[piano intro] [electric buzzing] - [Team In Unison] Ah! Ooh! Ah! - Take one. Yeah it's on baby. - Ooh! Ah! - Yeah, it's on baby. - Ooh! Ah! - [Team In Unison] Yeah, it's on

baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah,

it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! Yeah, it's on baby. Ooh ah! - [Team Member] Darkside on

three, one, two, three. - [Team In Unison] Darkside! [rock music] - [Narrator] Ultimate Frisbee is a game of speed, strength, and instinct. And over the course of the past several decades,

Ultimate Frisbee and telling someone, "Oh, I play this like very weird sport that you play in like your backyard with your parents," they sort of act nice about it. They're

like, "Oh, that's like really cool." And I'm sure in the back of their head they're like, this dude's just weird. - My high school had the standard like soccer

dudes, and tennis players, and cross country runners, things that you tell people and they're like, "Oh, like I understand what that is." When you tell someone you play

Ultimate Frisbee, like, "Oh yeah, like my dog loves that," or the chains, like playing disc golf like, and it's like, yeah, it's nice that you know what a Frisbee is.

That's very nice. [chains rattling] [players and crowd yelling] [fast paced music] [players and crowd yelling] [players and crowd yelling] [players and crowd yelling] - 20 years ago,

you never would've imagined that A, North Carolina Ultimate is the pinnacle of the sport and B, they're also really good sportsmen and good dudes. - The Triangle Ultimate scene has

done a really good job recruiting young players, at the middle school level and the high school level. Lots of the guys on the current team, I coached when they were in high school, and

even some in middle school, and that means that they have a lot of experience playing the brand of Ultimate that we like to play, which makes them college ready as soon as they make

Darkside. - [Narrator] Darkside? Why Darkside? Why not the Tar Heels like every other North Carolina team? - The reason it's called Darkside is sort of up for debate. I've talked

to lots of the founding members, and they give me different answers. So there are three answers that are repeated the most. The first is that the team used to practice on E. House Field. The

practice slot was from 10:00 to midnight. They were practicing under the moon, and that's how they started Darkside. One of the other references is "Dark Side of the Moon,"

so lots of Pink Floyd fans, people referencing "Dark Side of the Moon." And finally, yes, there is a Star Wars connection, lots of Star Wars fans. So there's a dark side in

reference to Star Wars. - What makes Darkside different is love. [peaceful piano music] I can't imagine that other sports teams at Carolina care as much about their program and their

teammates as we do. - In many ways, Liam is the heart and soul of the team. - Liam, the mystery man, the enigma guy, I'd say he's the heart of the team. - Liam is probably the best

player on this team. - Liam is kind of like the Triangle's anointed one. He has maybe the best youth Ultimate resume of all time, like he is the player, multiple world championships,

national championships on the club level. Like he is just the talent, he is the winner. - Talk to each other, love each other, be with each other. We need what you got today. - I'm very

shy, very, I think guarded, maybe. I am intentional with the people that I let into my circle, those being generally teammates. I reserve a lot of energy and a lot of love for those people.

You need to have guys who, up and down throughout the roster, can play their role, but you need someone, at least one on the team, who's gonna win you the game, and Liam's that

guy. I don't feel external pressure. The only pressure I feel is to live up to the expectations and the standards of my teammates, and to live up to my own standards and expectations. -

[Narrator] Hard to believe that a team could win a national championship and head into the next season with a chip on their shoulder. But to some outside of the Darkside circle, 2021 had an

asterisk. - USA Ultimate, the governing body, was giving an extra year of eligibility to players who had missed a chance to play most of their college season. So for us, that meant that

some guys who had already graduated were still eligible to play, even though they were no longer taking classes. - Definitely after nationals in December, I think there were a lot of

opinions that were being floated out about the legitimacy of the tournament and the legitimacy of the results. - [Team Member] Yeah, a lot of it was sort of those older players won it for

us, and it wasn't necessarily a team win, which I definitely think is ludicrous. - But I didn't really think about an asterisk. I mean, it was a different format, but everybody had

the same opportunity that we did. - This is a new team, this is not the fall. The goal was, given the doubt that I think a lot of people had, it was prove that this group is just as good. -

[Narrator] So a little more motivation for Darkside to prove the doubters wrong and validate the previous title with another one. - One, two, three. - Darkside! [energetic music] -

