June 9, 2026
By Evan Lepler

“Seven On The Line” is part two of The Tuesday Toss, highlighting seven more important storylines around the UFA. Read part one here.

1. Austin’s Excellence In Overtime Continues In San Diego

While neither side played an exceptionally clean game, the Austin Sol were superior in the final five minutes, sneaking past San Diego 20-19 in overtime on Friday night. With 30 seconds left in the bonus period, Growlers veteran Travis Dunn overthrew KJ Koo on an up-line forehand that could have been the equalizer, and the Sol used a few completions to run out the remaining clock and close out the narrow win. 

“To be honest with you, I really let us down on Friday,” said Dunn, who had a season-high four throwaways in the one-goal loss. “We had guys who played at a level that would warrant a win, and I gave it away too many times over the course of the game. It obviously hurts having thrown that away at the end, knowing that he was open, it would have tied the game, and we would have received in double overtime if we had made it to that. That’s definitely been tough to stomach over the weekend.” 

While the Growlers slipped to 2-4, the Sol rose to 7-0, though three of Austin’s seven victories have come in overtime. With 1:10 remaining in OT, Duncan Fitzgerald, who led the team with 605 yards in the win, found Saaketh Palchuru for the go-ahead goal. Following Dunn’s error on the ensuing point, Matt Armour’s blade to Brandon Dial was the final nail in the coffin. 

“The main story was definitely our ability to stay connected when things got tight late,” said Evan Swiatek, who led the Sol with five goals, four assists, and one block. “Mistakes are inevitable, but I was incredibly proud of the trust we maintained in one another and faith in our collective potential.”

Two games clear of the second-place Flyers in the loss column, the Sol also walloped Vegas 27-11 on Saturday. After a bye in Week 8, Austin will look to move to 8-0 when they host San Diego for a rematch on Friday, June 19. 

“We’re looking forward to running it back against San Diego at our house,” said Swiatek.

As for the Growlers, just two wins through the first half of their season has become a disappointing reality. But with six games left and a South Division playoff spot completely within reach, San Diego is hopeful to fix the small issues that have been hampering the team’s success. 

“We know everything is in front of us,” said Dunn. “We’ll bounce back and come out swinging this weekend in Colorado.” 

2. May’s Dramatic Buzzer-Beater In Regulation Stuns the Shred

Far and away the most exciting finish of the weekend unfolded in Salt Lake, where the Colorado Apex aimed to chart a new path for their season. 

“Before the game, Alex Piper in the locker room brought us all in and fired us up with a speech,” said Colorado Captain Seth Faris. “He said ‘we haven’t done anything yet this year; right now we need to make the decision of how we want this Apex season to be defined. We can either roll over and get beat, or we can come out of the gate hot and trust in each other and set the tone for the second half of the season and play to our true potential as a team.’ This really hit home with the boys and I know everyone took it to heart.”

Still, the Apex needed to last-second heroics to reshape their season, and those came from second-year Colorado big man Hunter May. With nine seconds left and the game tied at 22, May knew his job as the Shred prepared to pull. 

“Standing on the line, the only thing I was thinking was ‘this isn’t going to overtime,’” said May. “I’m really confident in my ability to get up in the air, so it was all about getting into position and giving myself space to run onto the disc, when everyone else is standing still.”

Seconds before Gene L’Heureux’s pull, Faris actually looked directly at May and delivered a clairvoyant message.

“Before the final play I looked at Hunter and I said, ‘go get the ball,’” remembered Faris. “And that he did.”

Faris fielded the pull, centered the disc to Quinn Finer, who then quickly swung it to Aylen Learned. From there Learned looked right, moving his mark to create space for a backhand launch. Downfield, May was striding into position for the game’s most memorable play.

“I put my head down and ran a little more than halfway down the left side of the field, then turned over my right shoulder to see Aylen put up a perfect I/O backhand,” said May. “As soon as I saw the release, I knew I had a good chance of getting it. I had space to run onto it and had a perfect read on the disc as it was angled to float right into my attack angle. I had the space to run and take a gather step and had a read on it, I just had to attack the disc and not shy away from what was happening in the pile. As I was jumping and grabbing the disc, it was pure adrenaline.”

May’s towering sky at the buzzer gave Colorado a thrilling 23-22 walk-off victory, and the entire Apex sideline jubilantly stormed the field.

“I will never forget that moment,” said Faris.

Beyond the exhilarating finish, the Apex understood that this road win over Salt Lake had given new life to their 2026 season.

“Winning that game reshaped our season with a chance to compete for a playoff spot,” said May. “I think that lit a fire and gave us confidence that we aren’t a punching bag for the division and that we are here to compete.” 

Meanwhile, the Shred, who had let a 17-14 early-fourth quarter lead slip away, were left to try and regroup after the painful last-second loss. 

