Holliston Ultimate Frisbee Hits Some Bumps, Moves On

Having finished the season with a mediocre 8-10 record, it was not nearly the caliber of play that Holliston Ultimate Frisbee Coach Chris Levasseur was expecting from his team.
“We just didn’t play to our potential. We were plagued with injuries throughout the year and just couldn’t get the offense to flow,” the Panthers Coach said. “With 14 seniors on the team, we were hoping to do much better, especially after winning the State Championship only two years ago.”
Heading into the State Tournament as a 14 seed, Levasseur knew that his team’s seeding was a reflection of the way the Panthers played during the regular season. The only way to prove to everyone that the seeding they were handed was not who they were was to play to their potential.
In the tournament, Holliston reached down deep and came out with a game that was typical of Panther Ultimate Frisbee and upset the number 3 seed Harvard 13-5. Harvard had previously gone undefeated against Division 2 opponents.
“It was a huge victory for us, and we played a solid game throughout,” Levasseur said. “Our offense was flowing the way I knew that it could.”
After taking out the number three seed Holliston had to go up against another formidable opponent in Nashoba, a team that had only lost to one Division 2 school in Harvard. Once again, the Panther’s offense showed up and played exceptional knocking off another top notch school. The 7-4 win earned Holliston a spot in the Semi Finals against Xaverian.
Levasseur’s squad came out strong, but just couldn’t keep up with the eventual State Champions, and unfortunately found injuries reoccurring and dehydration an issue.
“Not wanting to take anything away from Xaverian, who is a very talented team, but were had just come off two very tough games while they were well rested,” the Coach said. “We stayed close at first, but they eventually just took off and won the game.”
Holliston ended up losing to Arlington in the consolation round and finished fourth in the Tournament after their rough regular season, where according to Levasseur, the squad couldn’t find a rhythm in their offense and struggled to finish.
Leading the Panthers in the field this season was Ellis Wright, the team’s MVP. Wright not only an outstanding handler, he also performed at the top of his game on defense as the team’s deep deep or last line of defense. According to the Coach, Wright reads the disc well and can outjump just about anyone.
In addition to Wright, Captains Kent Perlmutter and James Crews also performed to a high standard this past season. Perlmutter flashed his muscles on defense and did not allow anyone to beat him. Not only did he have numerous interceptions he also did a phenomenal job marking his opponents. As Perlmutter was clamping down on defense, Crews was using his phenomenal disc throwing.
“We knew coming in that he was an incredible offense athlete,” the coach said. “He showed us that he a real knack of getting the disc into spots that only his teammates could get to.”
The team’s third captain was Seth Asher, who was a handler for the Panthers.
Senior Joe Gioffre, who picked up a disc for the first-time last year, showed his growth in the sport, in terms of knowledge. He not only was a fast player but he became a huge end zone presence for Holliston in scoring a lot of points for the team.
When the team resumes next spring, Levasseur will be without his 14 seniors from this year’s squad, but he’s not all that worried with a lot of younger potential and already on the team.
Freshman Dan Biundo saw some varsity action this year and the coach will be looking for him to help this team over the next three seasons. Sophomore Ian Shaw showed a lot of potential as a handler and leader on the field. Junior Alex Naya, who had himself a great season while developing into a fine player, will take over as the team’s captain next season.
“We are losing a lot of players, but we do have talented athletes retuning next year,” the Coach said. “How we do will all depend on what the previous athletes do during the off-season to better themselves in addition to how many newcomers come out for the sport.”