We reveal our preseason Top 25 for the 2024 D-I college season, continuing with the #6 through #15!
January 18, 2024 by Edward Stephens, Patrick Stegemoeller, Alex Rubin, Jenna Weiner, Jake Thorne, Felicia Zheng, Grace Conerly, Laura Osterlund, Scott Dunham and Jacob Cowan in Rankings with 0 comments
Ultiworld’s College Power Rankings, presented by the National Ultimate Training Camp!
We are excited to present the 2024 preseason College Power Rankings! As we head into a new season, we’ve looked at past performance, roster changes, preseason results, and more to figure out how we think the team could stack up this season. Take a look at our first rankings set of the spring college season and read up about each Top 25 team.
We will be counting down our rankings in three parts:
#25 to #16
#15 to #6
The Top 5
D-I Women’s
6. Oregon Fugue
2023 Finish: #11 in Power Rankings, T-9th at Nationals, 22-15 record
Oregon are headlined by some of the best sophomore talent in the country with Trout Weybright and Syris Linkfield returning for their second seasons, and joined by Western Washington transfer (and Schwa teammate) Acacia Hahn. This powerful trio is backed up by an experienced core of returners and a promising rookie class. It’s unclear what the ceiling for Oregon is this year, but they certainly have the talent and potential to challenge any team in this division.
– Felicia Zheng
7. Carleton Syzygy
2023 Finish: #7 in Power Rankings, T-5th at Nationals, 29-5 record
It seems as if every year is the same story for Carleton Syzygy, and this season is no different. They have a strong roster of returning talent, including Tori Gray, Mia Beeman-Weber, Aria Kischner, and Naomi Fina, and also have several talented new additions in Chagall Gelfand and Mimi Kniser1. You best believe that Syzygy will put on a show this year and will remain a team to beat.
– Laura Osterlund
8. Washington Element
2023 Finish: #9 in Power Rankings, T-5th at Nationals, 17-12 record
Element are stepping into a new era post-Abby Hecko, but luckily for them they bring in a number of talented rookies – headlined by Lauren Goddu – to ease the transition. They also return Sophia Palmer, Anna Cauchy, Lucy Tanner, and Savanna Tucker. With all their obviously abundant talent, the question becomes: can they put the pieces together to push into semis?
– Grace Conerly
9. BYU CHI
2023 Finish: #8 in Power Rankings, Did Not Participate in Series , 10-3 record
After convincingly establishing themselves as a top-10 team the past couple of years, BYU CHI are a team in transition in 2024 with just eight returners and 11 rookies. However, those eight include power duo Olivia Munns and Kate Barry, while the 11 include YCC Swarm powerhouse Stella Ahnder and Utah State transfer Nikki Merrill. It might just be a smooth transition after all.
– Scott Dunham
10. UC Santa Barbara Burning Skirts
2023 Finish: #10 in Power Rankings, T-9th at Nationals, 28-10 record
For a team that came within a point of knocking off both Carleton and Stanford at the 2023 College Championships, could we be underrating the Burning Skirts’ potential? The 2023 All-American duo of Julia Hasbrook and Devin Quinn is back to wreak havoc on opposing defenses, Laura Blume is as good of a third option as you’ll find, while Vienna Lee heads up UCSB’s deep supporting line. That’s plenty good enough to at least play close with just about anyone, if not make it back to quarters or beyond.
– Jenna Weiner
11. Tufts EWO
2023 Finish: #6 in Power Rankings, T-5th at Nationals, 26-5 record
It isn’t exactly clear where Tufts Ewo – stalwarts of the top of the division – will end up in 2024. On one hand, the Lia Schwarz / Emily Kemp combo is easily top-5 in college, Edi Lam might be the preseason DPOTY favorite, and they consistently develop great talent. On the other, they’ve graduated a big cadre of last year’s top contributors, including Olivia Goss and Hazel Ostrowski.
