Carleton won a long awaited title in a matchup between the reigning champion and the undefeated favorite
May 29, 2026 by Kiana Hu in Recap
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.
ROCKFORD, IL — It feels almost inevitable that we reached this point: the heavyweight favorites, the #1 vs. #2 showdown, the rematch of a thrilling 2025 championship game. Of course, there were some hiccups along the way, but both #1 Carleton Syzygy and #2 UBC Thunderbirds had been the overwhelming favorites to make it to the finish line: two teams with highly decorated players at the helm of athletic, skillful rosters.
There was some foreshadowing of this title rematch all the way back at the beginning of the season. At the Santa Barbara Invite final, UBC played Carleton in a close 12-10 in an exciting late comeback attempt. The two teams met again during the regular season at Northwest Challenge, where Carleton topped UBC on universe.
“Throughout the season we’ve known that UBC was our toughest matchup,” said Syzygy captain Chagall Gelfand. “At Northwest Challenge, they played us to universe in the quarterfinal, and we’ve been preparing for a long time for that matchup and took it very seriously.”
It was a full-circle moment when both teams converged in the final. With no real underdog between the two — UBC was the defending champion and Syzygy was an undefeated team — the audience in the stadium seemed split on who to root for.
Ultimately it was Carleton Syzygy who came away on top, securing just the second championship title in program history, with the last one over two decades ago in 2000.
“The last time Syzygy won, it was in 2000,” said Naomi Fina. “No one on the team started playing [ultimate frisbee] until at least 13 years after that.”
After a grueling weekend of play, there were some questions about the playing status of star players on both sides. For UBC, 2025 All-American Second Teamer Ella Bolan was out for the final due to a collision resulting from a yellow card play in their semifinal against Stanford. Callahan winner and reigning POTY Mika Kurahashi, who had been limited all season while returning from a concussion, still did not appear at full strength in the semifinal.
2026 POTY front-runner Chagall Gelfand had sustained a hamstring injury in their Oregon quarterfinal and was playing in a much more limited capacity during their semifinal against Tufts. Typically operating as either a center handler or downfield initiator in pull plays, Gelfand was less involved than usual, lacking the high-volume touches Carleton often relied on from her.
Those question marks were largely answered by both Carleton and UBC, whose depth allowed them to adjust without those players functioning in their usual roles. Mandy Li (5A), Grace Liu (1G/2A/1D), and Amelie Marshall (2G/1A) worked together to anchor the offensive backfield in Bolan’s absence. Chloe Hakimi (4G/6A) and Helen Burruss (2G/1D) took on an outsized distributor role with Gelfand mostly working downfield.
“Our freshman class is the ‘Chud class.’ It was honestly just amazing to see them step up into those really big moments,” said Gelfand.
The opening sequence of the game was relatively uneventful. UBC’s person defense was unable to stop Gelfand (2G/5A/1D) from snagging an upline, and the second defender that was pulled into the play left Burruss wide open for the continuation and Carleton’s first hold, 1-0. The Thunderbirds responded with a similarly easy score, with Li finding Claire Weng (4G/2D) on a wide-open horizontal cut into the end zone to tie the game at 1-1.
Then the nerves began. Naomi Fina (2G/1A/1D), who had been a crucial do-it-all anchor and release valve for Syzygy all weekend, fumbled the disc while fielding the pull for the first pass. UBC wasted no time taking advantage of that gift, though it required a possession-saving bid from Lauren Szeto-Fung.
Szeto-Fung, 2025 DPOTY runner-up, applied stiff pressure on Hakimi all game, and in the following point, forced a few tightly contested throws. Her efforts came up just short, however, when an upheld foul call gave Mia Fischer (1G/3A) the disc on the endzone line and a high-stall chisel trust pass to Hakimi for 2-2.
Carleton rookie Fischer was tasked with chasing Kurahashi around the field. Cognizant of the gusty conditions and the lack of deep plays from UBC in their semifinal, Fischer started the game focused on taking away Kurahashi’s under cuts.
