2017 AUDL Season Recap of Asians in Professional Ultimate Frisbee

Bryan Nguyen

WEST DIVISION – Los Angeles Aviators

Considered one of the fastest players in the league, Bryan Nguyen caught a team-leading 55 goals.   Nguyen continues to be more and more productive every season.

In Tom Doi first season with Los Angeles, he started the year playing his points on the defensive line.  Yet, Doi still had a productive offensive season with 20 goals and 25 assists despite missing some games for Team USA duties.

Michael Kiyoi seems to have recovered from his ACL from a couple seasons ago.  Playing more points on the O-line this season, Kiyoi caught 26 goals in 15 games played.

Handler Allen Lai didn’t play as much this season, but did throw for 10 assists with 98% completion percentage.

Defensive player Brandon Severson played nearly all his points on the D-line yet still amazed 5 goals and 8 assists.  He also created 9 D’s.

Taiwan’s first player in the AUDL, Wang Kuo played primarily on the D-line scoring 8 goals and 7 assists.

WEST DIVISION – San Francisco Flamethrowers

Justin Lim was playing on the offensive line for one of the top teams in the league until a shoulder injury cut his season short.  In 8 games, Lim had 19 goals and 11 assists.

Byron Liu made some great plays on defense and helped the Flamethrowers win the 2017 AUDL Championships.  In 10 games, Liu had 6 goals and 4 assists.

Rookie Antoine Davis was a highlight-making machine.   Davis appeared on SportCenter Top 10 for his skying catch over three other players for a goal.  Davis put up big numbers for someone playing on both the D-Line and O-Line.  Along with 22 assists, he led the team in D’s(25) and goals (43).

WEST DIVISION – San Jose Spiders

Chuck Cao, Steven Chang, Justin Norden, Sonny Zaccaro and Drew Kim were mainstays on the San Jose Spiders O-Line.  The Spiders surprised a lot of forecasters by earning a playoff birth.  Many had predicted San Jose to finish in last place.

Justin Norden earned one of the main handler role and had an MVP-worthy season with 62 assist and 16 goals.

Chuck Cao was named to throw the best flick in the division and it showed on the stat sheet with 46 assists and a 97% completion rate.

Steven Chang does a little bit of everything on offense.  Chang had 18 goals and 30 assists.

Sonny Zaccarro filled in on offense whenever an offensive player was out and had his best offensive season in his career.  Zaccarro threw 22 assists and caught 12 goals.

Drew Kim first season with San Jose was a good one.  Playing on offense, Kim had 6 goals and 14 assists.

WEST DIVISION – San Diego Growlers

Casey Wu had a lesser cutting role for the Growlers this season and ended up with 15 Goals (3 assists) in 11 games.

Rookie Michael Tran played primarily on defense, yet completed all 30 of his throws.  Tran tallied 1 assist for the season.

WEST DIVISION – Seattle Cascades

Tommy Li had some amazing highlight reel plays.  He is a youngster ready to break out into an offensive star.  He finished with 14 goals and 14 assists.

After playing in the MLU last season, Henry Phan joins the Cascades this season.  As a reliable handler, Phan finished with 15 assists(7g) on 95% completion rate.  Phan missed some games due to his duties with the u-24 mixed USA National team.

Will Chen only played in 4 games this season.

College players Tian Chuan Yen and Zhi Chen joined the team later in the season and could be players to watch in the future.

WEST DIVISION – Vancouver Riptide

Will Vu was given the handler role for the Riptide and threw a time high 34 assists (5G) in 12 games.  However his high risk high reward type of throws resulted in 44 throwaways.  Vu is a pesk on defense as he had 13 blocks.

Peter Yu also had a bigger role this year compared to years’ past for the Nighthawks.  Yu was 2nd on the team with 32 assists (7G).

Tim Tsang could have been one of the leading assists men in the league had he played in more games.  His duties for Team Canada prevented him from playing all 14 games.  In just 6 games, Tsang threw 26 assists (which projects to 60 assists over an entire season — putting him in the top 5 in the league).

