These big time scorers helped ensure their offenses would keep the points flowing.
June 16, 2026 by Edward Stephens in Awards
Each year, Ultiworld presents our annual College Awards. Our staff evaluates the individual performances of players from throughout the season, talking to folks around college ultimate, watching film, and look at statistics, voting upon the awards to decide those to be honored. The regular season and the college Series are both considered, with extra emphasis for performances in the competitive and high-stakes environment at Nationals.
Our awards continue with the Offensive Player of the Year, recognizing the individual, and two runners-up, who we felt had the most impactful and productive seasons helping their teams score. They set up goals, finished off points, and produced yardage at consistently high levels against the top defenders.
- All-American First Team
- Player of the Year
- All-American Second Team
- Offensive Player of the Year Award
- Defensive Player of the Year Award
- Breakout Player of the Year Award
- Rookie of the Year Award
- Coaches of the Year Award
- Full Awards Voting Breakdown
D-I Women’s 2026 Offensive Player Of The Year
Lia Schwartz (Tufts)
You cannot tell the story of Nationals 2026 without telling the story of Lia Schwartz at the heart of the Tufts offense. EWO were one of the deepest teams in the division, but their success began with Schwartz’s field-bending throws and total command of the game. From the moment they took a pool play loss to UC Santa Cruz in Friday’s windball contest, she locked in and pushed Tufts to heights the program hadn’t known in 15 years. Across four crucial games – against UC San Diego and Oregon in pool play, then Michigan and Penn in the bracket – she tossed 21 assists despite every single person on Earth1 expecting her to take the shots.
Then came semis against the division’s undefeated juggernauts Carleton Syzygy, where she notched another five assists. Refusing to buckle in any way after falling behind 10-6, Schwartz doubled down on her resolve and kept fighting to push to universe point before delivering the tournament’s most iconic throw: a split-second OI forehand over a face-guarding defender. Forget the fact that the pass got dropped – that’s ultimate sometimes – the toss was gorgeous.
It takes a special player to perform up to the biggest occasions against the longest of odds, and that unmistakable aura belonged to Schwartz in 2026. It was a brilliant end to a brilliant college career, and the division will miss both her joyous leadership and the unparalleled edge control she always demonstrated from behind the disc.
– Edward Stephens
First Runner-Up
Quincy Booth (Georgia)
Was there any doubt that the division’s newly crowned all-time D-I Nationals assists leader would end up on an awards podium? 2026 was a capstone spring to end Booth’s college career, seeing her heap even more offensive refinement alongside her everlasting volume shooting. Her abilities to take one step to get free for a reset or to break any mark in the division with a high-release remained unmatched. She improved upon her legendary backhand hucking form with even wiser shot selection – and when, inevitably, teams at Nationals keyed in on stopping it, she proved that her forehands were just as devastating. Booth cemented her place on the OPotY podium with a hard-as-steel 12-assist performance in a must-win game over Victoria to push Athena into the bracket.
– Edward Stephens
Second Runner-Up
Sage McGinley-Smith (Stanford)
If you think you have ever seen a player more committed to catching a disc than Sage McGinley-Smith in 2026, then… no, you haven’t. Her downfield determination and skill defined Stanford’s steely season. From Superfly’s first tournament through to their meteoric run to semis, McGinley-Smith simply refused to let the grass, the lines of the field, or any opponent swallow up a throw. Incomprehensible toe-ins, outrageous box-outs, frenzied runs past better-positioned defenders, and every conceivable variation on the layout form were standard for McGinley-Smith’s play to the tune of an absurd 22-goal performance at Nationals.
– Edward Stephens
give or take ↩
