Women’s D-I College Primer 2026

Your guide to the biggest players, teams, and stories of the 2026 D-I college season!

January 22, 2026 by Laura Osterlund, Edward Stephens, Graham Gerhart, Kiana Hu, Bridget Mizener and Keith Raynor in Coverage, Preview

Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 college 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.

A few weeks after the New Years ball drops wrap up, the murmur of the coming college season begins in earnest. By the time it is nearly February, the whirring of the hype machine is hitting a fever pitch. As the first major tournament weekend approaches, we want to make sure you’re fully prepared for another uproarious college season. Like those that came before it, get ready for the ups, the downs, the thrillers, the stars, the new kids, and all of the wonderful things that make it so beloved with the annual College Primer.

Major Storylines

 

A Fated Final

Preseason #1 UBC Thunderbirds and #2 Carleton Syzygy were in a class of their own in 2025. With reloaded rosters and another year of experience under their belts, they might end up alone at the top again this spring. 1v2: are they on an unstoppable collision course?

If UBC makes it back to the final, it’ll be because of continuity. The “repeat?” narrative may be a tired one at this point¹ but it’s a legitimate possibility given how much of last year’s title-winning team is going to run it back. Losing Madison Ong is no small loss, but her injury history means her teammates have plenty of experience carrying the load. For starters, reigning POTY Mika Kurahashi will terrorize the division for a fifth season this spring. Ella Bolan, Amelie Marshall, and Claire Weng are all back, too. In all, the Thunderbirds’ top seven assist-throwers and top nine goal-scorers from last year’s College Championships will return. That’s 86% of their offensive production.

That core group — insanely polished already — will have another year to hone their relentless downfield cutting and ferocious defense. Strong veteran presence reduces the pressure of bringing their new crop of athletes, including U24 selection Grace Liu, up to speed, too. It’s no coincidence that recent champions have also been some of the oldest teams in the field. Experience is priceless in the college division, and the T-Birds have it in spades. All told, nobody could beat UBC when it counted last year, and basically the same team (just a year older and wiser) looks like smart money to win it all again this spring.

If UBC’s recipe is continuity, Carleton’s formula might be one of addition rather than retention. We’ve already dedicated serious column inches to incoming phenom Chloe Hakimi, so I won’t waste my breath here — suffice it to say she could be the best player on a Carleton team that is already led by a returning Offensive Player of the Year in Chagall Gelfand.

The rest of Syz is equally young and equally scary. Hakimi isn’t the only big add: Helen Burruss and Emily Kretschmer are ROTY candidates in their own right. We’d be remiss to discount how important returns like Gelfand, Eliza Barton, Opal Burruss, Naomi Fina, and Melba Henley will be to this team. Yes, they lose Mia Beeman Weber, Audrey Parrott, and Shanti Chier, but goodness gracious — there’s just one disc on the field at once! If there’s any obvious hurdles for Carleton, it’s their relative youth… but then again, Gelfand, Barton, and Henley led them to the title game last year as underclassmen.

Roster construction and experience level aside, we can’t forget about an equally important aspect of title odds: narrative destiny. Given the quality of the 2025 final, would it be the worst thing in the world to get a rematch? Last year’s nailbiter delivered on all the drama you could possibly want, including a spirit timeout and a break to win on universe point. Great TV! Carleton, especially, was tantalizingly close to a title and is undoubtedly gearing up for a revenge tour. I don’t know about you, but getting a rematch of that sounds like a pretty good fan experience to me.

– Bridget Mizener

 

The Case Against a Rematch

Are Thunderbirds and Syzygy great teams? Yes, unquestionably. And no one’s going to cry if they meet again in the final considering last year’s crown jewel of a championship bout. But when everyone just knows something is going to happen, it’s always a good idea to remember all the times we knew something would happen… and then it didn’t. Limiting ourselves just to ultimate frisbee: we knew Fury would win the 2025 club title, we knew Pleiades would make a deep bracket run last year, we knew Vermont would hold their lead in the second half against Stanford to reach the 2024 college final.

You get it. A lot can happen between now and Memorial Day. Something you know just isn’t going to actually turn out that way.

In this case, though, it’s not just random variance that could prevent the Great UBC-Carleton Rematch from coming to pass, it’s the fact that there are at least three other teams who figure to be just as good, or near enough as makes no difference: #3 Washington Element, #4 Oregon Fugue, and #7 Colorado Quandary.

