June 17, 2025
By Evan Lepler
1. Another double overtime thriller in Montreal
In any other week, Saturday afternoon’s gripping Glory-Royal battle would have certainly led the Tuesday Toss. A stand-alone game that all frisbee fans were presumably watching, it was another riveting, entertaining, and comprehensive affair that ultimately came down to a single point in double OT.
“We wanted to put up a fight,” said Montreal’s Jeremy Hill. “Our previous two games against them weren’t particularly close, and we wanted to change that. Again, our defense stepped up to lead the charge. They made Boston work hard for all of their goals.”
Montreal led 7-5 after a low-scoring first half, but Boston seemingly snatched momentum in the third, outscoring the Royal 7-3 to take a 12-10 lead into the fourth. The home team clawed back in the final frame, though, retaking the lead at 15-14 with just 2:15 left.
Boston calmly converted the equalizer with 41 seconds left, and then Jeff Babbitt, who played the whole weekend on the Glory D-line, earned the block at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
“I am back on the D-line because it is where I can be most effective for the team in our current build,” said Babbitt, who recorded four blocks in both of Boston’s Week 8 wins. “It was extremely fun being involved in some helpful plays down the stretch, but the whole team made big plays in both games.”
Overtime, to put it mildly, was nuts.
“Holy moly,” said Boston Head Coach Sam Rosenthal, when asked about the overtime. “We haven’t had a lot of close games—New York being the only one, right? You don’t know how your guys are going to respond. Really encouraging to see how they responded.”
The overtime period featured 10 turns, two timeouts, countless near heart-attacks, and ultimately, no goals.
“Both teams had their fair share of chances to put it away,” said Glory Captain Brendan McCann. “Zero goals in OT. Insane.”
Indeed, the full five minutes elapsed without a single score, meaning that Boston would receive on universe point. Going upwind with the game on the line, the Glory offense found a way to hold, with Tobe Decraene connecting with Simon Carapella for the game-sealing score, giving Boston the 16-15 victory.
“Tobe was just huge that game, huge that possession,” said Rosenthal. “Simon was huge too.”
The narrow triumph kept Boston unbeaten at 6-0, while Montreal fell to 3-5.
“Personally, that one is gonna give me nightmares for a while,” said Royal veteran Kevin Quinlan. “Was able to get a block with like 30 seconds left in OT, and then gave the ball away. We had numbers and time on the clock. I let the team down.”
Despite the obvious devastation—and the fact that Montreal was one point away from being part of a three-way tie for second-place in the league’s deepest division—the Royal have continued to prove that through development and focus, they can compete admirably with anybody.
“I am so proud of what we are right now,” added Quinlan, who played his 100th game as a member of the Royal on Saturday. “Selfless, dynamic, and hungry. We are all still processing that loss, but we are motivated as hell.”
2. Boston stays perfect after high scoring shootout in Toronto
A little over 24 hours after finishing off Saturday’s thrilling win, the Glory were back to work at Toronto, facing off against a fierce, hungry, and desperate Rush squad that scored at will throughout most of the first half.
“Our D legs were just getting cooked,” said Rosenthal. “Cooked up the line, cooked on deep shots, we played like our minds weren’t there.”
Midway through the second quarter, Toronto led 13-11 and the Rush had played nearly 18 minutes without a single turnover.
“The first half was the most clinical O-line game I have seen so far in the entire UFA season,” said Toronto handler Tom Blasman, who led all participants with 630 passing yards and eight assists. “Both O-lines were clicking and looked pretty much unstoppable.”
But with one more big Babbitt block, things began to shift.
“Jeff was certainly the catalyst,” said Rosenthal. “Talk about Jeff coming through. He’s now the league leader in blocks.”
Indeed, with four more blocks on Sunday, Babbitt now leads the league with 15 on the year. Both of his first half blocks against the Rush directly led to breaks, and the Glory claimed a 16-15 lead at the half.
Note how that’s the same score as the Glory’s game against the Royal, which went multiple overtimes.
Would Boston have enough legs to get to the finish line?
Early in the third, that appeared to be a real concern, with the Glory O-line getting broken on three consecutive points to open the second half. But after that, Boston rampaged on their own game-defining 5-0 run, comfortably converting break chances and taking a 21-18 advantage heading to the fourth.
