On the twelfth day of Christmas Ultiworld gave to me...reasons to get hype for the 2025 college season!
December 23, 2024 by Ultiworld 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 conclude the 12 Days of College Ultimate. Over the 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.
Rounding out the 12 Days of College Ultimate, our reporters present the things they’re most excited about for the 2024 season!
1. A Regular Season That Matters
Club Nationals was exciting, but all we could talk about during the post-season awards conversation was how the regular season didn’t mean much. Why bother playing the games then? Sure it was a weird year with the World Ultimate Championships interrupting Pro Champs and other international pickups not playing the entire season with their club teams, but fear not: the college regular season matters. Will promising teams like Georgia Tech men’s and Cal Poly SLO women’s earn bids for their regions? What will the defending champions (Brown men’s and UNC women’s) look like without the stars who carried them to last season’s title? The club season does not really start until mid-September, but the college season starts in earnest during the last weekend of January and carries us through the winter and spring. I, for one, will be watching nearly every weekend thanks to Ultiworld’s streaming capabilities and I couldn’t be more excited for so many more games to matter.
– Alex Rubin
2. Down with the Old Guard
For the last three college seasons, many of the big names and storylines have been dominated by older players, grad students who have been playing since before the pandemic. Now, names like Dawn Culton, Henry Ing, and Jacques Nissen have moved on, and we might finally get to see the generation of players who matriculated after the pandemic shine. Although there is one final season of sixth-year eligibility, I’m expectant and hopeful that underclassmen will be able to make huge splashes in 2025 in ways that have been barricaded from them by their obstinately enrolled elders.
– Graham Gordon
3. The Last Year of Sixth Years
As my colleague Graham wrote above, it’s the last season of sixth years! Before the changing of the guard, I’m excited to watch these veteran stars who have defined the division for so long have their last hurrah. Will Aidan Downey, fresh off winning the Callahan, lead Georgia to glory? Is this the year Madison Ong finally gets her title? Does Emily Przykucki have another championship season ahead of her? What sort of wonders will the final years of Ben Dameron and Tristan Yarter hold? Can Margo Donahue help push Cal Poly SLO over the Nationals hump? It’s the long-awaited finale and I’ve got my popcorn ready to see how these sixth years go out.
– Felicia Zheng
4. Team Kits
College is the best time to ignore work and get down to the real business of redesigning school jerseys from the ground up. It’s why you signed on that graphic design student. So, go on. Show us what you got. Jersey design is integral to overall team success. We all know it. You want to be at the top? Look good, feel good, do good (well). We’ll be keeping an eye out for the best eye catching designs, good or bad.
– Emilia Scheemaker
5. D-III Royalty vs. Scholarship Programs
In our Men’s Division D-III staff picks, there were three (near) consensus semis picks: the two scholarship schools, Davenport and Oklahoma Christian, and perennial powerhouse Middlebury. For what usually feels like a wide open division, this level of consensus was odd. Even odder is that just one of those schools (OC) even made semis last year. I’m very excited to see whether or not these picks were smart as the season plays out.
– Josh Katz
6. A Claire Lee Line
What do you even say about a 28-assist, 43-block, 89-turnover statline at Nationals? If you’re Macalester Pursesnatchers, you don’t say anything and just enjoy the ride. Because those are the numbers that Claire Lee put up at D-III Nationals last year en route to quarters. And by ‘en route’ I mean ‘en route’: Lee’s biggest performance was against Lewis & Clark Artemis in a universe point prequarters classic. High-turnover ultimate can still be great in D-III. Let’s see if Lee can hit triple digits this year while willing the Pursesnatchers to even greater heights.
– Edward Stephens
7. Fresh Cellies
2024 was the year of Raygun and sideline props, can anything top it in 2025? Will teams keep loading up with spike discs, wagons, teddy bears, and pool noodles until sidelines are unrecognizable? Will more and more snacks find their way into the tiny pockets of athletic shorts to be consumed joyously after a score? Or will teams stop celebrating entirely to focus on what really matters, winning at Ultimate Frisbee™? Either way, with the influx of livesteams at tournaments, be ready for anything.
– Grace Conerly
8. A U24 Snub Simp Holds Gotham Hostage Until Their Demands Are Met
From the desk of police commissioner Gordon –
I’ve seen a lot of crazies over the years in this job. The Joker. Bane. That polka dot guy. But this is something new. A deranged individual has rigged a series of toxic devices that will poison the city’s water supply unless “the USAU elites admit to the depths of their conspiracy, withdraw the parade of false idols, and select my teammate who cooked all of those guys at Warm Up last year.” I have no idea what that means. God help us all.
– Patrick Stegemoeller
9. Star-Powered Title Chase
The list of potential D-I title teams is lengthy, across both divisions. The lines between tiers are blurry and indefinite. Are UMass Zoodisc or Carleton CUT going to do what many of their talented predecessors have failed? Can Colorado Quandary and Vermont Ruckus kick off the phantoms of close calls past? Are we too eager to write off the likes of Stanford Superfly and Pittsburgh En Sabah Nur? Plus, as Felicia mentioned, we are absolutely popping with established club stars. The bar to be the cream of the crop is higher than ever. The Player of the Year race could be just as dramatic. I’m not only excited to see how the final two days of the season play out – the setup has all the makings of a true classic in 2025.
– Keith Raynor
10. The Great D-III Level-Up
After the pandemic, the level of ultimate in the D-III division certainly fell off a bit, which is understandable. In 2025 however, the division looks like it will bounce back tremendously. 20 players from D-III were invited to U24 tryouts compared to 2023’s 12. Scholarship programs are drawing in talent from all over the world. And more high schoolers with YCC experience are taking their talents to the 7500 club than ever. The increase in the level of play will be a treat to watch and hopefully could even convince USAU to make a 20-team Nationals soon.
– Calvin Ciorba
11. Inclement Weather Ultimate
If you were in attendance, either as a player or a spectator, at last year’s college Nationals then one thing is for certain, you got wet. The storms that rolled through on Friday and Sunday were no joke. While it became annoying to have numerous games delayed and postponed, I do think there was a silver lining to be appreciated. There is just something so clima(c)tic and glorious about playing in the rain. Take the men’s semifinal between Colorado Mamabird and eventual champions, Brown Brownian Motion. Both teams had to battle both the opposition and the elements in what was an absolute torrential downpour. It was simply awesome. Every block was more triumphant, the goals were gritty, and it’s something I hope for more of in the 2025 college season
– Matt Fazzalaro
12. The Quest for Five
Did we bury the lede? Short answer: yes. For nearly two weeks of daily college ultimate posts we’ve danced around the idea of more history like it’s a deep-rooted superstition instead of addressing it head on. Time to make amends for that. There is no bigger, better, or more tantalizing story in the upcoming 2025 season than the potential for UNC Pleiades to extend their record-breaking streak. No, not that streak, which finally came to an end at the 2024 Northwest Challenge. The ongoing streak is the title streak. The greatest team in the history of college ultimate won their fourth straight ‘chip last May, and they are among the frontrunners to win again on Memorial Day next year. The fourth was a monumental, previously unreached achievement. A fifth would essentially place them beyond the reach of any future aspirant to the claim of Greatest of All Time. Whether they succeed or fall short, the chase will be a gift to all of us who have (at least) one more chance to witness history in the making.
– Edward Stephens
