Northwest Challenges sees the #1 team in Women's D-I dethroned
March 26, 2025 by Ultiworld in Rankings
Ultiworld’s College Power Rankings, presented by the National Ultimate Training Camp. NUTC is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this summer!
While our College Power Rankings can always be found on our permanent rankings page, every week during the season we will post the current edition here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and serve as a permalink for each week’s rankings.
D-I Women’s Division Power Rankings
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropped from rankings: Notre Dame (25) | |||
| 1 | Tufts | +1 | 2 |
| 2 | Carleton | +2 | 4 |
| 3 | Colorado | +2 | 5 |
| 4 | British Columbia | -3 | 1 |
| 5 | Oregon | -2 | 3 |
| 6 | Vermont | +1 | 7 |
| 7 | Michigan | +6 | 13 |
| 8 | Cal Poly SLO | +1 | 9 |
| 9 | Washington | +2 | 11 |
| 10 | North Carolina | -4 | 6 |
| 11 | Stanford | -3 | 8 |
| 12 | UC San Diego | -2 | 10 |
| 13 | UC Santa Cruz | -1 | 12 |
| 14 | Utah | - | 14 |
| 15 | Victoria | +4 | 19 |
| 16 | UC Davis | -1 | 15 |
| 17 | BYU | -1 | 16 |
| 18 | Northeastern | -1 | 17 |
| 19 | UC Santa Barbara | -1 | 18 |
| 20 | Western Washington | - | 20 |
| 21 | UCLA | - | 21 |
| 22 | Virginia | - | 22 |
| 23 | Ohio State | - | 23 |
| 24 | Pennsylvania | - | 24 |
| 25 | Texas | - | |
D-I Women’s Division Discussion
- Starting at the top: there is a new #1! Colorado rocked then-undefeated British Columbia in Northwest Challenge semis, leaving the only remaining undefeated team – Tufts – to fill the void. NWC champs Carleton move up to #2 ahead of fellow finalists Colorado, while the remaining NWC semifinalist, Oregon, drops two spots after falling in the third-place game to UBC.
- Michigan and Victoria are the other big winners from the mini-Nationals out west, as Michigan scored arguably the upset of the tournament in a universe point pool play victory over Oregon and stacked up wins in the bracket over Washington and Cal Poly SLO. Victoria had a pool play upset of their own over BYU, then followed it up with a ninth-place final victory over Cal Poly SLO to break seed by four.
- 2024 National Championship finalists Stanford and UNC, however, are down bad after rocky endings to their weekends. Each finished with multi-game losing streaks, with both teams sporting losses to Washington on Sunday and Superfly finishing with a tough out against fellow regionmates UCSD.
- An inactive weekend sees Notre Dame fall out of the rankings, making way for Texas, who placed third at Centex.
D-I Men’s Division Power Rankings
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropped from rankings: South Carolina (25) | |||
| 1 | North Carolina | - | 1 |
| 2 | Massachusetts | - | 2 |
| 3 | Colorado | - | 3 |
| 4 | Carleton | - | 4 |
| 5 | Oregon | - | 5 |
| 6 | Cal Poly SLO | +1 | 7 |
| 7 | BYU | -1 | 6 |
| 8 | Vermont | +1 | 9 |
| 9 | Oregon State | -1 | 8 |
| 10 | Northeastern | - | 10 |
| 11 | Washington | - | 11 |
| 12 | Brown | - | 12 |
| 13 | Pittsburgh | +1 | 14 |
| 14 | Penn State | +1 | 15 |
| 15 | California | +1 | 16 |
| 16 | UC Santa Cruz | -3 | 13 |
| 17 | Georgia Tech | - | 17 |
| 18 | Georgia | - | 18 |
| 19 | Texas | - | 19 |
| 20 | Western Washington | - | 20 |
| 21 | Victoria | - | |
| 22 | Washington University | -1 | 21 |
| 23 | Michigan | -1 | 22 |
| 24 | Tufts | -1 | 23 |
| 25 | British Columbia | -1 | 24 |
D-I Men’s Division Discussion
Really, the rankings should read:
- North Carolina
- Massachusetts
- Colorado
- Carleton
- Oregon
- Cal Poly SLO
- Brigham Young
- Vermont
- Oregon State
- Northeastern
- Washington
- Brown
- Pittsburgh
- Penn State
- California
- UC Santa Cruz
- Georgia Tech
- Georgia
- Texas
- Western Washington
- Victoria
- Washington University
- Michigan
- Tufts
- British Columbia
- Right now, there are only seven teams that feel like they belong in top 10 to our rankers. Oregon State provided the latest evidence at Northwest Challenge, where the Beavers lost to unranked UCLA in pool play. Wins over top teams like #10 Northeastern and #15 Cal keep them in the official top ten, but begrudgingly.
- BYU isn’t full exempt either, dinged a spot for a loss to #11 Washington in CHI’s third Friday night exhibition game. But the Sundodgers followed up arguably their best win of the season with inarguably their worst loss, on universe to unranked Virginia, and don’t get to reap the rankings rewards of their victory.
