In a jam-packed postseason weekend, the last four regions will decide their representatives at the D-III College Championships
April 23, 2026 by Zack Davis, Theresa Diffendal and TJ Lee in 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.
There are few more exciting portions of the ultimate calendar than spring College Regionals. For some, these events will be the culmination of a season — or even college career — while for others it’s just another step on their path toward the D-III College Championships in just over a month. Count on plenty of dramatic action and unexpected results along the way as every team fights to ensure they fall into the latter group.
D-III Women’s will decide their final representatives for Nationals this very weekend. With six bids on the line across four regions, we’ve got you covered on the storylines to watch.
Metro East
Score Reporter
Location: Batavia, NY
Number of Bids: 1
Expected Qualifier: #4 Wesleyan
In the Hunt: #12 Rochester
Potential Spoilers: Skidmore
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥
To an outside observer it would be easy to just write off #12 Rochester EZ Women. Even I was tempted to just call a victory for #4 Wesleyan Vicious Circles by five in the final. Milo Brown, Maggie Brown, Scout Noble, Sofia Canoutas-Nadel, and Mackenzie Bunnell are some of the best players in the division. Wesleyan is still a top four team and has a real chance of repeating at Nationals.
But the rest of the Metro East region isn’t without talent, and Tay Harvey from Rochester is a perfect example, so let’s take a moment to reflect on their career thus far. Harvey started playing organized competitive ultimate in 2022 for Niskayuna High School. Nisky Ultimate was essentially a mixed roster playing in a boy’s team tournament who rostered just 10 players in their inaugural season. Harvey was one of those 10 players. They scored, in total across their six games at the NY High School Boys State Championship, six points in a truly brutal weekend of ultimate that featured two bagels for Nisky.
Undeterred, Harvey signed up for the YCC mixed team the Albany Anarchy, who promptly went 0-6 at the 2022 U.S. Open U20 mixed tournament. At this tournament Harvey experienced their first universe loss in a sanctioned tournament, 12-11 in the 17th place game.
As a senior in high school Harvey decided to run it back. Nisky Ultimate did some serious recruiting and managed to get three lines to go to the state championship tournament where they won their first sanctioned game: a 12-5 rout against Bethlehem Central High School (B).
Harvey then matriculated to the University of Rochester for the 2023-24 academic year. It’s here where Harvey found their first taste of true success, opening the spring season with a 6-2 weekend at Bring the Huckus. Coming in as the seven seed, the EZ Women stunned second seed Lehigh in their quarterfinal game, avenged a pool play loss to sixth seed West Chester in semis, then ran out of gas against first seed Haverford/Bryn Mawr.
Rochester continued to put the division on notice at the 2024 Northeast Classic, notching a one point win over regional rivals Wesleyan, a team who was really starting to come into their own in 2024. They ended the weekend 4-3 after two more one-point games didn’t go their way in pools, and then steamrolled through Western NY Conferences. But the promising season ended in heartbreak for Harvey and the Rochester EZ Women, when their Nationals hopes were dashed in the regional final, losing 11-10 to Wesleyan.
In the 2025 season, Harvey won her first sanctioned tournament, Garden State, with a leveled-up Rochester that featured nine rookies and five players in their fifth season. The final was a windy 4-3 battle over Wellesley. Rochester sailed through Conferences and throttled every team on their way to the regional final, the closest game ending 13-6 against Hamilton. In the final, once again, the EZ Women fell just short, losing 7-6 to Wesleyan. But instead of that one point ending their season, the EZ Women had earned a second bid for the region and torched Ithaca 8-2 in the game to go.
Tay Harvey stood out at Nationals with a blistering 20A/20B statline, propelling Rochester to a ninth place finish. Though it was their best ever, in classic Rochester fashion, the EZ Women were one point short of potential glory, falling 13-12 to Mount Holyoke in the prequarterfinal. They pulled off two upsets in the ninals bracket to hold seed, beating Carleton Eclipse 12-11 and then Kenyon Blu-Ray, a team that had beaten them two days ago, 15-7. Meanwhile Wesleyan, who Rochester had taken to universe point just weeks before, went on to win it all.
Harvey was awarded BPOTY Runner-Up and Second Team All-American nods for their efforts.
This year looks eerily similar for Rochester, with a tournament win to open the year at Bring the Huckus, a second place finish at Northeast Classic, and an absolute boat race at conferences. With five rookies looking to prove themselves and crucial fellow juniors Jenna Kwak and Marlena Berger continuing to refine their game with an offseason of club, Harvey, and Rochester as a whole, have what it takes to seize the opportunity and the bid to Nationals. But either way, Waukegan will be missing some stars.
