Everything you need to know after five rounds of pool play
May 24, 2025 by Alex Rubin and Edward Stephens 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.
BURLINGTON, WA — Friday in the Skagit River Valley was a feature film. The five rounds of play saw heroes define themselves against the background of college ultimate, Cinderellas bolt for the ball, princes turn to frogs before our very eyes, and a few thrilling contests that came down to one or two plays (or even one or two inches).
Let’s hop right into everything important that happened.
Storylines
CUT Punctuate the Day’s Action with an Exclamation Point over Darkside
- Carleton 15-14 UNC: Game Recap | Stream
The final round showcase featured a heavyweight battle between championship favorites #2 UNC Darkside and #5 Carleton CUT. UNC took an early lead, but it was CUT who won out in the end, with Axel Olson’s huck to Declan Miller the game winner on double game point.
The limits of the written word make it difficult to convey the intensity with which this game was played. The margins between completions and block were thin. Each team played offense with a nervy energy as the teams fought to keep possession against physical and intelligent defense. At the end of the day, the CUT defense made one more play than Darkside. Miller crossed over to defense and earned a critical late game block, but pressure from Nate De Morgan, Ryan duSaire, and Thomas Shope built over the course of the game and disrupted much of what UNC was trying to accomplish on offense.
Both teams played an amazing game and should have plenty more ultimate left in the tournament. They’ll finish pool play tomorrow before heading to the bracket; it would not even be surprising to see this same matchup again in the final if both teams keep firing on all of their cylinders.
Zoodisc, Mamabird Hold the Line
- UMass 15-13 Oregon State: Game Recap | Stream
Both of the tournament’s top two seeds faced stiff challenges in their openers – and came away with victories.
#3 UMass Zoodisc survived a battle for the top of Pool A, just keeping #8 Oregon State Beavers at arm’s length to take a 15-13 victory in their first taste of Nationals action. Fat lines were common as a few players took on much of the two teams’ risk quotients: Ethan Lieman (4G, 5A) and Wyatt Kellman (3G, 2A) paced Zoodisc, while Ben Thoennes (7A), Felix Moren (3G, 3A) and Henry Wayte (4G, 1A) showed out for the Beavers.
Oregon State earned the game’s first break midway through the first half, when Moren took advantage of a blind spot in Carter Hawkins’s vision to pick off a probing hammer and then spun it into a countershot to CJ Kaperick. Zoodisc’s Tobias Paperno got the break right back a few points later with a deep block and a deep cut.
That tit-for-tat energy lasted for the rest of the game, but Zoo never gave up the lead again. Caelan McSweeney and Carter Hawkins were unflappable during gritty Zoodisc marches. And Lieman, of course, was electric.
- Colorado 15-12 Cal Poly: Game Recap | Stream
#1 Colorado Mamabird took down #6 Cal Poly SLO SLOCORE by a marginally more comfortable 15-12 scoreline. Mamabird were clearly the deeper team; they were able to run completely separate O- and D-lines while Cal Poly relied on their top players to play both ways.
For Mamabird, Tobias Brooks (4A/4G) and Ryan Shigley (4A/2G) were the dominant stars we expected them to be. Cal Poly did not have a defender who could really slow down either thrower. Towards the end of the second half, Kyle Lew and Alex Nelson crossed over, but even they weren’t able to slow down the juggernaut that this Colorado team is becoming.
Pair of Twos Fold
Two of the top eight seeds in the tournament, #9 UC Santa Cruz Slugs and Oregon State, are teetering at the edge of elimination thanks to winless Friday efforts. Both of them were punchy in their openers.
- Georgia 14-13 UC Santa Cruz: Game Recap | Stream
- Oregon 15-10 UC Santa Cruz: Game Recap | Stream
UC Santa Cruz took some time to settle in, but once they did they showed off a diverse, deep attack. Milan Moslehi (3G, 3A) and Selim Jones (3A, 1D) were outstanding, and they also saw key moments from Mario Ambrose, Samuel Kaplan, Kien Warren, Bodie Shargel, and star Toby Warren. But their throwing was inconsistent enough in the light wind that Georgia kept getting opportunities to take and keep leads.
Later in the morning, the Slugs struggled to generate any pressure, whether in person or zone defense, against Oregon’s polished O-line. Mica Glass and Aaron Kaplan took turns operating the offense in the backfield, and Chander Boyd-Fliegel dominated the cutting lanes downfield.
- UMass 15-13 Oregon State: Game Recap | Stream
- Vermont 15-11 Oregon State: Stream
Against top-seeded UMass, Ben Thoennes (7A), Felix Moren (3G, 3A) and Henry Wayte (4G, 1A) showed out for the Beavers. UMass managed a one-break lead that slowly pooled to a two-break lead before the Beavers found their way back within one. The teamwide strength of Zoodisc against the sheer fearlessness of Oregon State made for a riveting game. Thoennes appeared to get bolder as the game went on: he tossed off cheeky soft-spot buttons over surprised marks or power launched backhands to his favorite receivers, rookies Sam Anderson and Akira Koenigsberg, who always seemed to reward him. But the endless star combinations of UMass were too much for them to withstand.
The Beavers followed it up with a clunker against #14 Vermont Chill. Whether it was fatigue, stress-based pressing, or just the pressure of the moment, Oregon State could not settle into patterns of offense that would remain in place for longer than a few passes. They shot early and often – and Vermont’s defense, particularly Declan Kervick, was often in a position to clean up the plays in the second half.
Neither team can afford another loss if they hope to remain in the competition when Pool Play concludes on Saturday.
Quick Hits
- Oregon Ego are undefeated and relatively unchallenged through two rounds of play. They’re not out of the fraught Pool B yet, but they’re virtual locks to make the bracket and are in great shape to win the pool.
- #25 Michigan MagnUM took advantage of the Ridge Huang suspension to hang a loss on #12 Cal Ursa Major. The win gives them a chance to make the bracket from a pool five-seed for the second year in a row.
- Speaking of Cal, their road is much tougher now that they have only split against Pool C’s bottom two seeds. They must beat either Cal Poly or Colorado today to keep their hopes alive.
- As most expected, #13 Western Washington DIRT came out of the gates with a loss to top-seeded Oregon. But stellar play from Elijah Diamond and Cedar Hines scored them a win over #10 Northeastern Huskies.
- Georgia rode their top end hard on Friday. They earned a universe point win against UC Santa Cruz with that personnel strategy, but it took a toll on their legs that was more than apparent in their loss to Northeastern. The are now deadlocked with Northeastern and Western Washington at 1-1 heading into Saturday.
- Pool A’s mess matches Pool B almost exactly: #23 Texas TUFF ,Vermont, and #17 Utah Zion Curtain all sit at 1-1. Zion Curtain’s universe point thriller over Texas was the highlight. They all need to be wary of each other and a potential resurgence from Oregon State
- There won’t be any straight chalk for Pool D either, thanks to a #21 Penn State Spank win over #16 WashU Contra — the Penn State program’s first win at Nationals in decades. Spank now find themselves in the driver’s seat for the pool’s bracket spot. WashU will need to upset either UNC or Carleton and play some positive point math to reach prequarters.
- Ottawa Gee-Gees finished Friday without a win, as many expected. That didn’t keep rookie Roth Mohring from standing out, though. His polish and size could be a brutal combination for opponents for the next few years, and he leads the team in assists (5).
That’s all for today’s pool play games, but there’s more on deck. Be sure to catch the game recaps as they’re posted on tomorrow’s live blog, and follow along with the action first-hand by watching tomorrow’s streamed games!
