Who are the best players in the Ohio Valley region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
West Chester’s Head Coach here:
After a surprise run to the semis of DI OV Regionals last year, West Chester Men’s is in a rebuilding year following the graduation of half their starting line and almost all of their bench. Couple this with bad weather that cancelled both regular season tournaments, and they failed to earn a bid for their section.
They’ll be looking to steal a bid from one of the 5 earners in the East Penn Conference. If they can, look for freshman Charles Villano to continue a strong first college season. An experienced player from Cincinnati’s youth scene, Chuck has quickly become one of his team’s most reliable players on both offense and defense, taking on primary handler duties as well as tough defensive assignments. If WCU can break seed and punch their ticket, he should warrant consideration for Freshman of the Year.
Should WCU make regionals, I’ll have more to say about what players could make them a dangerous 16 seed. I also will have more to say about the other very talented East Penn players after sectionals.
Go Birds
I’m just gonna boost Carnegie Mellon here
Coach Yuan Chen is in his 2nd year at Carnegie Mellon and has already taken a team from rank 168 when he joined us, up 140 spots to 28th in the country, and from nearly last at Regionals to the second best ranked team in the region. His impact has been incredible using intelligence, emphasizing positive energy, being a fantastic speaker, and really just adds everything you could need in a coach in this game.
Freshman deep threat Theo Gonzales-Tapley and conservative handler Scott Harvey-Arnold are the only two rookies on the team, and both are O-Line starters for a very solid O-Line, and both should definitely be in consideration for any serious Rookie awards as both contribute a ton to our team.
Jasper Tom is the center handler for this O-Line, pretty much doing whatever he wants out here in terms of hucking, breaking the mark, getting open at ease, playing lockdown D, and skying anyone in his path, Joe Norby leads the D-Line with poise, super positive energy, incredible intelligence, massive layouts and even more impressive hucks. Lastly, Justin Abel is without a doubt one of the top three players in the region, despite being less well known, he’s a do-it-all kinda player, and he really just does it all for our O-Line. One of the most athletic players around, has incredible throws, can cut or handle with the best of them, he’s a beast. Along with coaches Yuan Chen and Andrew Willig, these three have really helped us grow to new heights, their importance can’t really be outweighed.
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Brandon ‘Wisco’ Lamberty from Temple here:
I just want to throw out some names from East Penn that impressed me (we played every team but Drexel)
Nova
Ethan Fortin - Easily one of the most dominant players I have ever been on the field with/against. He can play as many points in a row as he wants, and still takes over each and every point, whether on offense or defense. No doubt 1st Team
Casey Vaughn - Not only is he one of the friendliest and high-spirited players in the region, he is also crazy good at deep defense. Any time I can get a huck past him is a pretty big accomplishment because he’s just that good. At minimum 2nd Team, but there’s a good argument to be made for 1st team
Jordan Ciccarone - Only a sophomore, but already finding himself at the helm of their offense. Very physical player, demands a lot of any defender. Look out for him in the next year or two
Penn
Tom Fry - Their main O-line handler that is very good at getting the disc as often as possible and hitting his downfield weapons. He is a smaller guy, but he uses it to his advantage and makes himself a dangerous part of their system. I would definitely say 2nd team
Matt Carter - A ridiculously good defender who has taken on a role on their O line. Most people have seen him play on AMP, and it’s just more of that on Penn. 2nd Team
Lehigh
Marlin(#38) - He balled out for Lehigh, making some crazy plays (one of which was a ridiculous trailing edge layout goal) and he also was a rock for their team. He required our best defenders to cover him, and he would cover our best people. He deserves some attention, probably 2nd team.
#82 - Don’t know his name, but he was their initiator on every O point. He is a very serious player, never letting up and never falling into a lull. He was a large part of why Lehigh made both of our games so competitive.
West Chester
Nick DiGiorgio - He is a full on baller. He plays almost every point for WC, and can do everything very well. There is no one he can’t guard, and it takes a lot to cover him when he’s on offense. He is most dangerous in the deep space with the disc out to space, but he can make himself dangerous anywhere on the field. Definite 1st Team
Charles Villano - I was watching out for him after reading what Kdub had to say, and he definitely lived up to what was said. He was WC’s most solid presence, handling with poise that you don’t see from many rookies. He also has some size that makes him dangerous on defense and downfield on offense, winning a couple jump balls during our game. No doubt All-Freshman team, might have my vote for ROTY outside of guys from Temple.
