Tommy Koch was standing on the sideline during the final point of the 2015 USAUltimate D-III College Championships when the final buzzer sounded. Realizing that Franciscan FATAL had capped off an undefeated season with a national championship, Koch dropped to his knees and started crying.

"I could not keep my emotions in,"  said Koch. "It was insane. I just fell to the ground, I couldn't believe it. It was literally unbelievable"

In the span of one year, Franciscan FATAL, the club Ultimate Frisbee team at Franciscan University of Steubenville, went from barely missing the national tournament to the top of the

Division III Ultimate world in just the teams second year.

It took a year and a half before the university recognized Franciscan FATAL as an official club. After receiving that designation, however, the team received almost immediate

attention both locally and nationally since FATAL could finally do more than just play pickup games.

In 2014, the teams first official year as a club sport, Franciscan FATAL missed out on the national tournament by just one point, causing other Ultimate teams to stop and take notice of

the Barons. Only graduating one player from the team that year, Koch knew that 2015 was going to be special.

"We kind of put ourselves and the school on the map as far as the Ultimate community goes," said Koch. "All of a sudden, people said, 'Who is this Franciscan team?' After our first year as an official club, I had high hopes going into the following year because we only graduated one guy. We were able to maintain that team chemistry as well as recruit new guys. I

had a good feeling going into the season but I didn't know it was going to be that good."

As the 2015 season moved along, one thing was missing, though – a loss in the team's record. Franciscan FATAL emerged from each tournament unscathed, including the conference

and regional tournaments, an incredible feat for any Ultimate Frisbee team but especially for one only in its second year of existence.

Moving into the USA Ultimate D-III College Championships, FATAL faced its toughest competition of the entire season, advancing by scores of 15-11, 13-9, 15-11 and 14-10, much

closer games than the team had played all season. In the semifinal game, Franciscan FATAL narrowly escaped SUNY-Geneseo by a 12-11 score to advance to the national championship

against Brandeis University.

An hour and a half later, by a score of 13-9, Franciscan FATAL was crowned D-III national champions, finishing a perfect 28-0 on the season.

2016 brought a lot of changes for Franciscan FATAL, however, as the team welcomed a head coach while graduating over half of its starters from the national championship-winning

"Getting a coach at this time was perfect," said Ian Gill, team treasurer. "It was just the perfect amount of time to lose those super stars, to lose those seniors, and then have this coach to think about the future, to build up the young guys into a good Ultimate program rather than just the winning team from last year."

Despite a brand new look to the team, FATAL extended its winning streak to start the 2016 season, winning the first five games at the D-III Midwestern Invite in Marion, Indiana,

before tasting defeat for the first time in over a year. In fact, the Barons lost two games in the tournament, finishing with a 5-2 record and taking fourth place overall.

"This early in the season, I'm not super worried about (the losses)," said Coach Alex Renn. "It gives us incentive to grow and work hard. It teaches us to deal with losing, which is

probably common to all Frisbee teams. It doesn't hurt our run at the national championship again; it's just somewhere to grow from. When you lose players and introduce new players, the

team dynamic changes and you have to get used to that."

While Renn believes that the early season losses will not hurt FATALs run at back-to- back championships, the team is still feeling the pressure of living up to last year.

"This year, we have that pressure of going back-to- back," said Gill. "Our goal is to make it to nationals; our ceiling is to win nationals."

Now team president and captain, Koch is more realistic about the team's expectations.

"As far as topping last year, I don't know if you can really get any better than an undefeated season," said Koch. "We're just going to try to do our best and see what happens. It's

going to be hard to tell."