Let’s begin with Element, who played Syzygy well in semis last year and have already played a sensational friendly against UBC. They may be the most electric team in the division. Between Savanna Tucker, Lauren Goddu, and Rowan Lymp, they boast three of the biddingest playmakers in the land. They have at least two A1 quarterbacks in Lucy Tanner and Isabella Pharr. New recruit Rachel Joy-Rocha (and potentially others) should be an instant impact player. Weak points on this roster are few and far between. That said, they might not even finish second in their own region…

Because Fugue are back and healthy, and they’re every bit the contenders that Element and Thunderbirds are. Trout Weybright is the star, of course, and has been almost since day one. Syris Linkfield, Miko Magnant, and Acacia Hahn are in lockstep with him. The four of them can cover pretty much any mission-critical scenario on offense or defense you can think of, and all of them are versatile enough to pose a continual threat as points evolve. Add in a rapidly rising cast of support including Anna Carson, Mara Hindery-Glasinovic, and Lily Ellsworth Yow, and you have a high-level team maturing in a high-level way all at the same time. As long as the injury bug doesn’t bite them like it did in 2025, Fugue will be in the hunt.

And while you might raise your eyebrow at including Colorado in the cast of challengers considering we ranked them down at #7 in our preseason power rankings, just know that we did so before we learned that longtime standouts Emma Williamson and Clil Phillips are set to return for one final ride. That both solves the question that dropped them so low in the first place – who’s going to handle? – and ensures that when necessary they can trot out a line that goes something like, say, Clil Phillips-Emma Williamson-Faye Burdick-Fiona Cashin-Simone Pierotti-Emma Smith-Liana Bradley. Or slot in grad transfer Chaily Derecskey (one of Penn Venus’s top performers last season) in place of any of them. That line-up will do just fine against anyone – including UBC, to whom they handed a memorable loss at Northwest Challenge. Quandary pushed Washington to the brink in a brilliant quarterfinal battle at Nationals in 2025, and that result represents their absolute floor.

You could make cases for a handful of other teams (Vermont, Stanford, UNC, Cal Poly), too, although they are definitely longer shots. The point is that the end of the season is by no means set in stone.

– Edward Stephens

 

Is 10 Bids to the West Coast an Inevitability?

Last year, the Northwest and Southwest regions combined to earn nine of the available ten strength bids. It was a severe indictment for the rest of the division, but at least it was only one year… right? USAU’s new bid allocation structure should help prevent that from happening again…right?

Even with a large crop of seniors who graduated in 2025, the winds of change haven’t started blowing just yet. Despite the outgoing talent from the two regions, the diaspora isn’t endemic to the West Coast alone, but rather the entire nation. Many of the teams in the top 25 are rebuilding their rosters as they start the new year. Taking a birds-eye-view of the situation, outside of Carleton, the few that aren’t necessarily in “rebuilding” years were a part of the collection of teams that earned those 11 bids in 2025. It appears, by all accounts, that the return to parity in the distribution of strength bids might still be a few years away. Sure, we won’t see 11 total bids in two regions, but it’s still highly probable that we see 10.

Before completely surrendering to predetermination, it’s worth examining what it would take to wrestle a few precious bids away from the coastal elites. For a start, it requires traveling to their home turf and beating them there. Ignore the faceless void when they say early-season results don’t matter: they absolutely do.

For this reason alone, SBI and Presidents’ Day Invite have become incredibly important in the bid picture. While many teams use these tournaments for development, the simple truth is that they provide a lot of value to the teams that attend, which have increasingly become more and more Northwest/Southwest heavy. Where once teams like Wisconsin, WashU, and even the University of Chicago would come to gain reps, now SBI 2026 is 14 West Coast teams, with Colorado and Carleton added for good measure. It’s not as if any of those teams don’t deserve to be there, but it does make it far more insular.

For any team willing to travel from farther afield, suddenly the onus is on them to perform really well or risk having it come back to haunt them when the bid picture develops. This is often a deterrent enough, even if it shouldn’t be. Thanks to the prominence of the early-season California tournaments, it’s a “rich getting richer” situation until other teams decide to fly out and take it from them.

The other alternative is to create more premier Mid-America/East Coast tournaments, but the weather often doesn’t permit that early enough in the year, forcing teams to travel. For teams vying for strength bids, the developing landscape always has, and likely always will, favor the West Coast.

All this to say, if you want the safe money, taking the over on 10 West Coast teams making Nationals again is pretty close to a guarantee.