A few other names
Dylan Smith - Watching him play is really cool to me. He is a small, quick guy that utilizes give and go’s and the pattern cut better than almost anyone in the Conference. Even though Drexel wasn’t able to get to Regionals, it shouldn’t diminish Dylan’s value as a player. He is also one of the happiest players, just always going to more and more tryouts and practices for any team that will let him.
#72 on Millersville - I don’t know anything about this guy outside of watching him play during our game (maybe someone from Millersville can reply and fill me in). But on the field, he was actually quite impressive as a player and a leader. He had really nice throws, as well as a couple nice layouts that helped stretch their possessions. Just wanted to give him a shoutout for playing well
I’ll post after Regionals about guys from Temple, don’t want to give away our secrets too early.
I’ll echo everything said about CMU. Legit class this year and real cool guys
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Wanted to give a quick shoutout to CMU’s coaches Yuan Chen and Andrew Willig. In my three years of coaching in the OV, they have been determined, strategic, resourceful, present, and as another user mentioned, impactful in this college season. I mean, just check out their Tally Classic results. They’re helping those dudes get buckets without being able to get buckets themselves. It’s like Uncle Drew, except he’s actually your uncle and is past eligibility requirements. I leave you with one final closing thought: I had to reset my password and log into this website to write this endorsement for another school’s set of coaches. Can’t say I’d do that unless I really felt a certain way about it.
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Case Western Coach here, these are my thoughts on the players who stood out to me from the Ohio Conference. Included information on club teams for the players I know.
OSU (names are tough here, no one was wearing jerseys. Also they rolled everyone, so it was hard to really see all their individual talent):
- O line handler with the visor (Zach I think?): Very strong thrower, pretty quick
- Tall O line cutter with the beard and basketball jersey: Excellent deep threat, very athletic
- Sion Agami: very skilled and athletic, especially impressive given his age
Case
*Michael Kasper (Chimney): Should be a lock for all region. Plays and guards every position on offense and defense. A classic “big play” player.
*Jordan Liff (Chimney): Big man cutter, very fast, excellent thrower
*Mark Fertal (Chimney): Rock solid handler, extremely hard to guard especially on up lines
*Dima Estrin (Chimney): Very athletic cutter, gets layout D’s on everybody
Akron
*Griffin Binkley (Smokestack, Mechanix): Another all region lock, IMO. Absolute monster downfield, strong lefty thrower.
*Kevin Soneson (Chimney, Mechanix): Athletic downfield defender
*Cory Kistow (Chimney): Next level athlete. Made some huge plays (layout d bookends to take the lead against Cinci, huge sky on OSU’s big guy)
Cincinatti
*Jacob Turner (High Five): Do it all player. Very strong thrower and defender, absolutely put the team on his back in their comeback win against us on Saturday.
*Elliot Skindzier: O line handler, excellent thrower
*Justin Latz: Strong athlete and thrower, very well rounded player
Ohio
*#7 and #8 (both named Mike I think?) made some very athletic plays in our game.
Dayton
Didn’t get to play them this weekend, but they had a very strong performance at CWRUL a few weeks ago.
Freshmen
*Sion Agami, OSU: already mentioned him above
*Ben Zhang, Case: explosive handler, racked up layout ds, one of our key players as a freshman
*Evan Haug, Case: Tall fast and skilled cutter. Has been one our best players this entire season. Was coming off a knee injury this weekend, but still managed to be very effective.
*Someone told me #45 (Trey Dynes?) on Cinci is a freshman. If so, him.
Coach of the year
OSU’s coaches definitely deserve credit for such a dominant performance, but I think the work that EZ and Pinecone have done at Akron needs to be highlighted. Over the last three years this team has gone from making regionals for the first time, to upsetting case in pool play at regionals (…fuck…) to now making the finals at conferences. EZ and Pinecone have had a transformative effect on that program.
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Post Conference Thoughts:
- The East Penn has come a long, long, way since my playing days (09-13). It seemed like every team this weekend was well coached, serious, competitive and spirited. This section consistently doesn’t get a ton of respect, and due to some connectivity issues often doesn’t place highly in the algorithm, but last year they placed two teams in Semis at regionals, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a repeat of that this time around.