“Our biggest strength is our defensive depth,” said McCann. “When one break comes, we aren’t putting D-2 out there; it’s another line of ballers. So when we get one break, it’s blood in the water.”
Boston’s O-line also settled back in after the squeaky start to the second half, going unbroken in the fourth quarter en route to the 26-23 victory. Orion Cable had nine goals—including eight in the first half—while Decraene had five goals, five assists, and almost 900 total yards. Calvin Stoughton also contributed with six assists and three goals against the Rush.
“I was most pleased with the grit the team showed this weekend,” said Babbitt. “Montreal and Toronto are both good. They both tested us for the entirety of the games, and it took some serious mental energy to keep up with this intensity throughout both games. A doubleheader in Canada is always a long weekend, and the team held strong. Wins like these help build a ton of confidence, and I think it will only help us heading towards the playoffs.”
After a 2-0 weekend north of the border, the Glory now sit at 7-0, while every other team in the East has either four or five losses. Consequently, it feels pretty safe to say that Boston will be hosting the East Division title game for the first time this August.
Asked what he was most pleased with about the Week 8 road trip overall, Rosenthal talked about how his team conquered adversity.
“We’re missing three of our six D-line leaders in terms of touches,” he explained. “We knew it was gonna be tough for our D-line to score. We just struggled through a lot of challenges, and it seems like good teams just find a way to win. These games come down to overtime, double overtime, it’s a good sign if you get to overtime or get in a close game and you can gut it out.”
3. Minnesota mauls Madison, improves to 5-1
It was close at the half on Friday night at Breese Stevens Field, but the Radicals offense came undone in the third. Minnesota outscored Madison 6-1 to start the second half en route to a 22-16 Wind Chill win. It was Minnesota’s sixth win in their last seven trips to Madison.
“Super proud of the energy we brought from opening pull through all four quarters,” said Wind Chill handler Tristan Van de Moortele, who tallied four assists, one goal, and one block. “I don’t think there was anything special we did to frustrate them. We have smart lockdown defenders who are hungry to make a play, and we finally broke away from Madison because we managed to punch in our opportunities.”
The opportunities were plentiful, as the Wind Chill finished the night 11-for-22 on break chances. Bryan Vohnoutka led Minnesota with five goals, two assists, and a block.
“There’s no doubt about our defensive ability and consistency,” said Van de Moortele. “We just have to start clicking offensively on a turn, and once we do that, the sky is the limit for this team.”
4. Chicago cruises in Indy to reach 4-0
Elsewhere in the Central, the Union impressively began their game at Indy with five straight breaks. The AlleyCats stabilized in the middle couple quarters and were only down 15-10 midway through the third, but another massive 9-2 run for Chicago effectively put the game away, as the Union rolled 26-14.
“Our offense had a bit of a field day on Saturday,” said Chicago’s Nate Goff, who earned a spot on the Week 8 Honor Roll with a career-high six assists and over 600 total yards. “I think this was a combination of Daan [De Marree] and Ben Preiss really cooking their matchups in addition to us consistently catching Indy with their hands in the cookie jar. Hopefully, for our offense going forward, this level of execution can be the standard.”
Now 4-0, the Union have their first of four doubleheaders in the season’s final five weeks this coming weekend. But Chicago will still be heavily favored in both their matchups in Week 9, as they host 2-5 Pittsburgh and travel to 0-4 Detroit.
“I think the general consensus of the team right now is that we are not good enough,” said Goff. “We are finding success on the field, but we are still making lots of mistakes, particularly defensively. We need to improve our communication on the field and continue to trust the coaches plan so our defense can become one that operates with a shared understanding of its goals and identity. We had periods of the game Saturday where we were not sealing arounds, missing switches, and making disadvantageous switches. If we are going to win this division, we have a lot to improve, and we must learn to play a complete game defensively.”
5. Austin remains undefeated versus Houston
Way back in the preseason, Sol Head Coach Steven Naji called new Austin pickup Myles Armstrong “the shining star of training camp.” That promise and potential has turned into production throughout the season for the undefeated Sol, especially in games against the Havoc.
