On the second day of Christmas Ultiworld gave to me...two unbelievable moments of college seasons past!
December 13, 2024 by Edward Stephens and Lindsay Soo in Preview
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2025 college season is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
It’s time to unwrap some presents as we introduce the 12 Days of College Ultimate. For the next 12 days, we will be releasing one gift per day, though don’t count on getting any holiday fowl: it’s all college ultimate. From highlight videos to player chatter to a season predictions, we’ve got a little something for everyone. On the second day of the 12 Days of College Ultimate, we highlight some of the top new recruits joining the ranks of college ultimate.
Some say you make your own luck. Some say luck is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes luck is Karma for boldfaced gaslighting. Check out these two lucky/unlucky moments for this Friday the 13th.
Dena Elimelech’s Mermaid Catch (2019 D-I Women’s College Final)
In a heavily upwind-downwind college final between the two best teams in the country in 2019, Dartmouth had the disc on universe point going downwind. They (sensibly) punted for field position, banking on their stacked line – Jack Verzuh, Caitlyn Lee, Claire Trop, Caroline Tornquist – and the elements to get the disc back. All they needed was one underbaked upwind pass from UC San Diego to give them a prime opportunity. They got the underbaked pass almost immediately. And then luck stepped in…
It was somehow not even Elimelech’s best catch on this point as UCSD completed perhaps the most iconic championship-winning drive in the sport’s history.
Colorado Gaslights Brown (2022 Smoky Mountain Invite Men’s Final)
Does the universe have a sense of justice?
Make-up calls aren’t really a thing in ultimate. A ticky-tack travel or foul will, on occasion, receive a cynical retort later in the game, but a truly bad call typically languishes in the past without redress. That wasn’t the case, though, in the final of the 2022 Smoky Mountain Invite. Near the end of the first half, Colorado made one of the more ludicrous (read: completely untrue) calls of all-time against Brown. Relive that bizarre moment and, crucially for this Friday the 13th, Colorado’s unlucky universe point comeuppance below.
Sometimes karma gets it right. Listen to the full story on this episode of Sin the Fields.
