Buzzer Beater: Early Season Action [UFA Week 2, 2026]

Another OT thriller in Austin, a top two clash in the west, a SCTop10 play, and another bad bid highlight Week 2’s action.

May 4, 2026 by Alex Rubin in Rankings, Recap

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There was plenty of great ultimate played this week, especially in Houston where the Havoc came oh-so-close to knocking off the Austin Sol, which would have been a franchise first accomplishment. There are a few notes on that game below. The Sol were playing without star cutter Evan Swiatek, who served a one-game suspension after his dangerous bid that I wrote about last week. Unfortunately, that’s also the topic of this week’s column.

Another Bad Bid

I hate to spend more space in this column on another bad bid, but after the attention that Evan Swiatek got last week (which led to a suspension this week), it is only fair to write about Nathan Hsieh’s similar play. Hsieh surely should be missing next week’s game too after clattering into Alex Atkins in a stunningly similar fashion to Switek’s late bid last week. Just a week after a bad bid was one of the major talking points of the league, it is shocking that this was not a point of emphasis among referees this week.

While information about UFA referees is limited, here is what we do know: over the offseason, the league made a big deal about jersey tugging. In their offseason rules release, the following clause was added:

Though not a technical rule change, there is an added officiating emphasis on eliminating “jersey tugging”. Any player that grabs and holds an opponent’s jersey during the course of a point will receive a one (1) game suspension. The player is not ejected during the game but the film will be reviewed by the disciplinary committee after the game. This initiative reflects the league’s ongoing commitment to integrity, fair play, and sportsmanship.

That same disciplinary committee mentioned in this clause issued Swiatek his one-game suspension. Unfortunately, it seems the league was focused on the wrong issue this offseason. In retrospect, it feels a bit ridiculous that the league made such a big deal about tugging on jerseys¹ and doesn’t appear to be refereeing heavy-contact plays with player safety in mind.

With 2:45 on the game clock, Atkins is drifting into the backfield, preparing to catch a swing from Braden Eberhard. Once the disc is released, Hsieh, who had slowed down a few yards before, quickens into a full sprint before launching himself into Atkins’s side. On the broadcast, Evan Lepler immediately called this action a dangerous play. He and color commentator Bryan Jones were both surprised that the play only resulted in a 10 yard penalty rather than the more serious 20 yard variety reserved for a flagrant foul.

To just about anyone watching, it was clear that this should be a flagrant foul. To more serious viewers, it can even rise to the level of ejectable, as I argued that Swiatek’s foul was last week.

Hsieh’s jump is egregiously late and is the kind of play that needs to be legislated out of ultimate entirely, not just the UFA. As the most watched form of ultimate, the UFA needs to take a leading stand in making sure that these dangerous bids do not happen. They seriously jeopardize player safety, and set a terrible example for anyone watching.

The UFA is lucky in this case that Atkins does not appear to be injured. I hate to think that a season ending injury to an All-Star is what the UFA would need to take this seriously, so I am hopeful that two weeks in a row with dangerous plays garnering attention might do the trick. If I were in charge of UFA referees, I’d be sure to make adjudicating these kinds of plays a point of emphasis before something even worse happens.

While I doubt that any team would actually go through with something like this, I am sure there are some out there who are thinking that they can send their 20th rostered person as a missile launcher into the other team’s best players’ knees and, for the price of 10 yards, might be able to cross one name off the scouting report. Again, to be clear, I do not think anyone in the UFA would actually attempt to injure an opponent on purpose, but if the punishments for trying to do so are so light, the possibility will always exist, and it is up to the league to fix that.

News and Notes

• In their game, the New York Empire won every quarter and comfortably put away the Toronto Rush. In his first game for the team, Atkins tied for the team lead in +/- with seven (2A/5G with no turnovers).
• Toronto did get their first win of the season in their second game of the weekend, pulling ahead of the Philadelphia Phoenix 24-17. Rookie Eric Zhuang’s five blocks represents an impressive single game tally. Philadelphia’s Spencer Whitcomb did make ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 Plays with an massive layout grab for his first UFA goal.
• Once again, the Austin Sol needed overtime to clinch their win. After the extra period, they beat the Houston Havoc 22-20. Mark Turner put in one of the best efforts in the Havoc’s history, with a seven-assist, four-goal performance, leading the game in both categories alongside throwing and receiving yards. Austin crawled out of a four-goal halftime deficit to tie the game in the third quarter. After a back-and-forth fourth quarter left the game tied, it was rookie George Gust’s block on the second point of overtime that finally sprung the Sol to the lead for good.
• Making the standings in the West Division very clear, the Oakland Spiders beat up the Salt Lake Shred 25-15 for their first win ever in this matchup. In his return to competitive ultimate, Itay Chang led the team with four assists from the D-line, and one very impressive block. Oakland’s small ball offense was very effective against a leaky Shred defense; the Spiders only attempted four hucks and still won by ten goals.
• In the first game of their weekend road trip, the Shred crushed the Oregon Steel 23-14. Ben Ashton led the way with six goals in his O-line debut.
• The Boston Glory put away the Montreal Royal 22-15. Tobe Decraene expanded his MVP case with a six-assist, five-goal game without a turnover. He now leads the league in goals, assists, +/-, and completions. His brother Lander Decraene leads the league with six blocks.
• The DC Breeze earned their first win of the season, using a four-goal run in the fourth quarter to close out a 20-18 win over Montreal. AJ Merriman played both ways for the Breeze, finishing with three assists, four goals, two blocks, and a game-high 526 total yards.
• The Seattle Cascades crushed the Colorado Apex 27-14. Seattle went 7/8 on hucks and did not allow a single break. Ricky McLeod led the defensive effort with four blocks.
• Colorado then got their first win of the season with a 20-18 victory over the Steel. Oregon made an impressive comeback from three goals down midway through the game, but Colorado righted the ship and scored three of the final four goals of the game.
• The Minnesota Wind Chill opened their season with a 22-12 demolition of the Chicago Union. Cameron Lacy’s well rounded night (3A/2G/2B) and Justin Burnett’s four blocks led a strong defensive effort. Minnesota ended the first half on a 15-2 run, including nine straight goals to end the first quarter.

UFA Power Rankings

• Houston moves up, with their OT loss to Austin the best result of the bottom six teams.
• After needing overtime to beat Houston, Austin slides down behind Atlanta, who crushed Houston last week and played as even as one could with Austin in their matchup.
• Seattle moves up after a dominant win in their first game of the season, which Chicago falls following a disappointingly uncompetitive loss in Minnesota.

1. Which, to be fair to the UFA, does not appear to be an issue at all this season ↩