Who are the best players in the Metro East region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
Danny Seigel Columbia
Probably wonāt get much love because Columbia didnāt make it, but he the best player I saw all weekend. Super smart and will always surprise you with how athletic he is. Almost singlehandedly earned them a bid after Columbiaās #2 went down.
Charlie Coburn Princeton
Obviously the reason Princeton made it to finals of sectionals. Open on almost every upline and repeatedly threw players open at stall 9 to save possession and score a bunch of goals.
Victor Kao NYU #12
Spitting image of Gerald Tigol from a few years back. Incredibly smooth handler with all the throws. Also effective starting downfield and a super consistent bailout.
All Freshman:
Geoffrey Zheng Stony Brook
Main cog of Stony Brookās Dline. Often takes the toughest matchups and works incredibly hard. Beautiful layouts and throws into space.
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all freshman nomination - Isaac Duan(Rutgers)
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Second team:
Will Burks Stony Brook: Spiritual leader of Stony Brook. Has all the tools. Just needs to learn when to take over games.
Josiah Zoodsma Stony Brook: Should be player of the region every year but cares too much about his Ph.D to learn how to throw flicks.
Dylan Baroody Princetonās #2
JiMin Ko Columbiaās #2
Half of Rutgers probably deserves to be on here, but I havenāt seen them play since last year.
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This list is based on playing with/against these players this year, here are my nominations for All-Region:
Yale
Samuel Feder, 31 - Feder is a flat out PROBLEM for the opposing team. Heās a natural cutter but handles for Superfly and has to be accounted for every time he steps on the field. His ability to get open with ease, coupled with his incredible athletic ability makes him All-Region worthy.
Tomaso Mukai, 77: This handler for Superfly doesnāt make a bad throw. Easily one of the smartest ultimate players in the region and has the ability to destroy a defense. Heās agile and confident, which is a dangerous combo with his arsenal of throws.
UConn
Phil Murray - Heās a stud, in every way. Defensively, he has the athleticism and Ultimate IQ to match-up with anyone on the opponents line. Heās always close to his man and is never afraid to leave his feet. Heās equally dangerous when thereās a turn, he has a knack for being around the disc and can hurt you with the disc in his hand.
Albany SCAM
Ivan āPudgeā Nunez (me), 6 - I donāt like talking about myself so I wonāt. Find me at regionals and my play will do the rest.
David Gray, 24 - Elite cutter defender, he takes the toughest match-up in every game he plays and shuts them down. Heās an absolute workhorse, plays every defensive point and crosses over on offense when needed, but plays with same intensity/hustle from the first point on Saturday to the last point on Sunday. Good luck if you have to deal with him at regionals.
Nick Granados-Kramer, 95 - Nick is an incredible two-way player and a key component in SCAMās system. Heās dangerous as both a cutter and handler. His quick-feet, sure-hands, and field awareness makes him virtually impossible to guard near the end-zone. He definitely deserves All-Region consideration.
There are other players that I know should be considered for the Metro East All-Region teams, but since I have yet to see them play this season Iāve decided to let other people nominate them.
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Yale
Samuel Feder, 31- Feder is one of the most athletic ultimate players Iāve seen. His crisp cuts allow him to play any position on an offensive line and easily fool his defenders. His athleticism, cuts, and throws make him more than qualified for All-Region
SUNY Albany (My squad)
Ivan āPudgeā Nunez, 6- Pudge is an absolute threat on both sides of the disc. He can defend the disc extremely well on the defensive side and is never afraid to put his body on the line. Offensively, heās one of the most reliable players on the field whenever heās on it. Take these two and mix it with it his beastly athleticism and heās a force to be reckoned with.
David Gray, 24- David Gray is a bonafide athlete. If youāve seen him play you know what he can do. One of the top defensive players in the region heās one of the main reasons SCAMās D-line is dominant. His tenacity also transfers to offense when he is needed, using his body and speed to his advantage he can almost always get the disc.