- Insane weather. Day 1 was almost 90. Day 2 had a “real-feel” in the 20s. This was the full gamut of spring ultimate weather.
- I can’t for the life of me understand this tournament format. Pool play was essentially meaningless. I don’t get the point of a second place game either (to me, asking the loser of the championship game to stay and play when everyone else leaves and they’ve already earned a bid just seems cruel.) I also don’t get why tournaments with even pools play to a different score in bracket play then in pool. I think USAU should take a look at the amount of meaningless games they are asking teams to play in these situations.
- The following are my notes on each team and on specific players. It’s sometimes tough to keep track of everyone you play against, so I apologize to the many deserving players I fail to highlight here.
Villanova
Ethan Fortin is a stone cold lock for an all region spot. He’s one of the best players in the area, period, let alone the college scene. His stellar play is a key reason Nova won the section for the second straight year. Casey Vaughn made Patrol last year for a reason. He’s just one of the many up and coming studs from this program. Nova’s coaching staff has done a great job of developing many of their players, and this is not just a “Fortin and Friends” team. Head Coach Dan Wickens deserves a lot of credit for the back to back sectionals titles, and should get serious COTY consideration.
Temple
It’s really hard to evaluate the individual talent on Temple because of how well they seem to buy into coach Brett Wall’s system. It’s also apparent that many have taken on the faceless workhorse persona of coach Himalaya Metha, one of the most tireless improvers (and fantastic players) in the area. It looked like Nick Larue was one of their stronger defenders while Brandon Lamberty took on a lot of disc handling duties, but nobody really had to take over the game against us, since they took an early lead and never looked back. Will be a tough out for any team at regionals.
Lehigh
The scourge of the Ohio Valley and perennially underrated Lehigh finally took the trip to DI Conferences, completing their transition to a fully fledged DI team. They were a few points away from winning their pool and things might have played out differently had they done so. They always seem to have a solid team top to bottom (much like Temple), but they really benefited from Sam Joynson’s stellar play this weekend. His throws were crisp in the wind and he directed Lehigh’s offense with his commanding voice and serious presence. It might be a stretch for them to make the game-to-go for a second straight year, but with a win against Pittsburgh only 2 years in the rearview mirror, this team has the confidence and chops to scare any high seed.
West Chester
An up and down weekend for WCU culminated with a big upset victory over 3rd seeded Pennsylvania, getting them into regionals for the 6th straight year. Captain Nick Digiorgio handled, cut and did everything for the team this year, drawing the toughest matchups and competing at a high level every point. 5th year senior Devin Foster complemented Nick with insane athleticism and strong hucking ability. Also of note was senior Mike Patuk, a fiery player whose consistency with the disc in the wind allowed Nick, Devin and WCU’s other premier athletes to get down field. WCU might not have the depth to challenge for a spot in the finals, but they could end an unsuspecting team’s regional early.
Pennsylvania
After a resurgent second campaign with UPenn, 2017’s Coach of the Year Dave Baer’s squad did not have their best weekend, failing to really challenge Nova in a highly anticipated semifinal matchup. Still, they took care of business in the game to go against Drexel and were never in real danger of missing the trip to Ohio. Cheat code Matt Carter was an all around pain in the neck for every team that played against him, lining up in the backfield one second and suddenly being wide open deep the next. I think UPenn should be judged on their stellar regular season and not one mediocre Sunday; fail to do so at your own peril.
Drexel
Drexel was in rebuild mode this year, bringing on additional coaching staff and a new offensive philosophy. Still, they had a strong regular season, placing 3rd at the Oak Creek Challenge with a nice upset over Ohio. They were a victim of poor luck this weekend (WCU failing to earn a bid made things more difficult) and teams keying in on the strength of Dylan Smith’s handler movement. Despite drawing the other team’s best defender and box-and-one type defenses, Smith performed admirably. Drexel is only graduating one player, and with another year under their belt this could be a team to watch next year.
Saint Joseph’s
It was good to see SJU back after not competing at conferences last year. While they weren’t able to score any upsets, they did get moral victories with a close 2 point loss to Drexel in pool play and an insane come-from-behind effort against WCU that ended on universe point. They were able to beat Millersville and secure 7th place. Ryan Coyle was their most consistent player, getting the disc every other and looking unaffected by the wind.