[Narrator] Darkside would start their season at home. The first tournament of the year was on a frigid February weekend on campus in Chapel Hill. Darkside's title defense was about to

begin. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You don't know the rules of Ultimate Frisbee, do you? Apologies, here's a crash course. Ultimate Frisbee is a pretty simple game. You play

seven on seven on something like a football field, about 110 yards long and 40 yards wide. Every point in Ultimate starts with what is called a pull, which is basically a kickoff in

football. The defense throws it, often the length of the field, and the offense catches it and initiates possession. Now, what do they do when they start playing offense? Ultimate is, at its

very most essential components, a game of space. The offense is trying to structure players downfield in a way that creates space for cutters to work, whether they're creating space to

cut underneath, whether they're creating space to go deep, whether they're creating space to go on one side of the field or the other. You have 10 seconds to throw the disc. That

ten second count is referred to as the stall, and the stall is counted by the closest defender on the mark. You score by throwing your disc to a teammate in the end zone, which seems simple,

but can be tough when the defense is throwing their bodies around like they do. Each goal counts once and the game is played to 15. Halftime is usually taken when the leading team reaches

eight goals. Kind of like, football teams have an offense and a defense. But the reality is everyone must be able to do everything, because the defense becomes the offense and the offense

immediately becomes the defense after a turnover. While typically the offensive players are more disc-skilled and more precise, the best teams have great D-line offenses as well. And games

are often decided by how good you are at converting turnovers, also called breaks. A break is when a D-line can convert that turnover and go on to score a goal. So there are a lot of

different sets and dynamics to play in Ultimate that becomes fairly complex at the highest levels. But the rules of the game are actually pretty simple. Okay, pretty easy to follow, right?

Now to the first opportunity of the year for Darkside to defend their title and start the journey to nationals. This is the Carolina Kickoff. [players yelling] [upbeat music] - [Speaker]

He's not out baby! - [Speaker] He's moving, he's moving. [upbeat music continues] [players yelling] [players and crowd yelling] - The mindset we had going into that

tournament, a lot of it was sort of determination. We got kick some ass, especially after we won a national championship. So there's always this pressure to perform, I think, on the

team. [players and crowd cheering] [clicking] [soulful guitar music] When I was in high school, even my senior year after I got accepted to UNC, I didn't think that I was gonna play

Ultimate Frisbee. But then I was friends with Andrew Li and he was a hardcore fan. He came to UNC just to play Frisbee, pretty much, and he told me there were tryouts so I sort of walked on.

I got an extended tryout after getting injured, and eventually made the team. [soulful guitar music continues] [clicking] ♪ Well I root I root for the offense ♪ [clapping] - Let's go,

let's go. - Jon brings so much to the team. He is kind of like, in many ways, the soul of the team. He's not necessarily always out there on the field with the game on the line,

but like he brings that fire, and energy, and intensity, and that buy-in. He's all Darkside, like all the time. - Good flash, Grayson! Check in, Walker! - Wake up, Walker! - What gets

me personally fired up is seeing sort of the network effects of energy pass down through everyone. And so when I get lit, and see my boys get lit, obviously everyone's gonna go crazy.

And so I think just like presence of mind and being in the moment for a lot of my teammates is sort of hugely important in getting me fired up as well. [energetic music] - [Narrator] As

Darkside was rolling through the competition at Carolina Kickoff, you may have assumed they had all the calls go their way. You know, a little home cooking from the referees, right? Wrong.

Ultimate Frisbee has a code, spirit of the game. - Spirit of the game basically means play fair, and most levels of Ultimate are played without referees. There are observers that can settle

disputes, which happen in the biggest games with so much on the line. But the reality is Ultimate players take the field, not necessarily with a win-at-all-cost mindset, but more with a win

and earn the respect of your opponent by playing the game fair mindset. And that's one of the coolest things about Ultimate that I've seen over the past couple of decades in the

sport. - The ability to have a contentious conversation and walk away from it continuing to trust and care about another person. We're not all the same, we don't all have the same

opinions, and we can talk about things, and we can care about each other, and we can work things out. - [Narrator] There was no argument. Darkside was the class of the Carolina Kickoff,

winning with ease, the team living in the moment, yet focused on nationals, leadership helping keep Darkside's eyes on the prize. - We got bigger things right, bigger things to grind

for. And a lot of growth coming, but also like a lot of growth accomplished. Like a lot of guys stepped up into really big shoes this weekend and showed out, that's huge. Like lay down

a great foundation for this weekend, can't wait to see what we do next. [upbeat music] [yelling] - When I was younger, I swam, and starting in sixth grade I fenced pretty competitively,

fenced for five years up until the end of my sophomore year. In the past I've had an infatuation with individual sports, but I think over time I really fell in love with the team sport

aspect, like building bonds with people that you really care about. And there's a beauty in like only being a part of something, not being all of something. [players and crowd yelling]

