From a national title to just making the bracket, teams have a wide range of goals at the Club Championships.
October 16, 2026 by Aidan Thomas and Alex Rubin in Opinion, Preview
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 club 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.
The Line brings together lists of sevens from our reporting staff.
Spanning 500+ teams across three divisions, USAU club ultimate ranges from the best players in the world competing for national titles to pickup teams of old friends that come together for a tournament during the season.
At every stage and every level, there are things to compete for. Some teams strive to make regionals; others strive for Select or Top Select status. Making Nationals is seen as a hallmark achievement, with winning a title once there the crowning jewel of club ultimate accomplishments.
However, in any given year, it feels like 8-10 teams (and that may be generous) enter the beginning of the season with legitimate and realistic national title aspirations. By the time the 16-team fields head to San Diego, the consensus is that perhaps five teams in each division will have a legitimate shot at the title. Frankly, it’s probably less.
So do the other 10-11 teams that reach the pinnacle tournament – Club Nationals – just fold it in? Accept that making Nationals is their peak? Of course they don’t, because competitors would never. But in a world in which the true peak of the sport is virtually inaccessible to the majority of teams, and Cinderella runs tend to peter out in the early stages of bracket play, what is the true goal?
To answer that question, we’re breaking down seven teams across the three divisions who could snap long droughts or notch program-firsts with their 2026 performance.
Women’s Division
In the women’s division, the dichotomy of “title contender” and everyone else is a clearer split than any other division. Since 2006, San Francisco Fury have won 11 titles, Boston Brute Squad have won five, Washington D.C. Scandal have eked out two, and Denver Molly Brown claimed a title in 2021. Those four squads have made up the final four in the women’s division every year since 2022. Fury have made every semifinal since their quarterfinal exit in 2004, Brute Squad’s streak extends back to 2013, and Molly Brown missed just one semifinal since the start of the 2015 season. Only Scandal, who didn’t make a semifinal between 2014 and 2023, have not been a mainstay on that stage, yet they may be challenging to be the best team ever in 2026, having won all three of their tournaments and the World Ultimate Club Championships.
Got all that? Breaking through against the division’s elite is incredibly hard. Which means that goals can’t center around winning a title for most of the field, because, barring sports movie-esque miracles, that’s not happening. So with that all said, let’s look at seven women’s programs who could take significant steps for their program by reaching stages of Club Nationals they’ve never reached before.
Making Semifinals: San Francisco Nightlock, San Diego Flipside, New York BENT
Let’s start with that elusive semifinal tier. In the last eight Nationals, Fury, Brute Squad, Molly Brown and Scandal have usurped 26 of the available 32 semifinalist slots. The other six have been taken by Raleigh Phoenix, Seattle Riot, Portland Schwa, Atlanta Ozone, and Toronto 6ixers (twice). Can anyone join that short list of semifinal challengers this year? Let’s look at three contenders.
San Francisco Nightlock are truly searching for new heights in the modern era of their program. In 12 appearances, they’ve never made a semifinal, and they last reached quarterfinals in 2019 and made the bracket in 2021. This year, they look to be stronger and definitely have the caliber of a quarterfinalist, which would be a very solid accomplishment. New acquisitions have played a big role as collegiate stars like Kai Agueros and Zane Bird Smith (UC Santa Cruz) and returning players like Marisa Rafter (Oakland LOL) switched club allegiances and made an instant impact.
Nightlock are 13-1 against teams outside the Big Four, so getting into a quarterfinal clash against one of the top squads feels like a strong likelihood. Unfortunately, they haven’t come close to beating one of those squads yet, losing four matches to Fury, Brute Squad, and Molly Brown by an average of 6.25 points. Quarterfinals is feasible, even likely. To make program history will require something Nightlock haven’t shown just yet in 2026.
San Diego Flipside are in their fifth season and will seek a fourth quarterfinal berth in that window. Could they go further? Their 11-7 record may not provide a ton of immediate hope, and they bear losses to lower ranked teams, making them vulnerable to an upset. However, should Flipside work themselves into the conversation, they have talent to work with. And they at least marginally challenged Molly Brown in an early-season tournament game, losing 15-11. Kaitlyn Weaver continues to star, UCLA standout Sabrina Belkin will contribute heavily, and the return of Malia Smith (last on Flipside in 2023) is a welcome addition to the 2026 roster. You might need to strain your neck to see an upset possibility here, but Flipside have as good a chance of notching a quarterfinal upset, even if that chance isn’t very high.
