Buzzer Beater: Winners Again [UFA Week 3, 2025]

Division leaders in the East and West won rematches against Week 2 opponents this week.

May 12, 2025 by Alex Rubin in Rankings, Recap

Hi everyone, welcome back to my weekly Buzzer Beater column. Here I will focus on one major storyline each week. The column will also share some news and notes beyond that big story and will be the place to share our most up-to-date power rankings. If you have questions about the UFA, you can also write in to fill up the mailbag. If you missed any UFA offseason coverage, you can catch up with my season preview here.

We’re nearing the quarter-mark of the season, and this year has been anything but expected. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are leading the East and Central divisions respectively. Carolina has yet to win a game and Chicago has yet to play a game! A few of these facts are simply schedule quirks, but there is nothing quirky about the way the Philadelphia Phoenix just keep winning games.

To the Victors Go the Spoils…Again

It is really challenging to beat the same team twice. Conventional thinking goes that the team which won can more or less stick to the principles of the game plan that worked while the team that lost has more incentive to change what they are doing in unexpected ways. However, two pivotal rematches took place this week: Oakland and Seattle faced off in the East Bay after the Spiders held off the Cascades in Seattle last week, and Philadelphia drove up to Toronto after beating the Rush at home in Week 2. In both cases, the team that won the first game also won the second game. Aside from the benefits of adding one to the win column, these double wins are putting a good amount of separation in the standings and giving Philadelphia and Oakland key tiebreakers should they need them come late July.

Philadelphia is the surprise of the season so far. The team is 3-0 with a win over DC and two wins over a Toronto team that many expected to be a playoff contender. The Phoenix have been invigorated by the play of Scott Heyman (3A, 3G, 1B in the game) and Sean Mott (8A, 2G) and welcomed back Adam Grossberg (he last played for the team as a high school senior in 2022). Grossberg was a catalyst during a five goal scoring run that broke this week’s game open. A block, an assist, and a hockey assist contributed to three of the four breaks in the middle of the second quarter that turned a two-goal deficit into a three-goal lead which Philadelphia rode all the way to the final buzzer. Grossberg tallied three assists, four goals, and three blocks while playing mostly D-line minutes. The prognosis on Philadelphia this offseason was fairly bleak after a tumultuous 2024 season and key losses during the offseason, but I certainly did not pay enough attention to what they gained–this is looking like the best Philadelphia pro team since 2012 when the Spinners won the inaugural UFA title.

For Toronto, this loss in their home opener has to feel disappointing. While there are definitely bright spots (Tom Blasman’s five assists, Ty Barbieri’s six goals, James Lewis finishing +8), the team will need more time than expected to iron out some of their chemistry issues and begin to play on the same page. With all of the explosive athletes on the team, it is no wonder the Rush launched 20 hucks…but they only completed eight of them! The O-line combined for 16 turnovers, which is just simply too many to win UFA games these days. Nobody on their D-line had more than one throwaway, while four different members of the offense had three or more. With a short season (Toronto has already played one fourth of their scheduled games), the Rush will need to turn their fortunes around fast. That might mean more possession-based small ball on offense or different defensive schemes to get the disc back after turnovers, but something needs to improve or the Rush will be out of the playoffs once again. Toronto’s next three games are at home, including next week’s rematch with the Breeze.

Out west, the Spiders are 4-0 and hold the division lead. Like Philadelphia, rookies are making a big difference. Adam Rees (seven goals) and Leo Gordon (five assists, two goals) are both experienced ultimate players, but they’ve adapted really well to the UFA game and are quickly becoming offensive centerpieces for a team that can credibly consider themselves a championship threat. After squeezing out a one-goal road win last week, the Spiders beat Seattle by five goals at home and looked the part of a dominant, division-leading team. Oakland doubled up the Cascades in the second quarter and never let Seattle score two goals in a row.

Plenty of teams lose rematches–especially on consecutive weeks–by not making adjustments when facing a team they just beat. Both Philadelphia and Oakland won their rematches by making smart tweaks to a winning game plan and figuring out how to get the most out of their new players (and new coaches for that matter–each team has new leadership this season). Oakland was a buzzy team entering the season and lived up to the hype so far. Philadelphia seemingly came out of nowhere to find their way into playoff contention. Both could end up representing their divisions at Championship Weekend, and this week’s wins exemplify one reason to have confidence predicting their success.

News and Notes

• The game of the week went down in Durham, with the DC Breeze earning a 20-18 win over the Carolina Flyers. Allan Laviolette’s six assists and 604 total yards were not enough as the Flyers went down early and never had the lead despite keeping the score close.
• Ben Jagt’s three assist/six goal night powered the New York Empire to a 22-20 win over the Montreal Royal.
• The Royal then struggled in the second game of a back-to-back weekend, never scoring more than three goals in a quarter during their 17-11 loss to Boston.
• The defending champions Minnesota Wind Chill won their season opener 32-17 against the AlleyCats in Indianapolis. Tristan Van de Moortele tallied four assists, three goals, one block, and zero turnovers while playing almost exclusively D-line minutes. Justin Burnett had four blocks in his team debut.
• The Atlanta Hustle won their first ever games in Southern California. Dean Ramsey made SportsCenter for his buzzer-beating grab to power the Hustle over the Growlers 20-19 on Friday. The next day they beat the Aviators 26-18.
• The Austin Sol remained undefeated and in first place in the South Division with a 28-19 win over Houston. Jackson Potts threw eight assists to power the offense.
• Seattle closed out their road trip with a 23-13 win over the Las Vegas Bighorns. While Vegas was able to keep the game close in the first half, they only scored five goals in the second half and that just isn’t enough to win UFA games at this point.
• The Pittsburgh Thunderbirds beat Detroit 22-17, setting the Mechanix back on a new losing streak. Will Hoffenkamp tallied 90 completions for a patient Pittsburgh offense.

Mailbag

Have a question about the UFA? Send it in to [email protected] with UFA Mailbag in the subject line. Subscribers can also DM me in the Ultiworld Discord or post questions in the UFA channel so others can chime in.

UFA Power Rankings Week 3

• Following another loss, Toronto drops further down the Power Rankings.