Ryan Baker

The UFA’s first-ever Thursday night game at Breese Stevens Field will feature the Madison Radicals hosting the Salt Lake Shred in the Ultimate Capitol of the World.

This first-ever matchup between the two franchises should give fans in Madison a show to remember. Both teams are still trying to find their full identity, but they are on different trajectories. The Shred have dropped their last two divisional games, while Madison is coming off a huge one-point win against Indianapolis.

The weekend doesn’t stop there, as the Radicals will finish their three-game, eight-day stretch with a trip to Chicago for a rematch with the Union on Sunday night.

“Preparation is the biggest thing,” Ranabhat said. “Film study, taking care of our bodies, getting enough sleep, and showing up mentally ready to play. At this point in the season, everybody has talent. The teams that handle the little things well usually put themselves in the best position to win.”

The quick turnaround for the Salt Lake game will be tough on Madison, as they just finished their last game this past Sunday night, but the weekend’s storylines are giving the Radicals the motivation they need to lock in for the interdivisional game and the rematch with Chicago.

“I had Mesh [Andrew Meshnick] start scouting Salt Lake last week,” Head Coach Jacob Spiro said. “I took on doing film on our Indy game after and got the rest of the coaching staff working on the Shred right away.”

They will be without Kainoa Chun-Moy for the third straight game, and Sterling Knoche will also be a game-time decision after his late scratch last week. Meanwhile, Salt Lake appears to be at full strength.

Madison will need similar production to last week from the handler crew of Nico Ranabhat, Gabe Vordick, Ian McCosky, and Eric Sjostrom. The four minimized turnovers and came up big when it mattered most in their third win of the season last week. They will be key against a Salt Lake team that doesn’t possess the disc for very long throughout each game.

“Every game we’ve played has helped build more trust and chemistry, especially against good teams,” Ranabhat said. “The nice thing is we’re still not halfway through the season, so there’s a lot of room for us to keep growing. As long as we keep trusting each other and playing within ourselves, I think the good stuff will keep coming.”

The X-factor against Salt Lake will be how Madison’s defense plays, as the Shred still have one of the league's highest-scoring offenses despite their last two losses. They average over 23 goals per game, ranking fourth in the league.

The Radicals average nine blocks per game with just 5.8 breaks per game, but they will look to increase those numbers with the switch of Anthony Gutowsky to the D-line. The high-flyer can now have more impact in deep space during games, which will directly affect the Shred’s third-best huck completion rate.

Even though Salt Lake’s 4-3 record isn’t flashy, Madison does not want to get into a shootout with the Yorganson brothers and Jordan Kerr. One thing Spiro will have to manage is the different style of play, particularly the Shreds’ up-tempo offense with lots of deep shots and creative throws.

“They’re a very talented team that we’ve got to treat with as much respect as every other team we play this season,” Sjostrom said. “They’ve had some tight losses, but I don’t think their record represents how good they are.”

Looking at the Chicago game, the biggest thing that comes to mind is the first-quarter disaster Madison put on display in their first game. Putting nearly the same players out there on both ends, if the Radicals can play as they did in the second half of the first game, it won’t be that close when the buzzer goes off.

“I think we learned a lot from the first game,” Ranabhat stated. “Chicago got us early, but after that, we settled in and showed we could play with them. If we do come out slow again, the answer isn’t trying to erase a deficit in one throw. That’s usually how you end up digging the hole deeper. We’ve already touched the hot stove once.”

That game will be a possession battle, as these are two of the teams that play small ball the most. The Radicals have attempted 20 hucks this season, and Chicago has 27, which are by far the fewest in the league (the third-lowest has 42). By the numbers, the Union is worse in every category but red zone conversion rate, but their one win this season came against Madison.

Starting slow is another worry that can’t happen against either of these teams, an issue Madison has had in their last two games, scoring just five combined goals in the two opening quarters. To counteract that, Spiro has had his team play more traditional offense in practice and has added more prep to the team's online resources, so there is less information overload before games during this stretch.

“We, and I, had a rough start in Chicago last time, but I’m not going to overthink any of it,” Sjostrom said. “Just planning to go out and trust myself and our system, and it should fix itself.”

We’ve seen some players for Madison break out in the last couple of games, and if others can follow suit, Madison could walk out of this weekend 5-2. Jack Nelson has hit his groove over the last few games; Max Sample showed out last week; Victor Luo and Luke Marks came up big when it mattered most.

For Madison to raise their level of play and grind out two wins this weekend, guys like Mitchell McCarthy, Jake Carrico, and Sam Stark will need to step up. All three have the capabilities and produced in big ways last season, but we have yet to see their potential this season.

Obviously, two wins are ideal, but Madison has to walk away with at least one to stay in the comfortable spot they are in as the two seed in the Central right now and avoid losing ground in the standings.

To buy tickets to the first-ever Thursday night game at 7 p.m. CT, go here!

To watch the interdivisional game between the Shred and Radicals, go here!

To watch the second game of Madison’s doubleheader against Chicago on Sunday at 6 p.m. CT, go here!