Harvey isn’t the only hidden gem in the region that deserves a chance to showcase their talent in the one event in the division that has the publicity, accessibility, and clout Nationals provides. Sources close to Ultiworld have brought up Skidmore Waffles’ Ashley Schlinger as a potential threat to the Wesleyan dynasty. Skidmore hasn’t had the same amount of success in terms of record this season as Rochester and has lost to the EZ Women twice already this year, but were the only team at Eastern Metro East conference tournament to score more than one point on Wesleyan.
Only time will tell, but there’s a lot of skilled players in this region, and Wesleyan isn’t invincible. It might all come down to one point.
New England
Score Reporter
Location: Williamstown, MA
Number of Bids: 2
Expected Qualifier: #2 Middlebury, #11 Wellesley
In the Hunt: #21 Mt. Holyoke, #19 Amherst
Potential Spoilers: #22 Williams, Bowdoin
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
One of the deepest regions in the division finds itself with just two bids to go around for the second year in a row. Sitting at #2 in our Power Rankings, the Middlebury Pranksters seem a lock to take the regional title once again, making the real question whether a resurgent Wellesley cleans up as expected, or if some backdoor drama once again rears its head.
We’ve spilt lots of digital ink and will spill plenty more on the POTY-caliber play of sophomore Ella Widmyer, but the Pranksters’ depth has been on full display this year in a 13-3 regular season that only featured losses to top 40 ranked D-I teams and reigning champs #4 Wesleyan (which they later avenged). Rookie Zora DeSilva has looked excellent, slotting in as a reliable reset and downfield target thanks to years of youth experience in the Portland, Maine circuit, while at the other end of the eligibility spectrum Cece Rhyneer is epitomizing the programmatic growth the Pranksters are known for, assuming a large amount of touches as one of the team’s primary distributors. While Sasha Hanna has been out with an injury, Lizzie Madden, Ruby Salisbury, and Avery Goldstein have been more than up to the task of providing timely cuts for quick scores, leaving Makenna Bachman and Hazel Stringer to clean up on defense.
With wins over Wesleyan and #3 Carleton on the season in addition to doubling up Mt. Holyoke, Middlebury is more poised for another semifinal-or-better Nationals showing than an early regionals exit. They are, however, yet to play #11 Wellesley Whiptails, who started the season unranked after missing Nationals last year, only to rebound in a big way in 2026 thanks to an influx of first-years with YCC backgrounds. Chatter was swirling particularly around Avellina Colacurcio, whose upwind hucks were critical to the Whiptails’ wins at East Coast Invite. After steamrolling their Conferences competition, the Whiptails will be gunning for the regional final, but they’ll first have to go through #21 Mt. Holyoke, who they’ve split games with on the season, and upstarts #19 Amherst, who sit just below the Whiptails in Pool C.
While Mt. Holyoke Daisy Chain attended enough regular season tournaments to clear 10 games this year, the end result was the same as last: no strength bid for the region. Despite boasting top-of-division talent in Eliza Williams-Derry, Eva Taberski, Claire Willett, and Charlotte Moynihan, Daisy Chain have had some head-scratching results for a quarterfinalist that graduated just three players. A 10-5 loss to Middlebury suggests they’re most likely to find themselves in the backdoor bracket, but close wins over Wellesley, Williams and, most concerning, Bates, makes that path seem much more treacherous than it did at the season’s onset.
And that’s before getting into one of the biggest upsets from Conferences: Amherst Sparkle Motion’s 10-7 win over Mt. Holyoke to claim South New England. Amherst has been steadily gaining ground in the region, losing by one to both Mt. Holyoke and Williams at Conferences last year, then making the game-to-go to the game-to-go and losing to Mt. Holyoke, and finally getting wins over Daisy Chain and Nova this year. The young sophomore- and junior-led team flashed their ceiling in just a three-goal loss to Wesleyan earlier in the season, and with some confidence boosting wins over conference rivals, are well poised for a run to steal the region’s second bid and make Nationals for the first time in the 2020s.
With teams like #22 Williams Nova, who also played Wesleyan within three and boast a win over OV’s Kenyon, and Bowdoin Chaos Theory, who claimed second at North New England with a solid 10-7 loss to Middlebury, waiting in the wings, the battle for a spot at Nationals should be as fiery as ever.
Ohio Valley
Score Reporter
Location: Allentown, PA
Number of Bids: 2
Expected Qualifier: #1 Haverford/Bryn Mawr, Kenyon
In the Hunt: #18 Oberlin, #17 Cedarville
Potential Spoilers: Scranton
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Tale as old as the 2020s in the Ohio Valley: it’s #1 Haverford/Bryn Mawr Sneetches at the top, and then chaos practically all the way down. Thanks to a last-effort push from #15 Kenyon Blu-Ray at East Coast Invite, the region received two bids for the second year in a row, ramping up the intrigue past the expected dominance of last year’s finalists.