Armstrong led Austin with four goals, three assists, and a team-high 513 yards in Austin’s 20-18 victory over Houston on Saturday night, as the Sol improved to 7-0 on the season and 10-0 all-time against the Havoc. The two-goal margin was the closest ever final score between these two franchises, though it was slightly misleading. Houston hung tough, but the Sol were up four with five minutes left before the Havoc sliced the gap in half in the closing minutes.
In three games against Austin this season, Myles Armstrong has 11 goals and 11 assists; he only has three goals and three assists in his other four games.
The Sol could certainly use some of that Houston-sized production from Armstrong in Week 10. Austin is idle this coming weekend, but then the 7-0 Sol head to Atlanta and Carolina for two tough road games on June 27 and 28.
Meanwhile, the Havoc fell to 1-6, despite the fact that half of their losses have come by two goals or less.
6. Hotbirds retain Commonwealth Cup, move into second place in East Division with win
Using a torrential 11-2 run that spanned the halves, the Philadelphia Phoenix stormed past the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds 25-16 in Saturday’s interdivisional Commonwealth Cup. The victory snapped Philly’s four-game skid and dealt the Steel City squad its fifth consecutive setback.
Sean Mott tossed seven assists and finished with over 650 total yards, but arguably no member of the Phoenix had a bigger day than Michael Maroon, who set career-highs with both three goals and two assists in just his third game played of the season.
Beyond the numbers, he also delivered a phenomenal layout that earned him an appearance on SportsCenter’s Top 10.
“The layout was a total adrenaline rush,” said Maroon. “I remember seeing Scotty [Heyman] about to catch the disc. I immediately thought about the end zone and took off. I usually think I have a chance at most discs, but when I saw how fast this disc was flying, I thought I didn’t have a chance. I had a bad drop earlier in the game, so I was relieved I got the layout.”
One day later, he learned his highlight had made it to ESPN.
“I was in total shock when I saw I was actually on ESPN. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”
The Phoenix, despite the four-game losing streak that diminished their playoff chances, still currently sit in a tie for second-place in the East at 4-4. With three of their final four games at home, the Hotbirds are definitely in position to potentially host a playoff game, but there’s still a lot of work left to be done, starting on June 28 against an even more desperate Montreal team.
7. Quick hits from four lopsided results
Salt Lake and Oakland combined to outscore Oregon 56-28 across the Steel’s two Week 8 blowouts, while the Madison Radicals bounced back from their Minnesota loss by bashing Detroit 31-20.
Meanwhile, San Diego did not create a double-digit margin in Vegas, but the Growlers still cruised to a 23-16 victory over the Bighorns.
Out West, Salt Lake and Oakland are separated by just a half-game atop the standings, with the Shred at 6-1 and the Spiders at 6-2. Those two clubs will collide again 10 days from now in Utah.
San Diego sits at 6-3 in the South, currently tied for second with the Hustle.
And in the Central, Madison’s clearly entrenched in the third position behind Chicago and Minnesota. It would be stunning to see the Radicals drop out of the playoff picture, but it’s also hard to fathom the Rads finding the consistency to seriously challenge the Union or Wind Chill.
The Hammer
Ready for a pretty incredible nugget?
Over the past five weeks in the UFA, we’ve witnessed nine overtime games, six of which went all the way to double OT.
Since May 16, 14 of the league’s 24 teams have experienced at least one overtime, while the New York Empire have endured three OT games and five total overtime periods.
Here’s the list of games that have ventured beyond the fourth quarter:
2025 overtime games
- May 16 - New York @ Boston
- May 17 - New York @ Montreal (2OT)
- May 17 - Seattle @ Oregon
- May 23 - San Diego @ Carolina (2OT)
- May 30 - Houston @ Los Angeles (2OT)
- May 31 - Atlanta @ Chicago (2OT)
- June 6 - Salt Lake @ Oakland
- June 14 - Boston @ Montreal (2OT)
- June 14 - DC @ New York (2OT)
One more (maybe) mind-blowing fact: the team that’s received to start double overtime universe point has converted a turnover-free hold just twice in the six double-OT games. Montreal cleanly held against New York on May 17, and Boston did the same to Montreal this past Saturday.
In the other four games, we saw two teams—San Diego and Los Angeles—break to win. And two other teams—Chicago and New York—regain possession after a double OT turnover and find a way to finish off the victory with maximum drama.
There are only five weekends remaining in the 2025 regular season, and it’s anyone’s guess as to what happens next.
