The club Ultimate Frisbee team looks to capitalize on a strong finish last season under a revamped coaching staff and a dedicated group of aggressive players, who are hungry for more opportunities.
N.C. State’s Ultimate Frisbee program is one of the oldest in the nation. Since being founded in 1993, The team has had a very successful tenure in its 20-year span, having won the national championship in 1999, and being one of the strongest teams in the conference year after year.
Last season, the team was ranked No. 25 nationally by USA Ultimate, and finished third in the final ACC Tournament of the season that took place in Chapel Hill. Team captain Dan Ronaldo, a third year graduate student in operations research, is confident that the team will continue their success from last season into this year’s.
“We have a lot of key veterans returning,” Ronaldo said. “Along with some of the younger guys starting to step up, dedication is key, and the players are really working hard to improve themselves day in and day out.”
The team also boasts a new coaching staff in A-Team coaches Garrett Dyre and Kris Bass, who each bring championship backgrounds as former players of the team. Each of them has won multiple national and worldwide championships, as the addition of the two has become the biggest help for the team moving forward.
“I’ve heard that having a good coach can be worth about two points per game in terms of advice, support, and everything they give over the course of planning practices and having functionality,” Ronaldo said. “We lost a lot of games within a very small margin last season, and hopefully this will put us ahead.”
There has only been one tournament so far this season, and it acted more as a preseason tryouts type tournament to evaluate their players and make the final cuts.
“We had over 100 players come to our first tournament,” Ronaldo said. “But we ended up cutting that down to about 53. These 53 players were then divided into the A-Team and the Developmental Squad, with the A-Team acting as our primary team and the Developmental Squad filled with mostly younger players who will learn under us and will hopefully grow into big contributors in the future.”
The players have been preparing for their next upcoming home tournament, The Wolfpack Invitational, which takes place on October 25 and 26. This tournament will feature 16 teams, including UNC Chapel Hill and UNC-Wilmington, who were ranked second and third nationally last season, respectively. Despite the tough competition, Ronaldo maintains confidence that the team will perform well.
“This tournament certainly contains some quality competition and the opposing teams will make it very difficult for us,” Ronaldo said. “However, I am confident that we have the players and coaches to put up a fight, perform well, and possibly even win it all. That is the goal.”
Unfortunately, Ronaldo, who is primarily a defensive player, is recovering from a torn ACL and won’t be able to play until January or February. This will be just in time for the end of the regular season and will give him time to prepare for the post season. In the meantime, he is confident that they have to personnel to step up in his absence.
“We have plenty of key veterans returning from last season,” Ronaldo said. “Including current captains Kieran Allen and Jake McGoogan, as well as last year’s captain, Mason Gardner. Another guy to look out for will be Danny Schmidt, who has been with the program for a while and improved every year. In addition to that, there are plenty of other guys who have worked hard and have the ability to step up and really contribute this season.”
Things are looking up for this Ultimate Frisbee team that has been consistently good in the past, and now that they seem to have all the right pieces, they look to emerge as a stout contender in the national championship this coming spring.
