Middlebury was dominant throughout the weekend, culminating in a 15-7 win over Carleton. Does their run place them among the best D-III teams of all time?
May 20, 2026 by Josh Katz in Recap
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 College Championships 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.
WAUKEGAN, IL – One of the most dominant seasons of all time was finished off with one of the most dominant championship performances of all time. In a thorough beatdown, #1 Middlebury Pranksters broke early, broke often, and never gave #3 Carleton-CHOP even a hint of hope, pulling away in a 15-7 rout to win the third championship in program history.
The Pranksters were no stranger to the occasion: this was the third championship appearance for their seniors. But they had lost the previous two, and were desperate to not have the same feeling again this time. “It’s been on our minds all year, wanting to get back to this game,” Louis Douville Beaudoin said postgame. “We wanted to get to this game and show the work we put in and prove we’re the best team.”
That work was in pursuit of “The Standard,” an until-now mythical level of play that Middlebury is always chasing. Pranksters’ leadership reinforces that mindset at every opportunity. “We’re always trying to get better every half, that’s what Peter [Mans] tells us every huddle, and we were able to do that,” Douville Beaudoin noted.
“The Standard” also defines their in-game mentality. “We try to find The Standard on defense in every game. The number one goal is to play to it from the first point,” Geir Hartl shared. In the final, they played beyond it. The first point was emblematic of everything that would transpire over the next few hours: assertion, aggression, confidence, and dominance from the best team in the division.
The opening line itself was an act of aggression from Middlebury. With just a single game on Monday, the Pranksters knew they could load up their D-lines with their offensive stars. The first line had four of them: Hartl, Mans, Douville Beaudoin, and Oscar de Swaan Arons joined Gavin Rice, Nadav Melamede, and Vince Sullivan. Collectively, they smothered every Carleton cutter and challenged every reset. On the fourth throw, Douville Beaudoin leapt in front of Julian Kägi for a block. After a foul call that was eventually overruled by the observer, he played a give-and-go with Hartl before finding de Swaan Arons just over the goal line for the break. Advantage, Pranksters.
That defensive pressure never relented. Whether it was due to the pressure, the nerves of the occasion, or just a bad day for the offense, Carleton was hardly able to move the disc quickly and consistently. CHOP scored just twice before the lightning delay. The first was on a high-stall throw to space that was as much about field position as it was an intent to score. The second was with their D-line on offense following back-to-back breaks against Middlebury’s D2 line to make it 4-2.
Middlebury held in response on one of the craziest plays of the final, a Douville Beaudoin score after Tomomi Perry’s block stayed in the air long enough for LDB to slide underneath it in the end zone.
They’d break again going downwind, Rice to Aidan DeLorenzo, before lightning near Waukegan Sports Park forced a nearly two hour delay.
Some teams would view an extended delay during a final as an inconvenience. This Middlebury team is not one of them. “People could see [the delay] as adversity, but we viewed it as a chance to spend more time together. This team is so special, we’re all so close, and so we viewed it as a positive,” Douville Beaudoin commented.
Hartl voiced a similar sentiment when asked about how he’ll remember this edition of the Pranksters: “It’s all the little moments that build a family that’s this strong. We do everything as a team and when we take the field, we’re just playing with our brothers.”
They say it’s better to be lucky than good. Louis Douville Beaudoin was both this weekend, and it’s why he’ll almost assuredly be the unanimous pick for Player of the Year. He had a number of goal contributions that defied bonkers deflections. There was the aforementioned score off the Perry deflection. His second assist of the final was handblocked by Perry, except the block was perfectly angled to have the disc float over a Carleton defender and right to Jasper Pearcy-Kahn. His third assist, which sent the game to half with the score 8-4, probably should’ve been blocked by Danny Shope, but he mistimed his jump.
Don’t let those plays take anything away from Douville Beaudoin: he was phenomenal this weekend and all season. Coach Hannah Baranes’ decision to move him to the O-line this year was possibly the best coaching decision anyone made this college season. It was apparent from Middlebury’s first game at Florida Warm Up, all the way back in January, that the Peter Mans-Louis Douville Beaudoin connection would be potent. Mans’ deep throwing ability with Douville Beaudoin’s speed and explosiveness is one of a kind. Now that the season is over, it’s fair to say that connection is one of the best in D-III history.
No one officially names a “player of the game” for finals, but as the writer of this recap, I’m going to take this space to do just that. And despite his 1G/5A/2D statline, it’s not LDB (though he’d be my second choice). Instead, it’s Nadav Melamede, the anchor of the Prankster defense.
Melamede was their primary choice to take the matchup against Max Resnik, the undisputed focal point of CHOP’s offense. Resnik had fifteen goals and sixteen assists heading into the final. He was held to just a 2G/1D/3T line, and neither goal came with Melamede on the field. It was also Melamede who did much of the work when Middlebury converted a break chance: 2G/3A in the final, and he had a block for good measure.
Fittingly, it was Melamede and Douville Beaudoin who combined for the winning score. As soon as Melamede made the catch, all the emotions poured out from the Pranksters. The heartbreak of the previous three years. The relief of finally getting over the hump. The love everyone has for each other and for the program. The joy of finally being able to say that they met “The Standard.”
…
I’ve used the word dominant far too many times to describe this Middlebury team, but there aren’t many other words that properly convey how good they were and are. The offense was unflappable: Douville Beaudoin, Mans, Hartl, de Swaan Arons, and Pearcy-Kahn complement each other’s skill sets so perfectly. Hartl and Pearcy-Kahn provide stability and composure to the line. Douville Beaudoin and de Swaan Arons bring the explosiveness. Mans connects it all together with his trademark backhand hucks and, most importantly, his confidence, which spurred the line forward in the rare moments when they struggled.