New York BENT qualified for their fourth-straight Nationals, already a program-best streak, as they entered the season with eight total appearances in their history. They made their second quarterfinal last season and are eyeing more in 2026. Just 10-8 on the season, BENT have cut their teeth against some of the division’s best, with six combined losses to Molly Brown and Brute Squad. Amidst those losses are some glimmers of hope; BENT lost by just two to Brute Squad at PEC East, and they lost twice at Pro Championships to Molly Brown by a combined three points. Northwestern collegiate frisbee fans will recognize some of the prominent names for BENT, as former Washington star Abby Hecko and 2026 OPOTY runner-up Sage McGinley-Smith of Stanford are playing starring roles for New York.
The ceiling is there, and BENT just need to get the right matchup, tap into that ceiling, and have a few points to swing their way to find a stunner of a result.
Make a Quarterfinal: Minneapolis Pop
Minneapolis Pop are well acquainted with Nationals. Before failing to qualify for the tournament last year, they had reached seven straight and ten overall. However, they are not well acquainted with bracket games, managing to escape their pool just twice and losing both of those years in the prequarterfinal round.
Pop held off Madison Heist in the North Central to avenge last year’s defeat, and now their attention turns to returning to bracket play for the first time since 2021. How about one step further — obtaining their first-ever bracket victory in San Diego? Pop beat up on Flipside at Elite-Select Challenge in a game that may have re-defined what their ceiling could be. Pop will lean on the veteran experience of Stephanie Wood and Makella Daley, and they also brought back Madelyn Lander, a strong contributor on the 2024 Nationals squad who played with Baltimore Wave in 2025.
North Central teams are usually a fan of wind, so maybe in the right conditions, Pop find a result against a more talented opponent to bring them to newfound heights.
Win a Game! Philadelphia Flight, Northampton Starling, Dallas Dimes
For these programs, making it to Nationals is a celebration-worthy accomplishment. None of Philadelphia Flight, Northampton Starling, Dallas Dimes had done that as a program…until Regionals Sunday.
No team from Dallas had ever made women’s Club Nationals. A longtime one-bid region dominated by Molly Brown, the South Central had two bids, courtesy of Dimes, and they staved off a few teams hungry for their first Nationals berth. Now, they have their eyes on more.
Dimes have brought in some talent from the former Dallas mixed team Public Enemy, including contributors like Megan Tormey, who made Nationals with the squad back in 2019. The engine of Dimes is Katie Metzler, and after three game-to-go losses with Public Enemy she’ll be hungry to compete on the big stage. Whether Dimes have the quality, depth and experience necessary to win a pool play game and get into the bracket remains the question.
Completing the Philadelphia triumvirate at Nationals for the first time since 2016, Flight are looking to put the city of brotherly love back on the elite club ultimate map alongside their men’s and mixed programs in Pacmen and AMP. The last Philly women’s squad to make Nationals was Green Means Go, and they made the bracket in 2014 – the only women’s team from the city to do so since 1999 when Philly Peppers reached quarterfinals. This would be history for not only the program, but for the city.
Flight made an early season statement by beating long-time Nationals qualifier Pittsburgh Parcha. In addition, they pushed BENT to double game point and manhandled a Nationals squad in Pop, 15-8. Ultimate fans are well acquainted with new star Quincy Booth from her exploits on the collegiate stage, and Booth actually made Club Nationals back in 2019 with Atlanta Ozone. Emily Heyman, previously from Parcha, Erica Collin, switching over from AMP, add some recent Club Nationals experience to a roster populated with Philadelphia Surge players fresh off a PUL Championship appearance. This team certainly has the talent to push for a berth in the bracket, and maybe even in quarterfinals. Every win is to be celebrated for Flight, who are writing a new chapter for women’s ultimate in Philadelphia.
