The last bids to the 2025 D-III College Championships will be decided this weekend!
May 2, 2025 by Josh Katz in Preview
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There are few more exciting portions of the ultimate calendar than spring College Regionals. For some, these events will be the culmination of a season — or even college career — while for others it’s just another step on their path toward the D-III College Championships in just two weeks. Count on plenty of dramatic action and unexpected results along the way as every team fights to ensure they fall into the latter group.
The last region, New England, takes the field this weekend to decide the representatives heading to Burlington and finalize the championship contenders. We’ve got you covered on the storylines to watch.
New England
Score Reporter
Location: S Portland, ME
Favorites: #3 Middlebury Pranksters, #8 Williams WUFO
Contenders: #17 Bowdoin Clown, #18 Bates Orange Whip
Nationals Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Finishing off the D-III Regionals slate is the always hotly contested New England, which, as per usual, has plenty of talent and probably not enough bids to go around. Just two bids are on the line in South Portland, and with four teams in our Top 25 competing for them, things will surely get heated.
Middlebury make the trek east in search of their sixth straight regional crown and seventh straight trip to Nationals. The perennial title contenders hit a few speed bumps on their road to Regionals, dropping games to Colorado College Wasabi and Dartmouth Pain Train in the regular season, but otherwise it’s been business as usual. Louis Douville Beaudoin, selected for the USA U24 Mixed Team this summer, is naturally star number one for the Pranksters, but there’s so much more supporting him. Between Jorre Dahl, Geir Hartl, Jasper Pearcy-Kahn, and Peter Mans, along with many others, Middlebury could probably fill out an entire All-Region line and no one would look out of place. That depth of elite players is exactly why Middlebury once again enter New England Regionals as the favorite.
Middlebury are hardly overwhelming favorites, though, and that’s due to the presence of Williams WUFO. After graduating a large and talented senior class, lead by former OPOTY Danny Klein, you’d be forgiven for thinking Williams would take a step back this year. Instead, WUFO have barely missed a beat, thanks in large part to the presence of Charlie Tantum, last year’s DPOTY and one of the early favorites for POTY this year. Tantum was already a full-fledged superstar after his showing at Nationals last year, and yet he seems to have found an additional gear in his fourth year. He’s the kind of player that can almost single-handedly will a team to victory. But he’s not alone in the fight. Kjellen MacBain is his running mate on defense, and Adam Kohn and Wade Buchheit lead a potent offense.
And yet, Williams will face multiple stiff tests to defend their bid. Their primary challenger are the maddeningly inconsistent Bates Orange Whip, who just haven’t been able to put together a complete weekend of ultimate. Their season got off to a good start at Grand Northeast Kickoff, except they lost to Colby CDC in their second game. Then they lost to Brandeis TRON and MIT Grim Beaver at PBR State Open, and followed that up by going winless in pool play at Easterns. But then they beat #23 UNC-Asheville Mudpuppy and #12 Franciscan Fatal, and played Williams to universe in bracket and consolation play. Truly, anything is on the table for Bates this weekend. Daniel Snider and Miles Miller could carry them all the way to Nationals, and I wouldn’t be surprised. They could also lose to Brandeis again in pool play, drop to the second place bracket, and lose their first game there, and I still wouldn’t bat an eye.
The other main challenger is Bowdoin Clown, who haven’t made Nationals since the pre-pandemic era and have lost in the game-to-go each of the last two years. Clown have lost just three games all season, albeit mostly playing against weaker competition. They do have a universe point win over Bates at their home tournament as proof they have what it takes to finally get over the hump. If they are able to get back to Nationals, it’ll be on the backs of their core four: captains Cole Fairfield and Ben Halperin, plus Jamie Roan and Theo Barton. They’re supported by a promising rookie class that’s led by Zach Widmyer, the so far less heralded member of the Widmyer sibling duo.1
The betting odds indicate Middlebury and Williams are heavy favorites to be the last two standing, and would probably say their first-place final will be a closer game than the second place game-to-go. But Bates and Bowdoin each have enough talent, coaching ability, and pure desire to pull off an upset. Don’t be surprised if, come Sunday night, we’re lamenting a season ending too soon for the Vermont or Massachusetts programs at the hands of a plucky underdog from Maine.
His sister Ella is a two-time USA Youth National Team member, including making the upcoming U24 Women’s team as an 18 year old. No pressure Zach. ↩
