Recapping the most exciting action from three rounds of bracket play!
May 18, 2026 by Josh Katz and Theresa Diffendal in Recap
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WAUKEGAN, IL — A high-stakes day of bracket play that kicked off with the reigning champs getting upset in prequarters by the no.14 seed Berry Bucks nonetheless ended with the top two seeds, Middlebury Pranksters and Carleton CHOP, booking their spot in tomorrow’s championship game.
Read on for the topline stories from the day!
Top 2 Seeds Set to Meet in the Final
Two of the division’s most storied programs, Carleton CHOP and Middlebury Pranksters, will meet tomorrow for their shot at a title, which will be either program’s third. They enter with very different histories however, as this will be Middlebury’s third final in four seasons, while Carleton hasn’t made an appearance since their last championship in 2012.
Both teams have been on a tear through the Nationals field: Middlebury has won every game by three or more goals, while CHOP’s only stumble was a universe game against Whitman to open pool play. That level of play continued into the semifinal round, where CHOP led Oklahoma Christian wire-to-wire in the early semifinal off the back of a perfect first half from the O-line.
Andrew Yeh had three goals in the first half and four for the game, along with two assists, to perfectly complement the Julian Kägi-Max Resnik duo (2G/4A and 2G/3A, respectively). That trio turned the disc over just twice all game.
- Carleton 15-11 Oklahoma Christian | Game Recap | Stream
Middlebury’s O-line nearly echoed Carleton’s feat, only turning the disc once in the second half against Elon Big Fat Bomb. Despite heroic play from Elon’s Brayden Morrison, who threw eight of the team’s goals, Elon could not slow down Middlebury’s Louis Douville Beaudoin and Peter Mans. Mans dished four of his five assists in the second half while Douville Beaudoin was involved in every second-half score.
- Middlebury 15-12 Elon| Game Recap | Stream
Oklahoma Christian Scrapes Back to Semis
- Oklahoma Christian 15-14 St. Olaf | Game Recap | Stream
- Oklahoma Christian 15-13 Colorado Mines | Stream
The Oklahoma Christian Eagles played two of the closest games in bracket play, fighting off a Colorado Mines Entropy team that would not go away in prequarters and facing the same one predicament round later from St. Olaf Berzerkers, who broke late in the second half to force universe.
In one of the best games of the tournament, Evan Card and Isaiah Platt willed the Eagles’ D-line into a 4-0 run to flip control of the game partway through the second half. The Zerks and Eagles opened the contest trading holds, with Oklahoma Christian’s Logan Hammersmith and St. Olaf’s Jonas Geere and Max Sponseller each dialing up well-shaped and weighted shots.
But as the wind started picking up, so too did the turns, and Zerks punched in the first break on a back-and-forth point that saw Taro Jelinek pick up the final block with a layout on Sammy Roberts for 5-4. Both Jelinek and Roberts would score additional breaks for their teams in the first, Jelinek collecting one with a goal while Roberts threw two of his own, and added another assist for a hold to take half, up 8-7.
The lead changes continued into the second, with Jelinek again getting involved near the end zone for the 9-8 lead. Oklahoma Christian appeared to take momentum, trusting their depth to turn the hole into a 12-9 lead they ultimately wouldn’t relinquish. But no one at the time knew that when Jelinek hit paydirt again, finding Jonas Geere at the front cone for the break to force universe, or on universe itself when Jelinek earned the point’s first block. Couper Kerns, however, would get the last, blowing up an under and giving Oklahoma Christian a short field for the win.
Berry’s Beautiful Beginning
- Berry 15 – 13 Lewis & Clark | Game Recap
- Elon 15 – 9 Berry | Stream
The upset story of the weekend continued in prequarters, with no.14 seed Berry Bucks upsetting reigning champions and no.3 seed Lewis & Clark Bacchus on the back of a heroic performance from Bucks’ Donovan nominee Mike Curtis, who slashed an 8G/3A/1B/5T statline. There were five total breaks in the entire game, and Berry struck first early in the game to build a two point halftime lead.
Lewis & Clark got the first of their two breaks to tie the game at 12s, a double-score from Levi Stahl to Orlando Impas after a travel call, and immediately cashed in the second to take their only lead of the game, Stahl this time collecting a front cone goal from Sam London for 13-12.
But, as is so often the case in D-III, the bracket is where the division’s stars shine brightest, and Curtis got involved in all three of Berry’s final goals. With the Bucks clearly turning to Curtis to lead them forward, he reeled in two deep shots, one from James Clark and one with a bid from Eli Hoshide.
The final point was a typical dramatic affair — Orlando Impas missed the game-winner low to Uri Boaz, a handblock from Levi Stahl to get it back, a contentious “not-in” call — before Curtis again took matters into his own hands and launched one to Jackson Knox, who skied Impas in the end zone for the game-winning break.
Berry might’ve run out of gas against Elon in the next round, notching just one break that wouldn’t be enough against Brayden Morrison, Justin Brader-Araje, and Ben Patterson, but they pulled off one of the biggest upsets this tournament has seen. For one glorious prequarter round, Berry was beautiful.
Tomorrow, Ultiworld will stream the men’s championship game between Middlebury and Carleton at 10:30 a.m. CT. Follow along with the action by watching on the tournament event page.
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