Which specific skills will stand out in San Diego?
October 7, 2025 by Alex Rubin in Analysis, Opinion, Preview
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The Line brings together lists of sevens from our reporting staff.
The teams have qualified, the streaming schedule is made. Hotel reservations are booked, and rental cars are reserved. With Nationals on the horizon, fans and pundits are buzzing with team-based storylines: #1 San Francisco Fury are going for a record 20th-straight semifinal appearance in the women’s division, #15 Philadelphia AMP and #2 Durham Toro are mixed division legacy programs with a real chip on their shoulders, and #2 Chicago Machine and #3 Boston DiG are hoping to continue a string of non-repeat winners in the men’s division.
In this age of professionalized ultimate where team identities stay relatively consistent from year to year and generation to generation, the teams themselves dominate the headlines. With many teams relying on switching, coordinated defenses and well choreographed offensive set plays, it can be tough to discern individual skills, but this is the most elite ultimate fans can watch.
What makes all of these teams go is their star players and their unique individual skills. Watching people do what they’re best at is its own kind of treat, and as much as I love a nicely coordinated three-person switch or seeing two cutters pair cut their way to a quick hold, part of my excitement for Nationals is seeing some specific, individual skills showcased on the most watched stage our sport has to offer.
Fury Handlers’ Sit-Down Inside Flick
I don’t know how they teach it in the Bay, but Carolyn Finney, Juliana Werffeli, Anna Nazarov, and Anna Thompson all can throw this super low-release flick, and it is a devastating offensive weapon for Fury. With the ability to cut through wind, zone defenses, and whatever else is in their path, the Fury backfield’s zippy low flicks are some of my favorite throws to watch.
Angela Zhu Playing Defense
#3 Boston Brute Squad are known as a team for their strong defense, but what makes their world-class team defense work is a number of brilliant individual moments. In the clip below, Levke Walczak shuts down front cone merchant Ella Juengst to create the open lane and obvious throwing target needed for Zhu’s poach block. Zhu is the rare defender who can shut down her matchup, funnel her mark to a limited space on the field, or float and help according to her team’s need.
As Brute embark on another defensive-focused foray into the bracket (they’ve made ten straight semifinal appearances), Zhu’s intelligence, athleticism, and ability to know which of those sets of skills to lean on in any given moment will help Boston compete for a championship.
James Pollard’s Counterattack Huck
By now the scouting report is out there: when James Pollard gets the disc on the counterattack, his first look is to see who’s running towards the end zone. No matter who it is, there’s a good chance the throw is going up, and usually his teammates come down with it. Pollard’s cannon of an arm can truly be an instant break offense for #3 Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust. For what it’s worth, his towering pulls often set up the defense for success, too. Basically anytime Pollard winds up to throw the disc 60+ yards, I’m excited.
You can catch Pollard and the rest of Drag’n Thrust on Ultiworld’s Nationals showcase stream during round 4 on Thursday when they face off against #4 Fort Collins shame.
Jolie Krebs’ Throws to Inside Space
One of the stories of this season has been Jolie Krebs’ ascendancy into the elite tier of handlers. While she has a long list of crafty throws, my favorite is when she throws her flick over the mark’s shoulder to the break side. While the throw looks fairly simple in practice, it can be the key to unlocking fluid breakside motion and quick scores even against well-practiced defenses. Ultiworld just published a full video about using the OIIO throw to attack the break space; as indicated in the video, the flat sweep across the front of the stack towards the breakside originated in the men’s division, so it’s particularly fun to see a women-matching handler execute it in the mixed division.
You can watch Krebs and #6 New York XIST take on #7 Sacramento Tower on Thursday during Field Pass’s coverage of round 2.
Orion Cable’s Monster Skies
Few players since Beau Kittredge himself have played as physically dominant on the field as Cable is looking this season. Defenders are backing him by so much that the Boston offense is doing fine dinking out easy unders to an unmarked Cable. The fear is well earned; if a disc floats for too long, Cable is liable to drift over and snatch it over everyone’s head. While I love pretty small-ball as much as the next D-line handler, I’m really looking forward to seeing Cable look like an adult playing with middle school kids at some point.
You can see Cable and the rest of #3 Boston DiG take on #7 Washington DC Truck Stop during round 4 on the Field Pass stream.
Mac Hecht’s High-Release Backhand Break
Hecht is one of the division’s premier handlers and his crafty throws of all varieties are interesting to watch. I’m particularly enamored when he unleashes a high release backhand over his mark’s shoulder. Hecht has this move down to a science from the distribution of his weight to the balance of power and touch on the throw. As a way to initiate breakside flow or as the final blow through a long endzone set, Hecht’s high release backhand is one of the most effective maneuvers in the sport and not so coincidentally one of the hardest throws to mark for title favorite #1 San Francisco Revolver.
Mica Glass/Dylan Freechild & Manuela Cardenas Throw-and-Go
I really enjoy watching high-tempo small ball and seeing the minute adjustments happen around switches and poaches and flat marks all in real time. When I first drafted this list, I thought of two of the best in the game: Manuela Cardenas from #9 Denver Molly Brown and Dylan Freechild from #5 Portland Rhino Slam!
But it’s worth noting that Freechild’s protege, Mica Glass, also has a lot of the same skills. His pace and vision open up windows that defenders cannot anticipate as the Rhino offense slams towards the end zone.
But Glass plays on a line with a lot of talented offensive players who can make for an egalitarian distribution of passes. No knock on Freechild’s and Cardenas’ linemates, but it’s pretty evident in the clips below how eager their teammates are to get the ball back to their star players. Seeing Freechild and Cardenas problem solve around a defense that knows they want the disc back after each throw as they work towards late game breaks is something special to watch.
When the pressure mounts at Nationals and every possession bears more and more weight as the weekend moves along, the players that want the ball and are willing to throw it 30 times themselves on a given point to get it to the end zone are literally the stars writing their own legacies. Aside from the intricate movements and creative throws needed to play this style of ultimate, the implied magnitude of many possessions that follow this pattern makes the tense, tight-window movements all the more riveting.
Molly Brown will play in the Ultiworld showcase stream in a rematch against #2 Washington DC Scandal during the first round of pool play on Thursday. They’ll also play on a Field Pass stream against #4 Raleigh Phoenix during round 3.
Rhino Slam! will be featured during Field Pass Round 4, playing against #6 Raleigh Ring of Fire.
