Sunday play concluded with quarterfinals as the field of potential champions narrows at YCCs!
August 4, 2025 by Laura Osterlund in Recap
With double-digit seeds remaining in the title race in all three U20 divisions at the 2025 Youth Club Championships, the quarterfinal round saw favorites like Philadelphia SEPDA in the boy’s division, Minnesota Superior in the mixed division, and Seven Hills in the girl’s division start to separate from the pack. Here’s everything you need to get caught up from a thrilling round of games and prepare for the final stages of bracket play later today!
Girl’s Division
It looks like another year of Seattle Seven Hills dominance, as they only allowed a maximum of four points against them in a single game through quarters. Chloe Hakimi is still a force to be reckoned with, proving her disc moving skills are the best in the division, and Nora Luloff is making a name for herself as well as the team’s leading goal scorer. They posted the biggest margin of victory in the quarterfinal round over an otherwise strong-looking Philadelphia Phang 15-4. Seven Hills’ semifinal bout is set against Amherst Valley Ultimate, who have also had a good tournament. Their 14-11 win over DC Rogue came thanks to three goal, five assist performance from Isla Cusick.
On the other side of the bracket, no.13 seed Minnesota Superior–with the efforts of Riley Gage, Chloe Feldman, and Haley Chau–continued their storied run by besting OAK Embers. Finally, Oregon Downpour proved that they’re not going anywhere, overcoming California Current–a team with the young talents of Violet Yap and Mabel Athanasiou, who are tied for second among the tournament’s assist leaders–15-9. Downpour still have the strength to stay in command of games with another Big Three1 in Dana Herrmann, Sonja Dorsch, and Asa Kimball.
If this YCC field had US Open Club counterparts, Seven Hills look like the Fury of the group. They’re the heavy favorites to win it all.
Mixed Division
The U20 mixed quarterfinals heated things up.2 After topping Pool A with two one-point victories over Madison MUFAbots and the overall no.1 seed Dallas Nightfall, Virginia Vanguard’s run continued as they took down San Francisco Happy Cows with a score of 13-8. Despite some powerful hucks by San Francisco’s Mrida Sadhu, the solid play of Gretchen Schmitt and current tournament assist leader Thomas Pearson pulled the Virginia squad over the victory line.
Philadelphia Forge’s universe-point loss in pool play to Oregon Wildfire set up a 3v4 seed cross-coastal matchup against Seattle Seven Hills. Despite a late-game comeback attempt and a valiant effort by Benjamin Lamperti (5G/1A/1D), Forge emerged victorious, winning 13-11. Forge’s Lillian Hodges and Andrew Mennig stepped up in the moment, combining for 12 assists.
The quarterfinal between Oregon Wildfire and Utah Swarm told a similar story: Wildfire took an early lead that eventually became 9-4, but with the help of Teiki Tauraa (1G/5A) and Lorenzo Davis (3G/3A), Swarm punched in five in a row to to force universe point. However, Wildfire still came out with the win.
A regional matchup between Madison MUFAbots and Minnesota Superior also saw Superior go up big to start. But the Bots got a few breaks to pull within two late off the backs of Turner Booth and local goaltimate legend Arthur Carne. But the Madison team was no match for the likes of Danny Hobday, Mia Fischer, and company, and Soup eventually finished out the game with a 15-11 scoreline.
Boy’s Division
In two quarterfinals, the heavy favorites reigned supreme, as defending champions Philadelphia SEPDA took down Texas United by a tidy 15-4 margin, and 2024 runners up Oakland SmOAK put together a similarly dominant game against North Carolina Triforce, 15-6. For SEPDA, returners Nolan McLintic, Becker Joseph, and Ezra Beidler-Shenk have led an otherwise balanced Philadelphia outfit. On SmOAK, the story is similar. With much of last year’s top end returning, Stefan McCall, Sarek Mallareddy, and Reggie Masket are the standouts among a fleet of excellent role players.
The other two quarterfinals came down to the wire, with Boston BUDA outlasting a late break from Seven Hills to tie their game at 12-12, winning 13-12 in soft cap, while Nashville Villains overcame a late 11-10 lead by Colorado Cutthroat to win 14-12. BUDA go as Cameron Levine goes, and his six assists in the game set the high mark, consolidating his lead across the division with 22 across four games. The Villains were similarly star driven, as Knox Plewniak’s four assists led their team, and his 19 on the weekend through quarters are good for third overall.
Semifinals will be a good test of whether the pecking order has changed from a year ago. SEPDA and SmOAK have been untested so far, while their respective opponents BUDA and Villains each have multiple one or two point games. Are Oakland and Philadelphia simply a cut above? Or will the smooth selling end for one–or both–of them?