“Rivalry Weekend just brings out the best in teams, and unfortunately, we weren’t ready to match what Colorado brought on Friday night,” said Salt Lake Captain Matt Russnogle. “Our D-line did what they needed to do to put us in a position where we could have run away with the game, but offensive mistakes and miscues and overall lack of confidence crept in, and that allowed Colorado to punch back. I definitely thought with those last few minutes we were coming down to an overtime situation, but Colorado had an amazing grab in the end zone, and that was that.”

The Apex finished the night 9-for-12 on break chances, while the Shred went just 7-for-14.

“At the end, it’s just frustrating,” added Russnogle. “We did not play to our potential, and while you want to bring your absolute best in every game, sometimes you just don’t. Finding ways to grind out wins is something that we as a team are learning…It was not a particularly great night for me. I know that definitely affected our offense. As a captain, I need to find ways to help propel more confidence into our offense. I think that starts with me and the ways in which I carry myself throughout a gritty game like that.” 

3. Another Record Crowd At Sea Foam Stadium Helps Minnesota Stay Perfect In 2026

Over 2,300 fans poured into Sea Foam Stadium to watch the Minnesota Wind Chill improve to 5-0 on Saturday evening. The Chill’s 23-19 victory over the visiting Indy AlleyCats was relatively close most of the way, yet the outcome never felt in serious doubt. 

“We had a certain calm when some stuff was working for them,” said Minnesota’s Cameron Lacy. “I think we trusted we’d adapt to their offense and the constant pressure would get to them. And we know our offense is starting to hit its stride, so that trust helps us take more chances defensively.” 

The Wind Chill finished with just 12 turnovers and punched in 10 breaks in 14 chances. Gordon Larson led the way with six assists for his third straight game, and he was particularly pleased with the way Minnesota’s offense was able to work against Indianapolis’s pressure. 

“We played Madison last week in a hot and very still game,” explained Larson. “Their defensive style is totally different than Indy’s. Last week, they’re switching. This week, it’s really intense person. So it feels good to prove that we can play well against both of those styles. I think we played ok [on Saturday]. A lot of room for growth, and we still got the W.” 

Jake Felton had a big day for the AlleyCats with 578 total yards, seven assists, two goals, and no turnovers, but after falling behind 3-2 midway through the first quarter, Indy trailed the rest of the game.

One week after his unbelievable 15-assist, almost 1,200 total yards debut against Chicago, Elliot Hawkins finished with three goals, two assists, one block, and 629 total yards, a nice day by any measure, but far from the Week 6 masterpiece that ranked as perhaps the greatest individual game we’ve witnessed this decade. 

Even in defeat—a result that dropped Indy to 1-3, the AlleyCats feel they are moving in the right direction.

“For us Cats, it was a great game and we learned a lot,” said Indy’s James Pollard. “Our game plan coming in was to try some things out and learn from it for when we hopefully see them again in the postseason. If we listed out our objectives for the game, winning it would have been a bonus special achievement. This was our last game where we could focus on ourselves and build chemistry. We are now going into our put up or shut up portion of the season. We left the game knowing we could sleep well after playing the way we did, but not satisfied with that going forward into next week. If we keep raising our floor each game, we can certainly make a deep playoff run.” 

The Wind Chill also feel like they are building toward something special, and they know they will be tested in this weekend’s interdivisional battle between undefeated out West.

“I think everybody’s pretty stoked,” said Larson. “It feels like we’re just ramping up every game. And now, we’re really excited. Oakland looks like maybe the best team in the league. We’re gonna give them a good run, I think.” 

Added Lacy, “Oakland hasn’t showed much hesitation this year, but they haven’t faced a defensive unit like ours yet. I’m confident in our game plan, but more confident in our ability to adjust mid-game. Getting a road win against an undefeated team would really propel us toward the goals that we want to achieve this year. If we start strong and ride the momentum, we’ll get the outcome we’re looking for.”

4. Undefeated Oakland Cruises Against Colorado, Prepare For Showdown With Wind Chill On "Friday Night Frisbee"

Although Oakland could not quite register its sixth double-digit victory of the season, Saturday’s 23-15 triumph over Colorado improved the Spiders to 7-0 ahead of Friday’s interdivisional opportunity against Minnesota. The Apex, after splitting the first four points on the second night of their difficult back-to-back, then surrendered the next six goals, as Oakland converted 12 breaks and registered 17 blocks.

The unlikely star of the night was rookie Max Zwerin, who set a new Spiders franchise record with six blocks. 

“That’s a lot of Ds,” said Zwerin, seemingly surprised by his huge game, in a postgame interview with Matt Ruby on WatchUFA.tv. “It’s been a pretty crazy journey. I come from D-III, shout-out Lewis and Clark Bacchus. It’s been quite the adjustment. There’s a little bit of a pacing difference, so I’ve been putting in a lot of work just trying to keep up with the guys.”