Millersville
Poor Millersville hasn’t notched a win at conferences since 2015. Still, this year was an improvement over last, and MU was in a few of the games they played. Justin Creighton is a phenomenal player and if this team can turn things around with a strong regular season next year, they could be a lot more competitive with him at the helm.
Yeah the knicks didn’t make the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean Kristaps Porziņģis
isn’t a beast! An argument can and should be made for the smaller teams that didn’t make regionals but showed off some great talent at conference championships. Or even the smaller teams (wright state) that are getting no love even though they made the cut.
Wright State has a few players who are really good and don’t get enough attention. One player, I want to say Evan or Ethan, ran the show against teams that were in all honesty better than them. He kept them competitive and played nearly every point to keep them in good shape. Throwing countless assists, catching goals, and layout D’s galore, this kid should really get a second look because he simply outworked other teams. Did not seem to get tired. They also have a guy who wore gloves that had some really pretty puts that you don’t really see often. Not sure about his name but he wore gloves and tights.
Miami University- I ended up watching a few of their games just because they were having the most fun despite not winning every game. I spent most of my time watching them because all of their games were very close. I went onto the event site to find the names of the players because I felt very strongly they should be shouted out, and they had three games 9-11, 2 games 7-11, and two games 6-11. They only had one blow up, and that was them winning the first round game( I was watching OU and UC battle it out at the time). They went into half against UC( the 2 seed) on serve while throwing lefty hammers, and messing around. I assumed they would make regionals because they have some superstars like Sophmore Nick sophocleus, junior handler Leland, and freshman Kane Gormley. The team is very young as well, and while the all regional candidates should be given to players like Elliot skindzer, griffin Binkley, and Michael Kromer; there are definite all-freshman candidates on this team. Freshman Kane Gormley had maybe 4 to 5 assists against Dayton, to the point where they started marking him straight up so he couldn’t huck it. Then he cut, which is where he skied for the lefty hammer mentioned earlier. A lot of good players get lost in the noise, but after making a diving save then throwing a full field assist to big man Dustin Hadley and coming up complaining about his arm was still broken and he was playing through it, thought he deserved an afterthought. Definite all freshman since most of Miami’s points were from him or Nick, but with all the close losses and not making regionals it may not pan out. Most of his assists were to freshman Leandros Tosko( I got it off the USAU event site so that should be spelled correctly). That kid may be the faster player in the region, and with his age I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw his name again in the next few years in the all region debate.
Finally I would like to echo some names mentioned above, including Jacob Turner, Justin Latz, and Sion Agami. All next level players that made some incredible plays at CC’s. Best player in the region may be Michael Kasper, so keep an eye on case as they did not seem happy to not make the finals and are looking for revenge for sure. Will probably post again after this weekend. Good luck to everyone headed to regionals!
Side note- coolest jerseys goes to Kent State for sure.
Freshman of the year:
Sion Agami, OSU - Has been a huge impact on the team as a whole. Makes offense easier for the rest of his teammates, and can do it with and without the disc.
All-Region players to consider:
Andrew Kramer, Dayton - Might be the best college player in the state of Ohio. Wins any matchup he is put on, offensively and defensively. Any team would take him and insert them on starting O or D. Most people know him as, “damn that tall blonde kid is good!”
Jonah Wisch, Pitt
Mike Ing, Pitt
Both of the above for obvious reasons. They run the show for the best team in the region.
Chase Gregory or Zach Braun, OSU - Full disclosure that Chase is my brother, but these two have stepped into leadership as sophomores and done some amazing things with the culture and style of Leadbelly. Both handle for Lead and play huge roles, while working off of each other on different lines to motivate and keep the energy up for their team. These two have replaced the production of two High Five players by instilling a great team first focus, which I was surprised to see happen so quickly.
-Michael Kasper (Case Western) He is a great handler and a better friend.
-Andrew Kramer (Dayton) No man has ever been more committed to an ultimate team and it shows in his play. He gives everything he has every point he plays and it shows from his pure domination point after point, game after game.
CMU Coach here. Some of my thoughts following regionals. I’ll focus mostly CMU guys (at the end). First though, some players on other teams we have played that stood out include:
Jonah (38?) and Michael (79) on Pitt. They’re absolutely tremendous players. People should already know this. I’d be astounded if these two weren’t first team All-Region.
