Santa Cruz is a big favorite: can another team surprise?
March 12, 2026 by Alex Rubin in Preview, Video
Ultiworld’s 2026 college coverage 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.
While Stanford Invite may have lost some of its prestige during the years the tournament was relocated to Stevinson, this year’s field promises a lot of close games and bid-battle intrigue. 16 teams will meet in Palo Alto, and each has something to strive for, whether that’s more rankings points towards a bid to Nationals, demonstrating growth over the course of a season, or sharpening up in Sunday’s bracket as the season shrinks towards the pressure cooker of the Series.
But first, let’s take a look at the streaming schedule.
How To Watch
We’ve got you covered for all the exciting action this weekend. You will need an Ultiworld Standard or All-Access subscription to be able to watch games from the Stanford Invite. Or get access for your entire team and coaching staff with a 2026 College Team Pack!
The event begins Saturday, March 14, and will be aired LIVE on Ultiworld.com. All broadcasted games will be available on-demand for viewing immediately following the live broadcasts.
Full Broadcast Schedule
Tournament Preview
Slug Supremacy
The very same #5 UC Santa Cruz Slugs that did not advance to Regionals as recently as 20211 are now a top five team in the country. The story of their turnaround is remarkable and frankly worthy of their own article, but for now we can just marvel at the nearly-finished product. The top seed at this tournament, the Slugs are expected to win the tournament fairly handily. No other player at the tournament can match the well-rounded skillset of Toby Warren2 and the supporting case featuring Selim Jones, Cole Mires, Milan Moslehi, and Mario Ambrose have all been functioning like parts of a championship contender.
The Slug’s run to the semifinals at Smoky Mountain Invite might tell us more about their potential than their games against the lower-ranked field this weekend, but there are still plenty of compelling matchups, and it will be interesting to see how the team has grown and adjusted in the last few weeks.
Back to Back
If any team can match the Slugs’ effort in any single game, it is likely the #19 UBC Thunderbirds. In Justin Podnar and Rex Yuen, UBC has a tall and talented duo who can break open a game on their own if given a chance. Of course, when defenses are able to limit the two of them, the rest of the team has had limited success reaching the heights of a team that won a game at Nationals last year.3
Complicating the Thunderbirds’ weekend is their appearance at last weekend’s Northwest Challenge. They went 3-3 to finish 7th in the 12 team tournament and will be dealing with the fatiguing effects of playing on consecutive weekends – an unusual occurrence at the D-I level. UBC will have the chance to implement any changes they want to make quickly, but they will surely need to rely on the depth of their roster to carry them through another full tournament without much time to let any nagging injuries recover.
In the Hunt
Also playing this weekend will be a number of teams looking to break (back) into the Nationals field and readying themselves for a breakout weekend.
The #20 Wisconsin Hodags left Florida Warm-Up with a winning record and won Easterns Qualifier. Looking for a second North Central bid, Wisconsin has a good chance to boost their algorithmic ranking before a challenging Easterns tournament at the end of the month.
Tufts E-men is probably too far behind the bid bubble to earn another spot for New England at Nationals, but the practice against other high level teams will be valuable for a team that could knock off one of their region’s big three.
Stanford Bloodthirsty looked improved this season with transfers Fritz Rehmus and Dox Raskin raising the team’s floor. Alex Belfiore is an All-Region talent who finally has a stage for a breakout season. Bloodthirsty’s pool play matchup against Wisconsin will be a good measuring stick for them.
The Southeast region is as open as it’s been in years, and Tulane Tucks has a few intriguing rookies who can help the team level up alongside Team USA U20 player Micah Wagner. Tulane always seems to improve on their preseason ranking, and they have a great opportunity to test themselves against a bunch of teams in similar positions.
In Nate Astrom and Eli Artemakis, Illinois Rise has two players with elite experience who should be able to open up opportunities for easy scores and really challenge opponents with their athletic defensive skills. As the team grows around their skillset, it will be fun to watch Illinois try to match region-mates Chicago and Davenport who already made strong statements this season in earlier tournaments.
Colorado State Hibida have a very favorable pool draw and roster a few Club Nationals players in Dexter Luecke and Timothy Elliot. With one win over a ranked team already,4 Hibida proved they can play at the same level or better as just about every team here.
10,000 Clubs
While they likely will not be threats to win the tournament, fans of the People’s Division will have their eyes on the three D-III teams in attendance: #3 Lewis & Clark Bacchus, #6 Whitman Sweets, and #25 Santa Clara SCAB. Lewis & Clark, of course, are the defending champions who bring back many of the leaders like Orlando Impas who helped bring home last season’s hardware. Whitman are one of the most storied programs in the division and have plenty of experience playing at this high level. Santa Clara, likewise, have been here before, but this is their first year in D-III after competing for several years as a D-I team before they qualified for D-III when USA Ultimate changed the school population limit. SCAB certainly will not be phased by the challenge of playing “up” and it will be exciting to see how they compare to the D-III stalwarts now that fans are seeing the team through a different frame.
The team qualified but the school did not allow them to attend. UCSC last failed to qualify for regionals in 2018 ↩
maybe UBC’s Justin Podnar has an argument to make — we’ll find out next month when Ultiworld releases our annual Top 25 Players ↩
And for what it’s worth, that game was against Santa Cruz ↩
they beat #22 Utah Zion Curtain at Pres Day ↩