- I haven't met very many people who care about something as much as Andrew cares about the team and getting better. Andrew's a tremendous leader by example. He's really

invested in individual success, the individual success of his teammates. He goes way out of his way to like help people get better, to watch film with them, to work out with them, to throw

with them, and the team reveres him for that. He is beloved by his teammates. - Hey, numbers, numbers! - [Team Member] He brings the energy and shows people that he's bringing energy

more than anyone else on our team. [players yelling] - He's always thinking about Darkside. He's always doing the little things. And has grown so, so much over the time that

I've known him, and over the time that I've been a captain with him. - Like we said, going into our bye, organic offense is gonna be kind of our ticket to winning this game. - We

practice three, four times a week, but I see my teammates every single day. I see like half the team every single day. We just like to be with each other because we know that we have each

other's backs all the time. If you can say that you spent college hanging out and competing with your 30 closest friends, like that's a pretty fulfilling experience to me. -

[Narrator] The road to repeat as kings of Ultimate would next take them to the Queen City Tune-up in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and from the start, Darkside was feeling it. [cheerful music]

[players yelling] - [Team In Unison] U S A, Judge Judy, law Judy. - I think when it comes to cheers on the team, it sort of reflects the soul of that year's team. Obviously you want to

beat them in every aspect of the game, so you wanna out cheer them, outplay them, and so when it comes to feeding energy on that sideline, it's hugely important. [team members cheering

and clapping] - [Team Member] It's fun, it's fun to cheer for your teammates, it's fun to celebrate your teammates. - [Andrew] A lot of times people refer to the sideline as

the eighth man, but the sideline is worth more than one person, far more than the one person. - [Team In Unison] UNC, go Heels, go! - I grew up in a Presbyterian church and I always sang in

the choir. [calming organ music] [singing in foreign language] So it was sort of just a hidden talent. My family is like not really musical, and all of a sudden it was clear that I could

sing. My mom really helped me like get involved with higher level stuff. So I sang in the North Carolina Boys Choir. I had this sort of incredible voice when I was really young. I definitely

don't have like a beautiful adult male voice, and honestly like when that sort of transition happened, that was really like when I started choosing Ultimate more than singing. - Coming

in, it's easy, with that much talent, to be a little cocky, or a little bit complacent maybe. And he was none of those things. - The teammates I have on Darkside are definitely my best

friends. I am forced to spend at least eight or nine hours with them a week, and I choose to spend 20 to 30 hours a week with them. These are the guys that I wanna spend all my time with at

school. [upbeat music] [players and crowd yelling] [dramatic music] - [Narrator] Like the Carolina Kickoff, Darkside was cruising through the Queen City Tune-up, never really being

threatened through six games. But there was a familiar foe waiting in the finals. While Darkside was dominating, the University of Georgia was never too far away, waiting for their shot at

the title. You see, Georgia had fallen to Darkside in the championship game of college nationals, and many experts felt their experienced team of returning starters made them the favorite to

dethrone Darkside and make another run at nationals. - Keep on that trajectory that we've already started. All right, you've got this. Let's do it. [cheering] - [Team Member]

Go, here we go, here we go, here we go. - [Team Member] Give me one more, boys. - [Team Member] Dogs on three, Dogs on three. One, two, three. - Dogs! - Is it possible we're the

underdog? According to some people's narratives, but we don't care about those narratives. We're just here to get better and win. [rock music] [yelling] - [Narrator] The

champions were on the ropes, and momentum was not on their side. - Your round is hard so just bust your ass over into the foreside and like go get it blocked. - [Narrator] But momentum can

change quickly in Ultimate, and a championship mindset must be earned. Darkside knows how to finish, and Georgia is still trying to get there. Darkside takes home the Queen City Tune-up

title by taking down Georgia. But for these two teams, it's just the first of three head-to-head match-ups on the season, and the stakes will only get higher. [team cheering] [team

members talking and yelling] - We did a great job, but that game shows that we can do better, right? We can win that game by a little bit more. - [Team Member] Darkside is a captain-run team

and a player-run team, it always has been. And that's something that's really important. Our coaches are really important to our program, but they're not the leaders of our

team. The leaders of our team are players. - I think, in general, like this is gonna be windy execution and field position is gonna be really important. You could substitute the word coach

for consultant. I'm here at practice to help them plan practice, run drills, make observations. I don't do nearly as much implementation of adjustments as the captains do. -

[Narrator] So Matt Gouchoe-Hanas has been consulting since 2020 after graduating from UNC in 2019. He was part of Darkside's First National Championship in 2015. Darkside won again

three years later. And Matt won the Callahan award in 2019, which recognizes the most valuable player in college Ultimate Frisbee, dude's a legend. - Matt's very important, just an

incredible leader, incredible communicator, and an incredible athlete. And when you put those things together, you get a pretty special person. - Unders, unders, unders. - Bingo, bingo. -

