Philadelphia was tied with Boston after three, but crumbled in the fourth, resulting in a 22-18 victory.

It’s the Spinners’ third straight loss, knocking them out of second place in the MLU Eastern Conference.

What could be more damaging than the loss itself is how the Spinners fell out of contention.

Philadelphia played strong defense in the first half, keeping Boston’s Jeff Graham at bay thanks in part to the strong defense of Leon Chou.

On offense, the Spinners played cleaner, only getting broken by Boston twice in the game’s first 20 minutes, a main factor in their 10-8 halftime lead.

Yet, as the game went on, Graham broke away from the Spinners’ D. He scored five of his six goals in the second half, and was a main factor in Boston’s 6-2 fourth quarter run.

After allowing Boston to score twice to start the fourth, it looked as if the Spinners would get back into the contest when Philadelphia trapped Boston in its own end zone, and Michael Panna took flight to pull in the first Callahan recorded in the Eastern Conference.

However, Panna’s heroics were unable to stimulate a run, as Philadelphia fell into the bad habits that had started this losing streak – namely rushing passes and throwing away the disc.

After getting broken just twice in the first half, Philadelphia was broken six times in the second half, and against a team like the Whitecaps, clean play is the only way that opponents can hang around.

Philadelphia will try to build off of the strong performances it saw from Art Shull and Patrick Diviney, with each of them pulling in five and four goals respectively.

Meanwhile, it will be back to the drawing board for coach Billy Maroon, as he tries to figure out a way to get Sean Murray more involved.

After missing last week due to a wedding, Murray played a subpar game by his standards, pulling in just two goals while adding a lone assist.

With the loss, even more weight is placed on the Spinners’ home game next weekend, when Boston comes to town. With a win, the Spinners will right the ship and prove that Boston is beatable, while a loss could potentially jeopardize the Spinners’ playoff hopes.

That’s what the Spinners are looking at this weekend as they head to Massachusetts  looking to stop a two-game skid and beat the hottest team in the league right now, the Boston Whitecaps.

Led by superstar Jeff Graham, the Whitecaps remain unbeaten and have looked unstoppable. In a dismantling of the DC Current last week, Graham notched 4 goals and 2 assists–adding to an Eastern Conference-best 15 goals–en route to a 24 to 13 win and their own spot in SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays.

They are playing the best ultimate of any team in the MLU right now, their unblemished record a reflection of peerless play. The closest game for the Whitecaps came early in the season in a thrilling one-point victory over the Current, though last week’s win should put any doubts of Whitecap dominance to rest.

The Spinners, on the other hand, are in the midst of what could become an all-out free fall. After dropping a close game against the Current, the Spinners looked hapless in overtime against the Rumble, going almost 8 minutes without a score.

This season the Spinners exploded out gate with two quality wins on the road but quickly slowed to a grinding halt. To turn it around, not only must they win, but they must win in the toughest game of the year so far, and that certainly is no easy task.

Going for the Spinners is a perfect 2-0 record on the road. The team thrives on playing the spoiler and has looked unbeatable closing out tight games on the road. Pulling away from the pressure that comes with playing at home will certainly be to the Spinners’ advantage.

A win in Boston will immediately right the ship and give the Spinners considerable control of their own playoff destiny. Boston, on the other hand, is playing in a game they don’t need to win–a loss, while blemishing their perfect record, leaves the Whitecaps no worse for their wear.

To win, the Spinners will have to shut down Graham. Last week Chris Mazur looked simply uncoverable, Graham is a whole different animal and is responsible for more than a quarter of Boston’s offensive production. Should the Spinners shut him down, anything can happen. Look for the Spinners to focus most of their defensive effort on shutting him down in the lane to prevent his offensive production.

The Spinners must consider this their first real must-win game of the season. It is a crucial opportunity to take down the league’s best as the playoff picture begins to materialize in the East. A win quickly erases the painful memories of the last two weeks; a loss will only prompt more questions. Get dizzy, fans: it’s going to be a real barnburner in Boston.