Colby (13?) on Penn State. I heard he wasn’t at regionals? Really fast and athletic cutter, a dangerous deep threat. Deserves recognition.
Visor Handler and Reggie Miller Jersey (the really tall cutter) on Ohio State. Their names elude me, but those who have Ohio State will no doubt know them. A very talented pair of players responsible for a lot of their offense. Both deserve recognition.
Now, for some guys on CMU:
Jasper Tom (17): Jasper has been one of the cornerstones of our O-Line. He is amazingly quick, seeming to squirrel his way up-line at will. He is a skilled thrower, breaking marks and zones with ease and unleashing huge hucks. On defense, he has a knack for sniffing out the disc and is an endless supply of layout Ds. Jasper is truly a human highlight reel; when he kicks it into extra gear, he carries our team with monster layouts and jaw dropping skies. Anyone who saw our game against Ohio State will undoubtedly attest to Jasper’s skill and prowess. He absolutely deserves to be on the first All-Region team.
Joe Norby (72): Norby is our leader on D-Line. He’s a tough, intelligent defender, and, on offense, his calm collected decision making and wide array of throws is a strong stabilizing force. Norby has massive hucks and even more impressive layouts (check out one of the last points of our game against UNCW using your handy UltiWorld subscription). I believe he deserves to be on the first All-Region team.
Justin Forman (31): Forman is that short, annoying, grumpy looking guy that always looks and sounds like he’s about to collapse, but when you try to go cut on him, he ends up taking you to school. If you lose focus for an instant while guarding him, he’ll for sure make you look foolish. He should receive significant consideration for the second All-Region team.
Joey Pickens (32): Joey Pickens is one of the most physically fit players in the region. He has an unrelenting motor, plays tenacious defense, and possesses an absolute cannon. Deserves serious consideration for second team All-Region. Also deserves recognition as a (future) Sin The Fields All Star.
AJ Collins (52): AJ exposes his defenders with his speed, quickness, and physicality. He’s a defensive nightmare for anybody, a uniquely dangerous deep threat, and should be commended for his play with a placement on the second All-Region team.
Lastly,
Justin Abel (10): Justin Abel is the player of the year. There are no weaknesses in his game. He is exceptionally athletic and a lock down defender, and he truly dominates the skies. Abel could play any position and excel. For us, he has mostly been an O-Line handler; he runs our offense with veteran, savvy decision making, effortless breaks, and smooth, beautiful hucks. Abel makes jaw dropping layouts on both sides of the disc. Outside of his playing abilities, Justin demonstrates precocious leadership, steadfast humility, and an unwavering respect for spirit. There are many talented players in the Ohio Valley region, but Justin Abel is, without a single sliver of doubt, supreme among them.
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With another year in the books for everyone except Pitt, I figured I’d chime in with my $.02. I coach the Akron team and had the opportunity to see most of the players in the region this season. I didn’t have a chance to see Lehigh, Upenn, PSU, West Chester, or Pitt B, so my apologies to any deserving players from those teams. I’ll skip the explanation for why players are deserving, you can assume everyone listed is the “most dominant player ever”, or ‘literally unguardable”.
I think the first team has a few locks and then there are a bunch of players who deserve consideration. I believe Justin Abel is the most deserving POTY candidate. Sion Agami should win FOTY. I think CMU, Temple, and Nova’s coaching staffs all deserve consideration for COTY.
1st team:
Ing - Pitt
Wisch - Pitt
Tom - CMU
Abel - CMU
Fortin - Nova
Players to Consider:
Turner - UC
Skindzier - UC
Agami - OSU
Novak - Temple
Kasper - CWRU
Kramer - Dayton
Kromer - OU
Flamm - OU
Binkley - UA
-EZ
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I have been playing in this region for 5 years now (for CMU) and have marked up against the majority of the players listed in this thread so far from all across the region. Over the years some of you have given me a lot of trouble and contributed to the inevitable failure of my knees.
I think the following players are the clear cut contenders for first team and don’t even require justification at this point.
First Team Picks:
- Justin Abel (CMU)
- Jasper Tom (CMU)
- Ethan Fortin (Nova)
- Jonah Wisch (Pitt)
- Mike Ing (Pitt)
Apart from those 5, the following players have given me the most trouble on defense in the past five years.