Darkside's a really special thing. It's the central piece to a lot of the guys' college experience, and so it's really hard to graduate from college and totally step away

from the team. So it's just sort of a natural progression to return to something that you care this deeply about and try to contribute to its continued success. - [Narrator] For more

than a year, success was all Darkside had known. Now it's March, and nationals are less than three months away. On to the next tournament of the year, the Smoky Mountain Invite in

Knoxville, Tennessee. From top to bottom, this was as robust a field as any team would see until nationals. Headlining Smokys with Darkside, Brown University, another undefeated team on the

year. - And going into Smoky, that was one of the match ups that we were looking forward to. We go to those competitive spring tournaments to play good teams, and to be tested, and to see

the best of the best, and that's what we got. [tense music] - We were up, either three or four in that game. It was windy, the conditions weren't great, and they like clawed back,

and they kept grinding, and they put us away. - [Andrew] Very rarely do teams really come back, punch back, and fight their way back into a victory. It happens super rare. And I think that

the outcome of that game was a testament to us not being quite ready to really play a fiery team that was determined to win. - Darkside would lose, not once but twice, at Smokys. - It's

sports, you're supposed to lose sometime. We lose in practice all the time and it sucks. I'm never trying to lose, for sure, but sometimes it's an important part of the

process. - [Narrator] No longer undefeated, Darkside's season took a turn and turns are exactly what can change the momentum of a game, of a tournament, of a season. - [Team Member]

Getting a turn and converting, that's the only way to really create a leap in Ultimate. [players and crowd cheering] - Every single point, the defense's goal is to force a

turnover. And I have seen full games with five total turnovers. I've seen full games with 50 total turnovers. When the offense turns the disc over, whether the disc lands on the ground

or it's intercepted by the defense, the defense becomes the offense immediately, and the defense is looking to break the offense's serve, almost in the way we refer to it in

tennis. And getting a break, when the D line can convert and score, that is often the difference in any single game. [crowd cheering and applauding] - Creating turns is what makes me

valuable on the field. And so, especially at the highest level, thinking about how to create those turns, and on offense, how to prevent them, that's like pretty much the heart of the

game. - [Team Member] You always say that offense sort of loses you games and defense wins you games, and so when it comes to someone like laying out like Eli, or Andrew getting a massive

layup block, everyone goes absolutely nuts. - [Narrator] If Smokys proved anything, it was that Darkside was not invincible. And the next tournament on their way to repeat as national

champs, and return to their winning ways, was Easterns in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. - Easterns is a tournament that's generally pretty late in the regular season. It's

generally the last really competitive regular season event. - [Team Member] I think there's sort of this Easterns curse for the team, in a year we win nationals, we actually don't

win at Easterns. - [Team Member] Generally the storyline is like we come out hot, we win Kickoff, we win Queen City, we usually win the Smoky type tournament. We feel like we're a

pretty good team, and then we get punched in the mouth. - [Narrator] To get to quarterfinals and change the course of history, the guys first had to play a flawless day one, and they did.

Darkside dominated, four games played, four wins. [crowd applauding] - I've long thought that one of the greatest parts of Darkside is like our parents' role on the team. - We help

out the team in a variety of ways. One of 'em is actually physical and nutritional and support in terms of making sure they have what they need on the sideline to keep themselves going

through these long, long tournament weekends. And part of it is also sort of emotional and psychological, of being supportive. - Darkside has the best parents in the country. I think that

our sideline is definitely the best. It's crazy how involved they are, and how on top of it they are. I've had some sneak peeks under their spreadsheets and their group messages,

they got as much planning for the tournaments as we do, if not more. - [Libby] We have our own GroupMe, we have our own communication line that's separate from the team, though it

interacts and overlaps at times. And that communication, parents who aren't on the sideline, who are at home, are keeping up to date with what's going on with this current

tournament. And it really makes a difference of having this cohesion around the team. I walk around the fields and I see other teams who are here who have not much support, not much parental

support, and I feel like it makes a huge difference. - [Narrator] The parents' support, the play on the field, everything went right day one at Easterns. [players cheering] [hard rock

music] - Welcome to Sunday, baby. It's time to lock in with a smile. Lock in with a smile. - [Narrator] Even after a long day and late night, Darkside still looked fresh in the

quarterfinals against Michigan, winning the game with ease. Hey, maybe the curse was lifted. - Get black! [hard rock music continues] - [Narrator] Just two more wins to take Easterns.