– Graham Gerhart

 

The Chloe Hakimi Era

The arrival of Chloe Hakimi at perhaps the most storied university in the ultimate landscape begins this weekend at Santa Barbara Invite, where Carleton Syzygy will debut. We haven’t seen a high school player this accomplished or with as much hype since Jack Verzuh. As a point of reference, Verzuh was one of the best players in the division from day one and earned Player of the Year as a sophomore.² Hakimi was one of the best players on one of the best club teams in the women’s division and anchored a line for her second turn on the U24 US national team, among all of her many high school feats. This is not simply just the “number one pick” of this year’s rookie class. Chloe Hakimi is perhaps the best high school ultimate player of the modern era.

She can also be expected to hit the ground running. Hakimi has had years to learn about dealing with the pressure and scrutiny of high expectations, as an individual and as a member of a team. Carleton Syzygy were stacked prior to her arrival, and she is part of formidable rookie group that includes Helen Burruss (who, frankly, is good enough to be at the top of most rookie classes, as well) and Mia Fischer. Hakimi will not be forced to “do too much” unless she wants to. And the team has surely heard that we’re all expecting them to dominate this season unless they are lining up across from UBC. The staff, the leadership, everyone knows the stakes and the expectations, how to navigate the inherent challenges that come with them, and how to crest the high bar being set.

For those unfamiliar with Chloe Hakimi’s game, she’s spent years marshaling backfields at all levels. She’s got a cutter’s quickness and assertive understanding of pace and space, attached to a wizard’s spellbook of skillful throws. She’s most well known for a devastating around backhand that presses markers to an uncomfortable angle — they mostly have to give her forehand the whole field or risk getting torched on the break side. Her instincts are honed by experience and she has the explosiveness to make plays defensively. As you would expect for young player of this renown, the scouting notebook just has the word “EVERYTHING” scrawled across the page.

And she perhaps overshadows another very impressive class of recruits, even beyond Carleton. She’s not even the only Hakimi — her sister Vivian is going to step into now-alumna Kat McGuire’s fast-moving shoes for Michigan. Chloe’s high school and U24 teammate, ZsaZsa Gelfand (the Hakimis aren’t the only Seattle siblings set to take over) will figure prominently for a burgeoning Cal Poly SLO club. It may actually be the success of this class a whole that further builds Chloe Hakimi’s legend, a supernova among stars.

The ultimate legend-building, however, happens on Memorial Day Mondays. A first-year title will make for a firm pronouncement that college ultimate belongs to a potentially generational star.

– Keith Raynor

 

Players to Watch

Some of the players we think will define the 2026 college season.

Chagall Gelfand (Carleton)

After coming up just short of a POTY and National Championship win last year, Chagall Gelfand will be in the driver’s seat. Not only will her ingenious throwing execution be an asset once again to Syzygy’s offense, but her confidence in those throws will solidify their effectiveness. Now working alongside the new addition of Chloe Hakimi, Gelfand will be poised to make some magic. Her signature forehand, disc distribution prowess, and on-field discipline are those that coaches and teammates dream of. On a team of massive talent, Gelfand still has a way of marshaling an offense and standing out above the rest.

Emma Williamson (Colorado)

Colorado’s reputation for developing stars is personified in Emma Williamson. She always had talent, even as a freshman, but it was raw. Last season, she flipped the narrative as one of the most effective players in the division with the disc in hand. Williamson’s one of those players who plays fast without seeming rushed. She can keep the offense moving without getting ahead of her teammates, and has the throws to punish defenders when they’re out of position. Few players can match her quick-trigger throws, especially when trying to set a mark on her. There’s an energy to her game that makes every point she plays that much better. Colorado’s had plenty of stars graduate from their program, Williamson has the potential to be the most electric of them all.

Esther Filipek (Stanford)

Guess who’s back with a vengeance? Superfly sparkplug Esther Filipek, last seen in the college division helping lead her team to an appearance in the 2024 final. While an injury took her out of college play for a year, she’s had part of two seasons with Fury under her belt since then, and the experience has no doubt sharpened her understanding of the game without dimming her world-class attack mentality a bit. Look for even zippier throws and quicker pace as Filipek conducts her Stanford swan song.

