Pool play at the Club Championships will feature some familiar matchups from the 2026 season. Revisit the past results to see which rematches could determine the course to the title!
October 18, 2026 by TJ Lee in Opinion, Preview
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The Line brings together lists of sevens from our reporting staff.
Throughout the 2026 USAU regular season fans have been treated to a multitude of competitive games. Some teams walked away from these showdowns excited for the win while others had to settle with keeping it close until the end, but past results matter little when competitors line up across each other in San Diego. Now at the final stage of the season, the time has come for these teams to prove who truly reigns supreme. Here are seven rematches that have a major impact on how the bracket will shape up.
New York XIST vs Philadelphia AMP
AMP kicked off the 2026 season with a universe point win over XIST at PEC East. While AMP could not prevail over Slow in semis for a rematch in the final, Philadelphia built on the opening momentum with a strong regular season and regionals performance, only losing to fellow Nationals attendees Sacramento Tower and Pittsburgh Port Authority. Lindsay McKenna finished second in our Top 25 Players rankings, and is backed up by Flight-transfer Grace Maroon, who also earned a top 15 rank.
XIST took the loss in stride however, and minus a 15-9 loss to Hybrid at US Open, have been unstoppable on US soil. Jolie Krebs, Sadie Jezierski, and Axel Agami all earned top 15 placements in the Top 25, and their blend of offensive and defensive firepower helped earn New York the top seed at Nationals. All they have to do is get revenge for the season debut loss, and they get the easiest path to the final and a chance to avenge their only other loss against reigning-champs Hybrid.
This showcase game will be streamed live on Ultiworld.
Minneapolis Sub Zero vs Philadelphia Pacmen
Sub Zero closed out a 4-2 opening tournament at PEC East with a strong universe point win over Pacmen in the semi-fivals before taking it to the next level at US Open with wins over Ring of Fire, PoNY, and Rhino Slam! Though the North Central’s road to Nationals posed little challenge aside from Mad Men, it was a positive sign that they could get the job done without star O-line piece Will Brandt, who was injured during UFA Championship Weekend. Now, Sub look to replicated the win over Pacmen and maintain the high ceiling they set for themselves at US Open. Paul Krenik, Nate De Morgan, and Gordon Larson are the ones who will need to step up in Brandt’s absence, but have the talent needed to bring Sub Zero to semifinals.
Despite the loss to Sub Zero (and four other teams this year), all the losses did come against teams who made Nationals. One of them, a 15-12 loss to Truck Stop, is sandwiched between two 15-12 wins over Truck Stop of their own, including the win to take the Mid-Atlantic Regionals crown. With the keys to the offense, Alex Atkins is someone who is always ready to turn it up a notch. Add PoNY-transfer Antoine Davis and Sam Grossberg, voted 11th best in the division, and you have everything needed for Pacmen to put together another surprisingly deep bracket run.
Denver Molly Brown vs Seattle Riot
A fun twist to this exercise has two teams that have matched up not just once this season, but twice. Molly Brown took the win at US Open in quarters 14-12, but Riot got theirs at Pro Champs, winning 15-12. Riot have had an array of results from strong wins like this one and comfortably handling Portland Schwa, to flaky losses to Flipside, Nightlock, and some very ugly scorelines like 15-31 to Scandal and 15-8 to Fury. Lauren Goddu and Samiya Ismail stepped up during Pro Champs, and adding Chloe Hakimi to the mix gives Riot everything needed to take game three.
While Molly Brown wish they were 2-0 against Seattle this year, they have otherwise put up a strong performance, with the only other losses being to Fury and Scandal, and two coming down to universe point. Valeria Cárdenas is back atop the list of best players in the nation, with her sister Manu not too far behind at third. Claire Chastain joins the Top 25, and players like Aurora Lešnik, Carmen La Gala, and Alex Guy all earned votes as well. Molly Brown have not missed the semifinals since winning it all in 2022, and will be looking to continue that trend rather than drop a second game to Riot.
