Seven On The Line | First Round Recap

July 29, 2025
By Evan Lepler

The Wind Chill march on toward Chicago

The Radicals' surge late in the second quarter made Saturday’s proceedings at Sea Foam Stadium feel more competitive than they actually were.

After immediately racing to a 3-0 lead at the outset, Minnesota led Madison 11-5 with three minutes remaining in the first half before a crazy sequence when the Wind Chill were outscored 5-1 in just two and a half minutes, a run that brought the Radicals within two at halftime.

But Minnesota responded in the third, outscoring Madison 5-0 over the final eight minutes to reassert their superiority, en route to a 22-16 victory that put the Wind Chill in the Central Division Championship game for the fifth consecutive season.

“It felt really good to play with both sides of the disc firing on all cylinders,” said Minnesota’s Justin Burnett. “Our offense did their job and held, and in the third quarter it was the defense’s job to seal the deal, and that’s what we did [...] It felt like a stepping stone towards playing our best game of the season in Chicago.”

That’s certainly the hope for the Wind Chill, who were not particularly competitive in their two regular season contests against the Union, losing by five at home and by 10 on the road. But on Saturday night against Madison, Minnesota played some of its best offense of the season.

“The Wind Chill O-line seemed to peak at the right time,” said veteran Radical Josh Wilson. “They do a great job recognizing poaches and making that player active. They were more patient with the disc and seemed to hit the throws that they missed in previous games.”

As for the journey that Minnesota’s O-line has undergone this season, team leaders acknowledge that it’s been a lengthy process, but they think they are finding their form.

“I think it’s been a concerted effort from everyone to adopt these new principles at relatively the last minute,” said Wind Chill Captain Bryan Vohnoutka. “There is more connectivity between layers; it’s easy to spread out on the big field and get disconnected. You can see the disc move more fluidly; no one is holding the disc for six seconds, waiting for someone to give them a reset option. We’ve still had some hiccups, but overall, our spacing and our communication have been noticeably better.”

It also helped that Will Brandt, last year’s Championship Weekend MVP, had arguably his best throwing game of the season, going 38-for-38 with three assists and two goals. Veteran Greg Cousins had a huge first half, scoring five of Minnesota’s first 11 goals, and the Wind Chill D-line converted 10 breaks in 18 attempts. Minnesota also went 15-for-16 in the red zone, whereas Madison finished with five red-zone turnovers, key errors in the Radicals’ quest to keep it close and competitive for four full quarters.

"I think Minnesota did a phenomenal job scouting and making us take more difficult looks than we wanted, and unfortunately we did not execute them well enough,” said Madison’s Noa Chun-Moy. “They also jammed up our cut timing a bit, so the deep looks were not always there. They did an amazing job stifling our O-prime. I think that unit did not score once.”

The reigning champs will now strive to replicate their opening round performance against a much more challenging opponent, as the unbeaten Union beckon on August 9.

“I think it will take a gritty effort on D and efficiency on O, both of which we have been unable to give to Chicago, yet,” said Vohnoutka. “I know we will have the game plan and adjustments to win, and it will be on us to execute.”

2. A full section devoted to Burnett's incredible third quarter Callahan

The only Callahan in the UFA playoffs so far came courtesy of Minnesota’s Justin Burnett, who capped the Wind Chill’s 5-0 third quarter run with a remarkable layout snag for the thrilling defensive score.

“It was a team D all the way,” said Burnett. “Started with [Coach Ben] Feldman really hammering the need to get down on the pull, everybody executing on that, a great pull [by James Pollard], then people locking down each option for six seconds. Given the stall count and knowing Pieran [Robert] has been an outlet for them, I knew the throw was going to happen as soon as he cut, and I knew I was in a good position to make a play.”

Robert clearly had a step on Burnett, but the former Callahan winner showed off his electric athleticism, laying out past the cutter to narrowly get his hand on the disc first. It certainly was close, but Burnett strongly believed that he had it, and the closest referee agreed, quickly signaling the Minnesota score.

“I 100 percent knew I got there first, and that’s why I fought to hold on so tight,” said Burnett. “As you can see if you slow it down, I have possession before he fully grabs the disc. If you go back and watch our previous Madison games, in each one there was a layout where I was sure I had a block and they were both called strips, so I was extra pumped that this one was called correctly.”

