November 3, 2023 by Alex Rubin in Awards with 0 comments
Ultiworld is pleased to announce our annual Club Awards, starting with the Club Player of the Year in each division. While we consider both regular season and postseason performance, because of the nature of the Club division, we weight success in the Series and at Nationals above all else. The Club Awards are voted on by Ultiworld reporters, contributors, and editors.
We begin our awards presentation with Player of the Year, our most prestigious award. Our Player of the Year winner is the best performer of the 2023 club season, and the highest vote-getter for All-Club honors. The winner is not eligible for consideration in any of our other individual awards. The runner-ups up will be identified as the second and third vote-getters when the All-Club teams are revealed.
Player of the Year Award
All-Club First Team
All-Club Second Team
Defensive Player of the Year Award
Offensive Player of the Year Award
Breakout Player of the Year Award
Coach(es) of the Year Award
Club Awards Voting Breakdown
Snubs and Superlatives
2023 Mixed Club Player Of The Year
Jade McLaughlin (Fort Collins shame.)
Jade McLaughlin’s game is simple, but elegant. She isn’t an over-the-top or flashy player; she just does every little thing right. And when you multiply that by 28 wins (against just one loss) and however many hundreds of offensive possessions for shame. on the season, McLaughlin stands out as excellent.
“The difference this year is that she got that will,” teammate Joe “Smash” Anderson said after winning the national championship. “You’re really not going to take it away from her. I don’t know a lot of people who are going to outhustle Jade.”
With the closing speed of a peregrine falcon and hands stickier than a four year old at a Waffle House, McLaughlin was a beast in isolation and the best get-out-of-jail free card a handler facing stall eight could ask for. She made sliding for low catches or toe-tapping a close catch along the sideline look routine, and defenders failed over and over again to run through any standard in cut she made.
As a key part of Fort Collins shame.’s offense, McLaughlin was often trusted as an initiating cutter to get the offense moving. With luminaries like Matty Russell and Sarah Itoh sharing space on her O-line, McLaughlin not only earned a featured role, but shined in the spotlight. Her 33 goals1 are nearly double the next-best scorer on the team2, and her 11 assists are third behind Russell and Owen Westbrook, who spend much more time behind the line of scrimmage.
Though others assuredly will win their fair share of awards as well, McLaughlin’s offensive tour de force was the key that helped shame. finally unlock the trophy cabinet and end their near decade-long quest of winning a national title.