– Edward Stephens
12. Colorado State Hell’s Belles
2023 Finish: #17 in Power Rankings, T-9th at Nationals, 15-15 record
The gang’s all back for CSU Hell’s Belles, as they return their entire top seven players from the group that took them all the way into the bracket of Nationals in 2023 after a happy-to-be-there trip in 2022. With the two Graces (Brown and Goldenberg) in the backfield, Kiera Schreiber and Willow Purvis downfield, and Charlotte Bokhof, Cice Kim, and Genevieve Reyland-Slawson making plays at all levels of the pitch, 2024 may just be the year they break into the elite eight.
– Scott Dunham
13. UC San Diego Dragon Coalition
2023 Finish: Unranked in Power Rankings, 3rd at Southwest Regionals, 21-15 record
It remains the Abbi Shilts show down in sunny San Diego, but the Dragon Coalition superstar may have more help this time around. Margot Nissen, a 2024 USA U20 selection after playing at WJUC with France in 2022, headlines a strong UC San Diego recruiting class, which should help lighten the load on Shilts’ shoulders. With the Southwest region perhaps not as strong as in seasons past, D.Co will hope that Nissen and crew find their feet quickly with the start of the Southwest Triple Crown around the corner.
– Jenna Weiner
14. Western Washington Chaos
2023 Finish: #15 in Power Rankings, 4th at Northwest Regionals, 8-14 record
WWU Chaos have been slowly rebuilding back into a Pacific NW powerhouse. With their best players all underclassmen in 2023, Western dropped the game-to-go to a more experienced UVic team that they had beaten three times earlier in the season. Despite losing Acacia Hahn to Oregon, Chaos should take another step forward in 2024, courtesy of a top-flight rookie class featuring immediate impact players Alexa Coca and Natalie Collier joining the now-seasoned Marin Cohan, Amaya Krutsinger, Sam Dellapenta, and Lilli Werner.
– Scott Dunham
15. Victoria Vikes
2023 Finish: #14 in Power Rankings, T-15th at Nationals, 13-16 record
UVic returns the power tandem of Alicia Brolly and Arabella Brudney that propelled them to Nationals in 2023, but the question mark for 2024 is depth with the graduation of Leo and Laura Devonshire. Look for Ericka Edgell, Taylor Betonte, and Taryn Webster to step up for the Vikes, as they likely face off with Western Washington again in the game-to-go (or slide easily into Nationals if BYU claims their bid at Conferences).
– Scott Dunham
D-I Men’s
6. Colorado Mamabird
2023 Finish: #9 in Power Rankings, T-9th at Nationals, 30-7 record
Buoyed by veterans like Calvin Stoughton, Nathan Buchholz, and Seth Wells, Mamabird have every intention of pushing past last year’s prequarters exit and returning to something closer to the heights of 2022. That might seem like a tough ask without the injured Danny Landesman, until you remember that Colorado have perhaps the country’s best group of underclassmen, led by Tobias Brooks.
– Edward Stephens
7. Oregon Ego
2023 Finish: #8 in Power Rankings, T-5th at Nationals, 38-11 record
Oregon are one of the most exciting teams in the division. Ego punctuated their return to Nationals last season with a bracket upset over heavily favored Colorado and will look to build on that success. Mica Glass is already a bona fide star who can score from anywhere on the field and is a plus defender. They compensate for Itay Chang’s departure with the additions of Raekwon Adkins (Oakland Spiders) and Cal Phinney (USA U20). In a competitive Northwest, Oregon should walk out a winner.
– Alex Rubin
8. Georgia Jojah
2023 Finish: #11 in Power Rankings, T-9th at Nationals, 24-14 record
Georgia take the field this spring looking to build on a promising fall that saw them take second at Classic City Classic on the back of some stellar play from Jake Powell, Cole Chanler, Adam Miller, and Scotty Whitley. Expect them to play at an even higher level this spring, as they bring in top-quality reinforcement Aidan Downey, who returns from a semester abroad. Well positioned for a strong season with so much of their roster back from last year’s prequarters exit, don’t be surprised if Georgia meet and surpass their finish from last year.
