Some real thrillers made for a memorable quarterfinals round at WJUC!
July 16, 2026 by Rhea Patney in Recap
The time for accepting losses is over, it’s all or nothing from here on out. 12 Quarterfinals all took place, with ranging levels of drama across the field!
Women’s Division
With the United States pitted against Italy in the quarterfinal round, fans were treated to one of the best showdowns of the entire tournament. After trading holds to 3-3, the United States put together back to back breaks with Lillian Hodges finding Alice Rieger with the inside backhand, followed up by Lillian Brooks’ run through block leading to Amelia Welsh finding Talia Knox upline. Italy bounced back with a hold and break of their own. The back and forth points forced an early halftime with the United States up 6-5, but a break immediately out of halftime thanks to Mara Rota swung the momentum back in favor of Italy. A hold from each team later and Agata Benzi scored to retake the lead to put the game back on serve. That would be the end of breaks from both sides, as the United States held out until 10-10. With soft cap live, it would come down to a universe point showdown. Giulia Villa got the disc on the breakside and a quick backhand was placed where only Benzi could get it. Italy moved on with a stellar Benzi performance (4G/2A). Nora Luloff (2G/2A) had a game too, including a huge layout grab to force universe. However, it proved to not be enough.
Across the field, France beat Belgium 12-8 thanks to Agathe Crouzat’s 2G/3A performance alongside Gaétane Le Pézennec’s 2G/2A. Maiwenn Le Duc’s 1G/3A kept the Beligians in the game, but the four French breaks proved to be too much compared to Belgium’s two.
Japan and Canada both won by scores of 13-5, with Japan knocking out Czechia and Canada eliminating Great Britain. Yuna Tsugane and Rio Kobayashi putting up four and three goals apiece was overpowering, while Canada’s Liza Ng’s 1G/2A was the standout performance in the other quarterfinal. Respect to Great Britain’s Amy Flynn (2G/2A) and Maisy Booth (2G/1A) for putting up a valiant effort, alongside Amélie Váchová’s 2 goal effort from Czechia.
Open Division
The United States refused to let their loss to Canada faze them, as they handled business against France winning 13-11. The United States raced to a 7-3 lead to take half, and despite the back to back breaks out of halftime from the French, alongside a later break to bring the game within one, the United States held out to win the game. Stefan McCall (3G/3A) and Blake Holt (1G/5A) dominated the statlines, while Noah Peschard (2G/2A) kept France in the game until the very end.
Canada knocked off Germany with a comfortable 13-6 win. Germany was unable to score any breaks, and Canada’s 7-2 lead at halftime proved to be more than too much. Jack Ponton (1G/3A) and Lucas Arial (4G) led the charge, while Fabian Maierhofer (2G/1A) and Philipp Rieder (1G/2A) helped the German offense bounce back in the second half.
The real showdowns came between the pairings of Italy and New Zealand, as well as Japan and Belgium. Italy broke to start the game, but New Zealand stuck with them until they notched a break of their own shortly before halftime at 6-5. After that, both teams held out until universe at 8-8, where New Zealand worked it all the way down to the red zone. A contested foul retained possession for New Zealand, and Alex Dewhurst found a sliding James Bowen to seal the deal. Bowen’s 2G/4A was the star of the match, while Niccolò Pivi’s four assists kept Italy in it the entire time. New Zealand will take on the United States.
Japan vs. Belgium also started with a break on the first point, with Japan taking the early lead. After the initial break it was all held for the first half, and Japan’s “free break”1 kept them in front. Belgium rallied back to back breaks to go up 11-10, but Japan patiently held to force universe. What followed will known as simply a classic. Kenta Aranami found a block at midfield, but Sohei Udo dropped the disc in the end zone despite a bidding effort to get a hand on it. The full field look proved to be too much after miscommunication on the reset gave Japan a redzone chance, and this time Udo was able to hang on to it.
Udo’s 3G/2A boosted Japan to the semifinal, while Matt Claes (3G/1A) and Pierjan Deforce (4A) rallied for Belgium. Japan will take on Canada and similar to New Zealand will enter the semifinals as clear underdogs. But they have proven to be able to compete, and very much have a chance to make something happen.
Mixed Division
The most interesting matchup was between Hungary and France, where Lalie Blanchard’s 1G/3A performance boosted France over in an 11-7 win. Three straight breaks to go from 7-5 to 10-5 completely swung what was at first a close matchup, and Hungary only found one of the breaks needed to rally. Laura Anna Profanter’s five goals and Kata Vigh’s four assists were the notable standouts for the Hungarians. France has a tall semifinal order going up against the United States, but will have guaranteed breaking seed thanks to their quarterfinal efforts.
The next closest matchup was Swizterland beating Austrailia 13-7. The Swiss offense had a 100% hold rate, and adding five breaks to the mix proved to be too much. Nino Stauffer continues his dominant statline with a 4G/3A performance, which leaves him as the only player in the mixed division to total 30 scores, and one of eleven players across all three divisions. The game plan for Switzerland should be simple enough heading into the semifinals: keep feeding Stauffer.
Canada and United States both handled their respective opponents with even less trouble, both nations winning by scores of 13-5. The United States eliminated Colombia, with Arisa Gilbert, Walter Hipps, Henry Mullen, Bodhi Weson, and Eva Armstrong all putting up two-score performances (Armstrong was the only one to not go 1G/1A, putting up 2A). Colombia came out of the gate swinging with a break to start the game, but the United States bounced back with a hold and three breaks of their own.
Canada on the other hand shut China out. 8 of their 13 scores were breaks, and the duo of Cass McLaren (3G/1A) and Santiago Velasquez (1G/3A) proved to be too much. Huaqian Hu (2G/1A) and Jinyue Zhang (1A/2A) did what they could, but were simply outclassed.
what I like to call scoring to take half, and then holding right out of half ↩