However, in the semis, look who it is, Georgia again. - We have to come out and beat them on energy right away. It has to be out the gates. Let's go, baby. [players yelling] [nervous

music] [players yelling] [rock music] - Come on! - All right, let's punch one in. - [Narrator] The game went back and forth, [players yelling] [nervous music] [players yelling] but when

the game was deadlocked at 12, Georgia just had more juice. [players and crowd yelling] [nervous music continues] [players yelling] - We know that if we are the best team we can be, then

we're gonna win. We weren't good enough against that Georgia team yet. And the key is yet. - It was sour to lose that game. I was like pissed off that we lost that game. That game

has been on my mind every day. When I go run, when I go lift, when I go to practice, like that loss is fresh in my mind and sort of pushes me to want to get better. - [Narrator] Once again,

Darkside was reminded that they could be beaten. A trip to nationals seemed like a done deal when the season began, but it still had to be earned. It was time for the last tournament of the

year, The Atlantic Coast Regionals in Axton, Virginia. Here's the bottom line. Win regionals, and you punch your ticket to nationals. So after an undefeated day one, William and Mary

was next. And a win means you're in. - Semis is obviously really important, 'cause that's sort of the game to go to to head to nationals. A lot of teams don't really have

the opportunity. Like there's dozens upon hundreds of teams that just get eliminated, and then their season's over at a tournament like this. - [Narrator] With a bid to nationals

on the line, Darkside wasn't messing around. This game wasn't even close. [tense rock music] [players and crowd yelling] [music and yelling continues] Darkside was anything but

complacent, taking care of NC State in the finals to win Atlantic Coast Regionals. [tense rock music] [players yelling] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] On the same day Darkside captured

regionals, nearly 5,000 other UNC students were in Chapel Hill, donning cap and gown for graduation, not these Tar Heel seniors. The parents took graduation on the road for this sweet setup

that took place 10 minutes after Darkside's win. - This is the commencement ceremony of the University of North Carolina, here at our well-known satellite campus in Axton, Virginia.

[audience laughing] - We didn't come here to play school, and I'm not too worried about getting a diploma, or a sheet of paper that tells me that I took all the classes I need to

do. - The craziest or maybe best parts of being on a team is how bought in you get. And so I don't really think a lot of the guys care about university things like graduation, or like

orientation days, or whatever events are happening. When you're on this team, like you come to play, you come to be with your best friends and your friends for life. - I feel much more

connected, graduating with my teammates, than graduating with a bunch of people from Carolina who I don't really know. I'd much rather be graduating in Axton than in Chapel Hill,

if that's where my teammates are. - And I charge you all to go forth and make this world a better place. Congratulations. [graduates and audience cheering and applauding] - [Narrator]

The regular season was over, nationals up next. [plane engine roaring] Darkside was headed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee, home to just over half a million people, located on the western

shore of Lake Michigan, known for its breweries, the scenic views of the Milwaukee River, beer, friendly Midwestern hospitality, and beer. ♪ Milwaukee is calling ♪ ♪ If Milwaukee feels like

home ♪ ♪ If Milwaukee wants ya that bad ♪ ♪ I guess we're gonna have to let you go ♪ And on this weekend in late May, it was the home of the best Ultimate Frisbee you could find

anywhere. This is the USA Ultimate College Championships. - I wanna win that tournament. I wanna prove to everyone that we're the best in the country and that like no matter what

happens, no matter what happens in the season, Darkside is the program, Darkside is the dynasty. You cannot just win a national championship without having to go through Darkside. -

[Narrator] For nationals, 20 teams make the tournament. Each team gets seeded and placed into pools. Every school gets at least four games, two on Friday and two on Saturday. Make it out of

pool play, and you're on to the quarterfinals, where every game from that point is single elimination. Darkside wasn't the top seed overall, but they were the top team in their

pool. And while there is some room for error in pool play, losing was not an option. Day one, game one, and the opponent was Vermont. [wind blowing] [crowd yelling and cheering] [players and

crowd cheering and applauding] Game two, just a few hours later against Wisconsin. [upbeat music] [crowd cheering] Now day two, game three of pool play. Next up, Ohio State, and the fellas

kept rolling. [crowd cheering] [players and crowd yelling and cheering] One more game to secure a spot in the quarterfinals and get out of pool play unscathed. Cal was up next. [players and

crowd yelling and cheering] [yelling and cheering continues] After pool play, everything's low key, downtime, a little meeting, and off to bed, because when Darkside wakes up, a

familiar foe will be waiting in the quarterfinals. [vaguely ominous music] Sunday at nationals, a whipping wind and the stakes are high, it's the quarterfinals and Darkside is seeing

red. The rivalry is about to have a new chapter written. Georgia is back. - Sure, I mean I'm nervous for every game. I think it's important to balance that with confidence, and I

felt super confident going into that game, and I felt nervous 'cause they're a great team, and you can lose at any point at nationals, 'cause there're a bunch of good

teams there. - I'd say for me, myself, like walking onto that field, I was definitely nervous for my guys, but I've had this like hope hammered into me, like ingrained in me to

just trust in our guys. - I don't usually get that nervous before games, but I was certainly the most nervous I've ever been before a game, before we played Georgia. They were

really the only team in my mind that had challenged us and could challenge us. - Welcome back here to the 2022 D1 college championships. We have the men's quarterfinal here from