WIlliam āSugarā Tangel, 34- Dangerous in the air and on the ground, Sugar is a very well rounded player. He can read the disc very well and can use his height to get above a crowd and come down with any disc thrown deep, but he isnāt afraid to take the under with separation from his icy cuts. He functions beautifully under any defense thrown the offenses way and is able to handle the pressure of playing defense when he is needed most. Certainly All-Region worthy.
I unfortunately havenāt seen many of the other teams play so I canāt give my input on them, but Iām sure if theyāre worthy theyāll be recognized.
All Region Considerations from Rutgers Machine:
Ben Levy
Brendon Pierce
Dean Klimek
Bobby Puhak
Tanner Yuhas
Brian DiNicola
Will Disturco
All Freshman
Alec Bakholdin
Declan Alvidrez
Isaac Duan
I could go say a lot about how great these guys are and how theyāre clearly some of the top players in our region, but Iāll wait till after regional for them to get the recognition they deserve from their peers
Here are some guys I think deserve consideration for All-Region
Yale
Samuel Feder, 31- Feder has a first step that rivals anyone in the region, and a strong set of break throws. If not accounted has the ability to abuse a team, and when he is accounted for I have only seen him limited, not shut down.
UConn
Phil Murray- UConn is known for a faceless mob type of approach, but Phil stands out above the rest. Defensively he has the athleticism and the positioning to match-up on probably anyone in the region. Those same traits, along with strong throws make him a phenomenal two-way player.
Syracuse
Jesse Newman, 11- Jesse is one of the, if not the best throwers in the region. It is not only the amount, and quality of throws Jesse has, but the decision making the comes along with the throws that make him so dangerous. Having split against Syracuse 1-1 so far this season, the difference between the win and the loss was taking the disc out of some of their more reckless shootersā hands, and putting it in Jesseās
Stony Brook
Josiah Zoodsma- Stony Brook has a few really good guys, but Josiah is their rock. Athletic, smart, and awesome body positioning make Josiah the guy they turn to late in the stall count. His throws are the only thing preventing him from being a POTY front runner.
New Paltz
Yigit Demiralp- I think he deserves at the least some consideration for the amount of work he does for SUNY New Paltz, literally every game, to every point he puts them on his back. We have played New Paltz four times this season, I think he rested one point in those four games.
Albany (disclose this is my team)
Nicholas Granados-Kramer (G-K), 95- Echoing my teammate Pudges statement, I wonāt talk about myself, see my play at regionals
David Gray, 24- Second best cutter defender I have ever played with. First would be Cameron Warner (see his Callahan video for reference) David is not too far off. Blazing speed, and agility, with the intensity to match, the kid does not rest and is in such good shape he does not need to.
Ivan āPudgeā Nunez, 6- Flick huck? Check. Nasty in cuts? Check. Goes up strong? Check. Spot on timing? Check. He is an initiation cutter in a lab that can also lock down on your best player. A two-way player, and personal favorite matchup in practice (Sorry everyone else.)
William āSugarā Tangel, 34- Well rounder, smart cutter. Dime of a backhand hops for days. I have never see Sugar shut down, it is tough to even slow him down.
My pick for All-Freshman
Syracuse
Erik Liu- Intense handler, with great throws, and all the confidence in the world. Will be a weapon for Doom for years to come (as long as the trend of elite freshman transferring after one year does not continue.)
Albany
Lukas āNinaā Fleisig, 0 - Gotta give this kid a shout out. He was the only freshman on the A team this year. That socially is hard, but the kid put in work and has grown a ton over the course of the season. His future is bright.
Some considerations for all-region metro east:
SUNY New Paltz
Yigit- Iāve played against GUNX 2 times this semester and each game this man never took a point off, handling and cutting hard every point, never seeming to get tired
SUNY Albany (my team)
Ivan Nunez #6 - stellar cutter in terms of in cuts and deep cuts with perfect timing, flick hucks that never miss their mark and even a few back hand hucks at points in the season, a dangerous defender as well and can even handle when needed. Outstanding all-around player
David Gray #24 - One of the most terrifying players to have defending you. Scary closing speed, lay-out Ds for days, deep presence on both sides of the disc, great cutter, amazing agility and endurance allowing him to play multiple marathon points one after another if needed.
