AUDL 2017 Postseason Schedule

Twelve teams qualified for the American Ultimate Disc League playoffs. The South Division starts the postseason on Saturday, July 29; the winner will play Raleigh on August 5th. The Midwest playoff game is scheduled as a home game for Minnesota on August 4th - the first night of USAU's 2017 U.S. Open Club Championships; the winner will play Madison. The East playoff will be decided in one weekend with a Friday-Sunday schedule (August 11, 13). The West Division will  also be decided over one weekend with back-to-back playoff games on August 12 and then August 13. The West's #2 seed (LA Aviators) will travel to San Jose (#3 seed) with the winner playing at San Francisco.

Division champions will meet on August 26-27 at the AUDL Championship Weekend in Montreal to decide the AUDL 2017 champion.

In bracket form, the AUDL 2017 playoff matchups look like:

[via AUDL]

Awesome Assist by Claire Desmond Hits #2 on SportsCenter Top10

Claire Desmond's beautiful backhand to space was featured as the #2 highlight on ESPN's SportsCenter Top 10 last night. Chris Kocher caught Desmond's right-handed throw with a layout score during USA's gold medal flying disc/ultimate match of The World Games against Colombia.


This play was 1 of Desmond's 3 total assists at The World Games, and 1 of Kocher's 5 total goals during the 3-day competition.

Results of USA Ultimate 2017 Masters Championships

USA Ultimate's Masters Championships with 75+ teams competing concluded last weekend. Two top seeds out of the 6 won their divisional championship. The 5th-seed Minneapolis Surly C.O.U.G.A.R.S. was the lowest seed to win a division (Masters - Women).

Results according to USAU event site:

Masters - Women
Minneapolis Surly C.O.U.G.A.R.S. (5) 15-10 over Ripe (7). iRot (2) finished 3rd.

Masters - Men
Denver Johnny Encore (3) 15-10 over Rest Stop (6). All Bashed Out (10) finished 3rd.

Masters - Mixed
Chicago UPAARP (2) 15-11 win over Members Only (10); 512 finished 3rd.

Grandmasters - Women
Boston Boston (1) 12-11 win over J2 (2); Sidearm (4) finished 3rd.

Grandmasters - Men
Minneapolis Surly (2) 15-12 win over Johnny Walker (1); No Country (3) finished 3rd.

Great Grand Masters - Men
San Francisco Relics (1) 13-10 win over Old and in the Way (2); wreckAge (11) placed 3rd.

Congrats to our #2017 #MastersNats Champions (so far)! Johnny Encore; Relics; C.O.U.G.A.R.S.; Surly! 🥇💪👏 #USAUltimate pic.twitter.com/GUjp7HJqpu

— USA Ultimate (@USAUltimate) July 23, 2017

And finally, a congratulations to the last 2 #MastersNats Champions: URAAP & Boston Ultimate! Thanks all for a great weekend. 🏆👏🙌 pic.twitter.com/6Up2nJgqCf

— USA Ultimate (@USAUltimate) July 23, 2017

Book Tour for "Ultimate Glory" Stops In D.C.

The man who has a lifetime ban from playing the sport of ultimate in Washington, D.C. is making an appearance at a bookstore in Dupont Circle tonight. David Gessner continues his book tour supporting Ultimate Glory: Frisbee, Obsession and My Wild Youth; a 300+ page-turner The Washington Post describes as: recommended reading for every college student.

WHEN: July 26 @ 6:30pm

WHERE: Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

On page 249, Gessner recounts his intoxicated incident in fall 1989 that led to banishment from D.C. The letter with his punishment read:

"Gessner is now barred from any WAFC (Washington Area Frisbee Club) sponsored event...WAFC will suspend all play at any tournament in which Gessner appears. His team will forfeit all games."

USA Ultimate Player Stats at The World Games 2017

USA Ultimate National Team continued their winning streak at The World Games. The 14-player roster from different club ultimate teams went (3-1) in the round robin, advanced to the gold medal game and won gold in their rematch against Colombia. All games were played to 13 points.

Team USA scored 64 total goals at The World Games during the Flying Disc event; all U.S. players scored at least 1 goal. All but one player - Sandy Jorgensen - tallied an assist. The U.S. mixed ultimate team scored the most goals of any team in one half - 9 goals! This scoring output happened during the 2nd half of their first game versus Colombia when the US were down 3-7 at half and would eventually lose 12-13. The U.S. would win their next games against Canada, Australia and Japan. Their remaining round robin game was cancelled due to rain. The 5th game played by the U.S. was the gold medal match.

Goal Leaders
Grant Lindsley = 8
Sandy Jorgensen = 8
Nick Stuart = 7
Beau Kittredge = 7

Assist Leaders
Jimmy Mickle = 10
Dylan Freechild = 9
George Stubbs = 8
Georgia Bosscher = 7

Goal + Assist Leaders
Jimmy Mickle = 14
Grant Lindsley = 13
Dylan Freechild = 13
Georgia Bosscher = 11
Chris Kocher = 11
Beau Kittredge = 10

[Data via TWG; chart by SLUDGE]

RELATED: WUGC Stats for US Teams

Recap: Flying Disc Ultimate event at 2017 The World Games

Pre-Tournament Seeding
The top seeds to The World Games flying disc/ultimate event were USA, Australia and Canada. The seeding was predetermined by WFDF qualification process is based on results across the mixed, men's and women's division championships during the WFDF 2016 World Ultimate (and Guts) Championships with the top-five combined county results plus the automatic host country bid (Poland).

WU(G)C 2016 Results in Mixed Division by TWG 2017 participating countries:

1. USA

2. Australia

3. Canada

6. Japan

8. Colombia

9T. Poland

Preliminary Round
After the preliminary round robin  matches were complete, all teams had at least one loss. 5th-seeded Colombia led the standings with their opening game match against the top-seeded U.S. team; Australia dropped to 4th and Japan to 5th.

The last preliminary match  - USA versus Poland - on Sunday July 23 was cancelled due to inclement weather (rain). The other four teams played earlier that day and Colombia, Canada and Australia would play later that same day in medal matches. The extra (unplanned) rest for the USA in a condensed schedule format tournament with a short (14-person) roster seemed to benefit the US team going into the gold match.

Medal Matches
USA won the rematch against Colombia 13-7 (7-5 half) to win gold.
Canada won bronze over Australia by the score of 13-11 (7-4 half).