The tournament champions and the ripples from the earlier bracket rounds at the west coast club opener.
July 13, 2026 by Graham Gerhart, Aidan Thomas and Zack Davis in Recap
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 club 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.
Men’s Recap | Women’s Recap | Mixed Recap
Men’s Division
Rhino Slam! Triumphs Over Revolver for PEC West Title
In 2025, #1 San Francisco Revolver took the division by storm and won the triple crown. At Nationals in 2024, it was #4 Portland Rhino Slam! that was best-in-class, dominating the division en route to a national title. On Sunday, ultimate fans were treated to a clash between those two elite programs in the PEC West Championship, and it was shades of 2024 as Rhino was absolutely clinical en route to a 15-12 win. The Portland O-Line, quarterbacked by Mica Glass, turned the disc just once, ensuring that three breaks from their D-line was enough to secure the tournament victory.
For Rhino Slam!, it capped a dominant weekend. The 15-12 final score in the championship was their closest duel of the weekend. Only one other game was played to a margin of five points or less in Rhino’s 6-0 march through the PEC West field. Revolver similarly dominated. Outside of a quarterfinal win by three points, San Francisco won their other four contests before the championship by 11, 10, seven, and seven points.
The final was all about clinical offense. With just four total breaks and minimal turnovers, this game was over in a crisp one hour and 14 minutes, inclusive of the halftime break and timeouts. Mica Glass was at his best in a seven-assist performance to go with zero turnovers. Raphy Hayes chipped in with two assists and three goals. Felix Moren put together a fabulous effort in the final with an assist and four goals.
Revolver showed cracks early, turning the disc three times on offense within their first three possessions, but they regained possession each time before their fourth and fifth turnovers spelt doom. After a handler miscommunication, San Francisco couldn’t defend the short field, and Jack Hatchett collected the break. A few points later, down 7-6, Mac Hecht turned a tricky inside-out shot across the handler space, and Aaron Kaplan picked it up and immediately shot it deep to David Sealand (who had two goals in the contest) for a crucial break, sending Portland to half with an 8-6 lead. A hold and break out of half put this game virtually out of reach, as Rhino built a 10-6 advantage. Their offense didn’t even turn the disc until they led 12-9, and although Revolver converted, it was hardly enough, as Rhino never gifted them the disc again and saw out the 15-12 victory.
For Revolver, Hecht was largely kept in check. Rather, Leo Gordon (3 assists, 4 goals) and Walker Frankenberg (3 assists, 1 goal) kept the offense moving.
Bracket Play Highlights
Sunday morning kicked off with the quarterfinals and any results-oriented questions floated around whether the weaker half of the top seeds – #10 Seattle Sockeye and #13 Denver Johnny Bravo succumbed to upsets against lower-ranked opponents. There was little question about whether #1 San Francisco Revolver or #4 Portland Rhino Slam! would advance past their opponents. Revolver let #16 Vancouver Furious George hang around but ultimately won 13-10, and Rhino left no doubt with an authoritative 15-8 win over Florida Untied.
However, the other quarterfinals brought the fireworks that the other games lacked. For Sockeye, after escaping #20 Montreal Mephisto in pool play yesterday, there were questions to be answered, and they had to be answered against a red-hot Eugene Dark Star squad. The confidence was evident enough as Dark Star broke first to go up 3-1, but, perhaps more impressively, didn’t flinch after Sockeye collected a pair of breaks in return. Dark Star punched back, breaking twice for half and an 8-6 lead which they would not relinquish despite heavy Seattle pressure.
An eight-turnover Dark Star hold may have been the key moment, as it kept Eugene up a break, 13-11 at the time, and Sockeye lost a huge chance to get back on serve. Eli Casper, Ben Thoennes, and Braedon Petrus were among the stars for Dark Star’s surprising upset. On universe, once again, it was Casper’s huck to Thoennes that sealed the deal, sending Eugene Dark Star into the semifinals and firmly into bid-earning conversations as the season moves on.
In the other quarterfinal, Johnny Bravo avoided the upset bug but it wasn’t easy. They were broken on their first offensive possession and needed a three-break surge late in the first half to put themselves in the drivers seat. A centering-pass block by Colorado Mamabird rising junior Rami Rifaat jumpstarted the Bravo D-Line into the three-break run, and Denver took a lead that they precariously managed through the second half.