Of the people Iāve played against and with this year, here are the ones that stood out to me:
Columbia:
Danny Seigelā was elite when we played him in the final at NYC Minute, had a good supporting cast but he stood out both ways.
Binghamton:
How has nobody said Christopher Walsh yet? Heās a matchup nightmare and is far from one dimensional. I would say he was the best player at WNY D1 Sectionals.
Cornell:
DeRoos and Vorhees get most of the press but honestly, Max Tomsick and David Maniloff and Vinny Calderon make that team go.
Stony Brook:
Josiah Zoodsma, very good in the air.
Yale:
Feder and Vikram both a stand out. Tomaso was very solid in the fall too and very spirited.
Also, as youāre reading the other posts on this thread, be aware that 4 of the posts are all by Albany players about Albany players.
Finally, here are some of the Syracuse guys that I think should be on this list:
Adam Newman: He can get open on anyone, he doesnāt throw turns, heās extremely intense, and will bid for anything. Very softspoken and doesnāt really care for name recognition so I doubt youāve heard of him but if youāve watched Doom play, youād know him.
Jesse Newman: A grinder, has great puts and is becoming a very good puller. Absolutely a shooter but a creative one, great on-field presence, very supportive leader and positive voice.
Kyle Chylinski: A stud. He works harder than you in the weight room, has watched more film than you, and will also sky you or layout D you. Callahan video coming soon
Freshman:
Erik Liu: Heās the best freshman in the region. Itās really that simple. Kid got a U20 worlds tryout as a senior in HS, and was starting on the D-line for BUDA as a second-year player when they went to the YCC final in 2016(?) Heās an elite defender, has every throw, has more confidence than anyone on this thread and got a layout block on the aforementioned Nick GK. If youāve heard people yelling āChefā on the Doom sideline, thatās who theyāre talking about.
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Rutgers has some really good players deserving of all Region which is why they are the one seed. There are several worth singling out, but Iāll save the suspense for Regionals. Fun squad to battle against.
In the Hudson Valley section specifically there are some dudes on other squads worth pointing out.
Yale - Sam Feder - Has a claim to potentially being the best player in the region. Others have pointed out what he does on the field.
Yale - Maso - Smart decision making, good break throws.
Yale - Mac - Second best commentary voice in the region. Had a lovely time commentating an end zone set with him in the finals.
New Paltz - Yigit Demiralp - Dude had a motor that wouldnāt quit. Did not expect that.
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Iām a captain of RIT and I want to give some more credit to some more western ny guys cause there seems to be less of them mentioned here.
Binghamton:
I agree that Christopher Walsh is a beast. Had some crazy accurate hammers and super solid throws through wind against us in our game at sectionals and was an absolute engine the whole game. He got injured multiple times but kept playing. Probably the highest impact player at sectionals.
Cornell:
Was super impressed with David Maniloff. Super spirited dude and really crafty thrower. A nightmare to mark. Cornell is the most technically talented team in our section and I think any of their top 5 are capable of doing some real damage to any team in our region.
Syracuse:
Erik Liu looked super solid. Definitely gonna be a weapon.
Jesse Newman also stood out.
And finally to shout out some of the homies:
Jacob āFinnā Watts-St. Germain - will sky your best player while wearing his jersey inside out. Insane hands.
Bryan Bausinger - the fastest kid in the region and has an absolute nuke of a flick huck. Is somehow both our coach and best player.
Danny Horrigan - shooter turned o-line general. Also the best handler defender on the team.
Jensen Li - freshman with a legitimate 100% throwing conversion rate while throwing some absolutely filthy scoobers and inside breaks. Already a weapon.
Iām one of the Captains for RIT, figured Iād give Western NY some love.
Cornell:
David Maniloff looked really good at sectionals this year. Really consistent thrower and a lot of fun to watch play.