According to his coach, if not for a preseason injury, Zwerin might have made this type of impact even sooner.

“We’ve been excited for Max Zwerin to make his debut since tryouts,” said Spiders Coach Liam Kreiss. “He earned D-III Men’s Defensive Player of the Year last year at Lewis and Clark, and from what we’ve seen in practice, we knew he had the athleticism and instincts to make an instant impact in the UFA.” 

Along with Zwerin, three other Spider defenders also finished Saturday’s action with multiple blocks.

“Sean Liston returned from injury with a fantastic defensive game, earning four blocks of his own,” said Kreiss. “And Max Williams played his best defensive game of the season from my perspective, notching three blocks and limiting Seth Faris all game long. Lastly, I’d be remiss not to mention Carter Lankford, who added another ridiculous layout D to his library of highlight clips and earned two more blocks; he’s averaging three blocks per game and is one behind UFA block leader Cooper Williams, despite having played in three fewer games.” 

Meanwhile, the Apex felt like they made progress by playing a couple decent quarters on Saturday against the Spiders, and after a 1-1 weekend, they are ready to attack their final four games of the season. 

“One night you’re riding high after a big outcome, the next day you have bad first and fourth quarters with a very solid middle-game outcome,” reflected Colorado Head Coach Joe Durst. “Can we, as a team, marry those two games into a more cohesive output? That’s the question for the remainder of the season. Not too high, not too low, not too fast, not too slow; focusing on the path immediately ahead of us as we climb the mountain [...] We’ve been pumping in the ‘second phase’ of the season since the day we saw the schedule drop. We knew it was gonna be a tough opening and that if we could get the team to take some licks early and then come together, we’d be able to make some gains back in the second phase of the season. The Salt Lake game was big for our collective belief in that idea. Now, we’ve got a chance to make it real.”

5. Chicago’s First Win In 2026 (And 100th As A Franchise) Adds Suspense to Central

The Union dominated the first 15 minutes on Friday evening in Chicago, soaring to a 9-2 lead and, ultimately, an 18-16 win over the Radicals. 

“I think the whole team felt the urgency of tonight,” said Chicago Captain Ben Preiss, “but I wouldn’t say we were panicking [...] I think our D-line came out really showing a lot of intensity and speed as well as executing the game plan we had practiced for Madison’s dominator offense to a T. We definitely knew that Madison would throw some punches back, as they’re a good team and mentally strong, so just making sure we stayed calm playing our game was important. There were some really big late upwind scores [from] O-prime that kept us in the driver’s seat.”

Instead of falling to 0-4, the Union earned their first win of the season and the 100th victory in franchise history, becoming the seventh organization to reach this plateau. The team celebrated both of these achievements by dumping the water bucket onto Coach Charlie Furse to commemorate the moment. 

“Fun moment there at the end,” said Furse. “Shout-out to the photographers who captured it! Certainly unexpected, but a cool way to mark a very good team win.”

On the flip-side, the Radicals were left to bemoan their very poor start. Madison outscored Chicago in the third and fourth quarters—and also played to a 3-3 draw in the second quarter—but their miserable first period proved incredibly costly, as the Rads suffered their second straight loss, falling to 2-2 on the season. 

“Honestly, it was extremely frustrating falling behind early,” said Madison’s Victor Luo. “In the Minnesota game, we were pretty locked in and had a couple red zone errors that could have changed the game for us. Overall, it felt like both our offense and defense were executing at a baseline high level. However, in Chicago, it felt like we were making basic errors and lacked both physical and mental effort to start the game. It’s hard to get good takeaways from games when we aren’t doing the basics right and our baseline is low to start. Obviously, fighting hard to get back in it is indicative that we are a good team, but having to claw back to win in many games is not a recipe for a contender.”

Pawel Janas led the Union with 55 completions, 462 total yards, three goals, and three assists. Meanwhile, the Radicals generated only three blocks, matching the fewest in a game in the franchise’s 180-game history. 

Overall, the chase for the second and third spots in the Central seems wide open, with the four teams behind Minnesota all seemingly capable of beating up on each other throughout the season. 

“We can’t get out of the hole we dug all at once, but the window is open if we execute,” said Preiss. “All those teams we’re competing with are talented and hungry, but we know when we play our best ball we look like a team that can play into August.”

6. New York Completes 2-0 Road Trip In Montreal

The Empire entered this past weekend with a clear memory of what happened last year when they traveled to Boston and Montreal. Across the two games, New York played three overtime periods and lost both games by a single goal.

But one year later, the Empire certainly have a different vibe, and New York followed their 21-17 win over Boston on Friday with another four-goal win on Saturday, bettering the Royal 18-14 to improve to 6-1 on the season. 