Mephisto twice pulled even, as Thomas Lalonde-Landry put in an absolute shift on the D-line with three goals and two blocks, playing a contributory role in all four Montreal breaks. Mephisto got their break chance on universe but squandered it, and Bravo survived.
The semifinals were again about the distance between Revolver and Rhino and the rest of the PEC West field. At least from their opening tournament, it doesn’t appear the western half of the country has much of an answer for the past two men’s division champions. Revolver throttled Johnny Bravo 15-8, and Rhino put an end to Dark Star’s cinderella story, 15-7, in drama-free semifinals, setting up a titanic clash in the finals.
Around Consolation
After their resounding semifinal losses, Johnny Bravo and Dark Star battled for the second time in the weekend, and Bravo again emerged victorious, this time by a slightly more comfortable 15-9 margin.
In the fifth-place bracket, Furious George put a damper on Mephisto’s strong weekend to that point with an authoritative 12-7 win, an important result for Vancouver after an upset loss to Dark Star on Saturday. Meanwhile, Sockeye continued to struggle with lower ranked teams, needing universe to put away Florida Untied. Sockeye did claim fifth with their third-straight universe point battle of the day, toppling Furious George 14-13, while Mephisto cruised past Untied to finish seventh.
In the ninth-place pool, things went to seed Oak Grove Boys and SoCal Condors handled the lower-ranked Lounar and Fungi comfortably. Lounar toppled Fungi to settle into 11th place, and Condors knocked off Oak Grove on double game point.
All-Tournament Stream Team
Mica Glass (Portland Rhino Slam!)
Raphy Hayes (Portland Rhino Slam!)
Leo Gordon (San Francisco Revolver)
Walker Frankenberg (San Francisco Revolver)
Quinn Finer (Denver Johnny Bravo)
Ben Thoennes (Eugene Dark Star)
Geoff Bevan (Montreal Mephisto)
Women’s Division
Round Robin
No bracket could have lead to some head to head and point diff shenanigans, but that wasn’t the case in Corvallis this weekend as the #1 San Francisco Fury made it look easy on day two finishing the weekend with an empty loss column. Fury’s toughest game came in their final match up against #5 Denver Molly Brown, but they still managed to clear the South Central team by five in a 15-10 finish.
Flip Offed in Traffic
In the penultimate round of play #7 San Diego Flipside took on #12 Vancouver Traffic in the division’s best streamed game of the day. For context, Traffic opened the day to an 11-10 loss against #18 San Francisco Nightlock which cascaded into another disappointing showing in a 13-10 loss against #20 Chicago Nemesis. Meanwhile, Flipside got to sleep in, and played their first match in the 9:45 AM slot where they handily beat FAB 15-3.
Out of the gate both teams looked a bit shaky, giving up the disc a couple of times each, but Rvee Brillantes came to play and a deep flick huck put Traffic on the doorstep with the disc which was soon snatched in a layout grab for the score by Jessie Chen for the break. After that the game fell into a rhythm with Brillantes leading the charge for Traffic and Kaela Helton, Kaitlyn Weaver, and Chip Yen doing the heavy lifting for Flipside. Traffic would go on to take half 8-7.
Coming out of half Traffic seemed to have solved the puzzle, leaping out to a four-point lead which was capstoned by Grace Liu and Rvee Brillantes winning an impromptu 2-v-3 game of hotbox for Traffic’s 11th. Flipside found their footing though and managed to finally end Traffic’s scoring streak to bring the game to 11-8. The teams each traded a pair of points and at the soft cap the game was 13-10. Flipside was serving to Traffic with the San Diego team needing to score four straight breaks to win it. After a deep look went too deep Helton picked up the disc and went to work. She, Rebecca Ellis, Yen, Weaver, and the rest of the team managed to not just score one, but rattle off three straight to take the game to universe. All the momentum had shifted in Flipside’s favor and it felt like Traffic was going to round out their day with another gut wrenching loss.