Grace Maroon (UPenn)

It’s no coincidence that UPenn burst back into the Nationals scene in 2024, the same year hometown hero Grace Maroon joined as a seasoned rookie. In her first season, she posted a 9G/12A/9B stat line, and followed that up in 2025 with an even more impressive 8G/25A/9B. While stats don’t tell the story, in Maroon’s case they clearly demonstrate her multifaceted impact: she’s just as likely to put up a full-field backhand huck as she is to sky two defenders to come down with a floaty disc, and probably even more likely to flash before an unsuspecting player’s eyes with a chest-high layout D. No disc is safe when Maroon is on the field, and her leadership on the team will certainly bring Venus to ever-increasing heights.

Lucy Tanner (Washington)

Everyone remembers the heroic moments during Element’s run from Lauren Goddu and Savanna Tucker and Rowan Lymp flying around like stunt doubles. But if you go back and watch the tape, something else begins to stand out: how involved Lucy Tanner is in every part of the offense. While Element had no shortage of great throwers and appealing targets by any means, the one who always seemed ready to stir the drink (with or without the disc), the one who could force the action and start to rattle the defense was Tanner. She’s a competitor through and through, and Element’s offense will take all of their cues from the way she attacks opposing schemes.

Mika Kurahashi (UBC)

With the amount of accolades Mika Kurahashi has racked up in all levels of the sport, it seems almost trivial to discuss her impact in the college division. She is the type of player that is immediately recognizable on the field, not only because of her distinctive jump cuts and buttery around forehands, but because her Thunderbird teammates clearly look to her as a steadying force no matter where she is on the field. On the rare occasions the pristine UBC engine breaks down, Kurahashi has no hesitation in putting the team on her back. Expect her to be at the top of her game as she looks to achieve a second straight title and POTY award.

Rachel Chang (UCSC)

For most of Chang’s college career, UCSC has looked like a team catching up to their star player. Chang has the throws, field IQ, and strategic acumen to set up their team for success, but so often the respect they drew from the defense meant the offense had to develop without them. 2025’s Nationals showed the team could stand on their own two feet, which means we should expect Chang’s job to become a whole lot easier. With more threats on the field, Chang will have a bevvy of options to choose from when doling out hucks and cross-field throws. It’s a guarantee that Chang will still be steering the ship, they just now have a full artillery unit at the ready with them.

 

Rising Stars

Big contributors to their teams who could make waves in the national spotlight for 2026.

Alli Reilly (UNC)

Like Ella Monaghan (see: below) Alli Reilly has been operating in the shadows of more familiar stars. Kailyn Lowder and Emily Przykucki have now moved aside, letting Reilly step into the bright lights. Here’s the thing, though. She’s been in the role already, acting as a rock in the backfield while keeping an eye out for opportunities to put the defense out of position. This season she’ll be the primary facilitator for cutters like Lisa Wei and Bella Russell, and if they find success it will likely be on the foundation of her powerful throwing and field wisdom.

Ella Monaghan (Vermont)

If you haven’t noticed Monaghan in a big way for Ruckus before, it’s understandable, as the lion’s share of touches have gone to teammates like Kennedy McCarthy, Emily Pozzy, and Caroline Stone. But with the first two out of the picture and Stone sidelined for at least a chunk of the season, we’ll get to see Monaghan (like recruiting classmates Tatum Cubrilovic and Annie Pozzy) take a feature role. Get ready: she’s dynamite. She has a penchant for magical catches and big throws, and she’s tireless. Exactly what Ruckus need if they want to push for a fourth-straight trip to semis.

Ericka Edgell (UVic)

With all the hubbub around their slightly northerly neighbor team, it’s easy to forget just how good a season UVic had in 2025. They were completely off the national radar before storming into the year with great results at Presidents’ Day and Northwest Challenge. Their run to Nationals was one of the most improbable at the start of last year, and a lot of it lands at the feet of Ericka Edgell. UVic’s do-it-all phenom is both the team’s best defender and playmaker. She’s the type of player that everyone orbits around. When the game gets tough, UVic often turns to Edgell to spin gold from wheat, and she so often does. Edgell announced herself last year, but in 2026, everyone who knows ball will be doing it for her.

Lilly Hodges (Oregon)

With Fugue’s star handler, Trout Weybright, in his senior year, it’s time to start thinking about the new guard who will work alongside and fill that hole next season. A strong, future star handler has rolled into Eugene. With a dauntless flair, in her short career Hodges has been able to make a heavy impact on both sides of the disc. From her gorgeously well-executed hucks to her constant every others, she will become a force to be reckoned with in the near future. It’s hard to predict the star power and trajectory of first-year players on established D-I teams (of course, there are some clear exceptions), but handling alongside players like Weybright and throwing to the likes of Miko Magnant, Hodges is poised to become a star in no time.

