Portland native Emily Pozzy lays out to make a deflection while playing for the University of Vermont Ultimate team, called Ruckus. Pozzy and Ruckus will be competing this weekend in South Portland at the Lobster Pot, an Ultimate tournament for collegiate club teams. Charles Cleary photo

About 1,800 Ultimate players from more than 40 colleges are scheduled to compete this weekend in the Lobster Pot tournament at South Portland’s Wainwright Complex.

The tournament, now in its seventh year at Wainwright, will feature more than 80 teams competing in men’s, women’s and mixed gender divisions from colleges mostly located in New England. The University of Maine, Bowdoin, Bates and Colby are expected to send both men’s and women’s teams. The University of New England and UMaine-Farmington are in the mixed division.

Ultimate is played with a flying disc. The 7-vs-7 games are on fields 70 yards long by 40 yards wide, with end zones 20-yards deep. Possession of the flying disc can change quickly. While players do have primary positions, they have to be versatile enough to be able to throw, catch, and defend.

Ben Payson of Cape Elizabeth, a junior on the University of Vermont’s Team Chill men’s team, said fans can expect fast-paced action.

“The reason I was drawn to the sport is its potential for exciting, exhilarating plays is so high,” said Payson, who was part of high school state championship club teams at Cape Elizabeth in 2018 and 2019. “You’ll see multiple people lay out for the disc and the game is dynamic and quicker than most people would expect.”

Ben Payson of Cape Elizabeth defends for the University of Vermont men’s Ultimate team in a game against Brown. Payson and his Team Chill teammates will be in South Portland this weekend competing in the Lobster Pot, a large college Ultimate tournament. Submitted photo

College Ultimate squads are club teams. The sport is governed by USA Ultimate, not the NCAA. The championship season is in the spring. The fall season is for working out kinks and working in new members.

Games at the Lobster Pot will be played to 13 points. There will be four rounds of action both Saturday and Sunday, with teams playing three games each day.

Tournament director Rich Young, the president of host organization Maine Ultimate, said the Lobster Pot has grown into one of the largest Ultimate tournaments in the country and has become a boon for area hospitality businesses, including on-site food truck vendors.

Young said having the support of the city of South Portland and Rick Peruzzi, South Portland’s athletic fields manager, is vital, both for this tournament and the growth of Ultimate as a high school and adult recreation sport.

“Maine Ultimate, we’re one of the larger state-based organizations, and that is directly related to our connection to Wainwright,” Young said. “In the spring, we have 15 dedicated fields. This weekend, we have 36 fields for use.”

The men’s tournament is divided into upper, developmental and lower divisions. The women’s tourney has an upper and lower division. Each division will award $1,000 to the winning team and $500 to the runner-up. The entry fee is $550 per team.

The upper division teams, or A teams, are serious competitive outfits. Payson said Vermont’s A men’s team has been practicing three times a week and will increase that in the spring. The team has two coaches and does regular weight training. The lower division, or B, is for more casual players. The developmental teams are more like a junior varsity to the A team, according to Young.

“We’re going out and hoping to win some money for our team and also building team culture and making sure we have our system down,” said Emily Pozzy of Portland, a handler on Vermont’s women’s team, called Ruckus.

Vermont and defending champion Brown are expected to be among the top men’s teams. Both competed in the 2022 college nationals in Milwaukee, with Brown finishing second and Vermont tied for ninth. Vermont’s A team includes cutters (receivers) Carter Lawless of Cumberland and Gabe Smestad of Falmouth.

Pozzy, Cape Elizabeth’s Riley Knupp and Isa Berman, Portland’s Lauren Clayter and Sophia Nolan, and Kennedy McCarthy of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, are members of Vermont’s women’s A team, which tied for fifth at the 2022 nationals. McCarthy, one of Vermont’s top players, played on Maine Ultimate’s under-20 Rip Tide all-star team.

The Rip Tide and their male counterparts, Rising Tide, are afforded a spot in the tournament partly so Maine’s best young players can get a first-hand look at prospective college programs, Young said.