Atlanta Chain Lightning vs Denver Johnny Bravo
Even without the pressure of competing for a bid at 2026 Elite-Select Challenge, Johnny Bravo posted several crucial results, including a 15-12 win over Chain Lightning to take the pool. Don’t let some roster turnover mar the continued output of Jordan Kerr, a player who can be a threat anywhere on the field and backs up veterans like Quinn Finer and Jonathan Nethercutt well. The road to prequarters asks for just one upset win from the pool four seed, and this round one matchup against Chain could be where Johnny Bravo decide to go for it.
As up and down as their season has been, Chain do enter San Diego as one of the top 10 teams in the nation, riding high off an undefeated regionals capped by a win over Ring of Fire. The roster may look different from past iterations, but with veterans like Nick Spiva and Hayden Austin-Knab alongside newcomers with experience in Will Selfridge and Stefan McCall, this team has what it needs to get another payback win en route to a deep bracket run. The biggest wildcard factor in play for them comes in the form of Walter Ellard, who makes his debut on the team following a WUCC run with Junk where he finished tied for seventh-most scores (goals+assists) in the open division.
See if Johnny Bravo can pull off the upset live on Ultiworld!
San Francisco Polar Bears vs Oregon Scorch
On what was supposed to be a casual day of holding seed at Northwest Fruit Bowl, Oregon Scorch stepped up to San Francisco Polar Bears and won the first of two upset games against teams also making the trip to San Diego. The win helped them finish atop the match play rankings, and was the foreshadowing spark to the fire of winning Northwest Regionals. These first-time Nationals attendees will be looking to pull off an upset against a trio of experienced teams if they want to turn the debut appearance into a debut bracket game. Look for this hungry squad of Oregonians led by Avery Laliberte, Becky Hamilton, Ben Whitenack, and Sebastian Williamson to try and strike lightning twice.
On the other side of this matchup are Polar Bears, whose two tournament wins — PEC West and Fruit Bowl — did not come unblemished, with losses in crossover and pool play games. But San Francisco knows how to turn it on in the bracket, making semifinals or better at every tournament they attended. With young college talent like Colorado’s Noah Fong and Chagall Gelfand, this team has what it takes to keep the streak alive at Nationals. At the same time, the shaky back-and-forth nature of their results opens the door for an earlier exit than planned.
Mark you calendars folks, this round one pool play matchup — streamed live on Ultiworld — will set the tone early on for both teams.
Boston Slow vs Austin Disco Club
In what ended up being the game to win pool B at Pro Champs, Slow took down Disco Club 15-11. Disco Club got the last laugh, advancing to the final and upsetting Hybrid while Slow took a universe loss in quarters to Drag’n Thrust, but Slow enter Nationals as a pool one seed for a reason. Boston’s seven losses (four on universe) have come against four teams: XIST, Hybrid, Drag’n Thrust, and Sprocket, who they took down at Northeast Regionals in the game-to-go. While Yuge Xiao is the only player to earn a Top 25 nod sitting at 15th, Olivia Hampton, Erin Rea, Davis Whitehead, Piers MacNaughton, Christian Foster, Ray Tetreault, and Tyler Chan all earned votes, a testament to Boston’s depth.
Disco Club on the other hand had a season filled with ups and downs. The biggest “up” was a 5-1 Pro Champs, where they rebounded from the loss to Slow to knock off Toro, Drag’n Thrust, and defending champions Hybrid for their first ever Pro Champs title. Jaime Estes, Myles Armstrong, Madi Cannon, and Joey Wylie have proven capable of beating the best when the time is right. But tough losses — including the one to Slow, a 15-9 loss to Toro at US Open, and dropping the South Central Regional title to shame. on universe — leave much to be desired.
The classic 4v5 game should once again bring the fireworks as these two teams go all out for the bid to quarterfinals, a feat that Disco Club have yet to pull off.
I’ll allow some grace given some players were reported to have sat out the game, but still ↩
