A mini-Nationals fields the top teams for an exciting all-out clash to end the regular season - and finalize the bid picture
March 26, 2026 by Edward Stephens 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.
The final weekend of the season arrives with its traditional explosive send-off: Easterns. The tournament has drawn the best teams in the country time out of mind, and it’s no different this season. The consensus top three teams are in attendance, each of them looking to add a second major win (they’ve each earned one so far). They’ll have their full, though, with a tumultuous, often high-ceilinged second tier, including some pedigreed visitors making their first trip to the Eastern half of the country this spring. Finally, keep your eyes on the bid picture as all of these programs make a final push to get their region an extra ticket to Nationals.
Read on for a full preview. First, let’s check out the tournament info and streaming schedule.
Tournament Profile
- Date: March 28-29
- Location: Wilmington, NC
- Weather: Mostly sunny, with upper 40s to low 60s temperatures. Winds 10+ mph
- Top 25 teams: 17
- Ultiworld Event Page
- USAU Score Reporter
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 Easterns 2026. Or get access for your entire team and coaching staff with a 2026 College Team Pack!
The event begins March 28, LIVE on Ultiworld.com. All broadcasted games will be available on-demand for viewing immediately following the live broadcasts.
Full Broadcast Schedule
Tournament Preview
Championship Hopefuls Collide Again
It wasn’t that long ago that #1 Colorado Mamabird were putting the finishing touches on a Smoky Mountain Invite win over #2 Carleton CUT. It wasn’t too long before that when we saw #3 Oregon Ego dice up Colorado in the wind in the Presidents’ Day Invite final. And only two months ago, Carleton took the season’s first major with a victory at Florida Warm Up. Those three teams have been the 2026 title co-favorites all spring long. (There was a fourth, #11 UMass Zoodisc – more on them below.) Which of them can bag a second tournament before the real push at Nationals?
Colorado were the healthiest of the three teams at SMI, and that was, perhaps, the key to the win. Stars Zeke Thoreson, Tobias Brooks, Nanda Min-Fink, and Ryan Shigley led a remarkably deep roster of championship-level playmakers, and that may give them the advantage in Wilmington. CUT and Ego, however, played short-handed at the end of the weekend. If essential offensive threat Ellis Newhouse rejoins CUT’s Declan Miller and Fin Fuhrmann on the O-line and Ego’s Raekwon Adkins or Mica Glass (both of whom only played part of the weekend at SMI) can retake some of the scoring burden from Owen Sprague and Adam Wulkan, they are well within range of assuming top dog status heading into the Series.
Looking for a Higher Mark
The next tier down finds a few teams looking to break through the previous ceiling they’ve shown, or at least clean up the floor. #11 UMass Zoodisc took a tumble from near the top of the rankings after a dreadful weekend in Tennessee. The first reaction is that between illness, injury, and other absences, the version of them we saw at SMI does not resemble what they’ll bring to the postseason. Will we see a true Zoodisc at Easterns? And, if so, will they play better than what we saw on the field from the team last time out?
#4 UNC Darkside, #9 Pittsburgh En Sabah Nur, #12 Vermont Chill, #13 Georgia Tech Tribe, and #16 Penn State Spank have all scraped semis-level performances at times this season. But the impression there has not been written in bold ink, and disappointing losses alongside the highs have them all looking toward consistency as the season comes to a close. Showing consistency in the crucible of Easterns (and possibly reaching semis ahead of one of a trio of hungry Western outfits, below) should give them a leg-up come May. Darkside and Zoodisc are the favorites to break through, if only because they both have players who have already been there and know the roadmap, but any of these teams has high-end capability.
Major West Coast Teams Trek East
More of the west’s best journey east this weekend than at any other point in the season. In addition to Oregon, three new faces from the Pacific Coast will take the field on the Atlantic. #6 Cal Poly SLO SLOCORE, after a strangely sluggish start to the season, have powered up to their typical level, beating all comers at Northwest Challenge. The rejuvenated version of the team, featuring heavy contributions from veteran Anton Orme and rookie Henry Garcia, has not had a chance to take on the title favorites. Opportunity now presents, and they’ll be angling for an upset.
A pair of Northwest heavyweights join SLOCORE. Both #7 Oregon State Beavers and #8 Western Washington Dirt have played at a reliably top-10 level throughout the season. The Beavers are in the bloom of a multi-year ascension as wave after wave of top recruiting classes have signed on. Look for Callahan Bosworth and Akira Koenigsberg to be two of the many weapons in their arsenal. Dirt are, perhaps, not quite as deep, but with the two-way play of Cedar Hines, the throwing bag of Zoli Ishikawa-Szabo, and the big-field motion of Elijah Diamond – plus several players, like Griffin Laliberte, Graham Peck, and Zach Sadow-Hasenberg, pushing their development – they have proven more than a handful.
Bids at Stake
Much of the bid picture is set heading into Easterns. Keep an eye on a few teams for potential movement, however. #15 Texas TUFF eschewed their own home tournament to travel to Easterns this year, and a very poor performance could cost the South Central a strength bid. #16 Penn State, just ahead of them and holding the Ohio Valley’s second bid, are hardly safer. But if either of them make a giant misstep, who will rise above them? There is a chance that idle #17 UCLA Smaug could be the beneficiaries simply by not playing. Of active teams, it may be NC State Alpha – who only have seven games on their ledger so far – in control of their destiny. It would take a tour de force weekend, but it’s on the table.
