Ultiworld’s 2023 Catch Of The Year Bracket (Round 2)

Picking the semifinalists, plus subscribers get to save one eliminated play!

January 31, 2024 by Ultiworld in Awards, Opinion with 0 comments

Ultiworld’s 2023 Catch of the Year bracket is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.

One of our most popular series to begin each year, it’s time to look back at last year and let our readers decide some of the top plays of the year from 2023.

We watched many hours of game footage and asked for help from the community to hunt down the catches, grabs, yoinks and everything else. With so many players making big plays in 2023, it was too tough for us to even cut to a final 16.

This year’s voting tournament introduces two new elements, both of which are exclusive to our subscribers.

First, in our Subscriber Selection, they culled the initial nomination list down to the final sixteen (eight from MMP and eight from FMP) in this article. If you want to help decide who even makes the bracket and see all of the honorable mentions, plus get a bunch of other sweet benefits for 2024, check out our subscription plans.

We are also introducing the Subscriber Save. During this round, subscribers will vote to select one play on each side of the bracket to save from elimination and send to the semifinals. The semifinals will consist of three plays each. Subscribers should be sure to vote for the save at the bottom!

Let’s see who will move on to the semifinals. Round 2 of voting starts now and closes on Friday, Feb 2 at noon Eastern.

Female-Matching Players

Matchup 1: Robert vs. Cheung

Pénélope Robert – Canada Women’s (WFDF U24)

Pénélope Robert

Cheuk Yan Jane Cheung – Hong Kong Women’s (WFDF AOUGC)

Cheuk Yan Jane Cheung

We don’t get a lot of rematches around here, but Cheung’s narrow upset in round one was matched — if not exceeded, by voting margin — by Robert’s, so we are running it back!

Matchup 2: Cardenas vs. Schütz

Manuela Cardenas – Macana (International Club)

Manuela Cardenas

Lisa Schütz – Germany Women’s (WFDF U24)

Lisa Schütz

This pairing secured the the Americans are getting shut out on this side of the bracket. While Cardenas’ victory came down to a handful of votes, Schütz’ captured almost three of every votes. Can the German keep it up to knock off the Queen of the Play of the Year?

Male-Matching Players

Matchup 3: Cable vs. De Marree

Orion Cable – Boston DiG (USAU Club)

Orion Cable

Daan De Marree – Belgium Open (WFDF U24)

Daan De Marree

Cable continues his quest to be the first ever to win two Play of the Year brackets in the same year. But his Catch campaign was nearly derailed in round one. De Marree’s success was only slightly less dramatic. Now the two will have a showdown.

Matchup 4: Henke vs. Brooks

Kyle Henke – Austin Sol (UFA)

Kyle Henke

Tobias Brooks – Carolina Flyers (UFA)

Tobias Brooks

The AUDL UFA layouts face off after wins that would close in most brackets but look dominant given how close every matchup was. The high flying phenom vs. the clutch playmaker!

Subscriber Save

Our subscribers will have the chance to save one of the plays from each side of the bracket that is eliminated to advance to the head-to-head-to-head semifinals!