Weather dampened the proceedings in Santa Barbara, but Cal Poly and UBC emerged victorious in the first major tournament of the season.
January 27, 2025 by Alex Rubin in Preview, Recap
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.
Throughout the spring season, we’ll publishing a bite-sized weekly recap of the action across the college division. This will serve as a supplement to our standard tournament reporting and offer a high-level look at the latest happenings and the biggest stories of the week.
Want your tournament listed? Submit a recap of what happened right here.
D-I Women’s Division
Thunderbirds and Thunderstorms in Santa Barbara
#4 British Columbia Thunderbirds emerged victorious from a talented field at Santa Barbara Invite. They defeated #5 Oregon Fugue, #2 Colorado Quandary, and #16 Utah Spiral Jetty in the bracket after knocking off #10 Washington Element and #16 UC Santa Cruz Sol. #6 Carleton Syzygy were the fourth semifinalists, but their quarterfinal opponents #20 Cal Poly SLO Slo Motion stole the show with upset wins over Washington, #15 Pennsylvania Venus and #13 BYU CHI. Ultiworld recorded nine games from the weekend that subscribers can watch in the video library.
Sunday’s bracket rounds were cut short after midday rains made the grass fields unplayable and the entire tournament crammed into the turf. The final was played scheduled to have just a 50 minute cap. Stay tuned for more coverage of the event in our Tournament Talk series, set to relaunch this week.
North Carolina Kick Off the Season with a Win
#3 UNC Pleiades went undefeated to open their season against regional competition at Carolina Kickoff. Pleiades notched bagels against both Emory and Emory B and did not allow double-digit goals all weekend.
Around the Division
- Georgia Tech Wreck upset Florida Fuel in the final and top seeded Central Florida Sirens in semis to win the Florida Winter Classic.
- Grand Canyon FalLopes and San Diego State Gnomes each went undefeated in pool play and met in the final at New Year Fest. The score of that final is unreported and neither team updated their social media accounts with any news. Do you know what happened? Let us know!
- Sunday’s results from T-Town Throwdown XX are likewise not recorded, though D-III Berry’s Instagram reports they went undefeated on Sunday and are tournament champions. Do you know what happened? Let us know!
- Virginia Hydra won their home tournament, Winta Binta Vinta. They upset top seed Ohio State Fever in the final.
Looking Ahead
It’s a quiet week in the women’s division. Just two events are scheduled, and both are west coast qualifiers: Presidents’ Day Qualifier and Stanford Open.
D-I Men’s Division
Cal Poly SLO defend SBI Crown
Though they lost their opening game of the season to BYU CHI in their traditional Friday night showcase, #3 Cal Poly SLO SLOCORE ran the rest of the table and took down ascending teams in #17 Washington Sundodgers and #16 Cal Ursa Major to win the Santa Barbara Invite. UBC Thunderbirds were the fourth semifinalists, giving a strong early season showing for the Northwest. The biggest surprise, however, came from the Great Lakes region where Illinois Rise upset #24 Utah Valley Ultimate and earned a spot in quarterfinals.
Sunday’s bracket rounds were cut short after midday rains made the grass fields unplayable and the entire tournament crammed into the turf. The final was played scheduled to have just a 50 minute cap. Stay tuned for more coverage of the event in our Tournament Talk series, set to relaunch this week. Ultiworld recorded nine games from the weekend that subscribers can watch in the video library.
Ego Uno
#1 Oregon Ego took home the title at PacCon. Ego survived a universe point scare against #9 Oregon State Beavers in pool play before dispatching them 15-10 in the final. Western Washington Dirt gave a strong showing, with identical 15-12 losses to Oregon State on each day of the tournament.
Merry Times at Warm Up
This recap was submitted by a William & Mary player
Mid Atlantic Warmup featured nineteen teams from across the East Coast, but was headlined by top seeded Michigan State. MSU, William & Mary, Carnegie Mellon, and Cincinnati finished atop their respective pools, securing byes into quarters. Of those teams, only Cincy failed to make semis, losing to James Madison.
In semis, JMU kept it rolling against MSU, winning 11-9, while William & Mary beat CMU 15-9. Ultimately, the Merry men came away with the chip, 14-9 over the Hellfish. The William and Mary Merry Men proved to be the class of the tournament, going 7-0 with their closest game being 13-8 against Richmond in quarters. The Merrymen O-line dazzled on Sunday and was unbroken through their three games of bracket play. Braxton Breed, Jacob Herz, and Sam Brothers were standout players for the Merry Men as well as freshman Marcus Lee, who competed for the US U20 National Team this past summer, and Ben Greenberg of Truck Stop fame, who managed to play both days despite load management concerns.
Around the Division
- William & Mary Merry Men did not give up double digit points in a single game as they cruised to a tournament victory at Mid-Atlantic Warm Up. James Madison Hellfish lost a game in pool play but rebounded to make the final
- Colorado B CUCU went undefeated across two days of play to win New Year Fest. San Diego State Federales were their first and final opponents.
- D-III Berry Bucks won T-Town Throwdown XX. Like San Diego State at New Year Fest, host Alabama Yellow Hammer lost to Berry in pool play and also in the final.
Looking Ahead
Florida Warm Up is the headline attraction where #5 UMass Zoodisc, #6 Carleton CUT, #7 Pittsburgh En Sabah Nur, #8 Vermont Chill, #11 Washington University Contra, #12 Georgia Jojah, #13 Minnesota Club Ultimate Team, #14 Michigan MagnUM, #15 Texas TUFF, and #20 Brown Brownian Motion. BYU is playing on back to back weekends and should help bring connectivity to the rankings after events on both coasts.
Carolina Kickoff will also have a strong field, with #2 UNC Darkside making their season debut alongside Nationals hopefuls #21 Georgia Tech Tribe, UNC Wilmington Seamen, and NC State Alpha. Pres Day Quals and Big D in Little D round out the action.
D-III Women’s Division
Around the Division
- Berry Valkyries won T-Town Throwdown against D-I competition, going undefeated while never allowing more than six points in pool play.
Looking Ahead
With just Presidents’ Day Qualifier and Stanford Open on the docket for next week, it looks like another weekend without much D-III competition in the women’s division. The D-III Grand Prix in two weeks time will be worth the wait!
D-III Men’s Division
Around the Division
- #8 Richmond Spidermonkeys lost to eventual champion William & Mary in the Mid-Atlantic Warm Up quarterfinals. Coming in seeded 16th, Richmond upset several teams to cap a successful weekend with a 6th place finish. Fellow Atlantic Coast teams Christopher Newport Skymaul and Navy Poseidon each featured as well. Navy suffered a winless weekend save for a last game forfeit “over” Virginia Commonwealth. Christopher Newport managed a win over Pennsylvania Void and Navy in pool play, but lost their pre-qarterfinal to eventual finalist James Madison and finished 12th.
- #13 Berry Bucks won T-Town Throwdown XX, upsetting Alabama Yellow Hammer 13-12 in pool play and winning 15-12 in the final. In their first year after Donovan Award nominee Collin Hill’s graduation, Berry are showing positive signs towards improvement, and should be right back in the Nationals picture. Union Jaxx also had a strong showing, making the championship bracket but losing to Berry in quarterfinals.
Looking Ahead
#10 Carleton CHOP and #12 Elon Big Fat Bomb will be in action this coming weekend at Carolina Kickoff, and a whole slate of teams will be in action at the D-III Grand Prix two weeks from now.