Pat Vorhees is always an impact player for Cornell. Good all around player with no big holes in his game.
Binghamton:
Christopher Walsh had some huge hammers at sectionals to break our zone in the wind. If he can stay healthy one of the best players on the field.
Syracuse:
Jesse Newman makes Syracuse go on offense. Hard to cover in the handler space.
RIT:
Bryan Bausinger is probably the fastest kid in the region and has an absolute bomb of a flick huck. Can shut down the other teamās best player.
Jake āFinnā Watts-St. Germain has the some of the best hands Iāve ever seen. One of the most consistent cutters Iāve played with.
Max Sample has a big impact on our O-line whether it be attracting two defenders deep or methodically working through a zone.
Jensen Li is a freshman with some lethal throws. Rarely throws it away and can make picking apart a zone look easy.
Iām a captain for Yale; weāve mostly only played Hudson Valley people so Iāll do shoutouts from there.
Yale (My team):
All-Region:
Sam Feder (#31) ā Our Callahan nominee. Possibly the best player in the Region; if you wonāt take my word for it, believe BJās. Sam leads Yale and is a phenom on both sides of the disc. Head high layouts for days.
Tomaso Mukai (Me) (#77) --wonāt hype myself up, but I think I deserve it
All-Freshman:
Leo Lehrer-Small ā just a first year from Burlington, VT, but already a starting O-line handler on Yale.
UConn:
All-Region:
Phil Murray ā probably one of the most athletic defenders in the region aside from Feder. Not everyone can do what he does on defense without backpacking/injuring players, and I have serious respect for his body control. Great spirit!
Syracuse
All-Region: Luca Serio seemed pretty good in the fall, decently athletic and great spirit.
SUNY New Paltz
All-Region: Yigit Demiralp does all the work for New Paltz, and acts as a perpetual every other. His love for his team shows in how fired up he gets while he plays, and even though we had some altercations on the field I respect his drive to win.
SUNY Albany
All-region:
David Gray (#24): Great athletic defender, excels specifically in short-medium ranges and has mostly clean, non-dangerous layouts. Super fun to play against.
Ivan Nunez (#6): Lethal cutter-handler. There were a lot of times where we threw a flat mark on this guy and he put up dimes deep anyway.
Princeton
All-Region:
Dylan Baroody
Seho Young
Sean Gai
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Captain of Princeton here.
Princeton (My team):
Charlie Coburn (#11). Best player on our team. Anchors the O-line offense, getting open constantly in critical situations, and opening up the field with break throws and full field hucks from both sides. He converted more breaks on D points than he got scored on at Sectionals.
Victor Zhou (#27). Very quick first step - basically our entire end zone.
Jake Waksbaum (#36). The guy we trust to shut down the best handlers in the region. Helped limit people like Sam Feder and Victor Kao.
All Freshman:
Nate Moore, the ginger guy. Affectionately called āNate Scoreā scored literally 1/5 of our goals at sectionals and 1/3 at Regionals.
Yale:
Sam Feder. A lot has been said about him already, but constantly open in the handler space, makes possession saving layout grabs, and has beautiful throws.
NYU:
Victor Kao. Never fails to get an around off, makes the NYU offense run. Also plays a significant amount of D-line points, helping shut down some of the best handlers in the region.
Stony-Brook:
Noodles: Dangerous deep threat, reads the disc really well and has height on pretty much everyone in the region.
JoJo: Similarly dangerous deep threat, but also has dangerous throws when you force him under.
Rutgers:
Remains to be seen how far these guys go this year, but they were the best team we played in the region this season.
Bobby Puhak: The best defender I cut against all season - probably the best player on this team. Was breathing down your neck on every single in cut, and has exceptional positioning in the deep space, winning almost always here, despite his size. Also unbelievably spirited.
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Disclaimer: I am a senior on Princeton
I just wanted to give some praise to Dylan Baroody, the captain of Princeton who commented above.
