Everything you need to know from pool play!
May 16, 2026 by Josh Katz and Graham Gordon in Recap
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WAUKEGAN, IL — On an extremely hot and balmy day, fans in Waukegan were treated to an undeniably exciting game of D-III college ultimate. Although we saw just two universe point games on the day, both were games to be remembered, and there was nary a blowout to be seen.
Top 8 Seeds Prove Their Mettle (In the End)
After pool play, every single one or two seed in their pool will finish with either a bye to the quarterfinal round or a favorable matchup in the prequarterfinals. As close as teams likeWhitman and Colorado Mines got to disrupting this order, there wasn’t a loss from any of these teams to a squad seeded ninth or lower overall.
Middlebury, Carleton CHOP, Elon, and St. Olaf will all be grateful to sleep in tomorrow before their quarterfinals matchups at 10:45 a.m. CT, but each team arrived there in a very different fashion.
- Middlebury 15-10 Claremont | Game Recap
- Middlebury 15-6 Macalester | Stream
Middlebury largely cleaned up in Pool A, with their closest game being a 15-10 victory over Claremont where they never really seemed in doubt. They were able to run balanced lines throughout the day, reflected by their egalitarian stats, with no player having more than 7 goals or 6 assists individually.
- Carleton CHOP 15-11 Williams | Game Recap
- Carleton CHOP 14-8 Berry | Stream
CHOP had a nasty scare in the first round of pool play, taken to universe by Whitman, but they held on to win that game and managed to up their level of play to win much cleaner in their other two matchups.
- Elon 15-14 Oklahoma Christian | Stream
Elon was the victor of the notorious 4/5 seed game in Pool D, and we were treated to an incredible matchup on the Ultiworld showcase stream against Oklahoma Christian. Brayden Morrison was his usual mercurial self, with Ben Patterson as his favorite target in that particular game—they had 5 assists and goals respectively.
- St. Olaf 15-13 Lewis & Clark | Stream
While Elon technically broke seed to win that game, the St. Olaf Berzerkers are the true risers of this crowd. They took care of business against Rochester and Franciscan, but clearly left it all out on the field for their matchup with Lewis & Clark. Their trademark big-space ho-stack offense was extremely efficient throughout this game, with all players on the line able to effectively utilize the flat side with soft inside breaks to never allow the Bacchus defense to set. Max Sponseller and Ian Westerberg were particularly important in powering this unit’s drive in this game, and they have been well rewarded.
Upsets to Make the Bracket
- Colorado Mines 15-7 Macalester | Game Recap
#14 Colorado School of Mines Entropy took down #7 Macalester Flat Earth in the last round of pool play to make the bracket for the first time in program history. It was one of just two games across the entire tournament to not go according to seed through the 1 p.m. round. Randy Lahm was, as expected, dominant for Entropy, while Jack Fortune continued a strong weekend the sees him in a tie for second on the tournament goal leaderboard.
Entropy will face #4 Oklahoma Christian in prequarters tomorrow morning, who they are 0-3 against already this season.
- Berry 12-11 Whitman| Game Recap
In a wild, back and forth game, Berry Bucks outlasted Whitman Sweets, breaking on universe to win 12-11 and earn a spot in the bracket for the first time since 2023. Berry opened up an early 5-2 lead, but Whitman fought back thanks to some hard work from Hans Frautschi and Max Fleming, eventually getting the game tied at 7.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair, but Mikey Curtis, Jackson Knox, and James Clark would not be denied on universe. Berry will get a shot against the defending champions, Lewis & Clark Bacchus, in prequarters tomorrow morning, while Whitman are relegated to consolation play.
Elite Performances
There are a couple folks who definitely deserve to be shouted out for how they brought the hammer on day one for their teams, whether that be reflected in the statistical breakdown or not.
Orlando Impas (Lewis & Clark)
Impas proved on Day 1 that he’s definitely the most important player for the Bacchus offense. His springiness is potentially unmatched in the division, he has a habit for making ridiculous plays, and the around backhand is a thing of beauty. It doesn’t hurt that he had nine goals and nine assists, either.
Wade Buchheit (Williams)
Buchheit is nothing if not a Awiss army knife for WUFO, but is especially adept at finding the soft spots in handler defense or from front-of-stack initiations. In addition, he’s got a killer backhand huck that he can get off at ease. He played both ways a lot for Williams today, and any given line’s effectiveness rose immensely when he was on it.
Max Resnik (Carleton CHOP)
After injuries to key offensive pieces, CHOP had to shuffle their lines some, and Resnik’s transition to the O-line as a sophomore has paid big dividends. He runs into open space like a charging bull and can absolutely launch a forehand from motion, and he did both today to the tune of nine goals and 10 assists.
Theo Barton (Bowdoin)
For a Clown team that was definitely outclassed in terms of top-end talent by Oklahoma Christian and Elon, Barton did his best to keep them in those games, in addition to steamrolling Hillsdale to secure a bracket spot. He always seemed to have the key to get them out of a tricky situation, whether that be a reset-saving bid, a squeeze to the cone, or a devastating break throw. He also is tied for the current division leader in assists with 15 — not too shabby.
Colin Pfister (Whitman)
Although Whitman couldn’t quite come up with a win to make the bracket, I don’t want to let their play go unnoticed. Pfister in particular was often the straw that stirred the drink for the Sweets offense. He was always getting open in the small space, made difficult throws look routine in the handler weave, and could make waves downfield when needed.
Odes to the Fallen
As mentioned, four teams won’t be in the bracket tomorrow, but each had their moments today without a doubt.
Macalester Flat Earth, sadly, were missing their entire senior class due to graduation, including the consensus division elites Owen and Kyle Suelflow. While their offense couldn’t quite get enough holds to make any game interesting, their stream against Middlebury generated some great highlights, especially when the disc was in the hands of Sanjeev Sridhar.
In maybe a surprise to some, Hillsdale Chargers managed to keep games close with both Oklahoma Christian and Elon. The Hamilton brothers, Jedidiah and Jake, are one of the most exciting shows in the division on both sides of the ball. In addition, this team as a whole makes incredibly exciting throwing decisions — nobody is afraid to let a hammer fly and it is awesome.
Rochester Piggies definitely showed they belonged at Nationals after an impossible run to get here, hanging in every game that they played, albeit without truly being in striking distance at the end of any of them. The Cameron Lowe show, though, is one to be reckoned with. It’s no surprise to Piggies fans to see him light up the stat sheet, with 12 assists — well more than a third of all Rochester’s scores.
This year’s Whitman Sweets are easily one of the most talented teams to miss the bracket ever at Nationals. Injuries during the regular season cost them in terms of seeding, but they obviously had the horses to hang with top teams. Maybe they left too much on the field in really competitive games against CHOP and Williams to make it happen against an undermanned Berry team, but it’s a shame that we won’t get to see the aforementioned Pfister, fellow stars Nico Darringer and Elan Gorham Siegler, and an athletic supporting cast in competitive play tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Ultiworld will stream the prequarter matchup Williams vs. Franciscan at 8:30 AM CT, followed by streams of every men’s division quarterfinal and semifinal game. Follow along with the action first-hand by watching on the tournament event page.
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