USA Ultimate

Doublewide is bringing only 18 players to Raleigh, and one of them, captain Jerrod Wolfe, won’t play because he is still rehabbing a knee injury suffered at last year’s Club Championships. Eyes will be on newcomers Tyler Degirolamo and Alex Thorne, the two best players from Pittsburgh, the 2012 and 2013 College Champions. 

Revolver is a different team this year: no Robbie Cahill, Martin Cochran, Mark Sherwood or coach Alex Ghesquiere, all of whom are noteworthy not only because of tactics but because they also served as key leaders of a mentally tough squad. But when asked about rebuilding, Nick Schlag pointed with confidence to his team’s history. "Revolver was built on the strength of local college programs and young, up-and-coming players. The departure of many of our big names has allowed us to reinvigorate the roster with a crop of young guys whose passion and intensity have already been made clear. It's also worth noting that for all the household names that we've lost, we've retained a strong core of players with a long history with the team who have experienced firsthand what it took to build Revolver from its humble roots into the National and World Champion team it became."

Ironside is one of two teams at the U.S. Open whose core participated in the Major League Ultimate season; Revolver is the other. "Unlike in years past when we’ve been more cohesive in terms of our team workouts," says Josh McCarthy, "the MLU guys have been doing double duty for the past two months. We haven’t figured out our team identity like in years past." Ironside has made the Championship semifinals every year since 2008 but has no title to show for it. Perhaps the shakeup will be beneficial for a team looking to get over the hump.

"We’re honored that USAU picked Raleigh," says Ring of Fire’s Taylor Pope of the U.S. Open’s location. "We’re happy that people can come and see what Raleigh has to offer. For Ring, it’s an opportunity for guys that played on the team from when it started in 1989 to guys that retired last year to come out in their home town and show family and friends what so many have sacrificed so much for. It’s a great opportunity for the Ring of Fire community."

Euforia captain Andres Castano outlined three areas where Colombian teams often struggle against U.S. competition: mental focus, height and completing their own hucks while defending against those of other teams. "Our main advantage will be moving the disc from side to side to avoid letting the defense get set in their positions," he says. "We have to be patient. We can’t pretend to play an American style of play where we score really quickly. We have to work our game step by step."

Ragnarok recently took a team of American All-Stars to double game point at Windmill Windup in Amsterdam, and its huck-happy offense and strong zone defense is likely to cause headaches at the U.S. Open. "We want to show that we can adapt our play in a way to put any opponent out of their comfort zone," says captain Nick Pannu. "We also want to leave a good impression and make every team want to play us again in the future because they know they will get a good game from the Vikings."

Mephisto will play Canadian Regionals the third weekend in July and has a season goal of finishing in the top three at Canadian Nationals; doing so would earn the team a bid to the 2014 World Club Championships in Italy. "We are going to the U.S. Open as an experience to face some of the greatest teams in the world," says David Tremblay.

"It’s a complete fluke but a very cool one for us," says Chicago Club captain Shane Caldwell of his team’s attendance at the U.S. Open. The only U.S. team not to have been at the Club Championships last year, Chicago Club was invited when a fourth international team could not make the trip. "Obviously as the eighth seed we’re not expected to do very much, but we’re going to do our best to succeed at this tournament. The captains must set the tone for the team and keep it focused on learning our system and doing the right things."