- Leo Warren (Pitt)
- Dan Goldstein (Pitt)
- Joe Norby (CMU)
- Number 82 Blonde Guy (Lehigh)
- Green Hat Cutter (Ohio State)
And finally, I want to talk up some of my teammates. CMU finished 2nd in the region this year after finishing 28th overall in the regular season rankings, so statistically a good portion of 2nd team should be made up of CMU guys. Jasper and Abel can easily overshadow guys who deserve recognition, but its hard to blame them; they’re just that good.
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Joe Norby (CMU): Joe “The Borb” Norby is our rock on the D-Line. He plays lockdown defense, breaks every mark, throws insane upwind hucks, and above all, puts the “fun” in D-“fun”-Line.
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Foster Boales (CMU): Foster “Big F” Boales is the other handler on our D-Line. I have never met someone with better throws than Foster. Foster probably throws for 3-4 hours every single day. His wrist strength is unparalleled in the entire region. This man could probably rip your dick right off. Just like right off.
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Joey Pickens (CMU): Joey “Finger-Lickin’” Pickens is a machine. He literally drinks gasoline for fun. He is absolutely the most in-shape player in the entire region. He will run up and down the field forever. He will throw a 70 yard upwind flick and then run down the entire field to catch it, only to realize that that’s a turnover.
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To add to my previous post, I almost forgot all-freshmen picks.
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Scott Harvey-Arnold (CMU): Scott started on our O-Line as a freshmen this season providing a steady hand, great breaks, and a great attitude. At the end of regionals, Scott reported that he threw 0 turnovers on the weekend. Scott threw at least 100 passes this weekend.
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Theo Gonzales-Tapley (CMU): Theo GT is an incredible athlete. What he lacks in confidence, he makes up for in his team telling him to be more confident. Teddy Incredi is exactly that, incredible.
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Hi, current Mr. Yuk practice squad diva Alden “The Diron Chef” Pritchard here, and I just wanted to shoutout two CMU guys who deserve serious consideration for second team All-Region.
Joel Miller and Eric Li are two big bosses who didn’t get much of a chance to shine at regionals through no fault of their own. Joel got the nasty jam (doctors say it was the flu) on Saturday morning, and a few hours later Eric got the nasty slam (doctors say it was a concussion) while going up for a disc. As a result, they barely got to play over the weekend, but their contributions to Yuk shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Joel is a dominant O-line cutter who is close to unguardable. He’s fast, quick, and has good hands, and after working tirelessly to improve his hucks and skying ability he’s become an impressive all-around player capable of leading an offense. He is less capable when it comes to telling jokes and successfully roasting his teammates, but what does that matter, anyway.
Eric is an explosive cutter on our d-line who is well-known for shattering eardrums and wine glasses alike by screeching every time his man touches the disc. Fortunately, Eric rarely allows this to happen, preventing his matchup from doing what they want to time and again. Finally, Eric’s ability to operate fluidly in the handler set has bailed out our d-line too many times to count.
Both of these guys hustle as hard as anyone I know, and it’s a damn shame they didn’t see the field much at Regionals. If you know them as players, however, you know they deserve strong consideration for second team All-Region.
I feel like Penn State is underrepresented in this thread and although they’ve had a lackluster season, they still have some standout players that deserve recognition, so I’ll toss some names out there.
Fred Wolf: Fred has been great for years, sure does he get lazy sometimes and throw an errant lefty hammer? Yes. Is he for the most part reliable and have a distinct field vision? Yeah. Second team for sure.
Nate Long: Nate still has one year left in the program and his throws are among the best in the region. All region nod.
Nate Donaher: Another philly guy, I’m not sure what’s better about Nate, his decision making, crazy speed, gangly-ness, or spirited / happy demeanor. I don’t know what else to say other than this kid is the full package. Definitely underrated on a club level tbh. First team nom.
Other names:
Nick Ondrejko for foty (OSU)
Justin Abel (CMU) he’s just really good and should probably win poty
Pick any of like 10 Pitt players (Lehm, Leo, Jonah Wisch, Mike Ing, etc.)
Other nominations from temple for all-region
Adam Novak- was a rock for the team handling wise and is a great leader. Overall great handler and is super fluid with the disc and in overall movement
Nick Larue- man is a machine. He’s a big body and one of the most underrated in the region. Great defensive player and very experienced.
