Who are the best players in the Atlantic Coast region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
First Team
Matt Gouchoe-Hanas (UNC)
Walker Matthews (UNC)
Bailey LaBerteaux (NCSU)
Austin von Alten (NCSU)
Rick Henninghausen (UNCW)
Gun Norrbom (W+M)
Gabe Hernandez (JHU)
Second Team
Anders Juengst (UNC)
Liam Searles-Bohs (UNC)
Conor Chickos (NCSU)
Matthew Ellis (UNCW)
Connor Russell (UNCW)
Jacob Louie (APP)
Alexandre Fall (UVA)
(Only reason I don’t have Walden on here was because he had been injured all year, he’s probably a top 3 player in the region)
Freshman
Dylan Hawkins (NCSU)
Andrew Li (UNC)
Ati Bender (UNCW)
Ethan Ylizarde (UNCW)
Owen Maskelony (UNCW)
I don’t know a lot about rookies outside of the Carolina region, but Dylan Hawkins has been the best player on the field in multiple games this year for State.
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There’s a lot of obvious picks in this region (Freund, Gooch, etc) so I just want to throw some more under the radar picks out there.
Jonny Walden (Maryland) - Definitely a colder take to put a Truck guy up here but he’s one of the hardest guys in the region to guard and definitely deserves a first team nod. Maryland also had this other handler Rudy who was sneaky good.
Nothing too specific here and there’s probably not enough space to include them on the all region teams but I hope some of the other guys on Hopkins get recognition at some point. The guy who always wears the red hat and the guy in the concussion helmet are real solid. Not always just the Gabe show.
Elijah Long over Gooch for regional PoTY. How hot is this take? I’ve definitely heard it but I feel like its still pretty hot. Could also potentially get proved super wrong at nationals idk
Don’t forget that Chance Cochran plays in this region now
Adam Norrbom is the reason that the VTech Oline functions. Not Freund
Freshman-
Harry Wolfson (JMU) - JMU kinda sucked this year but Harry looked real good and should be a constant in this region for alot of years.
Offensive handler (William and Mary) - I dont know his name but he was the reset handler on the offense behind Gus this year and I was pretty impressed with him
Owen Maskalony (UNCW) - Didn’t watch a ton of this team this year but the kids good and I’m sure he’s doing well there
I’m sure North Carolina teams had good freshman. Whatever. Boring
Are these takes pretty Arlington heavy? Yeah. Does that mean they’re wrong?
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All-Freshman nomination - Brandon Yao(UMD)
Ati is frosh of the region imo he gets the hardest matchup and plays tight with the best players on opposing teams
Gonna show some Colonial section love here.
Surprised he hasn’t been mentioned yet but Jeremy Hess of UMD has got to be one of the best finishers in the region. He plays every O point and half of all D points covering the other teams tallest guy and will still score ~5 times every game, mostly on jump balls.
Kevin Versteeg on Towson would be more on the radar if he had a better supporting cast and more throwers. He’s one of the fittest guys in the region.
Johnny Walden on UMD has only played one half of a tournament this season fully healthy but he is still one of the toughest people to guard, and can do it all. Super fast/quick, strong throwing ability, and wins jump balls over people significantly taller than him. He also carried Maryland at regionals last year.
Chance Cochran on Georgetown deserves a better 5th year team.
And Gabe Hernandez drips with swag every point he is on. The guy makes it look too easy
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Owen Maskelony struggled early in the year with a niggling injury, but has really come on in the last two months. Solid all-around player.
Ati is a fantastic defender. Incredibly athletic and explosive.
I agree with a lot of what @fredwolf said.
-Adam Norrbom is definitely the x factor on Tech’s o-line.
-The freshman on William and Mary is Aiden O’Connell, he’s had a big impact this year with Jonny Malks going down.
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Michael lee, he’s the second best player in the country.
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Don’t forget Myles Grady from App state. One of the few if not the only college player to be nominated for the Callahan 3 years in a row. The man can play sure he doesn’t know witch hand he throws with but that doesn’t matter when you ball like he does
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Just want to give a shout to Richmond’s Alex Pistolesi for All-Freshman team. He’s an athletic 6’3” cutter on our O-Line who’s had some great games against D1 talent (William and Mary showcase game for anyone looking to see) as well as D3. Obviously a ton of talent in the region but would be remiss to not spread the good word on Pistol.