Starling are the lone bid stealers in the field, beating Ottawa Stella in the game-to-go to claim the third bid in the Northeast. Starling’s program is five years old, and they steadily improved their regionals finishes, losing the game-to-go last season. This year, Starling mowed through the backdoor bracket and earned their bid. Powered by a veteran core but anchored by a 20-year old center handler in Isla Cusick, Starling have a few wins over Nationals-qualifiers under their belt, including Flight and Pittsburgh Parcha. Can they bring home a win or two at Nationals to cap an extraordinary season?
Mixed Division
Another Three-Peat: Ann Arbor Hybrid
Ann Arbor Hybrid have the chance to be the first team since Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust (who did so between 2013-2015) to win three titles in a row. Well, three USAU Club Championships in a row. Hybrid already won three trophies in a row with their 2024 club championship, 2025 club championship, and 2026 WFDF World Ultimate Club Championship victory. Double peaking (winning both a world and domestic title in the same year) is hard, though Drag’n Thrust managed to do so back in 2014 as part of their three-peat.
Until Pro Champs over Labor Day weekend, Hybrid looked largely untouchable. With a talented and deep team (even considering the players lost for the season due to injuries), and two major victories over the consensus second-best team #2 New York XIST in the finals of the US Open and WUCC, Hybrid were heavy favorites to take home their third championship in a row. That is, until Austin Disco Club beat Hybrid in the Pro Champs final. Now, the title Hybrid had been waltzing towards is in question. Of course, the two-time defending champions will still be heavy favorites; but, now the outcome has enough doubt that Hybrid’s win feels less inevitable.
First Title in Program History: New York XIST
New York XIST proved they’re the second best team in the division. With a roster capable of beating everyone except Hybrid, XIST will be favored to reach the final. And, after Austin Disco Club’s takedown of Hybrid in the Pro Champs final earlier this month, Hybrid appear beatable. Therefore, XIST have what they need for their elusive first title.
Like their city-based counterparts New York PoNY and New York BENT, XIST are riding a run of success unprecedented in program history. Since the team’s 2017 formation, XIST have only reached the bracket at Nationals since 2022. But, since 2022 the team has made semifinals in three of the last four Nationals, including an appearance in last season’s final. Behind the throwing mastery of Jolie Krebs and Sadie Jezierski and buoyed by the additions of instant impact starters Theresa Yu and Theo Shapinsky, XIST have a legitimate chance to earn their first title and continue the upward trajectory of New York City teams around the divisions.
Making Quarterfinals: Austin Disco Club, Sacramento Tower
In their three seasons as a program, Austin Disco Club have made the bracket each time they’ve been at Nationals and yet have felt like they underperformed, losing in prequarters each time. As the saying goes, third time’s the charm. Disco Club already pulled off the upset of the year with their Pro Champs triumph over Hybrid, and will hope to keep their positive momentum going through Regionals and past Saturday’s play at Nationals. With Myles Armstrong emerging as an All-Club level player alongside Carly Atwell and Jaime Estes, Disco Club have a unique blend of firepower ready to push to the next competitive level. For their sake, hopefully their run through the Pro Champs bracket builds the kind of confidence needed to take on the Nationals bracket even though the team hasn’t yet found too much success at that level.
Sacramento Tower likewise have never made it past the quarterfinal round, and did not make the bracket last season after reaching that stage in 2024. After missing Nationals in 2022 and 2023, Tower are enjoying their most successful season to date and claimed a pool one seed at Nationals for the first time in program history. With wins this season over Philadelphia AMP and Bay Area Polar Bears, Tower showed they can beat teams who will be competing for semifinal spots. And, of course, the incomparable duo of Robyn Fennig and Dylan DeClerck has plenty of experience carrying overlooked teams to big moments at Nationals.
New to Nationals: San Diego California Burrito, Los Angeles Lotus, Oregon Scorch, Pittsburgh Port Authority1
Los Angeles Lotus and San Diego California Burrito have been approaching the doorstep of Nationals for a few years; this year, they finally got an invite inside to the season’s final tournament which basically happens in their own backyard.
