23 games will be broadcast from this year's Pro-Elite Challenge West!
July 9, 2025 by Aidan Thomas in Preview, Video
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2025 club 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.
We are three days away from the 2025 Pro-Elite Challenge West! Top teams from all three divisions are set to converge in Corvallis, Oregon. #1 San Francisco Fury embark on their title defense in the women’s division, #3 Portland Rhino Slam! (on their own title defense mission) look to get fully in gear after an early season blip, and the top three mixed teams in our power rankings are all in action. Read on for details on how to watch throughout the weekend, and get caught up with our synopses of the favorites, challengers, and dark horses in each division.
We’ve got you covered for all the exciting action this weekend. Follow along on the PEC West Event Page for livestreams and updates throughout the weekend. It all starts Saturday, July 12th, LIVE on Ultiworld!
More Pro-Elite Coverage Than Ever Before
We’ll have three games of livestreaming every round from Pro-Elite Challenge West!
All broadcast games will be available on-demand for viewing immediately following the live broadcasts.
How To Watch
You will need an Ultiworld Standard or All-Access subscription to be able to watch games from the 2025 Pro-Elite Challenge.
Full Broadcast Schedule
Tournament Preview
Mixed Division
Ranked Teams: #1 Fort Collins Shame, #2 Minneapolis Drag’n Thurst, #3 Seattle BFG, #12 Sacramento Tower, #13 Arizona Lawless, #17 San Francisco Mischief, #18 Seattle Mixtape, #19 San Francisco Polar Bears, #20 Montana MOONDOG, #21 Oregon Scorch, #24 Madison NOISE
Favorites: Fort Collins shame., Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust, and Seattle BFG
The nation’s top three preseason squads1 get an early barometer test following a season in which all entered Nationals as top-four seeds but none made the final. Of the three, only shame. have played so far, winning Colorado Summer Solstice Part I with a 6-0 record — a 15-9 win over #23 California Burrito representing their lone result against a ranked squad. Bolstered by newcomers Blaise Sevier and Conor Tabor, they have a strong chance at stamping themselves as the favorites in the mixed division. Perennial divisional powerhouses BFG, last year’s top seed before an upset loss in the semifinals, and Drag’n Thrust will also be big favorites this weekend. The expectation (always a tricky word in the fickle mixed scene) will be for all three to reach semis in Corvallis.
Challengers: Pool B (Tower and Scorch)
Sacramento enter the tournament as the seventh seed but #12 in our rankings, while Oregon Scorch are the bottom seed amongst the twelve-team field. Both are undefeated in early action this season against mediocre competition, so this will be a great “pretenders or contenders” litmus test. Tower are a proven Nationals-level squad, of course, but that’s not quite the same thing as being able to threaten the division’s establishment. If they (and Scorch) prove to be stiffer competition then expected, their pool with Drag’n Thrust makes for a deep and talented draw.
Dark Horse: Los Angeles Lotus
The lone unranked team in the loaded field, Lotus fell in Southwest Regional semifinals last year but enter as the no. 9 seed and could certainly be an agent of chaos this weekend. That kind of position — just out of place in a stacked Southwest — has been their lot for many years now. Could this year’s team earn a third bid out of the Southwest? Or steal one from Tower or Lawless? We’ll get an early look at the potential for some drama in that region based on the weekend results.
Men’s Division
Ranked Teams: #3 Portland Rhino Slam!, #5 San Francisco Revolver, #7 Seattle Sockeye, #9 Vancouver Furious George, #10 Austin Doublewide, #16 Salt Lake Shrimp, #17 Montreal Mephisto, #20 Eugene Dark Star
Favorites: Portland Rhino Slam!
The defending champs are back in action after slipping up at Eugene Summer Solstice on universe point to Sockeye. For now, we’ll overlook that loss as a minor slip-up (and, after all, they avenged it the following day in the tournament final.) Rhino are back with the same crew (Raphy Hayes, Henry Ing, Dylan Freechild, Matt Rehder, Mica Glass) that wrecked everyone’s conception of offensive efficiency a little over nine months ago. If you want small ball, look elsewhere. Rhino Slam rode their deep ball game to the title last year, and there’s little reason to think they won’t try the same strategy. With fellow title contenders and 2024 runners-up #2 New York PoNY having already put on a dominant effort in the final of PEC’s Eastern chapter, the pressure is on Rhino to keep pace.
Challengers: San Francisco Revolver, Seattle Sockeye
Picking two teams here that may generally be undervalued. Revolver made semis last year and nobody is talking about them, with Rhino Slam! and #1 Chicago Machine back in the conversation and PoNY’s big additions. But they could be in line for major improvements with second seasons potential stars Mac Hecht, Leo Gordon, and Dexter Clyburn. Could they generate some buzz with a tournament win? You’d have to push them above Rhino Slam! in the rankings for sure.
Then there’s Sockeye, who missed Nationals in 2023, returned to bracket play in 2024, and are eyeing more in 2025. They split games with Rhino at Summer Solstice and have both the talent level and growth potential (Declan Miller and Cedar Hines, anyone?) to compete with top teams again. Can they do so consistently and become a challenger for semifinal run or deeper at Nationals?
Dark Horse: Salt Lake Shrimp
Shrimp felt like America’s team last fall as the newfound Utah power came out of nowhere to earn and defend an extra bid in their region before making bracket play at Nationals. Now, the target is on Shrimp’s back. They’re no longer a fun underdog: they’re legitimate threats with ideals of getting into the quarterfinal picture. Getting to semis in this stacked field would be a superb start for the boys from Salt Lake.
Women’s Division
Ranked Teams: #1 San Francisco Fury, #4 San Diego Flipside, #11 Seattle Riot, #12 Vancouver Traffic, #13 Portland Schwa, #15 Utah Dark Sky, #16 San Francisco Nightlock, #19 Chicago Nemesis, #21 Austin Vengeance, #24 Minneapolis Pop
Favorite: San Francisco Fury
The preseason #1 and defending national champs take the field for the first time, and they’ll be the presumptive favorites until someone dethrones the Bay Area squad. Carolyn Finney, Kirstin Johnson, Irene Scazzieri and the rest of this loaded Fury roster are surely eyeing an unbeaten weekend. They’ve been the most successful program in the sport for a reason. Expect them, at minimum, to look like the same quenchless competitors who haven’t missed semis at Nationals for approximately nine trillion years.
Challenger: San Diego Flipside
Flipside made quarterfinals last season at Nationals, only losing to the eventual finalists, Fury and Washington DC Scandal. Currently at #4 in our power rankings, Flipside enter this season a tier behind the trio of favorites in the women’s field, but they get a chance to cement that status — they should be capable of running to the final against Fury this weekend in a likely preview of the Southwest regional final.
Dark Horse: Portland Schwa
Of seven ranked teams in the field, only #13 Schwa have played so far in the season. That can certainly be an edge in itself — players don’t have first tournament sloppiness to work out, and they’ll no doubt have some chemistry under their belts. At Eugene Summer Solstice, Schwa went 6-0, dominating five lower-tier teams and winning by one over #16 San Francisco Nightlock. If they can beat Traffic at the top of Pool D, a potential Flipside vs. Schwa crossover game could be a great indicator for where both teams stand.
Or, we should say, top three now that Ann Arbor Hybrid have taken an L ↩