Dylan has worked his butt off for this team over the past 4 years. Beginning his college career as a middle of the pack O-line cutter, this year, as captain, Dylan led us to a redemptive season after finishing in last place at 2018 sectionals.
Whether heās initiating cuts downfield or commanding the handler set, Dylan is always playing a major role in the Princeton offense. Throughout the season, he consistently drew some of toughest matchups and rarely got denied the disc. Additionally, Dylan plays with a level of intensity and passion for the game that is hard to match. I think Dylan should get the first-team nod.
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Some post-regionals additions to my earlier remarks:
All-Region
#26 on Buffalo: The kid will sky ANYBODY, itās wild. Seriously.
Phil Murray: Everything said about him is true, he did get skyād by our Griffin Smith thoughā¦
All-Freshman
Nate Moore: Heās legit, I marked him for most of when we played them and it sucked.
Jeremy Bernier: Wild to see UCONNās O run through a freshman, but he backed it up.
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Yale coach here. Iāll list players that deserve a mention based on who weāve played as well as some from our team.
SUNY New Paltz: Yigit Demiralp
SUNY A: Ivan Nunez
Princeton: Charlie Coburn, Dylan Baroody
NYU: Victor Kao, Jesse Gan
RIT: Danny Horrigan
UConn: Chris Bohr, Phil Murray
Rutgers: (Will play and will add players after this weekend)
Yale: Tom Chu, Sam Feder, Tomaso Mukai, Vikram Dhawan
Freshman of the Year Nomination
Yale: Leo Lehrer-Small
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A captain of Princeton here. Some of my thoughts based on teams weāve played:
Princeton:
Charlie Coburn: Undisputed best player on our team, certainly one of the best handlers in the region, won metro east FOTY. Gets open extremely consistently, has every throw, plays shutdown defense, is dominant in the air.
Dylan Baroody: Extremely versatile player. Heās our O-lineās initiating cutter and regularly gets open on the opposing teamās best player. Itās essentially a given that our O-line will be able to start our offense with an open throw to him. Good hucks, good breaks, and is very dangerous deep.
Jake Waksbaum: The rock of our D line. Has effectively defended many of the players named in this thread. Also, beautiful layouts.
Nate āNate Scoreā Moore: A freshman on our O line who is by far the biggest scorer on our team. Overall a monster cutter, will be a name to know in our region for the next few years. Deserves All-Freshmen without a doubt.
Rutgers:
Honestly have a ton of really good dudes, a lot of them deserve to be All-Region.
NYU:
Victor Kao: Absolutely ridiculous backhand breaks. Super quick, really consistent, great defender.
Jesse Gan: NYUās #2, great throws and puts on a lot of pressure on D.
Syracuse:
Erik Liu: Heās legit. Agree with what has been said about him. I did not realize he was a freshman when we played himā¦
Yale:
Sam Feder: Insanely good. Lots has been said about him already, agree with all of it.
Tomaso: Also really good. Big weapon for Yale.
I helped coach Cornell this year. Let me preface my list with a thought on how voting for these awards is done.
I strongly agree with the ethos of these awards as outlined on the awards history page [1] in that, despite the team-oriented nature of the sport, individual awards provide crucial feedback to players for the time and effort that they put into the season. Beyond rewarding their consistent hard work, the awards also give the recognized players leverage when pursuing opportunities at higher levels of ultimate, such as at the club or national team level. This latter effect is why the award process needs to be done as fairly as possible, but unfortunately, the current system suffers from many sources of bias (voter participation rate, voting for own teamās players, voting for players based on forum posts instead of in-game experience, etc.). Some of these issues can be addressed with minor changes to the system (e.g., teams vote instead of players) and I hope that USAU looks into long-term solutions.
For now, we are stuck with the current system, and thus, I find myself posting my list of players in order to marginally influence the discussion (and hopefully, the voting). Unfortunately, we did not play against every team in the region this year. Iāve included some players from Rutgers and Yale despite not competing against them because their top players deserve some recognition and Iāve seen a handful of their games against other opponents.