Hopefully, we’ve all learned by now that anything is possible when colonial teams get to Regionals, so I’ll list some names to keep an eye on.
Angelo Olcese (JHU) AKA red hat guy
James (Jimmy) Clarke (JHU) AKA concussion helmet guy
Gabe Hernandez (JHU) I’m not going to say Gabe isn’t good, but I think Hopkins success is more of a team effort than people think. If you think shutting down Gabe wins you the game you’ve already lost.
Rudra (Rudy) Menon (UMD)
John Walden (UMD) This guy should have won POTY last year and I cannot be swayed from that opinion.
Jeremy Hess (UMD)
Chance Cochran (Georgetown) You will very quickly figure out which player he is.
Kevin Versteeg (Towson) Come next year I think this will be a colder take but feel free to hop on the hype train today.
Very unlikely for anyone else in Colonial to make it but that’s roughly my All-Conference list.
Throw in Jesse and Reed from Delaware, Scott Bennett and Max T from UMBC and kaboom that’s all you need to know.
For FOTY
Daniel FB (UMD) There’s a chance im mixing him up with another freshmen but I think this is him. Handling on O for a top 30 team out of high school is impressive. Depending on how they finish his stock rises imo.
Logan Call (Towson) Alright so this one is a bit of a hot take but hear me out. Anyone who plays Towson knows we like to shoot it, but this kid is vacuum cleaning up scores like it’s nothing. His defense is improved to the point that our team trusted him to guard Gabe Hernandez (Callahan Award winner) for long stretches. He’s not as fit as Kevin but come on. Definitely All-Region in lowering other people’s self esteem though.
Theodore Kerr (UMD) I just remembered him. Another pick I’m making just to be safe in case Maryland goes supernova. Teams that make nationals can always find ways to squeeze kids on this list.
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Everyone needs to be voting Austin Chau from UMD for FOTY. Dude is a real space bastard
Curtis Farmer from Virginia Commonwealth University. Best throws in the state of Virginia.
I got to see a fair amount of all the top AC teams in the regular season (excluding JHU) and just got back from AC regionals.
Gabe was incredible. Best player in the region for sure. He was mostly jogging on O, but more in the way that messi walks/jogs and only runs when it’s time to work- he still got every reset and any throw he wanted. PoTY in my book.
Freund is a beast. Can’t be beat in the air, can’t let him have the disc. First team.
Matt Ellis was Wilmingtons best player. Sad to not see rick this weekend. Connor is no slouch but Ellis runs that team and is a problem on O and d for just about any matchup in the country.
Gooch, Elijah long from UNC should be first team. Walker Matthews is really good too though I think he’s probably second team. Anders should contend to second team as well.
Stephen Trello (#24) from south carolina should be recognized for the work he did carrying that team. Wasn’t with the team for the first two tournaments, and USC played like a nationals level team since he rejoined (jumped from mid 40s to 23 in the rankings). He probably had 15-20 D’s, 10ish goals, 10ish assists.
*note, I do coach Stephen, but he’s still definitely a top 14 player in the region.
Johnny Walden got hurt against NCSU but he is a warrior, continued off last year’s display of dominance and drove Maryland back to the cusp of another miracle run to nationals.
I thought Von Alten was state’s best player. No one can cover him, he never stops running, he just makes that offense work. Bailey is obviously a very gifted thrower. Lynch was also a stud. When rhys isn’t in his own head he might actually be the best thrower in the region.
I didn’t watch a lot w&m this weekend, but I didn’t see that much from Norrbom. I’ve seen great things on film though.
Chance Cochran is a great player, but always seemed like he was trying to do too much when I watched Georgetown. Granted, that team didn’t have too much depth to help him.
My lists:
First team
Gabe (JHU)
Gooch (UNC)
Elijah long (UNC)
Joe Freund (VT)
Austin von Alten (NCSU)
Johnny Walden (UMD)
Matt Ellis (UNCW)
Second team
Walker Matthews (UNC)
Anders yeungst(?) (UNC)
Connor Russel (UNCW)
Stephen trello (USC)
Bailey Laberteux(?) (NCSU)
Trevor Lynch (NCSU)
Chance Cochran (Georgetown)
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Also, I know repeat are boring, but Darryl Stanley from Maryland should be coach of the year again. That team was primed to make the most of every opportunity they got this weekend. Prepared, mentally focused, and resilient. Not to mention they are one of the most spirited teams in the region.