Considering that they have a date with the MLU’s only remaining undefeated team this Saturday in Boston, Philadelphia will have to right the ship fast or risk falling to third place in the conference.

But just as the Spinners have the policy to only celebrate a win for 12 hours afterward, the same holds true for losses.

“Our mentality after a loss has to be about not dwelling on it,” Spinners co-captain Michael Panna said. “We review the game footage within the next day or two and learn from our mistakes, but then we look right ahead to the next one. The back-to-back losses will not affect our focus.”

In both losses, turnovers put the Spinners down early and kept them from coming back late. While it’s troubling to see a team as disciplined as the Spinners making basic mistakes, they see it as something that they are at least in control of.

“I think the team realizes that there is nothing wrong with the team that we can’t fix ourselves with hard work,” coach Billy Maroon said. “Most of the mistakes from the last two weekends are on us.”

While the Spinners have spent the week working on limiting turnovers and making the smart play, to prove that they’re back on course, they’ll have to take down Boston at the Whitecaps’ home field.

Boston averages a league-leading 20.7 points per game while also touting one of the best defenses.

Jeff Graham has given opposing defenses fits thus far this season. He’s tied for the second-most points in the East with 15 goals and seven assists.

If the Spinners are going to win, they’ll have to limit Graham’s production.

“Everyone needs to know where Jeff is on the field,” Maroon said. “We’ll throw a bunch of bodies at him and see which one sticks.”

One of those bodies will be Sean Murray, who returns after missing last week’s contest to attend an out-of-town wedding. In three games this season, Murray has nine goals and four assists, and has yet to throw an incompletion.

Murray will see time on both sides of the disc, but when he’s on the D-line, look for the times during the contest when he and Graham face off.

What may end up deciding the game however is not whether Murray, Leon Chou, or any other Spinner is able to shut Graham down, but whether the Spinners’ D-line can convert after getting turnovers.

“Sean helps the entire team on and off the field. He makes everyone a better player and inspires us with his star power,” Panna said.

Philadelphia’s hope is that Murray inspires their defense to finish its break opportunities.

The Spinners’ offense will also have its hands full. Boston’s deep defense has kept high octane offenses like DC and New York’s at bay. The Whitecaps will play the Spinners underneath on defense, goating Philly to throw hucks that Boston has confidence that its defense can D.

If the Spinners can win the battle in the air, however, they will be in the driver’s seat for the long haul.

“Our strengths are present where they have weaknesses,” Panna said. “We know we are a faster team and can potentially outlast them.”

In the first three games of the season, the Philadelphia Spinners turned over the disc 61 times, good for an average of 20.33 per game.

Against New York on Saturday, the Spinners coughed up the disc 35 times.

“The wind definitely had its effect on the game,” Spinners coach Billy Maroon said. “We had 10 drops. The Spinners only averaged 1.5 drops per game last year and many of those games were in the swirling wind of Franklin Field.”

It was indeed a windy one, and it wasn’t just the Spinners that had to deal with the conditions. New York had 30 turnovers of their own, but the Rumble were able to take advantage of Philly’s turnovers with more consistency.

“On several occasions we tried to throw some tough throws in the wind instead of taking the easier ones, but our main issue was the basics – throw and catch,” Spinners co-captain and offensive handler Nick Hirannet said.

The Rumble jumped out to a 3-0 lead within a 1:30 of the first pull, showing early that New York planned to take advantage of Philadelphia’s mistakes.

While the Spinners played well enough to hang around in the contest, eventually tying it late in the fourth quarter, they were unable to put the disc in the end zone for the last 8:03 of the contest, spanning halfway through overtime as well as the entire second overtime.

“The game is a game of runs, especially when you factor the wind,” Maroon said. “If someone scores upwind, then they usually score downwind. Every upwind score accounts for a few minutes of the other team not scoring. Once we did not convert the downwind score at the end of the 1st overtime it was going to be a run for them.”

And it was. Maroon’s plan, as it was for most of the contest, was to choose the direction his team would pull at the start of each of the two overtimes rather than receive the pull.