Milwaukee, Wisconsin at Uihlein Soccer Park, a rematch of the fall final. We have UNC Darkside taking on Georgia. [team members all yelling] - One, two, three. - Darkside! [players yelling]

[crowd cheering] [vaguely ominous music continues] [players and crowd yelling] [cheering continues] [vaguely ominous music continues] - [Team Member] Let's go Dark! - [Narrator] With

this turn of events, Darkside's D draws first blood, and the defending champs took advantage. [players yelling and cheering] - Need more of that! [players yelling] [crowd cheering] A

three goal lead at the half seems a little too close for comfort, but Darkside has found great comfort at this year's nationals by turning up the heat in the second half. [clapping] -

Let's keep it up. - Hey, win in the second, win in the second. - One, two, three. - Deep. [crowd cheering] [players yelling] [crowd cheering] [rock music] - Got the easy block! [players

yelling] - Miss black, more black, more black. [crowd cheering] - Darkside takes out a rival with a decisive victory to close out the quarterfinals. Time to rest up for the semis, right?

Not in college Ultimate. - Another game, earn another game. That's the name of the game at this point. - Feeling great, one more opportunity, one more game. One more game, one more game

is all I can ask for. - Slight change of plans. We are gonna be eating at the trees, so pick up your stuff, move to the trees, we're gonna have some food, and then we're gonna get

out as soon as we can. - I think in most other sports you have a big game and then you have a lot of time in between in order to recover and kind of look forward to your next one. But the

way that Saturday at nationals works is, you know, you win the quarter, like congrats, that's great, but like in anywhere between two to six, eight hours, you might have another game

that's gonna determine the outcome of your season. That's super difficult. - [Team Member] I think that is the less emphasized area of Frisbee, like the mental aspect of the sport.

Once you're off that field, you have to like completely emotionally reset. Like all right, got that done, out of the way, and now we have this next guy in front of us. - [Narrator]

Onto the semifinals for Darkside, and leading the team in goals through five games, the freshman. - My team just has great confidence in me. It's really easy for me to do the things I

do well because my teammates are so good around me. It really like hides my weaknesses and allows me to do the things that I'm good at without having to like push too hard to create

something, or try to make something out of nothing. I'm really just allowed to let the game come to me and do what I'm good at. - Do the bucket. [chest thumping and laughing] -

[Narrator] Within the lines, the game is the same. And the previous five games were all played on wide open spaces. Kind of hard to tell what the stakes are from field to field if

you're a casual observer. But the semis have a different feel, as Darkside moved from the sideshow to the big top. Fans moved from the grass to the stands. Wide open spaces were

suddenly replaced by fences. And for the first time in college nationals, Darkside were the underdogs. Just hours after their emotional win versus rival Georgia, the fellas had to play two

seed Colorado. Win and you're in the finals, lose and you're done. - Everyone has something to take. Everyone has something to take. We're ready. - 30th anniversary. - I

believe in you. - Having been founded in 1992. - Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's go. - [Narrator] From the first pull, it was clear these teams were evenly matched. [high

energy, driving music] - [Announcer] Rutledge Smith to the end zone for Ben Dameron and the Darkside score, UNC one, Colorado, zero. [players yelling] [crowd cheering and applauding] - Oh,

there we go! [crowd cheering] - Alex Atkins up top, brings it in for the Mamabird score. [players yelling] Rutledge Smith to the end zone. Ben Dameron brings it in for the Darkside score.

Aylen Learned in the zone for the Mamabird score. [cow bells ringing] Calvin Stoughton with the assist. We're all tied up at three. - [Narrator] Something needed to happen to change the

course of the game, and it did. Two significant injuries would play a role in Darkside's day. [crowd cheering] This hard landing would sideline Bodhi Harmony for a majority of the

game. And co-captain Andrew Li was also banged up. - It's frustrating to be at the championship event, the capstone of your season, of many players' careers, and to not feel like

you're being able to, you're able to play at 100%. Definitely affected the trajectory of my tournament. - Those are two of our really talented players. So it doesn't feel

great to see them not be out there. - Losing your top players, like there's this weird hush that that comes over your team, where you all get this feeling in the bottom of your stomach.

