Are we set for another showdown between Carleton vs. UBC, the 2025 National finalists?
March 19, 2026 by Bridget Mizener 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.
Northwest Challenge: one of the crown jewels of the women’s schedule year after year. Once again, the field is stacked, and the weather looks… good, actually? (50 and partly cloudy ain’t bad, knock on wood!) It’s going to be a fun one — here’s what to expect.
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 Northwest Challenge. Or get access for your entire team and coaching staff with a 2026 College Team Pack!
The event begins March 20th, with Friday night showcase games. Saturday competition begins March 21st, LIVE on Ultiworld.com. All broadcasted games will be available on-demand for viewing immediately following the live broadcasts.
Full Broadcast Schedule
Tournament Preview
Can Anyone Catch Carleton?
Carleton Syzygy is about as clear a one-seed as you can possibly have. Nobody’s been able to knock them off yet — though UBC sure did give them a run for their money back in January. Two months later, the question remains: is Carleton beatable, or are they truly in a tier of their own?
They’re certainly not untouchable, as we’ve seen. However, the field is showing cracks (a potentially limited Mika Kurahashi for UBC, a flawed last outing for Stanford, and no obvious heavyweights past those two teams), and it’s hard to get past Chagall Gelfand, Chloe Hakimi, and co. at less than full strength. All told, it’s not impossible that Syzygy rolls into Nationals as a no-loss team if things go to plan this weekend.
Fly / Bird
For seeds 2-3, UBC had the rankings edge, but Stanford owned a (windball) head-to-head win — UBC ended up getting the nod. They’re at the top of Pool B while Stanford presides over C. Maybe that’ll give ‘Fly a motivational axe to grind — it doesn’t really matter, as we’re set up for a UBC-Stanford semifinal either way.
Coming into the weekend, Superfly may have a bit of a bitter taste in their mouth after getting handled by an ascendant UC Santa Cruz in the Stanford Invite final. Other than losses to that Sol team and the aforementioned Carleton, their record is spotless so far this spring. Was that final just a blip on the radar? Esther Filipek, Harper Baer, and their cadre of downfield targets led by Sage McGinley-SMith will hope to prove that was the case. What would really impress is for Stanford to put away UBC for the second time this season — in calmer conditions — and make a run at Carleton as the regular season window closes.
For UBC, the story starts and ends with Mika Kurahashi. If she plays a full workload for UBC, that quells a lot of doubts going into the postseason. That isn’t to say the Thunderbirds aren’t good enough to win without her — there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary. See Ella Bolan, Nina Tsai, Amelie Marshall, Lauren Szeto-Fung, Jamie Jung, and Claire Weng. Instead, this is a larger, more existential question about their ceiling, and their identity. How high could they fly — who would they be — if they had to play Nationals without the reigning POTY? This weekend we may get answers one way or another.
The Next Tier
Some quick hits on the next group of teams:
- 4-seed Colorado Quandary will be without Clil Phillips, who was with the team earlier this season but has dropped from the roster. How well additions like DPOTY candidate Chailiy Deresckey and rookies like Noah Fong and Iris Sawyer pick up the slack will be informative.
- Tufts put together a brilliant regular season in 2025. So far this year, their resume is thin — QCTU is the only tournament they’ve played — so this weekend presents a big chance to beef it up. Making semis and putting up a good showing against the likes of Carleton would go a long way towards postseason confidence.
- Washington has yet to reach the same ceiling as last year’s team. But, their 2025 semis season showed strong momentum through the back half of the spring. Element will look to gather a head of steam at their hometown tournament this weekend.
Northwest Clarity, East Coast Interlopers
- It’s worth saying that — especially compared to years past — there are no major bid questions at play this year. In the Northwest, BYU is solidly outside the cutoff and their closest region-mates Oregon and Western Washington are firmly inside it.
- North Carolina’s results put them around the level of Tufts, whom they hung with at QCTU — but they’re untested against the cream of the crop so far this spring. Some exposure to the top tier of teams will be informative for the pecking order and offer a chance to tune up against the division’s best.
- Michigan and Vermont will use the stiff competition to prepare for regional battles once they head back home. Vermont dropped a game to a New England-leading Northeastern team at Stanford Invite, and a loss to Notre Dame punctuated Michigan’s 8th place finish at Commonwealth Cup. The NE is still hunting extra bids, with Northeastern currently sitting last in and Vermont first out. Since the GL is likely a one-bid region, this weekend provides critical get-right reps before they jump back into the regional fray.