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You all saw Gabe Hernandez drip swag onto the field, but did you see the Callahan courageously battle through a long recovery process for his ACL tear (winning a 10K race in the process?!?), integrate into a new team across the country while managing a master’s in education and still bringing that same team leader, unprecedented game mentality that always made a JHU a contender? Just an extra plug for Gabe the Babe as first team–this man is a warrior, a spirited player, a friend, and an all-around inspiration. Blood and the Southwest misses you but I’m so glad you’re healthy again and got the chance to tear up the Atlantic Coast one extra year
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Excited to see what NC State does at Nationals this year. The monkey is finally off their back.
With Tannor out of the picture, Austin Von Alten might just be the best cutter in the division, cant think of a matchup that will keep him out of a game. Chickos and Bailey run the backfield and they’ve both got all the throws you can ask for, no real defensive answers there. Michael Lee makes reset situations hell and Trevor Lynch has the athleticism to guard whoever he wants, and now that his throws are looking lethal their break potency is decently high. Also, all but one of these names has at least one more year left at State. Sheesh. Dylan Hawkins from NC State is probably FOTR
UNC is as good as advertised. Gooch, Walker, and Elijah all seem like they are a step ahead in most situations. So smart combined with above average athleticism. They’ll beat you before you even realize that the game started. That with one of the deepest rosters the college scene has seen in a while is dangerous (Anders, AD, peeps like that) I haven’t seen the film of any of their losses but they showed very little weaknesses when we played them
I didn’t get to see JHU at all this season until regionals, where Gabe clearly went off. I only saw a few points still and in each one he always was the one scoring or throwing the goal.
Similarly I never saw VT, but Joe has got to be an all-region player.
W&M had a couple super solid players. Gus makes marks look silly sometimes and whoever #38 is (Gabe something?) was a super reliable cutter and thrower. Good all around team and some stand-up fellas, I enjoyed playing them.
Walden wasn’t healthy for much of the year for UMD but when he was he can grind some gears. Un-paralleled quickness. There is also some guy they call “Bugs” (or something like that) that showed a lot of potential for being young. A few more years under Darryl and that could be someone to look out for.
Connor Russell at times looks like a man playing in a child’s division. He doesn’t get beat in the air, can throw the whole field, and is a smart defender. I cant count the amount of times I hear sidelines screaming to their teammates to stop getting broken only to realize this is futile. He is a 6’4" lefty with like a 9 foot standing reach, you cant mark that. It also extremely unfortunate for the entire country that they didn’t get to see Rick Hennighausen’s final season, that would have been an experience.
Imma get flamed for this especially because it isn’t as pertinent this year, but its ridiculous that Brian Casey doesn’t get recognition for as good of a coach as he is. Wilmington sometimes doesn’t even make cuts for their A team yall, they never get the same amount of talent as anyone really and are always one of the 2 or 3 best teams in a pretty stacked region. People hate Wilmington, we get it (if you cant tell I am a Seamen myself) but as soon as BC took over, Wilmington has played a cleaner style of ultimate and has been much more civilized as a personnel. (Or at least we try, its difficult when everyone irrationally hates you)
This being said, Darryl is still COTR or even COTY for this season, I just had to shout out my guy because it should have been him in the last 2 seasons.
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Would like to shoutout Ben Reutner (LU). I don’t play in the region anymore (Jojah now) but playing with him last year, and watching him this year, he is by a decent margin the best player I’ve ever played with. Insane player, has every tool you’d ever want as an ultimate player. Throws, athleticism, IQ, speed. Everything. If Liberty was a more developed program he would be talked about more. I haven’t seen him stopped by anyone. Check out some film and watch this guy cause he needs some more hype around him. Oh did I mention he is a sophomore. Other notable players from Liberty who don’t get talked about enough are Daniel Mills (won nationals with Triforce) and Jake Norman, also sophomores. Many great years to come from these players.
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