Atkins’ desperation throw at the buzzer was blocked by Jasper Dean, and Seattle had its sixth straight win, its first playoff berth eight years, and the franchise’s first ever triumph over the Summit. 

“During Spencer’s throw, I was shocked,” said El-Salaam. “The man was like 1-for-4 on huck looks and took it with confidence, still threw it too far, and thank goodness Tommy Li has his own programming around speed—it’s called Speed Camp—because he needed it all to make the grab.”

Incredibly, it was Li’s only goal in three games played in June, and it proved to be the difference, dealing Colorado another heartbreaking loss, the Summit’s fourth setback by two goals or less this season.

“It’s always hard losing a game that closely,” said Marshall. “I think almost everyone has that one turn or that one time they got beat that they wish they could take back. But you just can’t look at it that way or you’ll go insane. As silly as it may sound, losing to a pretty sick catch almost softens the blow. What a cool moment for Tommy Li and the Cascades.”

At 8-2, Seattle stunningly surged into first place in the West thanks to Saturday’s heart-stopping victory and Salt Lake’s brutal showing in New York. The Cascades are now idle each of the next two weekends prior to a trip to Utah in Week 13, when the top spot in the West will ultimately be decided. 

“We are proud of our performance so far, but we are still hungry and know we have so much more to show ourselves and everyone else,” said Lofink. “We can’t wait to get out to Utah for the battle for first place in the West. Those guys are obviously excellent, so we will have to really show up and play at the level we know we can.”

*****

Meanwhile, the aforementioned battles that went down to the wire in the Central were the epitome of ‘games that could have gone either way.’

In Chicago on Friday, the Minnesota Wind Chill immediately bolted to a 3-0 start and led 6-3 after one, but the Union’s quick counter evened the score at 6-all early in the second. From there, the barn-burner was on. 

“Every time we play Chicago, the stakes are high,” said Minnesota’s Noah Hanson. “They are a team that has ended our season in the past, and they have a really talented group this year. I have really felt that heightened competitive energy in our two games we have played them so far this year and I love it. Especially once we get to the fourth quarter, every point feels so significant and every play we makes is a huge momentum shift.”

The two teams were tied at every number from six and 15, but Minnesota Anthony Jirele hit Hanson with 3:02 left to give the Wind Chill a 17-15 advantage. Chicago inched back within one with two minutes left, and then the Union were gifted a game-tying opportunity when Colin Berry dropped a potential clinching score.

Minnesota needed someone to step up, and Hanson delivered.

“On the final play, I remember guarding [Jake] Steslicki and feeling him become active after clearing back to the middle of the field,” remembered Hanson. “He made that cut to the broadside and told [Jack] Shanahan to put it out to space. The moment he made that cut, I knew I could fully commit in that direction as they didn’t have time for any other looks to develop. And the moment the disc was released I thought I could close that space and had a chance to get to the disc. I took that chance with no hesitation and no other thoughts in my mind. After I got it, I could feel the excitement from my teammates rushing from the sideline, and it felt great to step up for them.”

After Hanson’s dramatic deflection, the final seconds ticked away and Minnesota narrowly prevailed 17-16. 

“It was a bummer to watch Hanson’s block as time was running down,” said Chicago’s Andrew Sjogren. “It looked like we would have had an open cutter at the front cone to force overtime. We’re 2-3 in games decided by [two goals or less], so I think our record in close games is mostly on par with what could be reasonably expected. Against Minnesota, in particular, I think it’s encouraging that we can compete with them, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t beat them. We need to be the team that capitalizes in the clutch moments of games.” 

The Union will get another crack at the Wind Chill this Saturday in St. Paul.

“I don’t think they want to see us in the playoffs, so I expect Minnesota’s A-game,” said Sjogren.

******

In the other Central nailbiter, Madison led 8-5 late in the first, but end-of-quarter troubles continued to plague the Radicals, as Xavier Payne connected with William Wettengel at the buzzer. After Indy’s hold 54 seconds into the second, the AlleyCats were, seemingly instantaneously, back within one. 

“The whole game, we talked about how pressure was building in our favor,” said Payne, who led his team with six assists. “Their offense seemed to be working hard, while our O felt pretty cruise control. Lucas [Coniaris] was having an awesome game, and it helped all of us have some confidence in ourselves.” 

After trailing for most of the game, Indy used a pair of fourth quarter breaks to surge in front 21-20 with 3:08 left, the AlleyCats’ first lead since the score was 1-0. Madison tied it at 21s and 22s, but with 20 seconds left, Levi Jacobs diving catch near the goal-line and ensuing forehand for Cameron Brock put the Cats back in front 23-22.

Once again, Wettengel won the buzzer-beater, snatching Victor Luo’s desperation huck in the end zone pack to deny Madison’s attempt at the last-second equalizer, as the AlleyCats snuck away with the one-goal win. 

“I believe it was our first W after trailing at half this season,” said Indy Coach Drew Shepherd. “We’re growing stronger mentally each game.”

There were added emotions considering how everyone on Indy knew it was the end of an era for three veteran AlleyCats. 

“This was the final regular season home game for Rick Gross, Levi Jacobs, and Nick Hutton, who will each retire this year,” said Shepherd. “Further, the game was played at Levi Jacobs’ alma mater. So, the first emotion was joy for them.”

A loss would have dropped the AlleyCats to 3-5 heading into their four-game season-closing road trip. Instead, Indy’s record is level at 4-4, just a half-game behind Chicago and Madison in the race for the last two playoff spots in the division. 

“Saturday’s win felt amazing,” said Payne. “A great win against a great team…I think we are just excited to play Colorado [this coming weekend]. They have had some down games, but we know they are good. We aren’t going into this game with the expectation to blow them out. We hope to get in a dog fight, because that is where we play best.”

And speaking of the Summit, Colorado found a way to bounce back from their painful Saturday setback by routing Portland 25-15 on Sunday evening. 

“Sunday was a matter of reframing our mindset, and to be honest, I think we did a really good job of that,” said Marshall, who finished with five blocks on the weekend. “I think we struggled a little to focus on controllables all weekend, but by the end of the Portland game, I think we had rediscovered the joy in just playing a little ball with the boys. Speaking of controllables, I don’t plan on following the Oakland games too closely. I think it’s best we focus on the time we have left as a team, whatever that may look like.”

The Summit understand exactly where they’re at heading into their first ever matchup against the AlleyCats, with both teams desperately needing a win in their respective divisional playoff races.

“It hasn’t been the best season results-wise,” said Colorado Co-Coach Tim Kefalas, “but we’re still plugging away and working to get better each and every day. We definitely plan to put our best foot forward for our home fans these last two games, and maybe with a little help from Oakland we’ll sneak into the postseason. I’m 100 percent certain, despite the record, nobody wants to see Colorado in a single-elimination setting.”

Coming up later today in “Seven On The Line,” how the two marquee matchups both became blowouts, two-game sweeps for Atlanta, Philly, and Oakland—oh my!—and boy, Detroit’s winning streak sure fizzled fast.