Who are the best players in the New England region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
Rocco Linehan from UNH definitely deserves at least some recognition for Freshman of the Year. Obviously all the talk will go to Tannor Johnson but I think they could go toe-to-toe and maybe we will get to see this match-up at regionals. He had the second most assists, the most blocks, and the most goals as a freshman on a team that is predominantly juniors and seniors, not to mention two Boston Whitecaps players.
Matthew Allen in his three years of coaching has turned UNH from a 13th at regionals team to a team that came in 5th last year and is seeded 4th this year. This team will stay at the higher levels of the region next year despite graduating 10 seniors. He also deserves some recognition.
Yes, I go to UNH but I feel like nobody knows anything about us and we’re coming into regionals seeded fourth so I wanted to put some names out there. Hopefully, more of our players are nominated for all region teams as this is something they definitely deserve.
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Seniors Thomas Edmonds and Jordan Taylor from UNH for All-Region. Both are current captains and have been starters since their freshman year, in addition to currently playing for the Whitecaps. In a region stacked with incredible talent (Babbitt, Sadok, Kline, Stubbs, Vandenberg and many more I’ve missed), both Edmonds and Taylor have demonstrated incredible athleticism, knowledge of the sport, and invaluable leadership both on and off the field.
Having played with them for 2 years at UNH, both players have made their mark on the region without a doubt.
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He might not be on everyone’s radar, but Jeff Babbitt is a solid contributor for UMass and should at least be considered for All-Region second team.
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Maybe he is a bit more well known than I thought because you took the words right out of my post.
On a side note, I think he should be considered for All World Team instead of All-Region.
I go to BC and will mention players from my team and some other teams who we’ve played this spring season.
I want to shout out Connor McKnight from BC, who is excellent as an offensive cutter. I’m unsure how well known he is within the region but I hope he gains some rep at regionals because he has incredible talent. He wore khaki shorts to New England Open and routinely skied people. His height, leaping ability, and hands make him an excellent deep threat, while his speed and throwing ability are ideal for an offensive initiator. Simply, Connor completely changes the dynamic of our offense and is still far from the peak of his abilities.
Mark Vandenberg and John Stubbs continue to be awesome players out of Harvard. They have great chemistry and clearly stand out within a Harvard team that has incredible depth but few stars.
Nick Roberts was a great distributor in our game against Tufts. Had a couple flashy plays but his biggest strength was his consistent disc movement and ability to make his teammates more dangerous. Was very difficult to cover on give and go’s and had great around breaks.
We’ve played UNH twice this spring and Thomas Edmonds was really impressive in each game. He appears to be a complete player and can lead UNH in all situations. Also worth mentioning is that he is probably the best-spirited player that I’ve competed against in college ultimate—but none of the players on this list are unspirited, in my experience. Also, referencing Thomas’ post above, I find it difficult to believe that Rocco Linehan is a freshman. He plays with rare athleticism and poise and would have the freshman award locked up in most other years.
Ben Gagne-Maynard showed very good throws and great athletic playmaking for BU. I did not know anything about that BU team going into the game, but afterwards it’s clear that he deserves attention.
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To expand on what Cardinal said above, I totally agree with what he said. Particularly about Nick Roberts, the kid is a machine as a handler in the best way. Haven’t seen a lot of players that function as a true Point Guard on the frisbee field, but he does.
Disclaimer, I play for BU and I don’t think we get as much love as we deserve considering we’re having one of our best seasons in recent memory
Ben Gagne-Maynard is one of the best cutters you’ve never heard of. He has really strong throws, but what he really excels at is playing complete lock down defense. You won’t find a lot of guys that can run for as long, as fast as BGM can. We stick him on the best cutter on the other team and know that he’ll make that kid’s life miserable all game.
Matt Côte should also be considered for the All-Freshman team. He rarely makes mistakes and is already an incredibly intelligent player. He isn’t flashy by any means, but he gets open effortlessly. He’s not as big of a name as some of the other rookies in the region, but he can go toe-to-toe with them.
Rocco is the man.