June 25, 2026
By Alex Rubin
Following their first loss of the season last weekend, the Oakland Spiders travel to face off against the Colorado Apex in this week’s “Friday Night Frisbee” showcase.
Oakland will be eager to get back to their winning ways. Before last week’s home loss to the Minnesota Wind Chill, the Spiders had been the class of the league, beating their first five opponents by at least ten goals. The Spiders do damage on both sides of the disc, scoring the second most goals per game while allowing the fewest.
Oakland’s offensive structure is unique as well. The Spiders attempt the third fewest hucks on a total and per game basis, but have the highest completion percentage on hucks (78.18 percent) and hold at the highest rate (77.78 percent) in the league. With Walker Frankenberg and Leo Gordon pacing the midfield and risk-adverse players like Jason Vallee behind the disc, the Spiders tend to work the disc into advantageous positions without needing to gain large chunks of field position at a time.
They might want to open up the attack against Colorado though. The Apex allow the highest huck percent (73.47 percent) to opponents, and have allowed the third most total scores in the league. If Colorado can clamp down on Oakland’s small ball offense, they might continue allowing hucks, but against a team that is not used to attempting so many long balls, that might be an effective strategy.
While they have the disc, the Apex will need to be creative as well. Colorado is out Quinn Finer and Alex Piper, two of their top six stat-getters so far this season. In their absence, Seth Faris, Benen Shea, and Timothy Elliott can continue their breakout seasons. Shea leads the team in goals (30) and plus/minus (30) while Faris leads in assists (26). Shea is fifth on the UFA leaderboard in receiving yards while Elliott is fourth in throwing yards and fifth in total yards.
With Oakland bringing several elite defenders, Colorado’s stars will get the chance to challenge themselves against the best. Carter Lankford is among the league leaders in blocks (third place with 15). Robin Vickers Batzdorf hounds handlers as well as anyone can, and Evan Magsig is as steady a leader as a D-line could ask for.
When these two teams met a few weeks ago in Oakland, the Spiders jumped out to a 7-2 lead and cruised to a 23-15 win. Max Zwerin tallied six blocks in that one as the Oakland defense stifled any Colorado attack. What makes this Oakland team so scary is their depth of top end talent. One game it might be Zwerin earning break chances, and another it might be Lankford standing out, or Vallee, or Anton Orme, or Tony Goss, or honestly any of their players. There is nowhere to hide while facing off against Oakland – everyone on the team is very, very good at what they do on the field.
Following their upset over Salt Lake a few weeks ago, the Apex still have a chance to make the playoffs. Sitting two games behind the Shred with three games left, they’ll need to beat Oakland either this week or in their final game of the season to have a chance. Though pulling off the upset would probably be seen as unlikely by oddsmakers, the Apex have everything to play for in what could be an elimination game depending on results elsewhere around the league.
