Our women's division reporters deliberate, diverge, and even find some common ground while sharing their insights from the first day of play at College Nationals
May 24, 2025 by Kiana Hu and Bridget Mizener in Recap
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2025 college ultimate 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.
Day 1 of College Nationals delivered upsets, breakout performances, and just enough chaos to fuel a full day’s worth of sideline arguments. So we did what any responsible journalists would do: picked a few of those debates and argued them ourselves. From ceiling talk to bracket dreams to bottom-seed surprises, here’s our point-counterpoint takes on some big questions coming out of Friday’s action.
What pool 2-seed has the higher ceiling, Vermont or Washington?
Bridget Mizener (Staff Writer): I’ve got to go with Washington after watching them shine against Tufts. To take an undefeated team and just completely neutralize their Plan A, B and C on offense bodes really poorly for the rest of the division. If you have Lauren Goddu standing across from you on the line at any point this weekend, you should be afraid. And the ability to take good players out of games, especially at the college level, is a superpower that can take you really far.
Kiana Hu (Contributor): Element did end up letting Tufts back in the game near the end there, though, whereas Vermont was head and shoulders above Colorado that entire game. Huck completion rate was where the gap was most obvious: Vermont completed something like 80% of their attempts. Colorado might have been closer to 20%.
Bridget: Ouch.
Kiana: Exactly. That was really due to athleticism and the pressure Vermont applied, but obviously that’s not the only factor contributing to a team’s ceiling, and those stats are definitely not set in stone.
Bridget: Here’s another way we could attack this question: who has the better top-end talent? In college, that’s a real difference maker.
D-I College Championships 2025: Point/Point Block (Women’s Div. Devil’s Advocate) is only available to Ultiworld Subscribers
Already have a subscription? Log in
Whether you visit Ultiworld for our reporting, our podcasts, or our video coverage, you can help us continue to provide high quality content with a subscription. By becoming a subscriber, not only do you receive benefits like exclusive articles and full article RSS feeds, you also help fund all of Ultiworld's coverage in general. We appreciate your support!