Veteran cutter Brandon Wong shows he could still dominate the game.  In 7 games, he grabbed 19 goals and threw 15 assists and also was tops on the team in +/- ratings.

Edward Guo had a down year as his usual 30/30 numbers were down to 7A, 13G.

 

EAST DIVISION – DC Breeze

Ryan Nam returned to professional Ultimate after a year away.  He played 4 games for the Breeze scoring 3 goals and 5 assists.

EAST DIVISION – Toronto Rush

Bretton Tan was named the top handler defender in his division.  In his 2nd AUDL season, he had 23Ds to go along with 18 goals and 4 assists.

Jackie Hau is the defensive stallwort for the Rush.   Not known to be an offensive player, Hau had 5 goals and 10 assists.

Jason Huynh along with Tan gives the Rush a bright future.  These two youngsters were given more playing time this season and showed the potential to be future stars.  Huynh caught 19 goals with 6 assist and started in the AUDL Championship game.

Rookie Jeffrey Woo scored a lot of goals when he played.  Woo caught 16 goals in 8 games played.

EAST DIVISION – New York Empire

New to the New York Empire after playing for Minnesota Windchill, Conor Kline had his most prolific season yet.  Always known to be a goal scorer, Kline scored 52 Goals to lead the team.  He also had 14 assists.

Josh Alorro played mostly on defense this season so it’s natural his offensive production decrease after a 20/20 season last year.  In 8 games, Alorro had 3G, 11A.

EAST DIVISION – Philadelphia Phoenix

Scott Xu was one of the top players last season for the MLU club New York Rumble.  This season for Philadelphia, Xu played in over 300 points.  Xu finished with 13 Goals, 26 Assists and 12 Ds and helped Philadelphia win 4 games for a team who hadn’t won a game in 2 seasons.

EAST DIVISION – Ottawa Outlaws

Last season’s second leading goal scorer in the league, Mike Lee, did not play in any games this season due to a ACL injury prior to the start of the season.

 

SOUTH DIVISION – Raleigh Flyers

Mark Lin didn’t play as much this season as in prior season.  Lin managed to get 1 goal in 6 games.

SOUTH DIVISION – Atlanta Hustle

Cutter and Captain Matt Yun Huang Smith had his usual big season with big numbers.  Smith played in all 14 games and scored 58 goals with 22 assists.  What’s more amazing is his ability to play without making many mistakes.  His 6 throwaways and 98% completion rate tops most teams.

Allan Laviolette Park appeared in 9 games had some big games.  In one game, he threw for 10 assists.  For the season, Laviolette had 24 assists and 10 goals.

Brothers Christian Olsen and Anders Olsen were productive.  Christian(19g, 20a) and Anders(15g, 6a) were a big part of the Hustle.

Sun Choi plays mostly on defense and had 9G, 12A.

SOUTH DIVISION – Nashville Nightwatch

Rookie Danny On played in 6 games (3g, 3a).  On was a member of the World Juniors Championships for Team USA.

MIDWEST DIVISION – Madison Radicals

Franklin Li is a local club player who could be a big part of the Radicals, but he didn’t play any games this season.

Victor Luo had played for the Boston Whitecaps of the defunct MLU and now plays for Madison.  In 7 games for Madison, he had a goal and 4 assists.

MIDWEST DIVISION – Pittsburgh Thunderbirds

Rookie Josh Tsung played the majority of his points on the D-Line and didn’t collect any offensive stats.

MIDWEST DIVISION – Chicago Wildfire

Rookie Jeff Zhao played in 9 games and scored 6 goals and added 12 assists.

Von Alanguilan played more on defense this year registering 10 Ds to go along with 5g, 4a.

MIDWEST DIVISION – Detroit Mechanix

Rookie Andrew Tang didn’t play many games but held his own with 5 assists in 4 games played with a 94% completion rate.