[tense music] [crowd cheering] - Off on the wrong side, like go get the disc and we move it. [tense music continues] - Saeed Semrin brings it in for the Mamabird score. [crowd cheering] -

[Narrator] Injuries did change the course of this game. With Andrew and Bodhi on the bench, Darkside was being challenged in a way they hadn't been all tournament long, somehow grinding

their way to a slim one goal lead at the half, but it actually felt like the champs were on the ropes. - [Team Member] An extremely close first half, two very talented teams, two really

talented offenses in particular. We felt like the name of the game was ask Colorado to be patient, ask them to throw lots of passes to score. Don't give them easy outs, easy

opportunities for scores. - Eight-seven is way closer than we want to be at halftime especially given my inability to play at full speed. It was hard to know, looking forward into that

second half, like I knew it was gonna be difficult. - Attack, attack, nothing to protect, nothing to hide. You got all your brothers and friends here. Attack, right now. All right,

let's go. - [Narrator] In the second half, something clicked. As the defense absolutely locked in and the offense took advantage, passion, purpose, performance. [players and crowd

cheering] [players yelling] [high energy music] - [Announcer] Jack McCleary brings it in for the Darkside score, three straight breaks for North Carolina. They're up 13-eight on

Colorado. - We often fall back on this saying, pressure breaks pipes. We come at a team and we ask them to be really patient and methodical, and they may have success early on in games, and

as the game progresses, pressure breaks pipes, pressure gets to them, they make little mistakes, and we capitalize over and over and over again. [players yelling] [high energy music] -

[Announcer] That's another break for Darkside. North Carolina 14, Colorado eight. - [Narrator] By the end of the game, Bodhi and Andrew were back on the field and Darkside was back on

top, pulling away. Colorado's pipes had burst. Darkside with a decisive win, 15 to nine, against the higher-seeded Colorado. - I love it, there are no expectations when you're the

underdog, you just get to, you get to go take it. If they don't expect us to win, like we're not defending anything, we're just taking stuff. - [Team Member] The mantra is

don't wait for the other team to make mistakes. Don't wait for the other team to give us the win. We've gotta go take it. We've gotta earn it every chance we have. -

It's all love, this is the best team I've ever been a part of. I'm just so lucky and I've just been soaking up every moment of it. And there are only a few more moments

where I get to wear this jersey, where I get to play with these guys. So yeah, there's nothing to do but smile, just love. - One more! I believe so much. Okay, I believe so much.

[dramatic, sweeping music] [dramatic, sweeping music continues] - Take your other sense of cues. [players speaking faintly, drowned out by music] - [Team Member] Oh yeah, this is it.

[dramatic, sweeping music] [dramatic, sweeping music] [players yelling] [hand slapping] - It's Championship Monday here at nationals, and it's no big surprise that we got North

Carolina and Brown. These two programs have been at the top of the men's division. It's a really interesting game because North Carolina is unquestionably the deeper team, but I

think Brown has the two, or three, or four top-level talents that might be able to carry them to victory. It's gonna be a fascinating contrast of styles. Certainly the wind is gonna be

a factor. I'm not certain who gets the advantage in the wind. Both teams are accomplished at throwing in these feisty conditions, but it's gonna be fascinating to watch it unfold.

- [Narrator] Brown is the favorite. They haven't lost a regular season tournament all year. Darkside would need all hands and legs on deck. - We have a pretty long history with Brown, I

would say. I think we've been the two programs at the top of the game for the last four years. - We know they're good, like they obviously have superstar players like John

Randolph, that guy is cracked off his mind. And so going into that game, definitely like a lot of nerves. - They're a really gritty team. I think we saw that at Smoky Mountain Invite,

but they proved that all season long, and they beat really, really good teams. - [Announcer] Our men's division final is a matchup of our last two national champions, University of

North Carolina Darkside and Brown University Brownian Motion. - [Narrator] The track record for Darkside at these nationals has been to turn things up a notch in the second half. All six

previous games started off tight, but in the finals, Darkside was loose from the jump. [crowd cheering] - [Announcer] Eli Fried with the deed, disc over to Darkside. [exciting music] [crowd

cheering] That's a break for North Carolina to go up one, zero. BMo unable to connect in the end zone, disc back to Darkside. [players yelling] [crowd and players cheering] - [Narrator]

Brown looked uncomfortable at the start, almost like the stage was too big. But this team was undefeated on the year, too much talent to stay down for long. But after this goal that pulled

Brown to within one, Darkside started doing Darkside things. - I think that, given Brown's success, especially the night before, I don't think that a team with that much regular

season success was used to being punched in the mouth like that. [exciting music continues] [crowd yelling] - [Announcer] Andrew Li to the end zone for Eli Fried, and the Darkside score.