He expected his D-line to stop the Rumble as they had to work the disc up slowly upwind. But the Rumble converted the upwind score, putting the Spinners in a position where they had to force the disc up in the wind. On a day when even the basics weren’t coming easy, that was too tall an order for Philadelphia.

Philadelphia also had difficulty handling the Rumble’s Chris Mazur.

“He is the only person on the field who could really huck it into the wind with his flick,” Maroon said. “They did a good job at catching those 50/50 balls.”

While the Spinners were able to limit the damage that Mazur did by putting Frederick Brasz on him and putting more of a focus on him in general, the adjustments came too late in the contest.

“Mazur is probably their most talented thrower and we knew that going in, but kind of dropped the ball on our plan for him early on,” Hirannet said. “Once we started double teaming him and poaching his throwing lane, we forced some turns from their other throwers.”

But while they forced turnovers late, the Spinners couldn’t convert, and Sean Murray’s absence may have had a hand in Philadelphia’s D-line having difficulty putting the disc into the end zone off of a turnover.

“We did miss Sean on both offense and defense,” Maroon said. “He played the most points for the team in our first three games and there was not one person who could replace him. I’m sure he would have helped us convert at least one of those turnovers.”

Murray will be back next weekend when the Spinners head to Boston to take on the undefeated Whitecaps. While there will be a significant amount of hype for this contest, the Spinners are thinking less about Boston, and more about how to improve themselves.

“It really doesn’t matter who we play this week,” Maroon said. “It’s about us. We have to play better. It’s not even about winning right now. It’s about playing together as a team. If we focus on getting better, then the wins will come.”

The wind was a huge factor all game from start to finish as hucks flew wildly past defenders and average catches turned into tough drops. Both teams experimented with zone and man defenses but really never found an answer to each other defensively.

The Spinners started off very slowly, allowing three quick breaks to the Rumble. Uncharacteristically sloppy play was to blame and the Rumble took advantage and took the first quarter 7-5.

A brilliant second quarter from the Spinners put Philly down 11-10 at half. Excellent, patient play by captain Nick Hirannet and shutdown defense put the game back in reach. It seemed as though nature was on our side as the wind seemed to die down just in time for some big throws and Spinners cutters were able to track down a few that hung in the air for a while.

The teams traded points in the third and the Spinners kept it within one. Michael Panna had an absolutely gorgeous hammer throw for the score to Matt Glazer but the Rumble’s big three in Chris Mazur, Ben Faust, and Dan Heijman held off the Spinners’ advances.

Early in the third quarter the Spinners tied it up at 13, but more wind gave New York the slight lead with under a minute to play. A huge grab by Jonah Wisch and then a quick throw to Art Shull tied the game up at 15 and sent it into overtime.

In overtime the Spinners took their first lead of the game on a throw from Michael Panna to Leon Chou to make it 17-16 with three minutes to play. The D couldn’t keep up with the wind and the Rumble then evened the game at 17 with a minute to play in the first overtime. Neither team could capitalize on the turnovers of the other and the teams headed into double overtime.

It was in the second overtime that the wheels fell off for the Spinners and after three scores from the Rumble, the Spinners just didn’t have any answers. The characteristic smart decision-making at the endzone vanished and the Spinners had a few costly turnovers to end the game, losing 20-17.

You won’t see his name on the statline, but Frederik Brasz had a fantastic game covering Rumble standout Chris Mazur in the second half, shutting down his unbelievable scoring streak and slowing down their offense.

The loss makes two in a row at home for the Spinners. They hit the road to take on the undefeated Boston Whitecaps coming off a whipping of the DC Current, 20-14. Tickets on sale now.

It seems as though the stars are aligning for a Spinners victory on Mother’s Day, though in order to bring home the win they will have their work cut out for them. Two stalwarts of the D line, Sean Murray and Matt Gallin have been ruled out, and they face a New York team who feels as though they really let their game against the Spinners slip through their fingers.

The Spinners only led by one at the end of the game against New York, and by all accounts it appeared as if the game was headed into overtime until standout Chris Mazur turfed a disc near the endzone. A quick score later and the Spinners walked home with a quality road win.