Traffic, however, had different plans. Calmly, smoothly, and deliberately Traffic worked it up the sideline and a high release backhand from Brillantes to Brynn Freeland ended the game 14-13.
Final Round
After that tough loss, Flipside gave up four straight to Molly Brown in the next game, which was fatal against a team of Molly Brown’s caliber. Flipside shook off the after effects of the previous game, but it was too little too late, and they couldn’t ever close the gap, losing 15-11 to the Denver club. Of note, Claire Chastain seemed to take on more of a coaching role in this game, whether to recover from an injury or prevent one is unclear, but they were wearing white while the rest of the team wore brown.
On a separate field, #6 Seattle Riot were taking on #16 Colorado Kelp. The game was also defined by a large early lead, this one in the favor of Riot. Milo Brown got some minutes, and made good use of them, moving well in the handler space when given the opportunity and finding purchase in the end zone. Lauren Goddu, Samiya Ismail, and of course, Chloe Hakimi were excellent for Riot as well. Kelp for their part showed some flashes of excellence, but seemed to still be in shock from their 15-4 loss against Fury the round before.
Nightlocked
Though they didn’t have any streamed games it’s worth noting that Nightlock had some good results. Though they finished 3-3 notching a win over Kelp, Traffic, and Nemesis is worth celebrating. Losing to Fury by six seems like a lot, but that’s also the second closest game the Fury played all weekend. Nightlock’s performance demonstrates that they’re capable of more than sneaking into nationals this year.
All-Tournament Stream Team
Chloe Hakimi (Seattle Riot)
Rvee Brillantes (Vancouver Traffic)
Irene Scazzieri (San Francisco Fury)
Maggie O’Connor (Colorado Kelp)
Kaitlyn Weaver (San Diego Flipside)
Jesse Schofner (Portland Schwa)
Samiya Ismail (Seattle Riot)
Mixed Division
Polar Bears Win it All With a Late Game Surge Against BFG
It’s hard to call any team at this tournament an underdog, but considering BFG’s tournament history so far this season, they were definitely the favorites heading into the final against the Polar Bears. San Francisco did make semis back at Colorado Summer Solstice, but Seattle had won the whole dang thing.
If BFG’s record meant anything to the Polar Bears, they didn’t show it. After exchanging holds in the first two points, BFG’s handlers shorted a pass meant for Gemma Munck that Brooke Nishida swatted down to give San Francisco their first break chance, which was almost for nought if Jack Dinsmore hadn’t toed the back line of the end zone for the goal. From that point on, PBR took the lead, and they never relinquished it.
For all the strength that BFG showed on offense, led by Cheryl Hsu, Conor Belfield, and company, PBR was able to match it. The core of Matthew Crawford, Vincenzo Vitiello, Evan Magsig, and Margo Stert was unbreakable all throughout the game. Magsig (6G, 2A), in particular, was winning every matchup and getting to every throw put out for him. He put more defenders in a blender than a Margaritaville on Cinco De Mayo. Whenever Magsig’s team needed an answer, he was there to deliver. At 5-5, BFG had seemingly shut down PBR’s offense on the endzone line, only for Magsig to loft a backhand over the BFG defenders to a willing Vitiello.
The second half was a little less clean. Trailing to open the second frame, BFG struck early and fast by stealing the first point after the break. After starting with the pull, Collefas Mot picked her time and staged a robbery right in front of her team’s end zone, denying the Polar Bears the easy hold. BFG gave the disc up, only for Mot to once again come up huge for her team in the endzone, allowing them a second chance at the break. This time, Ian Sweeney uncorked a picture perfect huck to set up Ian Decker for the goal, tying the game 8-8.
Both teams would have plenty more break chances after that, but it was Polar Bears that were able to take advantage of those chances first. After going up 11-10, San Francisco’s defenders swarmed a shorted huck from BFG, giving themselves 60 yards to go. Emmet Holton lasered an inside flick huck to the end zone for the goal. PBR added another to take a 13-10 lead. A few points later, PBR found a final hold with a gutsy blade flick from Crawford to Magsig, ending the game 14-12.
