Legacy programs Carleton and Colorado are set for a tremendous title fight.
May 26, 2025 by Edward Stephens in Preview
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The 2025 Men’s Championship Game brings together two of the most successful programs in history — and of the 2025 season — for what figures to be a battle of epic proportions. #1 Colorado Mamabird and #4 Carleton CUT both have serious ambitions to add another trophy to their cases. The two schools have combined for six men’s division championships in the 21st century.1
Colorado came into Nationals on a wave of momentum, having ramped up their season to win Easterns in thrilling fashion. That momentum has continued into Memorial Day weekend, where they clinched their pool with three confident wins before resting more than half of their roster against a full-strength #12 Cal Ursa Major — and nearly coming away victorious despite the deliberate handicap. Flexing the depth in that game gave the whole line-up a boost for when they would need them most: against #2 UNC Darkside and #4 Oregon Ego in the bracket.
The universe point win over Darkside — sealed with a full-speed layout grab from Zeke Thoreson that sent the crowd into sports ecstasy — was the defining moment of their tournament. Breaking through against a program as inevitable as UNC, especially the way that they did, is an accomplishment that will be remembered for years to come. Ego posed a similarly difficult test, but, feeling their strength, Colorado cleared that bar by an even greater margin, opening up a margin in the first half and keeping it as wide as possible en route to a 15-12 win.
Colorado’s offense leans heavily on the high-level, shoot-first play of five stars. all of whom are putting up big numbers at Nationals: sophomore Tobias Brooks (9G/16A), and juniors Thoreson (12G/2A), Tucker Kalmus (4G/14A), Ryan Shigley (11G/10A), and Nanda Min-Fink (10G/9A). Between their propensity to stretch the field, their multi-year chemistry, and some of the best O-line defense the division has seen this year, they’re a hard nut to crack. The D-line — or should that be D-lines, plural? — runs much deeper. Sam Kilgore, Ezra Thoreson, and Ryan Allenson are three of their most trusted stoppers; Dan Williams and Elliot Hawkins (a freshman having a sparkling Nationals) power the counters. All in all, they are an almost impossibly tough unit.
But CUT could have what it takes to out-tough them. They got off to a hot start in the regular season, blazing through the long Florida Warm Up weekend. Their performances at Smoky Mountain Invite (semis) and Easterns (quarters) were encouraging, though not as dominant. But the greatness gene is coming into full view at Nationals, where they have been on a mission. Through three days, CUT are undefeated, and they have their own universe point win over Darkside that had been, arguably, the game of the weekend until quarters.
Daniel Chen (8G/3A), Fin Fuhrmann (3G/4A), and Declan Miller (10G/12A) are program-guiding veterans who have carried a huge load for the O-line throughout the entire tournament (and season). But you can’t talk about CUT without spending some time on their freshman class. Nate De Morgan (7G/17A), playing both ways, has been one of the most effective players at the tournament, full stop. Axel Olson (2G/15A), Charlie Bitler (12G/4A), Ellis Newhouse (6G/7A), and defensive dynamo Thomas Shope have taken the division by storm in the first season of college play. And add Ryan duSaire (7G/2A) to that list as well, although perhaps with an asterisk: the sophomore who missed his entire freshman year with injury has come back with unquenchable hunger for CUT’s defense.
It adds up to a primetime battle that you won’t want to miss. Hightail it to Burlington if you’re anywhere nearby, or tune in to ESPNU for live coverage of the game at 11:00 AM Pacific.
Colorado 2004, 2014; Carleton 2001, 2009, 2011, 2017 ↩