Last week the Spinners appeared to be in control against the Current until the fourth quarter.

“We recognized that we were up three points with three minutes left in the 3rd quarter,” said Coach Maroon. “We noticed a bunch of things to work on.”

Of course, that isn’t to say that the Spinners aren’t the favorites this weekend. The Rumble are coming off their first back-to-back weekend this season, and a tough matchup against the DC Current on Saturday could spell disaster against the Spinners on Sunday. The Spinners will look to play man-to-man defense to tire out the Rumble and force early mistakes to put the game out of reach heading into the fourth quarter and will dip into the bench to keep fresh legs on the field.

And the Spinners can look forward to another raucous home crowd on Sunday, a crowd whose volume even drowned out the Coaches last week.

“The crowd was so loud we couldn’t communicate with the players on the field!” said Coach Maroon, though he was quick to point out that the atmosphere was great and that the team is pushing for even more fans this weekend.

It’s going to be a great game on Sunday and one the Spinners should be able to pull out.

Spinners Keys to the Game:

-Contain Foust and Mazur:With no Sean Murray on defense, two of the league’s best scorers (7G, 8A each) will have to be held in check by the rest of the Spinners’ defense.

-Run them into the ground: The Rumble are coming off of a game Saturday against the DC Current. Tired legs could become a factor late in the game. The Spinners are known for being the most physically fit team in the league, that will play to their advantage.

-Value the disc on offense: The Spinners turned the disc over too often late in the game against the Current and it ended up coming back to haunt them. To pull out the W on Sunday they will have to score their offensive points and not put so much pressure on the D line.

-Trust in Trey: The big man has proven to still be as hard to cover as he ever was, and with 10 goals and 2 assists on the season he will certainly attract premiere match ups from the Rumble. Without Sean Murray this weekend, he will be a primary focus on offense.

We can’t wait to see you at the field on Sunday. Tickets still available!

Last weekend, Sean Murray made a grab that has exploded, having over 21,000 views on Youtube as well as receiving airtime in Sportscenter’s Top-10 plays and ESPN’s Sportsnation. 

Since then, he has been named the Friction Gloves’ Catch of the Week winner for Week 3.

We sat down to speak with Sean to relive the crazy week, and what such exposure means for the MLU.

What was going through your mind during that play? Did you have an eye on it the whole time?

What was going on in my mind during this pivotal point in the 4th quarter is that I needed to create space as #4 in the string in order get the disc to continue our offensive possession into the end zone or clear out so we could bring the game back within one goal and get our defense on the field to pressure their offense.

The DC Current defense was doing a good job of playing tight D and making the in cuts difficult, so I took off deep after a couple fakes when I managed to get steps going long.  Panna put up a huck that I was confident I could get, but David Cranston closed the gap quickly. Just after elevation, we collided a split second before I intended to grab the disc right where he intended to D it.  Our incidental contact sent us both off course as we each redirected the disc which finally macked off my wrist gently enough and at an angle that I could tell wouldn’t drift too far from our landing area.

At this point, my only chance to maintain possession for the Spinners was to keep my left arm available to make a stab at it, and luckily I came crashing toward the turf spinning right side first so I kept my right shoulder down and under my body so I could go for it with a left handed swim type move.  I never took my eyes off the disc.

Be honest. You’ve seen Brian Marshall’s play earlier in the contest. Which do you think was more impressive?

Brian Marshall’s D in the first quarter was absolutely incredible.  His chest high full extention layout to cut off a post pattern throw for a goal was was a jaw dropper, and one of the most impressive D catches I’ve ever seen.  The video clip doesn’t even do it justice. It happened right in front of us on the Spinners fans sideline, and I remember thinking there aren’t too many human beings that could have made the interception.

The athleticism and timing Marshall displayed with his explosiveness and reflexes is something I respect. I think his play is more impressive. I doubt I could have pulled that off, meanwhile there was certainly a decent amount of luck that panned out for my circus grab.

Very different plays obviously, but his D was all Brian Marshall so I’ll give credit where it’s due as the more impressive of the two.