Saying “dominance” might feel like an overstatement, given Haverford/Bryn Mawr’s one game against the other bid-earners back at Cherry Blossom Classic in February was just a two-point affair. But the weather1, was a strong equalizing factor, and the Sneetches followed up that performance by romping through the rest of the season, only conceding a single loss to D-I bid-earners Northeastern while doubling up Lehigh, #21 Mt. Holyoke, and most crucially, reigning national champions #4 Wesleyan.
Conferences proceeded similarly, only allowing a maximum of four points (to Scranton and Lehigh) while bageling two teams. Erica Collin is playing at a POTY level, commanding the offense from the backfield to complement an imposing presence should she go downfield. Though the chance is there for a slip up if the Sneetches start looking past this weekend, with Sonia Nicholson and Rufus Helmreich on All-American radars alongside a deep corps of receivers like Liv Davis and throwers like Clara Morton, Haverford/Bryn Mawr’s eyes are on a national title rather than just a regional one.
But looking to build upon last year’s Nationals appearance and potentially wrest that regional title away is Kenyon, who scraped the division’s last strength bid from Winona State by a mere 10 points. Despite graduating top-of-the-division players in Gwyn Kelley and Madeline Ford, Blu-Ray debuted at #10 in our preseason power rankings thanks to the retention of junior All-American talents Will and Kaley Johnson alongside the addition of rookies with experience like Scarlett Flamm and Clara Nerbonne. While the seasonal ledger has more red than you’d like to see against other Nationals-level opponents from a team aiming for another bracket appearance, Blu-Ray did silence some doubters with an undefeated Ohio Conference showing.
The wins, however, were far from comfortable, as surprise second place finishers #17 Cedarville Queen Bee pushed Blu-Ray to universe in the opening round of play. Unlike the other OV squads, Queen Bee played almost exclusively D-I competition this season, garnering close wins – and high-level experience – against top 100 teams in Emory, Virginia Tech, and Clemson. With just four seniors on the roster compared to nine first-years, including two with YCCs experience in Summer Tenpas and Norah Marshal, this is a program on the rise and should be considered a contender for a bid in the coming years, if not this coming weekend.
Don’t write off #18 Oberlin Preying Manti though just because they lost to Queen Bee, playing as they were without junior handler Angel Ma. Preying Manti have been on a mission this season, bolstered by the return of Miya Liang after a stint playing in the men’s division. The dedication has paid off, most clearly highlighted by wins over D-I Pittsburgh and a definitive five point victory over NC State. While a six-point hole against Kenyon will be a steep score to flip at regionals, it’s well within the realm of possibility for the 2019 national champions to steal a bid and return to Nationals for the first time this decade.
Jockeying for position and a shot at the game-to-go are the usual OV suspects in Scranton Electric City Ultimate, Lehigh Gravity, and Swarthmore Warmothers. Scranton, who play mixed most of the season and separate into single-gender teams for the Series, beat Lehigh in Conference semifinals for the second year in a row. Last year, Lehigh was able to secure the revenge win at regionals last year before beating Cedarville to make the game-to-go, which is a route we could see play out once again this year. While Swat have had a rockier postseason, losing in the last round of Conference pool play to Messiah to miss the champ bracket, they did finish the regular season ranked higher than Lehigh thanks to a head-to-head win at Jersey Devil.
While the ranking money is on an Oberlin/Kenyon game-to-go, don’t be surprised to see any combination of these teams still in it with a shot at Nationals on Sunday in the historically deep Ohio Valley.
Southeast
Score Reporter
Location: Milledgeville, GA
Number of Bids: 1
Expected Qualifier: #23 Union
In the Hunt: Georgia College
Potential Spoilers: Berry
Excitement Level: 🔥
#23 Union Jillz have been on top of the Southeast rock for the last couple years now, and this year is no different. Star player Anna Forbes is generating a lot of buzz in our Discord and for good reason: she’s talented, but don’t sleep on the likes of Kelsi Jones, Sarah Skinner, and Lindsey Dismuke.
Union on the whole have had a solid season: 10-1 over two tournaments with a third place finish at The Only Tenn I See Memorial Tournament and a tournament win at Moxie Madness. The Jillz are missing a standout win, with their best a 13-4 win over Indiana at Tenn I See. Their only loss is a bit of an indicator of their ceiling, 7-5 against Emory at the same tournament. A big caveat on both though — that tournament was two months ago, and a lot can change about a team in two months. Jillz should take care of business here, and have the potential for a run at Nationals.
Long time fans will remember the Berry Valkyries‘ dominance of the region prior to the current reign of Union. Though they haven’t had quite the same success as they once enjoyed, they’re not a team to be slept on. The Valkyries ended their season 7-5 after two tournaments, but didn’t show the same kind of consistency as the Jillz.
The third attendees and second seed, Georgia College Lynx Rufus ended their season 7-7, playing all their sanctioned games in the month of March. They could very well hold seed and take a game off of Berry, but haven’t shown they have what it takes to steal the bid from the Jillz.
as it seemingly has been all season and will almost assuredly be in Waukegan ↩
