The Philadelphia Surge, the city’s women and gender-expansive pro ultimate frisbee team, starts its third season in the Premier Ultimate League (PUL) this Saturday with a trip to Indianapolis to face the Indy Red, followed by its home opener against the defending-champion New York Gridlock on April 12.
Year One saw the team win all but one of its regular season games and draw in the league’s biggest crowds, but get controversially snubbed from the playoffs .
In Year Two, the team’s on-field dominance and high attendances continued. It hosted and played in the league’s postseason championship weekend, but came up short in the semifinals .
Year Three will see a venue switch, some new opposition, and the biggest roster rebuild the Surge has ever had.
What remains, though, is the Surge’s strong chances of securing a national title, while also showcasing women’s sports in a city that otherwise lacks a professional women’s team.
“We just want to keep highlighting women’s sports, especially in a city that does not have other sports teams for women. No NWSL team, no WNBA team. I know I sound like a broken record, but that stinks for Philadelphia,” said Surge general manager and former player Andre DeSabato. “So we want to keep putting and highlighting women and non-binary athletes. We want to keep showcasing that, keep growing the sport, keep growing the league outside of the field. On the field, we are trying to take care of business and win the whole thing.”
Surge player Lindsay McKenna dives to make a catch agains the DC Shadow. (Matthew Brooks Images/@matthewbrooksimages) What’s new this season
The team is returning back to the South Philly Supersite, where it played in its inaugural season, after playing its sophomore season at Drexel University’s Vidas Field.
Some of the opponents have changed this year as well. Portland Rising in Maine paused operations this year and were replaced by the Los Angeles Astra , which previously competed in the independently-run Western Ultimate League (WUL) in 2023.
There will also be a first-ever All-Star game between the PUL and the WUL this year, played during the men’s United Frisbee Association’s championship weekend.
Members of the Philadelphia Surge pose after the 2024 PUL Championship weekend semifinal. (Nick Kariuki/Billy Penn) DeSabato said that the team had its biggest roster turnover this year, with veteran players including herself, Dr. Raha Mozaffari (whose practice, Fishtown Dentistry, remains one of the team’s sponsors), team co-founder Emma Soiles, Sumi Onoe, Kat Harper, Casey Gorman and Adilina Malavé among the departures.
To make up for these losses, the team has added more travel players to the roster, hailing from the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area, Pittsburgh and Staten Island. The team has also added a few younger faces from the University of Pennsylvania and the local ultimate community.
“We have more new faces than usual, and that’s been a plus so far,” DeSabato, who is now one of the team coaches, alongside returning coaches Dave Baer and Bobby Roos, said. “We need to see how it works in games in terms of chemistry and all of that.”
What’s probably going to be the same
Linda Morse, one of the Surge’s team captains, says that the voids left by the key players who departed have been complemented by both the new players and the ones who were previously backing up the starters. It has also helped that, for the first time, the team has been able to consistently practice at the location where it will play its games — which should make them better accustomed to the windy conditions of the field.
Philadelphia Surge co-captain Linda Morse (center) practices ahead of the 2024 PUL semifinal. (Nick Kariuki/WHYY) “This year, I think that we have the experience of what the league really is,” Morse said. “With the amount of people that returned, I think that is felt at a team level. The newer players are really adding to the depths of the team and stepping up, already comfortable in that position. I feel like the returners are also leading in great ways and instilling confidence in those newer players to have those big roles. It’s going to add to our talent and diversify our strategy a little bit as a team.”
Last season, Philly finished as the third best team among the three championship contenders, behind the DC Shadow and New York. Most expectations will be that those three teams will be vying for the title again, and the Surge hope to improve on their performance in the previous year.
The mixed-gender Philadelphia Amp club team had won national championships as recently as 2018 and 2019, so Philly’s ultimate community hadn’t been as starved of national success as the rest of Philadelphia were before the Eagles won the Super Bowl .
While it was nowhere near the size of the Eagles parade , Morse said there was a big celebration after those Amp wins.
“It was just awesome because there have been so many people in the community that had either been on the team, supported the team, had a jersey, and just really felt the connection as a whole in Philadelphia ultimate … I think that that’s just going to keep building, and feeling that support, and wanting that drive from the team to bring that championship to the Philadelphia ultimate community,” Morse said.
Financially, the fact that the team has become sustainable is another huge success. The league has expanded since it formed in 2019 , but it has also had teams suspending operations and dissolving . The Surge pays its players a couple hundred bucks and covers travel expenses and equipment. The roster is made up of teachers, scientists, and students who have to balance full-time jobs, school and families with team practice sessions and games during the season.
Surge players Kat Harper (from left), Layne Dodge and Sara Liang high five fans after the 2024 PUL Championship weekend semifinal. (Nick Kariuki/Billy Penn) The Surge’s sustainability has been lifted through Philly’s disc sport community, also brought together through the grassroots non-profit Philadelphia Area Disc Alliance (PADA) , sponsoring the team and purchasing tickets, sponsored jerseys and merchandise.
“Overall, the fact the team can exist and is financially self-sufficient, I think is a testament to just how many other people put in time and effort to to show up,” said Jordan Rhyne, the Surge’s managing director and part-owner.
