What went well on Friday at the US Open
August 2, 2025 by Edward Stephens in Recap
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It’s the US Open, and I can already hear everybody complaining. The regular season doesn’t matter. The seeding isn’t right. None of the World Games players are wearing cleats. Why aren’t their four international teams like in the men’s division? Boston Vice don’t belong here.
Here’s what I have to say to that: What happened to good, old-fashioned gratitude? Friday at the US Open was a great day of ultimate. The weather was good, the competition was lively, the storylines for the tail end of the women’s season started writing themselves into tantalizing threads that won’t resolve for months. You need specifics? Fine, I’ll list all of the best, most fun, most encouraging, and most intriguing parts from the day — Maria Von Trapp-style. Read on for a recap of my favorite things.
But first, let’s catch you up on the day’s action.
- #1 San Francisco Fury and #9 Seattle Riot went undefeated through pool play and their crossover games, setting up the potential throwback matchup in the tournament final on Sunday.
- #5 New York BENT won the three-way tiebreak to take the difficult Pool D over #4 Washington Scandal and Bologna BFD Shout.
- #10 Pittsburgh Parcha and #16 Colorado Kelp, who played a close game in pool play, both reached quarters with universe point wins to end the day.
Genuine Upsets
The women’s division has a lot going for it: stars, excellence, fun, grit, evolution. One thing it lacks more often than not, though? A competitive environment that creates upsets. Compared to men’s — and especially compared to mixed — the barriers between each tier of teams relatively impermeable. You might have championship contenders taking games from each other, or elite flight teams duking it out first one way and then another, or other Nationals-level clubs matching up evenly. But the actual underdog-beats-overdog scenario? It’s exceedingly rare. There were no tier-breaking upsets in the women’s division of either the US Open or Nationals last year.
That’s why it was so refreshing to see Kelp oust #6 San Diego Flipside from the championship bracket with a universe point victory on Friday.
US Open 2025: Friday Favorites (Women’s Div. Day 1 Recap) is only available to Ultiworld Subscribers
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