Brandon Lamberty- only in his sophomore year and he took on a huge role on the team and played great during the postseason. Teams know who he is now and he’s a huge threat. Made rhe PHL Phoenix as well.
Igor Smola- like Larue, he’s also a machine on both o and d. Tall, athletic cutter who is always open and gets everything.
Frankie Gomez- one of the most dedicated players on he team and who I’ve played with. Puts so much into the game and it shows. Great on d and also just goes up and gets the disc
As promised, here are my thoughts on my Temple teammates after our most successful season yet:
Nick LaRue Our Callahan nominee and all-around best player. He plays with a ferocity and passion that is only seen at the highest levels of Ultimate, and our team benefitted because of it. He was our best defender, and took the best matchups at every tournament. He’s been playing for 10 years, and it shows.
Adam Novak Our center handler on O line, he can throw every throw and hit anyone on the field anywhere. He brings a professionalism to our program that elevates our team. He is coming back for a 5th year, so I’d watch out.
Igor Smola Freakishly tall and athletic, he can guard anyone, no matter how tall or quick they are. He has proved his skill and made Phoenix, which has helped develop him and give him more confidence to take the big matchups. Oh, and he will sky you almost every time the disc goes up.
Frankie Gomez He was our other tall baller this year. He really put the pedal to the metal and put in the work to make himself a really good deep defender, as well as a deep threat on offense. While he won’t be coming back next year, he still deserves some recognition for his work this year.
Freshmen:
Donovan Hugel A DEVYL kid, he came in and immediately made his presence known. He can bomb a flick huck as far as the eye can see, and has gained a lot of composure in his play. Worth noting that he earned a u20 tryout, even though he didn’t quite make the cut. I highly doubt there are other rookies who have made a bigger difference to their team than Donny has for us. You would be dumb not to include him on the All-Freshman ballot.
Sam Gilden-Weiner Our O line was basically the same seven guys, and Sam was one of them. He came in thinking he would be a handler, but his height and hands made him way more valuable downfield. I am a big fan of O line guys that are consistent, whether or not they make highlight plays, and Sam is the epitome of consistency. He never makes the wrong cut, and our team is better because of it.
(I guess I might be an okay player also, I just throw lefty backhand hucks on our D line.)
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Hey, I’m Temp, one of the Ohio State coaches. Just a few of my thoughts:
-CMU Justin Abel #10 was super influential in their offense against us at Regionals. We had multiple people going at him and threw a variety of looks. One of those players that it seems you look to contain rather than completely shut down. Definite first team imo.
-CMU Jasper Tom #17 also played quite well. Along with Abel, Tom was someone we really had to focus on. Probably 2nd team, maybe 1st?
-Villanova Ethan Fortin. We played them in the 3rd place round after semis, so the game wasn’t as intense as others, but even so, he was looking to make things happen and looked to be a big part of their offense.
-Temple seemed to fit the billing in terms of multiple guys without one standout. However, given our play and the wind, their lefty was ripping some big backhands in the first half. Idk who he was but by the end of the first half we had to make some adjustments defensively and matchup-wise to stifle him a bit.
-Didn’t play Pitt other than at their indoor tourney. They have good players obv. Personally, Mike Ing is one of my favorite players to watch in person, probably POTY in the region.
Those were most of the standouts that I noticed at Regionals, after not having seen them much if at all this year.
For OSU guys (giving names to who’s been mentioned), here are the guys that I think have earned a shot at 1st or 2nd team this year.
-Zach Braun (visor) was a big handler on OSU this year. Difficult to mark and can get open pretty well on offense.
-Neil Taylor (Reggie Miller jersey) was often our first look on offense this year. He makes big plays in the air and is really quite fast on deep cuts.
-Sion Agami (green hat cutter). Definitely top tier FOTY. Sion was one of the most impactful players on whatever line he was on. Difficult to guard and mark, and seems to have a nose for the disc.
-Steven Moliterno (green #6 Bill Russell jersey). A fantastic two way player. Consistently outworking the opponent on offense and defense. Often covered the other team’s top player and was still a big contributor on the turn. Doesn’t get as much mention as the above 3, but really drove our team this year with his energy and high level play. One of the best conditioned players I’ve ever coached or played with, always trying to sneak in the beep test to our practice plans.
If you have questions or comments for me, feel free to respond.