Burrito entered the Ultiworld Power Rankings and earned a bid to Nationals both for the first time last year. Though they couldn’t hold on to their bid, Burrito continued their positive momentum into the 2026 season when Khalif El-Salaam and company secured yet another bid for the Southwest Region. Finishing second in the Southwest, Burrito clinched the program’s first ever appearance at the Club Championships2 (as anything other than local volunteers) and will hope to push their best-ever season farther than just a Nationals appearance.
Since this iteration of Lotus started in 2019, the Los Angeles squad has lost in the regional semifinal in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025. In that time they’ve also lost two second-place semifinals and one game-to-go. They’ve been knocking on the door for a whole generation of players without ever getting there, but this season proved differently. For the first time in program history, they’ve stayed in the Ultiworld power rankings all season long. With genuine star power in Brandon Van Duesen and fabulous role players in Avalon Igawa, Ethan Falat, and Sophie Havranek, Lotus had the look all season long of a Nationals quality team and the reality of finally playing at Nationals after surviving the gauntlet that is Southwest Regionals. Winners of three straight elimination games to claim the final bid (including a revenge game against pool play foe Mischief in the game-to-go), Lotus will enter Nationals on a hot streak hoping to prove that they’re more than just a flash in a pan. Lotus is the first Los Angeles area team to make Nationals since 7 Figures in 2014; Stephanie Pritchard appears to be the only player on both teams.
In one of the most shocking results around the nation, Oregon Scorch, who entered Regionals as a challenger rather than a favorite, swept their way through the first place bracket to win Northwest Regionals and qualify for their first-ever Nationals. The Portland Administrators were the most recent Oregon-based mixed team to qualify for Nationals back in 2014,3 and Scorch will aim to upset a team in their pool for a spot in the bracket.
In the swirling wind tunnel of Frederica, Delaware, Pittsburgh Port Authority upset Washington DC Rally and Philadelphia AMP to win the Mid-Atlantic region for the first time in program history. Sweeping their way through the bracket, Port only needed to win four rain-filled games to cement their best-ever finish. This will be the first time Pittsburgh is represented in the mixed division since Alloy made Nationals in 2016.4 The fourth-year team has continually improved their results year-over-year and will finally get a chance to test themselves against the best of the best.
Men’s Division
First Title in Program History: Chicago Machine
Let’s start with the obvious – a team who is in that tippity-top upper echelon of title-hopeful teams, Chicago Machine are riding a 19-year Nationals streak, tied for the third-best amidst teams currently. They have three finals appearances in the past six seasons, plus two quarterfinal exits and a semifinal showing. Machine have reached the point of the program where there are no “new stages” to reach. It is title or bust. Championship or failure. That’s the price you pay for bringing in some of the game’s brightest stars each year and consistently reaching these stages.
This year is no different after Machine reeled in Mixed Division All-American Aaron Bartlett, Callahan Award winner Zeke Thoreson and others to join their ranks. Easily the highest-profile team without a title, there are no moral victories for Machine this year. Or any year until they win the title.
Making Semifinals: Boston DiG, Minnesota Sub Zero, Atlanta Chain Lightning
Sparked by the incredible Tobe DeCraene, DiG are certainly in that title-hopeful tier this season, as they enter the postseason ranked no.5 in the country per the USAU Club Rankings. However, DiG for all their regular season success in their nine previous seasons, have never pushed past quarterfinals at Nationals. Most recently, those struggles include their infamous collapse as the no.2 seed last year, where they lost the pool to Denver Johnny Bravo and collapsed in a prequarterfinal against Philadelphia Pacmen to take a stunning early exit.
DiG will head to San Diego this year with title hopes, but they don’t NEED to accomplish that feat for this season to feel like a step forward. Proving they can simply meet expectations on the game’s biggest stage and crash the semifinals would be a major accomplishment for the Boston program trying to take the next step.
Minneapolis Sub Zero have been around a whole lot longer than DiG, and making a semifinal would not be a program first, but it would be the first time in 27 years. Sub Zero boast a roster infused with young talent, headlined by new acquisitions Nathan De Morgan and Micah Davis. Playing without both of those stars at Elite-Select Challenge, Sub Zero finished fourth, showcasing a high floor with their depth. At U.S. Open, with their stars, Sub Zero upset PoNY to reach semifinals. That’s the type of upset that may be required of them or DiG to reach this stage. Winning a bracket game would be a notable achievement for Sub Zero, who hasn’t reached quarterfinals since 2019, but semifinals is a stage this program has only been to once before, back in 1999. Replicating the feat could set the stage for Minneapolis, a city that has made waves on the professional circuit in the UFA, to become an annual challenger for club titles in the near future.