Both teams proved the reason they made it to the final in that game. It was a matchup of two very qualified teams that clearly both have a case to be considered among the top five teams in the nation. At the same time, the losses they suffered also show their vulnerabilities, and that’s what made this tournament so great. Perfection is the enemy of joy, and there was so much to enjoy from this game.
Mixtape and Mischief Fall One Point Shy
While the game between Polar Bears and BFG delivered everything we could hope for from a final, it very nearly could have been two completely different teams facing off for the chance at gold. Both semis went to universe point, so Mixtape and Mischief duking it out in the third place game is still a glimpse at two of the best teams from this weekend.
Seattle Mixtape gave everything they had to beat BFG in their semis game that’s another chapter in the vaulted ‘Battle for Seattle’ that these two teams go through on a yearly basis. Mixtape came out hot, winning point after point in the first half to go up 7-4 on the back of stellar plays from Ari Lozano, Ciona Antolin, and Sam Franer. The two teams seem to bring out the best defense in each other, forcing mistakes and making dramatic plays to win points.
It took some incredible second half heroics for BFG to claw back into the game, and even then, it seemed like Mixtape was one big play away from taking the lead back with authority. It should be said, both team’s defensive lines looked more competent than their offensive units. Mixtape has a solid core of veterans that run their offense, but they come alive when their younger, athletic defenders are able to take over a game and earn a few breaks. Their offense is zen, but their defense is group of kindergartners at a piñata party. It’s fun to watch, but a nightmare to handle against.
San Francisco Mischief, on the other hand, is a team with a dastardly game plan that they employ to ruthless efficiency. They take advantage of every break opportunity and have a defensive unit that was more calm and safe with the disc than any other at the tournament. In the first half of their game against PBR especially, every mistake from the Polar Bears turned into a break. It’s why the team led 8-3 going into half. They weren’t doing anything especially unique on defense; they just punished Polar Bears when errors occurred.
The second half was a different story. PBR came out swinging, applying a ton of pressure on the handlers and forcing a few crucial early point turnovers for quick goals. Mischief just could not generate any momentum and for a team that seemed content to just swing the disc until the opponents fell apart, losing points quickly never gave them the chance to wear down the Polar Bears like they had in the first half. Every reset pass was suspect, every short throw had a body on it. The lead they had built up melted like a three wick candle.
Once again, it showed both the good and the bad of this Mischief team. While PBR took the win out from under Mischief’s feet, they still should feel good about how the tournament went. They suffered two universe point losses and that was it. Big wins over Mixtape and Tower will look good on their resume, and the knowledge that their defensive line is able to out-offense some of the best teams in the nation has to feel good.
Other Teams That Defined the Tournament
While the Polar Bears, BFG, and Mischief might have ended the tournament with the best records, there were plenty of teams in the mix that deserve their flowers. Salt Lake Sego proved a point this weekend despite going 3-3 thanks to wins over Mischief and the Polar Bears that look really good in retrospect. They have the pieces to make a deep run in the postseason, and might still have what it takes to earn another bid for the Northwest.
Los Angeles Lotus also has a case for their weekend’s results to be a net win for them. While Mixtape ended their bracket run early, it was the only loss they suffered that was not avenged. Their 4-2 record includes a consolation win over Sacramento Tower that showed they are every bit as capable as their northern regional rivals. Their offense is already capable enough of holding onto a lead if they build it, it’s just a matter of whether they can generate stops early enough to give them some breathing room.
Sacramento Tower is another case of a team that can leave the tournament with their heads held high. A universe point loss to Mischief and a consolation loss to Lotus do little to damper the success that the team secured throughout their time in Corvallis. Tower was dangerous when their defense was able to generate momentum. They could turn one break into a set of them in a flash, especially when they wree humming on Day One. This entire tournament they played without Kyle Glanzman, who might be the best defender on their roster. It speaks of great things to come for this team if they can stay resilient during bracket play.
All-Tournament Stream Team
Zeppelin Raunig (Seattle Mixtape)
Collefas Mot (Seattle BFG)
Evan Magsig (San Francisco Polar Bears)
Abigail Thorpe (Boulder Mile High Trash)
Jacob Miller (Sacramento Tower)
Cheryl Hsu (Seattle BFG)
Jesse Cohen (Los Angeles Lotus)