Burnett became the 188th different player in UFA history to catch a Callahan, though he was just the third former Callahan Award winner to also snag a rare defensive score in the pros. Among the 17 former Callahan winners who have played in the UFA, Burnett, John Randolph, and Jonathan Nethercutt are the only three who also have caught one in a professional game.

3. The Growlers rise up over the Sol

Across the entire league, all four road teams were broken first in their Saturday battle. But no road team responded like the San Diego Growlers. After a clunky first offensive possession put the Growlers in a 2-0 hole, San Diego put forth almost a perfect game from that point on, pulling away from the Sol in the second half of their 25-19 victory.

The fact that they were broken first is not the only thing that separates San Diego from the rest of the remaining UFA contenders. The Growlers are also the only team in the final eight that did not make the playoffs last year, making their journey back into the UFA quarterfinals particularly satisfying.

“On Saturday, it all came together,” said San Diego Coach Kevin Stuart. “Even though we went down early, our offense settled in and moved the disc quickly and efficiently down the field, regardless of the set Austin was running. I felt like our adjustments on offense were slight but important, especially since we failed to make those adjustments in our last matchup and Austin ran away with the game in the fourth. Defensively, we had fantastic energy from the start, and it was a team effort to pressure Austin into some of those turnovers.

“Watching us play a complete game like that was fantastic. We are a talented team, and we put it all together on Saturday night. When that happens, we are hard to beat, regardless of the opponent.”

Whereas the Sol won so many of the 50/50 battles late in the regular season meeting at San Diego, the Growlers controlled the skies for most of the night this past Saturday in Austin.

“Khalif [El-Salaam] had a helluva performance, making play after play,” said Sol Coach Steven Naji. Travis [Dunn] played like the pro ultimate legend he is and stepped up big; we didn’t have an answer for his effectiveness, both as a thrower and a receiver. Matt Miller was a standout as their quarterback and handled pressure seamlessly. He was very effective at hitting chunk yardage throughout the entirety of the game, no matter the stall or circumstance.”

Those three clearly had the biggest statistical nights, but Stuart was quick to emphasize how special it was that the entire team contributed to the victory.

“That was the most satisfying part of watching us play on Saturday,” said Stuart. “This team is really cohesive and loves to battle together each time we step on the field. For me, at the end of the game, it was time to enjoy the moment and a realization of the hard work the coaches and players put in starting all the way back in January. I was able to enjoy the moment, but the message in the huddle was clear that this was just the first step in our postseason.”

There’s no doubt the Growlers will be seen as sizable underdogs at Atlanta, but there are some shades of the 2024 Seattle Cascades when you look at this year’s Growlers squad. They’ve spent the past several seasons missing the playoffs, but building and developing around a young core. This year, they added a handful of veterans who gave the entire squad more confidence and firepower. They snapped a multi-year playoff drought, won an opening round playoff game, and are now hitting the road to face a team that expects to be at Championship Weekend.

“So with the win we earn the right to play Atlanta,” said Stuart, “something we have been wanting since we played them in May. They are a good team that is coached well. When two good teams get together, it comes down to execution and whoever can capitalize on the other’s mistakes. That’s what Atlanta did when we played them last. Both teams had really clean offensive performances. I believe Atlanta only turned it over eight times and three were on the final point of the game [...] It’ll be fun going in there to try to knock them off. It’s going to be a battle and an opportunity we have been working for [since] the start of the season.”

4. Another year where home playoff teams are far from perfect

Historically, San Diego’s victory in Austin meant that we have now seen at least one road team win a UFA playoff game in nine of the last 10 seasons.

Here are all the road playoff winners over the past decade:

2025 - San Diego over Austin
2024 - Seattle over Salt Lake; Carolina over Atlanta
2023 - Austin over Atlanta; Los Angeles over Colorado
2021 - Carolina over DC
2019 - Dallas over Carolina
2018 - New York over Toronto; Carolina over Austin; New York over DC
2017 - Dallas over Carolina
2016 - Seattle over Los Angeles; Atlanta over Carolina
2015 - Seattle over San Francisco

Interestingly, prior to Saturday’s results, seven of the previous eight road ‘upsets’ in the UFA playoffs came in the quarterfinal round, with a berth to Championship Weekend on the line.

