Ultiworld’s 2024 Catch Of The Year Bracket (Round 1)

Round 1 to decide the 2024 Catch of the Year!

January 27, 2025 by Ultiworld in Awards, Opinion

Ultiworld’s 2024 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 2024. Our Subscribers narrowed down and seeded the initial nomination list to the final sixteen (eight from MMP and eight from WMP). Now it’s time for the wider public to decide which play is the best of the best.

Round 1 starts now and closes on Wednesday, January 29 at noon Eastern!

 

Female-Matching Players

Matchup 1: Cárdenas vs. Collin

Manuela Cárdenas – Colombia Women’s (WFDF WUC)

Manuela Cárdenas

You ever wonder what light looks like as it bends into a black hole’s event horizon? It can’t be that far off from this indelible image of Manu exploding and contorting into hyperspeed.

Anneliese Collin – Maine Riptide (USAU YCC)

Anneliese Collin

Put this clip in your “Sports – General Best Practices” file as the illustration for “Never Give Up on a Play.” Collin literally does not miss a beat or take her eye off the disc from the defender’s tip all the way through the layout double-crab grab.

Matchup 2: Culton vs. Elimelech

Dawn Culton – UNC Women’s (USAU College)

Dawn Culton

Dawn Culton called game and willed Pleiades one step closer to their unprecedented fourth straight D1 championship. Moments don’t come much bigger than this, and it takes a special player to rise to the occasion.

Dena Elimelech – San Diego Superbloom (WUL)

Dena Elimelech

It takes something like a jet engine to track down a screaming 65+ yard huck and launch before it touches turf. Welcome to Air Elimelech. All systems go for takeoff.

Matchup 3: Rodenberg vs. Bar-On Simmons

Sam Rodenberg – BFG (USAU Club)

Sam Rodenberg

Whether to turn around and take the safe reset or push the pace isn’t even a question when you have Rodenberg running toward the end zone. Just float it out to space and watch her dunk.

Leah Bar-On Simmons – BFG (USAU Club)

Leah Bar-On Simmons

Huckers love a trust shot, and it’s hard to see how anyone could resist sailing a forehand out in front of Bar-On Simmons. The pre-spike look back at the observer to make sure it was a goal charmingly undersells this no-doubt catch.

Matchup 4: Dos Santos vs. Lechasseur

Brit Dos Santos – Toronto 6ixers (USAU Club)

Brit Dos Santos

Year after year BDS lands in the play of the year conversation with her trademark playmaking and athleticism. If you ever had any doubts, watch for the moment she kicks her legs into high gear to chase down (and then finish) this tailing IO huck.

Maélys Lechasseur – Canada Women’s (WFDF WJUC)

Maélys Lechasseur

Living up to her name in grand style, Lechasseur went hunting for a goal and came away with one to hang above the mantle. After you’ve watched it once, watch again with an eye on just how high she gets her left hand at the last second.

Male-Matching Players

Matchup 1:

Raphy Hayes – Portland Rhino Slam! (USAU Club)

Raphy Hayes

When you body Raphy Hayes out of position, he still has you exactly where he wants you. Even by Hayes’s own stratospheric standards, this catch was a peach.

Tristan Yarter – Pittsburgh En Sabah Nur (USAU College)

Tristan Yarter

A hallmark of College Nationals is the unyielding drive of the competitors. Few plays you’ll ever see illustrate it better than Yarter fighting through contact for an entire deep cut and dodging the help defender at the last second to haul in this goal.

Matchup 2:

Jonathan Ng Yong Ming – Team Fun Run (International Club)

Jonathan Ng Yong Ming

If you aren’t tuned into the Malaysian Open Championships, you don’t know ball. Which is better: the cat-paw swipe for the catch or the total focus on avoiding contact?

Tristan Yarter – Pittsburgh En Sabah Nur (USAU College)

Tristan Yarter

Yarter gets the double nod due to this viral catch from CCC. Between the length of the run, the acceleration, the rain-assisted slide, and the fact that he used every inch of available real estate, it’s a perfect clip to share.

Matchup 3:

Charles Paterson – New Zealand Open (WFDF WUC)

Charles Paterson

Tell me WFDF asked you to put on a show without telling me WFDF asked you to put on a show. No catch of 2024 seemed more scripted than Paterson’s unreal grab from the tournament-opening Australia-New Zealand showcase game at WUC.

Atkin Arnstein – Colorado Summit (UFA)

Atkin Arnstein

Even with so much emphasis on running, it’s rare that ultimate offers up as pure a track meet highlight as this. Arnstein punctuates his 50-meter dash victory with a textbook layout score under pressure.

Matchup 4:

Will Brandt – St Olaf Men’s (USAU College)

Will Brandt

Is that a neckerchief or a cape? Brandt turned heads with this superman score, earning him the best play at D-III Nationals and a championship, to boot.

Thomas Shope – Minneapolis SubZero (USAU Club)

Thomas Shope

Shope clearly set out to make a name for himself, going high and early for this score on camera at a high-level club tournament before his college career had even begun. We can’t wait to see what the future holds in store, sizzle reel-wise.