After the fact, did you think that your play would explode like it did? What has this week been like?

After the fact, I didn’t think much of the play truthfully.  It was one of many great plays in a hard fought battle. After the game I was disappointed we lost.  It was nice hearing from a lot of fans after the game at the field and postgame at Dave and Buster’s how great the catch was, but to me it was just a disc I should have caught on the way up and not the way down with such a small margin for error.

It wasn’t until I saw the replay on Sunday while reviewing the MLU full game footage on YouTube, that I realized it had to be the craziest catch I’ve ever made and up there on the list of cool catches I’ve seen. Some of my teammates and a lot of fans expressed excitement at the short highlight video the MLU released which spread so quickly and the rest is history.

This week has been unbelievable in terms of social media attention I’m not accustomed to, and I’m thankful for all the support from the Philadelphia Spinners fans and friends, but especially excited for the increased exposure for the sport I love.

Really though, it’s nuts. I’ve had to shut off my phone during working hours so I can focus on being productive during the day at the office. It really hit home when the play was airing on national TV while my dad in New Orleans, who coached me from age 5 in springboard diving including trampoline work and also taught me to juggle torches while riding a unicycle, was able to watch it live with me on the phone.  He said he was impressed at my focus which I know he instilled in me from an early age.

The guys at Sportsnation received the play really well. Which was a better moment for you – seeing the play on SC’s Top-10, or that Sportsnation segment?

Any national publicity for the sport is fantastic, so whether it’s Sportcenter Top 10 Plays or SportsNation it’s all great, but SportsNation takes the cake. At first I was happy that the there were no disparaging remarks regarding Ultimate on Sportscenter when this play ended up on the top 10.  Then I was shocked and more excited to see a longer segment and an even more positive response from Marcellus Wiley and Charissa Thompson who actually voted the catch as showing “cooler concentration” over Ginobili’s NBA Playoff double OT buzzer beater and talked about checking out the sport of Ultimate and MLU.

How important are moments like that, getting clips on national broadcasts like ESPN, to the growth of the league?

Moments like these are huge for an up and coming sport like ultimate that doesn’t yet have the wider coverage and audience that football, basketball, baseball, and hockey sports fans enjoy.  I can vividly recall Andrew Fleming’s huge grab at Worlds in Prague in 2010 and Brent Anderson’s layout for the Connecticut Constitution that I saw live from the field last May because they both got ESPN exposure which was a huge deal for Ultimate at the time and I loved it of course.

Brodie Smith has of course pushed the sport further into the national consciousness with all his efforts including the unforgettable speedboat stunt! I feel like these brief but broadly viewed glimpses of memorable plays are the building blocks that the sport of ultimate needs to get the awareness and attention that the sport deserves. There’s so much to appreciate about the sport of Ultimate which single clips of unbelievable grabs can’t encapsulate, so hopefully this clip from Saturday’s Spinners home opener is just another stepping stone on the path to wider recognition of the excitement and beauty of the sport of ultimate.

What would it mean to the league for a sports personality like Marcellus Wiley to come to an MLU game?

I think would be a huge deal to have a former NFL star and current sports personality like Marcellus Wiley come to an MLU game because he has the ability to share the experience with so many sports fans and as well as colleagues in the sports reporting industry.  Personally, I’d love to meet Charissa Thompson for postgame interview as well.

Do you think that it’s only a matter of time before the MLU moves into the mainstream?

I feel that MLU has great leadership and vision.  We’re talking about 8 of the top ultimate cities in the world battling week in and week out on the East and West coasts with refs to keep the action moving and full game coverage of every game available for fans.

I heard a lot of buzz even from not-yet ultimate-fan friends about the Spinners game at NY Rumble that was aired on the Comcast Network, and I believe that once more sports fans are exposed to the the fast pace and constant excitement of Ultimate, that they will naturally be drawn to the sport like all of us who love it already.

Murray will miss this weekend’s game against the New York Rumble to attend an out-of-town wedding, during which time he’ll see his mom for Mother’s Day weekend. He promises it will be the only game he plans to miss all season.