[crowd cheering] That's another break for UNC, and it's to take half. - This is a team we know that can punch back. We've been up on this team. They're certainly not

gonna give up. This is the finals. They deserve to be here. - Don't get complacent. Stay in the moment. Don't get too comfortable. Even expect the other team to have success. Be

ready for them to have success. - Good teams don't win 'cause they take their feet off the gas pedal in the second half. We knew that they were gonna come back. - Even more. -

Yeah! - One more half, even more, even more. - [Narrator] Other than their dominating win to wrap up pool play, Darkside hadn't had a more impressive first half. Was this really

happening? A cakewalk in the finals? Yeah, right. [dark music] - [Announcer] Darkside on O to start the second half. [players yelling] [crowd cheering] Disc over to BMo in the Darkside turn.

John Randolph to the end zone for Leo Gordon, and the BMo score. [crowd cheering] That's back to back bricks for Brown. - With their strong start to start the second half, it only

validated that it was gonna take more from everyone in order to secure that win. - Cal Nightingale to the end zone for Talon Johnson, and the BMo score. - [Narrator] A comfortable lead was

now just two. And even the most sure handed had a few second half jitters when the lead started to shrink. - [Team Member] Just dropped it, maybe a little too tight coming out of the half. -

Part of me was really nervous and the other part of me was, knew that it was my responsibility to project confidence to the team, to the guys on the field. So when it was time for me to

walk out to the offensive line and talk to them about the next point, fake my level of confidence to make them feel like we were fine and we were gonna punch it in. - [Narrator] A

comfortable lead was now just two. The problem for Brown? Their opponent had yet another gear. In this race to 15, Darkside was about to turn on the afterburners. [crowd cheering] -

[Announcer] Liam Searles-Bohs to the end zone, Eli Fried brings it in for the Darkside score. [crowd cheering] [exciting music] [cheering continues] Liam Searles-Bohs with a boost to the end

zone. North Carolina on the doorstep, 14, Brown, nine. [crowd cheering and applauding] - We came out on offense, first, and thankfully last chance to win the game on O. - And as the the

Frisbee starts making its way down the field and you get closer to the red zone, you start getting this tingly feeling inside. - We worked it up super well, patiently, short passes. - [Team

Member] It was gonna be another kind of war of attrition, as far as being patient enough to find the right opening. - [Team Member] J. Mac and Rutledge did a really good job of moving the

disc side to side as we moved down the field and changed our angle of attack. - We have John McDonald and Tommy Williams sort of playing a little, a little catch, a little two-man game right

outside the end zone. - [Team Member] We had our set working outside of the end zone and, at that last second, Tommy slips up line. - [Team Member] Tommy kind of wriggled free up line on

the brake side, and. - [Team Member] John with a little half-pivot, high release outside inflict, leads him into the end zone. - J Mac is crafty as ever, just floats a perfect pass right

over the defender, under that front cone, completely uncontested. - [Team Member] Tommy catches what's basically a free, free goal to win the national championship. [crowd cheering] -

[Announcer] And that's a tournament winner, folks. North Carolina Darkside, 15, Brown Brownian Motion, 10. - [Narrator] The race to a championship was over. Darkside, back to back, back

to black. [crowd applauding and cheering] - We did it, we did it all in one moment. It's everything that everyone did, every moment over the course of the season, every workout, every

throw you throw outside of practice, it's like when that final goal gets caught, and you take your steps towards the field, it's just, it's us, it's just us. - Not

something I'd ever felt before and not something I'll ever feel again, which is the way it should be. I was really sad in that moment, really grateful and really sad. There's

so much wrapped up in the end of a season, regardless of the outcome. - In the moment, like amazing that we won. Like I was really joyous and hugging all my teammates, like loving all my

guys. And in the back of my head I'm like, there's the end. I mean that was the last game of college Ultimate that I'd be playing. [dramatic music] [crowd cheering] - We did

this, we did this. Every single one of us did this. Every single one of us did this. Just look around. That's all from me, baby. Hey, it's all us, it's all us. Hey, I love you

guys so much. - Repeat after me. We all we got. - We all we got. - We all we need. - We all we need. - We all we got. - We all we got. - We all we need. - we all we need. - We all we got. -

We all we got. - We all we need. - We all we need. - Darkside on three, one, two, three. - [Team In Unison] Darkside! [team members cheering] [low, tense music] [crowd cheering] [tense

music continues] [tense music continues] [players yelling] [crowd cheering] [tense music continues] [crowd cheering]