“Obviously, after a big win in Boston it would’ve been easy to take the foot off the gas and overlook Montreal, which frankly, I think we did a bit,” said Empire cutter Matt LaBar. “We knew if we didn’t come out with a win in Montreal it wouldn’t be a successful weekend, and that really brought the intensity to the final parts of that Montreal game. Everyone being a role player and doing their job made this the weekend it was.” 

With only one more game on their June schedule—after this Friday against Boston, the Empire are off until a rare Wednesday game at Philadelphia on July 1—New York will need another win over the Glory to stay atop the East Division standings.

“I honestly expect Boston to be much more dialed in and higher performing next game,” said Randolph. 

7. Following Friday Setbacks, Boston And Carolina Both Bounce Back

While the Glory and Flyers both fell on Friday, Boston and Carolina each earned a one-win weekend with a road win on Saturday. The Glory snuck past Philadelphia 17-14, while the Flyers clobbered the Thunderbirds 31-17.

“The Philly game was just honestly such a slog,” said Boston’s Oscar Graff. “We went down to 16 players and with the lightning delay and weather it was truly just a mental and physical battle. I don’t think anyone’s really happy with how they played in that game, but I am proud of the way that the team showed resilience under such circumstances.”

The Phoenix only trailed by a goal midway through the fourth, but Boston held Philly out of the end zone for the final seven minutes. The Glory finished the game with 11 turnovers, and Tobe Decraene tallied six assists and two goals.

“I personally think it is important to celebrate every win even if you ‘should have’ won by more,” said Boston’s Thomas Edmonds, who completed all 76 of his throws against the Phoenix, finishing with five scores and five additional hockey assists. “At the end of the day, we needed to win that game and we pulled it out as a team. Being short-staffed on a doubleheader is rough, but the whole team bought in and we grinded together to get it done. Albert Yuan had two clutch blocks for us down the stretch that more or less saved the game.” 

With challenges at New York and at DC beckoning, the Glory believe that they will grow from this past weekend’s adversity.

“It’s not hard to be hungry after a weekend like this,” said Decraene. “I would say it’s easier. We just got smacked in the face and shown on full display that we have a lot to work on and now we need to get back to work and show that we are still the team we deep down know we are…I think this will definitely be the hardest weekend I’ve played with Glory so far, but I’m here for the challenge and I trust our team and know where our ceiling is. We are still very far away from it.”

Across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Carolina’s Grayson Sanner erupted for eight goals in the Flyers 14-goal rout over the Thunderbirds.

“The Pittsburgh game was definitely a get-right game for us,” said Sanner. “We were upset at the DC score, so we wanted to come out and show how good we are. Pittsburgh plays a very peachy and double-team focus defense, so if you can time cuts well, then you can get open very easily [...] I have to shout-out my teammates for creating space for each other. That’s a big tenet on our O-line. We have a dangerous group of O players, so any given night, someone can easily have a good game.”

The Hammer

In the past, I’ve called June the UFA’s “Moving Month,” akin to the third round of a major golf tournament that’s often referred to as “Moving Day.” At the end of June, there’ll still be three important weeks left in the regular season, but the next few weeks will be absolutely crucial as teams tangle for playoff position around the league. 

This weekend, there are 13 more games on the schedule, including four interdivisional duels. The headliner of this quartet, obviously, is Minnesota at Oakland on "Friday Night Frisbee", but Pittsburgh’s trip to Toronto and San Diego’s stop in Colorado are also massively important games for all four of those teams. 

Appropriately, at the midway point of the season, we’ve seen exactly half of the 24 interdivisional contests. 

So far, the East has gone 5-2 in interdivisional games, while the West is 3-3, the South 3-4, and the Central 1-3. But all four quadrants have chances to improve their interdivisional resumes this coming weekend.

If you’re curious, here are the 12 remaining interdivisional matchups on the schedule over the next six weeks:

• Friday, June 12 — Minnesota @ Oakland (Friday Night Frisbee)

• Saturday, June 13 — Minnesota @ Vegas

• Saturday, June 13 — Pittsburgh @ Toronto

• Saturday, June 13 — San Diego @ Colorado

• Thursday, June 18 — Salt Lake @ Madison

• Friday, June 19 — Salt Lake @ Minnesota

• Friday, June 19 — Toronto @ Oregon

• Saturday, June 20 — Toronto @ Seattle

• Friday, July 10 — New York @ Chicago

• Saturday, July 11 — Boston @ Minnesota

• Saturday, July 18 — DC @ Atlanta

• Saturday, July 18 — Indianapolis @ Toronto

Looking even further down the road, we’re exactly 80 days away from August 28, which is the date that the 2026 UFA Champion will be decided in Madison. We’re just a little more than 11 weeks away from the end of the road, and who knows what kinds of twists, turns, bumps, and bruises are coming around the bend. 

The journey may not be smooth and simple, but it will definitely be exciting and fun.