UBC broke on universe point -- and broke their Nationals curse -- to claim the 2025 championship.
May 30, 2025 by Kiana Hu in Recap
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BURLINGTON, WA – It’s been a long time coming for #4 UBC Thunderbirds, folks. They’ve been in the top tier of the division for the past several years during the regular season, yet have struggled to put it together in the late stages of Nationals. With a 14-13 win over #2 Carleton Syzygy in the final, they finally did the unthinkable — that is, they ended the back-to-back-to-back-to-back UNC run while preserving the U[insert letter here]C winning streak. In a victory that was as much mental as it was physical, UBC thundered their way through a tightly contested battle to emerge with the gold medal.
Both teams came off of two semifinal performances that were dominant in different ways, and expectations for the final were high. The game certainly delivered, just not in a “clean offensive execution where every mistake was dangerous” way, but a “momentum and possession changed quickly” way. When it came time for the Monday afternoon championship-decider, the nerves were evident and mistakes abounded.
After a traded pair of interceptions in the first point, UBC broke on a perfectly placed throw from Claire Weng to Jamie Jung. Threatened by going down two in the opening, Carleton gritted out an early marathon point that involved three drops and several other forced turnovers, coming from extremely tight attacking windows. Chagall Gelfand, who was Syzygy’s top offensive driver for the whole tournament and tallied a game-high six assists in the final, was able to find a comfortable pass to Opal Burruss, and Syzygy survived the early onset of uncharacteristic errors to tie the game at 1-1.
The key defensive matchups applied intense pressure on both sides from the very start. UBC’s rookie defender Lauren Szeto-Fung (3B), whose prowess is all out of proportion to her limited college experience, was tasked with slowing down Gelfand’s powerful handler movement and was able to force difficult reset windows and get in the way of a few uplines. Audrey Parrott had a similarly challenging job for Carleton’s defense: limiting Mika Kurahashi, who had looked practically unstoppable in her semifinal performance. Parrott was extremely successful in taking away under looks to Kurahashi, largely keeping her away from the disc in the first half until UBC were able to put it to her deep in the upwind direction.
The two teams traded several nervous possessions en route to a 5-4 score, back on serve after Carleton broke with a quick give go from Matilda Pro to Melba Henley going up 3-2. The defensive intensity was a pressure cooker that shook the resolve of both teams. At 6-5, Carleton instigated a spirit timeout, alleging undue physicality from UBC, particularly in the marking space. These concerns were discussed and addressed by the spirit captains from both sides.
“I basically told our D-line that we needed to tone back on being aware of coming downhill,” said Kurahashi. “But it doesn’t mean we have to be any less aggressive than we actually are, it’s just being more mindful about our bodies and positioning […] making sure we’re making an effort to slow down a little bit earlier if we’re not gonna actually be able to make a play without bumping into them. But we’re still trying to get into that space where we can run through hard without making that contact on the back.”
Given the delay from the timeout and the long-winded points, half cap was reached after play continued on with two clean holds; a UBC endzone 2v2 dominator from Kurahashi and Ella Bolan brought the game to 6-6 and Carleton had their own clean hold on a Burruss trust throw to rookie Kyliah Mcroy, going up with two hands to sky a pile for 7-6. With Gelfand drawing UBC’s primary matchup, Burruss (1G/4A) shouldered much of the offensive burden for Syzygy and generally seemed immune to the building tension.
Syzygy capitalized on a UBC overthrow quickly to break out of half, flashing signs of the deadly D-line efficiency that had devastated teams on their march to the final. The backbreaking moment for UBC, however, came at 9-7 when a miscalculated swing throw from Bolan gave Shanti Chier an easy callahan and fired up the Syzygy sideline, even though it was on a Carleton O point.
For the remainder of the game — until the very last moments — Carleton retained a slim lead. The game reached a boiling point as both teams settled into a high octane rhythm and the Thunderbirds managed a break back, another 2v2 between Bolan and Amelie Marshall, to level the score at 11-11.
And then in the blink of an eye, it was 13-13, game to 14, universe point in a championship final: a dream for the eager, packed stadium, and an absolute nightmare for the competitors.
In a match overwhelmingly defined by the strategic defensive performance, it was fitting that the game-winning score was the result of an earned block.
“We knew that they liked to put it. So our number one priority was just protecting the deep space, protecting the house,” remarked Bolan.
Anticipating the deep shot, Marshall was in perfect position to swat away the deep shot from Gelfand. Bolan picked up on their goal line with only 70 yards standing between her team and a championship title.
“On the line, our coach was just like, green light. There’s a turn, green light to huck it. And I ran to pick up the disc and I was like, okay, green light,” said Bolan. “So I put it up.”
When the huck went up, it looked slightly off kilter, and Gelfand was positioned to make a play on it before getting twisted on a difficult turn. It was Kurahashi who came down with a real put-the-team-on-her-back layout grab.
“I was like, okay, I got to catch this,” said Kurahashi. “And then I stood up and I was like, somebody please come get this disc from me. Somebody just come here and I see [Amelie] and she’s just open in an easy spot for me to throw to.”
At that moment, the Carleton defense was in complete disarray, caught off guard with the unexpected save from Kurahashi. Marshall, standing about 10 yards outside the endzone, had a wide-open Szeto-Fung in the endzone —and a title for the Thunderbirds for the first time in 17 years.
“We kept repeating to ourselves that we’ve done the hard work and now we just have to do the exact same things we’ve been doing this whole season,” reflected Kurahashi, a captain and veteran of the UBC team, who has experienced all the highs and the lows of the last few seasons. “We don’t have to be anyone other than exactly like who we are.”
Carleton played an incredible game — in fact, for most of the game, they appeared to be the stronger team — but let’s be honest, there’s nothing that can soften the heartbreak of missing out on a championship by one point. The rest of the division better get ready for one heck of a revenge tour from Syzygy next season.
