What stood out most from Super Sunday
September 22, 2025 by Alex Rubin in Opinion, Recap
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The Line brings together lists of sevens from our reporting staff.
One of the more exciting Regionals weekends of recent years saw bids stolen across all three divisions, one in both women’s and men’s, and a whopping four in mixed. Even when bids didn’t change hands, regional championships and games-to-go across the country went down to universe point as teams fought to extend their seasons. With hundreds of games to parse through, we present the seven most impactful — and even shocking — results from Super Sunday.
#21 Seattle Mixtape Over #4 Seattle BFG
As far as Regionals upsets go, this one is going up there in the history books. BFG were rightfully discussed as a championship contender. I’m sure the majority of our staff members would have picked them to at least make the semifinal round. Meanwhile, a retooling year for Mixtape saw them languish at the bottom of our Power Rankings as we wondered if the aging stars of the first Mixtape generation and the young players that make up the bulk of the roster now would ever connect enough to form a cohesive team.
During the regular season, they couldn’t do enough to earn the region a second bid to Nationals, but on Sunday it did not matter. Mixtape never gave up on themselves, crafted strategies that worked for this group of players, and will return to San Diego on a high after upsetting BFG in the final. It’s too bad that ultimate isn’t too mainstream yet, because the highlight of Zepplin Raunig’s game winning callahan in the final would otherwise be playing on repeat across all ESPN platforms for the next month as we wait to see what Mixtape can do at Nationals.
#24 Madison Heist Upsets #22 Minneapolis Pop
Like Mixtape and BFG atop the Northwest Mixed region, Pop and Heist have been the clear 1A/1B teams in the North Central Women’s region for the bulk of recent memory. In recent years, the rivalry was a bit one-sided: Heist have not been to Nationals since the Robyn Fennig-led heyday of 2018. And yet, in 2025 the tables turned and Heist sent Pop home rather than the other way around. While this surely feels special for the entire team, it has to be extra sweet for Sara Stuedemann, who is the only player still on the team who also made Nationals in 2018.
Both Southwest Bid Earners Miss Nationals
At this point, some chaos is expected in the Mixed Division. Given the recent histories, it should not register as too big a shock that top-seeded #9 San Francisco Mischief were upset at Regionals (as they were in 2021, 2022, and 2024), nor that #22 Arizona Lawless claimed a bid they did not earn, especially with Regionals in Arizona this season. Let’s run down everything that happened.
#13 Sacramento Tower ran through the bracket with wins over #18 San Francisco Polar Bears, Mischief, and the other bid-earner, #16 San Diego California Burrito, to win the region. Given the turmoil over Tower’s place on the bid bubble during the last week of the regular season, and the < 1/10th of a point margin between them and #10 Huntsville Space Force for the last strength bid, winning the region outright has to feel extra special for Tower.
Lawless, who lost 14-5 to Burrito in the front-door quarterfinal round, ran the table in the 2nd place bracket, with wins over Mischief, Polar Bears, and finally Burrito. The 14-13 scoreline indicates just how close the margin of error was for both teams, but the end result is two teams who were on the outside looking in just a few weeks ago booking their travel plans for Nationals.
Conspiracy! Southeast Proves No Fluke
Before the weekend, #3 Durham Toro, Space Force, and #15 Nashville ‘Shine looked like they had everything lined up for the calmest Southeast Regionals in years. With as many bids as teams that looked to be at the Nationals level before the weekend, the only upset brewing was a chance that Asheville Parliament’s out-of-town contingent (led by David Barzasi) would make a stunning run. Instead it was Savannah Conspiracy who can buy (probably non-direct given their location) tickets to San Diego. Despite losing to ‘Shine in the 1st Place Quarterfinals, Conspiracy returned the favor with a 15-11 takedown in the game-to-go.
Over on the men’s fields, #10 Atlanta Chain Lightning seemed assured of their place at Nationals, but questions abounded regarding #11 Raleigh-Durham United. Several of their biggest wins came earlier in the season with players no longer on the roster, and it was not out of the question for a team like #25 Florida Untied or Alabama Alliance to cause an upset. Instead it was RDU proving the haters wrong with a crossover win against Chain Lightning1 that sent RDU to a winnable semifinal against Alliance while Chain had to tangle with #6 Raleigh Ring of Fire, who ultimately won the region. Chain Lightning scraped out a third-place finish by finishing off a scrappy Charlotte baNC team in the game-to-go, but the real winners were RDU, who proved that their success over the last few months was not a fluke, but rather the result of a steady build over the last several years.
Portland Red Tide Makes Nationals for the First Time in the 21st Century
Entering Northeast Regionals, the strength bid that #24 Ottawa Phoenix earned was definitely up for grabs. Phoenix were certainly in the running to take it, as were #16 Montreal Mephisto, but in the end it was previously unranked Red Tide who went undefeated against that group to claim their first place at Nationals since 1999. With a cadre of young players just entering their prime, we could be seeing the start of a new era in Portland, Maine that features multiple Nationals appearances.
#11 Portland Schwa Over #2 Seattle Riot
At US Open, Pro Champs, and Northwest Regionals, Riot’s results read the same: all wins until a loss in the final. One of the most fun stories to witness this season has been Riot’s resurgence. The young frisbee fan in me loves seeing “#1 San Francisco Fury. #2 Seattle Riot” atop our Power Rankings. It’s not just nostalgia–it’s deserved based on the incredible play, especially of Riot’s newer players. And yet, after their bid to Nationals was assured, perhaps Riot took their foot off the gas–or maybe Schwa just played one of their best games of the season. Either way, Schwa won the region for the first time since as far back as our data goes2 and will head to Nationals with momentum and confidence.
South Central Second Place Finishers
#19 Dallas Dimes underscored how difficult it can be for a new team outside of an ultimate hotbed to break into the competitive landscape. Despite a roster that does not have any “big names,” Dimes entered Regionals 21-0, with 15 of those wins coming by ten or more goals. Though they were never a true threat to take the sole bid to Nationals (that would be #8 Denver Molly Brown’s, of course), Dimes did unseat presumptive game-to-go participant #14 Colorado Kelp and played Molly Brown closer than anyone else in the region. Hopefully they’ll be invited to better tournaments in 2026.
Meanwhile on the men’s side, it was not a shock at all that #19 Austin Doublewide faced off against #5 Denver Johnny Bravo for the right to go to Nationals, but perhaps it was surprising just how close they came to knocking off Bravo again. Bravo are known as a team willing to throw more hammers than others–and Kyle Henke was ready with help defense that fell just an inch short.
With that block, perhaps I’m writing about Bravo in this space rather than Doublewide.
Fun fact: RDU have a win against Chain at every tournament they’ve played this season ↩
Which starts at the 2004 season ↩
