In an exhibition match against Edina Dec. 7, the Park ultimate frisbee team, Orange Crush, got to play at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Even with a promising first half lead of 7-6, Crush ultimately lost to Edina with a final score of 10-15. 

Although the team lost, coach Spencer Hagen said it was an exciting experience nonetheless. 

“The game was awesome,” Hagen said. “Big takeaways are that we just need more time with the disc.”

Junior captain Noam Halpern said the team has a lot of work to put in to improve for the spring. 

“Overall, we kind of all had a lot to work on but it was a really cool experience,” Halpern said. “There’s a lot of growth that needs to be made, but I’m looking at that as a really good sign, because we have a lot of new players that are showing some serious potential and we have a lot of room to grow.”

According to Hagen, there’s been an ongoing rivalry with Edina ever since Orange Crush lost by one point at state finals last year. The Edina coach talked to Hagen about setting up a game at US Bank Stadium, framing it as a rematch from state.

“That has kind of been a rival the last few years, playing really competitive tight games,” Hagen said. “We lost (to) them by one and at the state finals last year. Their head coach approached me about this saying, ‘you guys want to do this? We can hype it up as a rematch from state.’ Obviously, I said ‘yeah,’ because it’s a great opportunity for us.”

Halpern spoke on the chemistry with new players and how the team could be more polished in general.

“A lot of players are new to the roster, so we need to work on our chemistry a little bit more to perform at our peak, which has always been a strength of ours, but we need to make sure that it’s starting strength,” Halpern said. “We are still working on depth and we kind of ran out of gas, but we focused a lot more on spacing on the field.”

According to senior Captain Micah Davis, the game was enjoyable and a one-of-a-kind opportunity. 

“The game was a lot of fun,” Davis said. “The environment was really good overall and it was my first time being on that field. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was super cool and unique.”

Hagen said a lot of new players have recently joined the team and said the team needs more practice to fully unlock their potential. 

“We’ve got a lot of new players, a lot of people who are not not super experienced yet, but have a ton of potential and a ton of talent,” Hagen said. “Our goals are really just to continue to improve as a team and just go as far as we can go.”

Davis said building chemistry and experience with the other players is key to winning games. 

“With a bunch of new players, it’s going to be difficult for one of the first big games playing together,” Davis said. “But with the experience throughout the season and just being able to build that chemistry with everyone will allow our team to be much more successful. It’ll be a fun season.”

Crush is now beginning offseason training to prepare for the spring season. Anyone interested in joining the team for the spring can contact coach Spencer Hagen. https://www.instagram.com/oc_ultimate/