– Jacob Cowan
9. Texas TUFF
2023 Finish: #10 in Power Rankings, T-5th at Nationals, 30-9 record
Texas came thiiiiiiiis close last season to breaking through the program’s perpetual quarterfinal ceiling, receiving on universe with a chance to upset UMass and make semifinals. Welp, that didn’t pan out. TUFF will have to cope with the loss of Matt Chambers and Zach Slayton to take the next step forward at Nationals, but good results at CCC in the fall point towards another season in the top half of Nationals teams for Texas.
– Patrick Stegemoeller
10. Pittsburgh En Sabah Nur
2023 Finish: #7 in Power Rankings, T-5th at Nationals, 28-9 record
Most years you would look at the returning quadrangle of Henry Ing, Tristan Yarter, Scott Heyman, and Aidan Landis and assume Pitt would be a shoo-in semis team on sheer talent alone. But, uh, this isn’t most years. With extra COVID eligibility extending the careers of top players, it seems like every team has a handful of elite vets coming back this season. The results of this returning core for Pitt have been underwhelming, and this season they’ll have to prove that they belong alongside the great Pitt generations of the past decade.
– Patrick Stegemoeller
11. Minnesota Grey Duck
2023 Finish: #14 in Power Rankings, T-13th at Nationals, 21-14 record
News flash: Minnesota are gonna be good this year. Last season, a statement win just barely evaded Grey Duck over and over, perhaps encapsulated best by their two universe point pool play losses to California and Brown at Nationals. With all of last year’s top performers returning – most notably Paul Krenik, Ian McCosky, and Anthony Jirele – Minnesota have all the parts needed to rectify their close losses from last year and position themselves amongst the division’s elite.
– Jacob Cowan
12. Vermont Chill
2023 Finish: #6 in Power Rankings, T-3rd at Nationals, 26-12 record
It could be a small backward step for Chill in 2024. Of the strongest 2023 men’s division teams, no one lost more of their top-end talent from last spring. But Parker Lin-Butler, Zack Watson-Stevens, and Declan Kervick are upperclassmen now, and CJ Kiepert is on a heater. If all of them can step up in the right way, this ranking could look pretty silly pretty soon.
– Edward Stephens
13. Carleton CUT
2023 Finish: #13 in Power Rankings, T-9th at Nationals, 26-15 record
After a couple down years things seem to be turning around as The Cut™ have gotten back to their old ways of recruiting top youth players from around the country. With an O-line led by Seattle’s Declan Miller and Daniel Chen, a D-line led by New York’s Leo Jordan and Leo Xiao, and star freshman and recent U20 selections Tej Murthy and Ryan DuSaire providing reinforcements from New Jersey and Minnesota respectfully, it seems that the whole country is conspiring to return Carleton to the upper echelons of the division. Are they a dark horse quarters team?
– Jacob Cowan
14. California Ursa Major
2023 Finish: #12 in Power Rankings, T-9th at Nationals, 32-15 record
Prequarterfinalists UC Berkeley run it back with essentially the same roster, plus some really nice freshman pieces to bolster their chances of making a deeper run this year. In particular, Dylan Pearson (coming out of the New Jersey DEVYL scene) and Mitchell Gibson (brother of Max Gibson) will play big roles day one. They will still rely heavily on Gavin May and Dexter Clyburn but their ancillary pieces should be more impactful this year.
– Jake Thorne
15. Utah State Scotsmen
2023 Finish: #19 in Power Rankings, T-17th at Nationals, 25-17 record
After a surprisingly strong finish last season without Garrett Martin, Utah State are primed for a massive season. They return DJ Sorensen, Tony Mounga, and most importantly the Hoffman bros — who are among the finest talent in the entire division. They also add Salt Lake Shred’s Chase Smith, who is a 6’5 viking of a man that adds even more athleticism for the Scotsmen. The question is, “Have they surpassed BYU for most athletic team in the Northwest?”
– Jake Thorne
although she technically isn’t new to the team, Kniser was injured for all of last season ↩