Mars Bau (UCSD)

The division’s top goal scorers are normally larger than life. When you’re constantly dunking on the opposition, celebrations come naturally. Mars Bau bucks this trend. Despite being in the upper echelon of elite downfield cutters, Bau’s game isn’t showy or exuberant. Bau’s the yin to every other cutter’s yang. UCSD won’t have the luxury of keeping Bau out of the spotlight this year, though. Without Tori Gray and Abbi Shilts, the team desperately needs someone to take center stage. Once the scouting report is in, Bau will take the toughest matchups for UCSD, and how it all shakes out could make or break UCSD’s season.

 

 

You’re All Underrating…

Tufts EWO

Did we already forget about Tufts’ undefeated 2025 regular season? Or how they were a universe point away from making the National semifinal? Losing key cutters Emily Kemp and Ryanne Barrett will be tough, sure, but Annabel White and Mina Brown are more than capable of being that lethal 1-2 punch duo that puts other teams away early. Lia Schwartz has arguably the deepest bag of throws in the division, allowing Tufts to attack from a variety of different angles. Ellie Kowalski and Kate Gearing form the rest of a formidable backfield cadre that can get around just about any defensive scheme thrown at them. Don’t be surprised if EWO put together another pristine season and keep the momentum going into the post season.

– Kiana Hu

UVic Vikes

Calling it now: UVic earns a strength bid this season. On the surface, this might not seem like a big deal, but it is. The Northwest is far too deep and continues to be impossibly tough for any team not named Oregon, Washington, or UBC. Still, looking at the roster and talent of UVic, it’s hard not to see them pulling off some big wins this year. The team has returned most of their core from 2025 and, while still a small roster, is primed to make a big imprint on 2026.

– Graham Gerhart

Georgia Athena

If there’s anything I hate about covering ultimate, it’s being put in a position to say nice things about the hometown team. And yet here we are. Against every impulse, I believe in Georgia Athena. It isn’t just the senior year of Quincy Booth (although Booth is inevitable), it’s the whole shape of the program at this moment. Sarah Lang is back for a final grad season after a year away, Jemia Johnson is ready to take over after a couple of seasons of getting used to the game, Keely Baker is tossing dimes, grad transfer Rithika Vatachavai is showing signs of being dangerous, Annie Pickren and Lucy Wylie are gremlins, rookies Tristan Thompson and Nina Kline are flashing major upside. For a program that has always been a couple of pieces away from really putting together a run, it’s nice to see a full roster come together. The ceiling could actually be quarters. They’re going to be insufferable at goalty.

– Edward Stephens

Colorado Quandary

The official college season has just started, and we already have a candidate for one of the most under-ranked teams in the women’s division. To start, Quandary returned a majority of their big dogs: Clil Philips is potentially the most unstoppable player in the whole women’s college division. Then we’ve got Faye Burdick, who has been tearing up the field and dogging it up ever since her breakout sophomore year. And let’s not forget Emma Williamson, Liana Bradley, Fiona Cashin, and the addition of Penn transfer Chaily Derecskey, who all add a wealth of depth to this already strong team. If one glance up and down the roster isn’t enough to make other teams nervous, then perhaps the chips on their shoulder from falling two points short of another semifinal will.

– Laura Osterlund

UC Davis Rogue

Having largely been in the shadows of a six-bid Southwest and the last team to make it out of the region, UC Davis is primed for a dramatic entrance into the spotlight. They had a solid resume in 2025, with close games against each of the higher-ranked regional rivals. While they lose their veteran handler core of Emily Denio, April Lu, and Emily Chou, they return a strong contingent of Sacramento Tower players: Morgan Strong, Breana Marin, Katelyn Star Mann, and Katie Angstadt-Leto. U20 selectee and Nightlock handler Julia Segre will easily slot into a center distribution role for a Rogue team that has no shortage of speedy cutters, including previous U20 star Lucy Mertz. Plus, they return an experienced, star-studded coaching crew with Austin Lourie, Robyn Fennig, and Tyler Bacon. Rogue have the ideal recipe to leapfrog into the top two of the Southwest this season.

– Kiana Hu

 

The Current Power Rankings

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1. Blame Pleiades ↩

2. Although, controversially, Verzuh did not win Rookie of the Year after missing a large chunk of the season. ↩