“I really wanted to make sure that I had that ability [to guard her], so at practice I would try to imagine situations where I was on her, watching film, talking to the coaches, talking to people who watched film, and making sure I was prepared,” reflected Fischer.
Throughout the first half, Liu holstered several deep shots despite Kurahashi being wide open in that space. Nevertheless, UBC found an easy offensive flow working through Weng, and continued to hold cleanly. More mistakes from Syzygy’s backfield, under pressure from the Thunderbirds, gave UBC a substantial 6-3 lead.
More opportunities for UBC were generated by stifling defense from Arisa Gilbert and Bryelle Wong, but all went by the wayside. A deflected upline gave Carleton a critical chance to hold, and from there Syzygy proceeded to rattle three more breaks to take half 8-7, back on serve.
Reminiscent of their semifinal round — where the Thunderbirds went on a 5-0 run and then let up a 4-0 run from Stanford — UBC appeared to inherit some of the sloppiness from Carleton’s mistakes, suffering from miscommunications in their zone and throwing behind their receivers.
Any sign of nerves and mounting pressure on both sides melted away in the second half, however. In particular, Liu began hitting Kurahashi on those deep hucks that she had been holstering earlier.
Gelfand looked much more like herself, taking several high-risk, high-reward shots, including throwing her signature cross-field hammer.
At 8-8, on UBC’s third break chance, Wong tapped the disc in at the corner of their end zone before realizing that it had gone out about 30 yards before, and tried to walk it up. Syzygy’s travel call on that walk up was upheld, sending Wong back to the end zone with an imposing mark from Gelfand. The result was an immediate point-block and assist for Gelfand, setting the tone for her relentless play the rest of the game.
Both teams traded near clean holds all the way until 14-13, with Syzygy maintaining their half-break advantage. An inside forehand huck from Hakimi to a bidding Fischer and a continuation to an open Mcroy in the end zone brought Syzygy to game point with a chance to break to win.
The Thunderbirds offense, which had been perfect throughout the second half with no turnovers despite a variety of Syzygy defensive schemes thrown at them, looked poised to force universe point for the second year in a row.
Then tragedy struck. An uncontested travel call on a downfield pass from Liu to Kurahashi sent the disc back to Liu, and on the second try out of the stoppage, she was not on the same page with Kurahashi and the disc sailed wide.
“I was on Grace, and she got off three backhand hucks on me earlier in the game, and Chloe told me on the line, ‘Don’t let her throw a backhand’, so I just came in super hard, force flick, and tried to get her to a high stall. After that I basically blacked out,” said Gelfand about the final sequence.
Gelfand picked up the disc on the sideline, centered the disc to Hakimi, and pushed downfield. Hakimi looked around for a few seconds and spotted Eliza Barton coming across the middle, and lined up an inside flick.
“I didn’t know it was game point. I saw it was a short turn, and then in the end zone the throw slipped,” said Hakimi. “It wasn’t supposed to go to Chagall, that was not my target at all, but it went right through the defender. I didn’t celebrate because I didn’t know it was game point.”
[Hakimi Surprised by Game Winner]
Hakimi’s flick, though not intended for Gelfand, went straight into her breadbasket just inches from Liu, who didn’t realize the throw had gone up until it was already caught. Exuberance set in for Syzygy, who only a year ago had a heartbreaking loss on universe point.
For such a highly talented team, it can be easy to forget how little exposure they’ve had to the college championship game prior to 2025. The last time they had made a national final was in 2013, and most of the current team had not even experienced semifinals before their 2025 run.
“All the work that we put in has been from ourselves: track, lift, practice every single day. We had a team of 18 players [due to injuries] and sometimes we barely had enough to play fives at practice,” said Mcroy.
The Thunderbirds played a hard-fought game and capped off an incredible run of their own. Their offense was perfect in the second half until that final miscue, having had to adjust on the fly without center handler Bolan.
With the title win, Carleton completed a historic undefeated 2026 season, going 37-0. They return most of their key contributors and will undoubtedly have their eyes set on a new era of Syzygy dominance.