1st Team All-Region
Spencer DeRoos (Cornell) [POTY] - Spencer is the most complete player on my 1st Team list. Consistently makes athletic plays on both sides of the discs. Understands the game at a deep level and uses this to exploit matchups. For an archetypal cutter, he has pretty much every throw and rarely needs to work hard to break a mark. As far as off the field, he works tirelessly to make our team run smoothly. Having run a college team at some point in the past, Iām familiar with the workload. Spencerās dedication to the team has far surpassed anything that I would consider normal and I strongly doubt other teams in the region or the country have a captain that contributes as much as Spencer does to Cornell.
Dave Maniloff (Cornell) - Played a huge role on offense for us as a handler with a low turnover rate. On the other side of the disc, heās a smart defender that can take away the right cut at the right moment.
Phil Murray (UConn) - Very athletic defender with great awareness. Pretty much single handedly allows UConn to run poachier defensive schemes because he can clean up throws that would normally be used to punish the poaches.
Victor Kao (NYU) - Solid handler with an impressively quick release on his step-out backhand.
Sam Feder (Yale) - Had some athletic grabs when we played against him last year. Coupled with good offensive instincts makes him a difficult matchup.
Bobby Puhak (Rutgers) - Impressed by his ability to shutdown highly skilled players in the games I watched.
Dyllon Jeng (Rutgers) - In contrast to the above, Iām impressed by his ability to get open against highly skilled defenders.
2nd Team All-Region
Leo Decter (Cornell) - Understands the game very well. On offense he helps facilitate flow, but also has big play capability when going deep. On defense, he often either completely shuts his matchup out of the point or ends up with a block.
Pat Voorhees (Cornell) - Dealt with injuries for a majority of the season, but when we could play him unrestricted, he was essential in converting break opportunities for our defense. Easily stepped in on offense when our other handlers needed a rest.
Maxwell Sample (RIT) - A really difficult matchup for anyone on our team because of his unique combination of size and speed.
Christopher Walsh (SUNY-Binghamton) - Really aggressive thrower. When his throws are on, they are impossible to stop.
Will Burks (SUNY-Stony Brook) - Double threat in both the backfield and the deep space. We needed to adjust our defense a few times to contain him.
Tomaso Mukai (Yale) - Another player that caused some headaches last year when we played against him. Seems to have rounded out into a more complete player this season.
Tanner Yuhas (Rutgers) - Well-rounded player from the games Iāve seen.
Honorable Mention
Lucas Bulger (Cornell) - One of the best forehand huckers Iāve seen. Also can break a mark or zone with pretty much any throw.
Andrew Gavin (Cornell) - High frisbee IQ letās him facilitate offensive movement. Makes big plays with his cannon backhand huck and good high-pointing ability.
Chris Bohr (UConn) - Composed handler that didnāt have a lot of trouble breaking our marks or zone.
Dan Horrigan (RIT) - Dangerous in the backfield when he has a cutter going deep.
Jesse Newman (Syracuse) - Solid handler with some creative throws.
Vikram Dhawan (Yale) - Another creative thrower.
All-Freshmen
Sam Hinson (Cornell) - Demonstrated to us early in the season that he had the poise needed to cut on offense despite his relative inexperience. Perhaps the biggest impact he had was in playing aggressive defense after our offense turned the disc over, as he racked up a number of blocks over the course of the season while playing defense after turnovers.
Erik Liu (Syracuse) - Helped make Syracuse a competitive team when we played against them both in the fall and spring.
Geoffrey Zheng (SUNY-Stony Brook) - Speedy with good defensive instincts. Made some athletic plays in games at Regionals.
Jeremy Bernier (UConn) - Another composed UConn handler, perhaps more impressive because he is a freshman.
Other freshmen didnāt have as much of an impact as the above four in games that I watched. It would be hard to believe that Rutgers and Yale donāt have a deserving nominee considering their performance this year.
[1] https://www.usaultimate.org/about/history/awards/college_awards.aspx
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