5. When does a coach with a big lead feel comfortable?

Pretty early in the third quarter, when the DC Breeze extended their lead into double digits over the Empire, the victory looked pretty certain. I wondered, with a 12-goal lead over your biggest rival on your home field in the playoffs, whether the coach might stop for a second, relax, and smile at what was unfolding.

Breeze Coach Lauren Boyle quickly shut me down.

“I honestly never relaxed because I have always believed that champions never give up and never let up,” she said. “My job is to ensure we can put a whole game together. We have struggled with that this season, so if the guys were starting to loosen up, I reminded them of our success plan, how they take part in that plan, and pushed them to figure out how to do that for four quarters. During the game, I am celebrating the times we do it and encouraging them to fight for more. My tenacity for being our best Breeze doesn’t waiver based upon the score.”

It’s not like she’s ignorant of the score, acknowledging that the specific situation might impact her subbing decisions and strategic choices, but in terms of just relaxing and enjoying the moment? Not until the fourth quarter buzzer sounds.

“Just like I expect them to do their job for four quarters and never let up, I hold myself to that standard,” said Boyle.

6. Are there more blowouts in big heat?

Last year, the 11 UFA playoff games were decided by a grand total of 35 goals. After one weekend—where it happened to be extremely hot in three of the four locales—the four games were decided by 32 scores, almost matching the margin from the entire 2024 postseason in just a single weekend.

And of course, it was pretty hot last year too!

But as the temperatures have consistently increased late in the regular season and into the playoffs, double-digit blowouts have also become way more frequent in 2025. And when asked about his team’s first round loss, New York’s Jack Williams shared that he thinks the heat makes mounting a comeback after a slow start considerably more difficult.

“I think on exceptionally hot days, you’re more likely to see blowouts,” said Williams. “Getting broken a couple times early is absolutely brutal due to the quick turnaround time between points. When it feels like 100 degrees out there and your offense has to play multiple points back-to-back, it’s back-breaking.”

The two biggest margins this weekend both featured teams getting broken early and often, with another subplot being those teams’ insistence to often return many, if not all, of the same players that were just broken right back to the field for the next O-point.

“I’m interested to see if we change up our strategy next season to put out our D-line earlier after we get broken,” acknowledged Williams. “In the past, we were able to get away with it, but we may need to re-think that.”

7. A disappointing weekend for two great goal scorers

Madison’s Anthony Gutowsky and New York’s Ben Jagt, who finished first and third in the UFA in goals scored during the 2025 regular season, were stunningly silenced in the opening round of the playoffs. After combining for 101 goals over the past few months, they each were kept out of the end zone entirely this past weekend, as both of their teams’ seasons came to a close.

The fact that the Radicals and Empire both lost is far from shocking, but it does seem bizarre to see these two prolific strikers both deliver goose eggs with their seasons on the line.

It was the first time in Gutowsky’s 39-game career that he did not catch a goal, while it was just the seventh time ever for Jagt in his 132-game journey. And among those seven games where he didn’t bring in a goal, Saturday was the first time ever that Jagt finished with no goals, no assists, AND no blocks.

The Hammer

The UFA goes quiet this coming weekend, but it’s just a brief respite before the biggest weekend of the year. Sure, Championship Weekend is epic, and there are certainly regular season slates that slap, but to have four games featuring the final eight teams in the league still in the hunt for the title and fighting desperately for a trip to the Capital City of Ultimate…I mean, every year, I just love the Divisional Championship Round.

And the schedule the league has assembled is gonna create an absolutely awesome viewing experience. It starts with the return of Friday Night Frisbee, as San Diego visits Atlanta on Friday, August 8, with the opening pull set for 8:00 PM/ET.

The South Championship game will be free for all viewers on UFA YouTube.

Then, on Saturday, August 9, it’s a tremendous championship tripleheader.

DC at Boston at 5:00 PM/Et. Minnesota at Chicago at 7:00 PM/ET. Oakland at Salt Lake at 9:00 PM/ET.

Make sure your WatchUFA.tv subscription is ready for this ridiculous trifecta, and get ready to enjoy a truly epic evening of frisbee, a night where some dreams will be fulfilled and others will inevitably be destroyed.

I’m already nervous, excited, and eager to see all the drama unfold. Will we have several surprises, or will the top seeds all march onward to Madison?

The stage is set for a thrilling conclusion, and it’ll be here before you know it.