The defense, even (and perhaps especially) when there were no O-line crossovers, was suffocating. Melamede, Rice, Sullivan, DeLorenzo, John Savage, Liam Reynolds, Tommy Chen, and Ben Yam had the unenviable task of going up against that devastating offense in practice for four months. In the frigid Vermont air, a monster was forged. For as much as the stars of the Pranksters are on the offense, every single one of them gives credit to the defense as the backbone of the team. In his postgame interview, Douville Beaudoin shouted out the defense unprompted, saying, “we knew they had our backs.”
The 2026 Pranksters are, undoubtedly, one of the greatest teams in the history of D-III. A quick recap of their résumé: a 34-2 record overall. Both losses were to top 25 D-I teams, one of whom made Nationals (Michigan) and the other lost in the game-to-go (Minnesota). They had 28 straight wins to close the season and didn’t lose after February 1. No one took them to universe, and just three teams played them within two goals. Wisconsin was the first team out in the D-I bid picture. Middlebury beat them by three.
In the Series alone, they played 16 games. All of them were decided by three goals or more. They had more blowout-eligible games (7) than games where they conceded double digits (6). In six games at Nationals, they led wire-to-wire in three of them. Against Williams and Elon, they only trailed because they couldn’t earn a break on the first point (Williams did get two holds before falling behind).1
So where does Middlebury sit amongst the pantheon of great D-III Men’s teams? As someone who didn’t learn about competitive ultimate until Fall 2018, I won’t try to compare Middlebury to any of the champions before then. That leaves six teams to think about.
There’s two that immediately can’t compare. 2022 Oklahoma Christian and 2025 Lewis & Clark didn’t even win their regions, which is an automatic disqualifier in my eyes.
2021 Oklahoma Christian is viewed by some as the most talented team in the recent history of D-III. Kyle Henke was the POTY in that abbreviated fall season and Elliott Moore was both an OPOTY runner-up that fall and the POTY the following spring. Jonathan Costello joined Moore on the POTY podium that spring. Both were All-Americans that fall, and Evan Card was a runner up for ROTY. They also had a young Sammy Roberts and Emmanuel Kameri. But that team didn’t blowout their opponents the same way this Middlebury side did. Maybe if they had had a full regular season to develop, they could’ve gotten to that level. Ultimately, OC’s largest margin of victory in Norco was just four goals. They’re off the list.
That puts Middlebury on the Mount Rushmore of post-2018 teams at minimum. The other teams with them – 2024 St. Olaf, 2023 Colorado College, 2019 Middlebury – are all viable contenders for the top spot. Let’s tackle them in reverse chronological order.
2024 St. Olaf had a similarly sterling season, just from the résumé. 37-3 overall, and two of their three losses were to D-I Nationals attendees WashU. The other loss was to Carleton-CHOP in their fourth game of the season. They didn’t give up more than eight goals in any game at Conferences or Regionals. Bates did take them to universe to start Nationals, but after that, the Zerks won by eight, five, five, five, and three goals.
They had a generational star in Will Brandt, who won POTY. He had both OPOTY runners-up on his line (Gordon Larson and Matt Kompelien). Eric Crosby Lehmann was a DPOTY runner-up. Larson and Crosby Lehmann both made an All-American team. St. Olaf may not have had the same depth that Middlebury holds, but the top ends are comparable, and may even favor St. Olaf. One factor working against the Zerks, though? Unlike the other three teams, they weren’t the top seed at Nationals.
2023 Colorado College wasn’t quite as good in the regular season. They were “just” 28-5, with losses to Oklahoma Christian (who famously didn’t make Nationals) and a couple of mid-Regionals D-I teams. But in the Series, they were outrageously good. OC played them within two at Regionals, and everyone else lost by four or more goals. Just two other teams even put up double digits on Wasabi: Middlebury and Kenyon.
Again, there was the star power. Oliver Kraft was the POTY, Lincoln Grench was an All-American and an OPOTY runner-up, and Oliver van Linder was a ROTY runner-up. Big picture, I think the regular season losses disqualify Colorado College from the top spot. But if you look at this from a Series-only perspective, it’s a strong case.
2019 Middlebury had a great season by pure record: 31-3. But all of their losses were to mid-Regionals D-I teams. Unlike any of the other teams mentioned, they lost a game in the Series, though it was to a Dartmouth team playing through the D-I pathway. They also played plenty of close games at Nationals: one-goal wins over Franciscan and Richmond and a two-goal win over Hamilton. But the star power on this team is incredible: Kai DeLorenzo (AA, POTY runner-up), Ian Hanson (DPOTY runner-up), Kevin Strenski (BPOTY), Leo Sovell-Fernandez (AA, ROTY), Walker Frankenberg (ROTY runner-up), and Asher Lantz (AA) all received postseason recognition. Zach Levitt (8G/10A/2D/7T) and Dylan Salzman (3G/14A/2D/6T) had great numbers at Nationals.
For all that star power though, Middlebury didn’t have the actual POTY winner (Air Force’s Alan Villanueva).
I think 2026 Middlebury comes out on top here. They had the best overall record. Their worst loss was to a team that finished second in their D-I region. They dominated the Series, especially at Nationals. Though we haven’t given out the postseason awards yet, I’m sure they’ll be well represented.
But we can debate Middlebury’s historic placement more thoroughly in the weeks and months to come. For now, the Pranksters can celebrate their return to the summit of D-III, and they get to do so alongside their women’s division counterparts, as Middlebury College becomes the first school to sweep the D-III College Championships in the same season. If “The Standard” also sets the tone for team parties, the celebration might last all summer.
Against Colorado Mines, they also only trailed after the first point, but without film of the game I can’t definitively claim it was a hold for Entropy. ↩
