Bad weather disrupted tournaments across the country, but meaningful action still took place in every division.
March 17, 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.
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D-I Women’s
It was a quieter week in the D-I Women’s division with just a single ranked team in action. There was plenty of regional action to highlight though:
Around the Division
- D-III’s Davenport Panthers won their home tournament – Davenport Spring Skirmish. Skip down to the D-III section to read more about their weekend. Michigan State Moose got the better of Grand Valley State Lakers twice to cement their place as the best D-I team in attendance.
- Tally Classic XIX switched to an abbreviated, straight-to-the-bracket format to adjust for inclement weather. Florida Fuel finished 3-0 to take the title, capping off an otherwise dominant weekend with a 7-6 victory over the Central Florida Sirens in the final.
- With the same weather impacting the Southerns schedule, teams played on Saturday from 8am until 8pm to get as much of a full tournament in as possible. UNC Wilmington Seaweed and Denver Hype were scheduled to play in the final, but that game was cancelled.
Looking Ahead
For the first time this spring, our attention will largely turn towards the Pacific Northwest. Nationals will be in Burlington, WA in a few months, but first the region will host Northwest Challenge this coming weekend. Seven of the top eight teams in the country – #1 UBC Thunderbirds, #3 Oregon Fugue, #4 Carleton Syzygy, #5 Colorado Quandary, #6 UNC Pleiades, #7 Vermont Ruckus, #8 Stanford Superfly – and a handful of other strong challengers are set to put on a tremendous demonstration of the best of the best, and, likely, what to expect on Memorial Day Weekend.
Down south, teams like #14 Utah Spiral Jetty, #21 UCLA BLU, and (of course) hosts Texas Melee are practicing their dance routines for the annual contest at Centex, which is also a frisbee tournament. Regional events this week include: Jersey Devil, Meltdown, Atlantic Coast Open, Get Down to Business, and Moxie Madness.
D-I Men’s
Trouble in Texas?
Tufts E-Men took down #14 Texas TUFF in the final of Centex, avenging a loss from earlier in the tournament. Both teams largely took care of business before the final, with Texas’s universe point win over Utah Valley Ultimate the closest call of the finalists in pool play. Texas then beat Tufts in a seeding crossover, but both teams scored comfortable quarterfinal and semifinal wins.
Elsewhere, Chicago Fission continued their strong season with a run to the quarterfinals. A pool play loss to Texas and a semifinal loss to Tufts removed them from contention in the tournament. Splitting games with #25 Wisconsin Hodags looks like a missed opportunity to make a statement, but reports indicate that both Grant Harris and Max Devine were not playing this weekend – both will be critical to Chicago’s success moving forward.
For Wisconsin, this season continues to look like a resurgence for a program that once held blue blood status but has fallen off in recent years. A win over Utah Valley looks good, but I’m sure the Hodags wish they had two wins over Chicago rather than just a split, along with one loss each to the finalists.
Around the Division
- Michigan State ARC took down host Davenport Panthers to win the Grand Rapids Invite. ARC went undefeated on the weekend and survived back-to-back universe point games to win. They took down Notre Dame Papal Rage in the semifinal and Davenport in the final by identical 12-11 scorelines.
- Towson Pandamonium took down Drexel Spitfire to win Natalie’s Animal Rescue.
- Kentucky KULT made the final of Spring Spook but lost to D-III’s Oberlin Flying Horsecows.
- Top seeded Ave Maria Gyrnes won Tally Classic XIX. Weather forced the tournament to truncate their schedule and move straight into bracket play. Ave Maria won just three games, but they left no doubt as to who the best team was with an aggregate 41-16 scoreline.
- Charleston Palmetto Bums and Georgia Tech B were set to play in the final at Southerns before that round got rained out. Charleston won that matchup during Pool Play 10-3.1
- UC Santa Cruz B Ooze won the Silicon Valley Rally with a revenge win over San Jose State Spartans in the de facto final. San Jose State won their matchup during pool play, but Ooze took the win in the modified bracket. Both matchups were one point affairs.
Looking Ahead
The biggest spotlight will be on Northwest Challenge this weekend, albeit with less outright shine than its women’s division counterpart. #11 Washington Sundodgers headline the list of teams with Nationals ambitions in attendance. Regional events this weekend include: Jersey Devil, Meltdown, Atlantic Coast Open, Magic City Invite, PBR State Open, and the Salt City Classic.
D-III Women’s
Around the Division
- #11 Davenport Panthers and #18 Michigan Tech Superior Ma’s met in the final of the Davenport Spring Skirmish. Davenport won both their pool play matchup and the final.
- #5 Middlebury Pranksters traveled down to Florida to play at Tally Classic XIX, where they made the semifinals. Middlebury beat Jacksonville State to finish in 3rd place at the rain-shortened D-I event.
- Georgia College Lynx Rufus made their season debut at Southerns, breaking seed with wins over Georgia Southern and Florida B before the third-place rematch against Charleston was cancelled.
Looking Ahead
Most team lists are not available at publish time, but we know that #2 St Olaf Vortex and Wheaton WestWind will play at Meltdown, #25 Richmond and Dickinson will square off at Atlantic Coast Open, while Jersey Devil is historically a hotbed for OV and AC teams.
D-III Men’s
Despite a lack of D-III specific events on the schedule, there was lots of scattered action around the division this week, including a few head-to-head matchups at D-I tournaments.
Around the Division
- #3 Oklahoma Christian Eagles were set to meet #17 Colorado College Wasabi in the seventh-place game at Centex after both made the top bracket, but the teams elected not to play. #2 Middlebury Pranksters, meanwhile, had a comparatively disappointing weekend, losing to Wasabi en route to an 11th place finish.
- #13 Oberlin Flying Horsecows went 5-0 and came away with a tournament title at Spring Spook. Oberlin seemed to get better as the tournament went along and never won by fewer than four goals. Their 14-7 victory in the final over D-I Kentucky KULT capped off a stellar weekend.
- #1 Davenport Panthers made the final of their home tournament, the Grand Rapids Invite, but lost on universe point to D-I’s Michigan State. Cedarville Swarm and Michigan Tech DiscoTech were the other D-III teams in attendance. They each made the bracket and won a pre-quarter game before getting knocked out of tournament contention. Michigan Tech won their consolation matchup 15-6.
- #12 Berry Bucks were the only D-III team to compete in the weather-affected Tally Classic XIX. The Bucks lost on universe against Georgia State to knock them out of the championship bracket, but beat Harvard Redline and Minnesota-Duluth in consolation.
Looking Ahead
Most team lists are not available at publish time, but we know that Butler Big Dog, Xavier B.L.O.B., and Hillsdale Chargers will all be in action at Butler Spring Fling. Union Jaxx will play at Magic City Invite. Grace Lancers, #18 St Olaf Bezerkers, and Truman State Jujitsu will be at Meltdown over in Rockford.
Author’s note, given #18 Georgia Tech Tribe’s full name is “A Tribe Called Tech”, their B team should be called “B Tribe Called Tech” ↩