Atlanta might have the most “we told you so” type of energy should they pull this off. After years of being bracket-level good but not more than that with the fantastic Brett Hulsmeyer as their centerpiece, Chain Lightning lost Hulsmeyer to Revolver in the offseason, and many assumed they’d take a step back. Chain slid to #16 in our preseason power rankings, figuring to be more in a battle to earn a bid than any kind of bracket battle at Nationals.
Yet, here they are, Southeast Region champs and a top-10 team in our power rankings once more. Will Selfridge’s arrival is a fantastic addition, as is the breakout of Stefan McCall. Nicky Spiva, Hayden Austin-Knab, Adam Miller, Michael Poe and others take their moments in the spotlight, and Chain have turned into a well-rounded quarterfinal contender, and they may have their eyes on more. 2011 was the last time Atlanta reached the semifinals; can Chain Lightning spin back the clock to the pre-Hulsmeyer days and prove everyone wrong?
Making Quarterfinals: Toronto GOAT, Vancouver Furious George
Bring on two of our three Canadian squads repping the men’s division in San Diego! Getting this far would snap a 12-year absence at the quarterfinal stage for GOAT, whose checkered resume since then features five prequarterfinal exits, one pool play departure, and three missed Nationals (four if you include that they did not play in 2021).
GOAT earned and defended their second bid in the Great Lakes, but they must tap into a higher ceiling to go further. This year’s edition of GOAT has been successful, and they’ve demonstrated they can win tournaments against lower level competition while showcasing a fairly high ceiling throughout the summer. Inclusive of their WUCC results, GOAT are 17-5 on the year, with a tournament victory at Select Flight Invite East and resounding wins over teams like Raleigh-Durham United and New York Blueprint.
Against higher-ranked opponents, GOAT beat a severely weakened Truck Stop side, narrowly lost to Sub Zero at PEC East, and they’ve hung with New York PoNY twice. GOAT pilfered some top-tier talent, including a pair of young stars in Max Pettenuzzo and Justin Podnar from Furious George. They’re hoping those new arrivals may be the X-Factor they need to swing a prequarterfinal round upset at 2026 Nationals and send GOAT to heights the program hasn’t seen in over a decade.
Vancouver has a more decorated history than GOAT, but much of that award-winning past is far in the rearview mirror. Furious George haven’t made a quarterfinal since 2016, reaching Nationals just five times since then. Similar to GOAT, they robbed a fellow Canadian side of talent, poaching Malik Auger-Semmar from Montreal Mephisto. He and Quinn Snider, Team Canada teammates at the 2024 World Games, starred in getting Furious George back to Nationals. Can they return the vaunted program to the quarterfinal stage?
Celebrate Every Win: Montreal Mephisto
It’s easy to make Nationals history for Montreal Mephisto – just board your flight to San Diego! Mephisto stole the third bid in the Northeast after coming just short of earning it themselves. They beat bid-earners Portland Red Tide in the third-place semifinals and avenged a defeat versus Amherst Sprout in the game-to-go.
Mephisto have never been to this stage before, but they will certainly be targeting a bracket appearance. They’ve got one of the division’s best goal-scorers in Antoine Dube, and have played Seattle Sockeye, Washington D.C. Truck Stop, and Denver Johnny Bravo close this season. The path to an upset is there, but every result at Nationals should be cause for celebration for Montreal, who lost their biggest star from 2025 and made program history anyway.
And Toronto UNION, but only space for four on the line ↩
and the first for any mixed team from San Diego ↩
other past teams include Wolverines in 2011, Whoreshack in 2005 and 2006, and Pigs In Space in 2000…team naming conventions in 2026 are, well, different than in the past ↩
Congrats to Alex Thomas and Jimmy Towle who were on both teams. ↩