- UC Santa Cruz suffers the biggest drop of the weekend, as the Slugs couldn’t pull out either one-point game with Victoria or British Columbia.
- The Vikes’ win over UCSC was one of their two wins over top 25 teams on the weekend. They slot into the rankings at #20, just behind Western Washington, who got revenge for their pool play loss with a victory over Victoria in semis.
D-III Women’s Division Power Rankings
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropped from rankings: Bates (20), Grinnell (21) | |||
| 1 | Carleton Eclipse | - | 1 |
| 2 | St. Olaf | - | 2 |
| 3 | Macalester | - | 3 |
| 4 | Wesleyan | - | 4 |
| 5 | Haverford and Bryn Mawr | - | 5 |
| 6 | Whitman | - | 6 |
| 7 | Lewis and Clark | +1 | 8 |
| 8 | Davenport University | +1 | 9 |
| 9 | Colorado College | -2 | 7 |
| 10 | Middlebury | - | 10 |
| 11 | Portland | - | 11 |
| 12 | Kenyon | - | 12 |
| 13 | Rice | +5 | 18 |
| 14 | Michigan Tech | +2 | 16 |
| 15 | Union | +2 | 17 |
| 16 | Williams | -2 | 14 |
| 17 | Wellesley | -4 | 13 |
| 18 | Mount Holyoke | -3 | 15 |
| 19 | Trinity | +3 | 22 |
| 20 | Claremont | +4 | 24 |
| 21 | Lehigh | +2 | 23 |
| 22 | Swarthmore | - | |
| 23 | Richmond | +2 | 25 |
| 24 | Winona State | - | |
| 25 | Rochester | -6 | 19 |
D-III Women’s Division Discussion
- Colorado College and Rice scoot closer in the rankings thanks to Torque’s impressive 14-10 win in Centex prequarters. Colorado College stop just ahead of Middlebury, who still have a tournament left to show their bonafides.
- The entire New England Region, in fact, has a bit to prove. Williams’ split games with unranked Swarthmore at Jersey Devil – a pool play loss followed by a semis win – knock Nova two spots, as well as our rankers’ estimations of the region.
- Wellesley and Rochester’s most revealing results remain low-scoring bouts against each other, though they too will have their chances this weekend at Northeast Classic. For Mt. Holyoke East Coast Invite will be their first and only tournament of the season. Bates will in attendance at New England Open, but their lack of caliber results leaves Cold Front out in the cold. New England’s only bid at the moment is the autobid – and there’s a strong chance it’ll stay that way.
- Trinity have yet to score a win against a fellow D-III team, but they’re on the trail, never losing by more than four to the likes of #13 Rice and #15 Union. The latest scrape, an 11-7 Centex loss to Colorado College, pulls Altitude inside the top 20.
- Swarthmore’s win over Williams, paired with an earlier one-point loss to Lehigh, push the Warmothers into the backend of the rankings. They’re joined by Winona State thanks to the Bad Monaz’s 4-2 Meltdown showing that saw them land a win over D-I’s Loyola-Chicago. The North Central race just got that much hotter.
D-III Men’s Division Power Rankings
| Rank | Team | Change | Prior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropped from rankings: Bates (15) | |||
| 1 | Davenport University | - | 1 |
| 2 | Franciscan | - | 2 |
| 3 | Oklahoma Christian | - | 3 |
| 4 | Lewis & Clark | - | 4 |
| 5 | Elon | - | 5 |
| 6 | Middlebury | - | 6 |
| 7 | Whitman | - | 7 |
| 8 | Carleton CHOP | - | 8 |
| 9 | UNC Asheville | +1 | 10 |
| 10 | Colorado College | +1 | 11 |
| 11 | Rochester | +1 | 12 |
| 12 | Williams | -3 | 9 |
| 13 | Oberlin | - | 13 |
| 14 | Richmond | - | 14 |
| 15 | Colorado School of Mines | +1 | 16 |
| 16 | St. Olaf | +1 | 17 |
| 17 | Berry | +1 | 18 |
| 18 | Puget Sound | +1 | 19 |
| 19 | Missouri S&T | +1 | 20 |
| 20 | Wesleyan | +1 | 21 |
| 21 | Bowdoin | +4 | 25 |
| 22 | Macalester | - | 22 |
| 23 | Lipscomb | - | 23 |
| 24 | Davidson | - | 24 |
| 25 | Kenyon | - | |
D-III Men’s Division Discussion
- Orange Whip got whooped at PBR State Open, sustaining losses to unranked Brandeis and then-bottom-ranked Bowdoin in addition to MIT. From #15, Bates fall out of the top 25 entirely, while Bowdoin rise to just outside the top 20.
- Williams’ head-to-head loss against Rochester at Salt City Classic drops WUFO just behind their fellers.
- Kenyon claim the last spot in the rankings after upsetting #16 St. Olaf in the last round of Meltdown pool play to make the bracket. Though SERF lost to Truman State in semis, the ranked win impressed enough for #25.
