Seattle Cascades Win OT Thriller Against Salt Lake Shred 23-22
By Becca Weinberg
The Seattle Cascades secured a nail-biting overtime win against the Salt Lake Shred this weekend with a final score of 23-22. With back-to-back wins over Colorado yesterday and the Shred today, the Cascades have officially secured the two seed in the West Division and will host the first round home playoff game against Salt Lake. Playoff dates and information will be announced soon via the team’s social media and newsletter. Impact players in today’s game include handler Spencer Lofink with six assists and two goals, handler Conor Belfield with two assists and six goals, and cutter Gavin Leahy with three goals and 284 receiving yards.
Seattle Cascades’ Zeppelin Raunig jumps for the disc during the team’s 23-22 victory over the Salt Lake Shred on July 4th, 2026 in Salt Lake City, Utah (Photo by Roxanne Duennebeil, provided by the Seattle Cascades).
First quarter: 5-5
Both teams traded points in the first quarter with an evenly-matched start to the game. Goals from handler Conor Belfield, handler Spencer Lofink, handler Ben Kass-Mullet, cutter Jack Brown were assisted twice by Lofink and once each by cutter Gavin Leahy, handler Mikey O’Brien, and handler Brandon Li. The Cascades recorded just four turnovers in the first quarter and focused on efficient offensive sets to keep the game close.
Second quarter: 9-10
Seattle opened the second quarter with two forced turnovers thanks to blocks by cutters Langley Fitzpatrick and Caleb Campbell. They were able to convert both points into goals with Lofink finding Leahy and hybrid player Zeppelin Raunig connecting with hybrid player Garrett Martin. Salt Lake quickly got one back, but the Cascades responded with a huge grab by Kass-Mullet over his defender off an assist from Raunig. The Shred followed with a scoring run of four goals in a row that erased their goal deficit, and Leahy closed out the half by catching a deflected pass in the endzone from Lofink to limit the damage. The Cascades entered halftime down one.
Third quarter: 15-14
The start of the second half featured another series of back-and-forth points. Three goals from Belfield, two from Martin, and one from handler Louie Bertoncin were assisted by handler Derek Mourad, cutter Austin Hasbrook, handler Emmet Shipway, Lofink, and O’Brien. The Cascades held just a one goal lead entering the fourth quarter.
Fourth quarter: 21-21
A high-scoring fourth quarter ended in dramatic fashion with a goal by Salt Lake in the final seconds to send the game to overtime. Handler Grant Harris, Lofink, Raunig, Fitzpatrick, Belfield, and Leahy scored the Cascades’ final goals of the fourth quarter with assists from handler Tommy Lin, Leahy, Belfield, O’Brien, and Martin. Teams got a short break before preparing for the five-minute overtime quarter with playoff implications on the line.
Overtime: 23-22
The Cascades’ opening possession found the end zone with Belfield sneaking a pass to Kass-Mullet through a clump of defenders. The Shred worked up the field after the Cascades’ goal but a layout block from Fitzpatrick retained possession for Seattle in an exciting forced turnover. Seattle scored their second goal of overtime with Fitzpatrick receiving the disc back in the endzone and catching a pass from O’Brien over his defender. With the Cascades up two, the Shred scored their first goal of overtime with one minute and thirty seconds left. After getting the disc back, the Cascades were able to successfully stall and keep obsession without a turnover to secure a thrilling and important win.
Stat of the game:
In their tenth game of the season, the Seattle Cascades recorded a 90% red zone conversion, scoring on nine of their 10 attempts. Seattle’s focus on valuing possession as they got closer to the endzone was evident in their calculated passing and powered them to an overtime win.
What’s next:
The Cascades will travel to Portland for their third of four matchups this season against their Northwest rival Oregon Steel. The game will take place this weekend on July 10th at 7pm.
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social
〰️
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
Check out our previous Seattle Cascades articles here.
Check out our previous articles with writing for CSS by Becca Weinberg here, and her work with Lookout Landing here.
Cover photo and photos in this article by Roxanne Duennebeil, as provided by the Seattle Cascades.
Support the work of Circling Seattle Sports by checking out our merchandise!
