What happened?!?
October 24, 2026 by Alex Rubin 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.
SAN DIEGO–After a 24 hour delay, the 2026 Club National Championships finally got underway. Forty-eight teams across three divisions gathered to showcase the best the sport has to offer. There was so much action across the 72 pool play games that it can be overwhelming to take it all in.
You can watch all of our filmed games and read all of our written recaps on the Ultiworld Event Page and check out the raw scores and statistics on the USA Ultimate site. But for a quicker recap, here’s the nutshell of what happened on Thursday Friday.
Men’s Division
The men’s division saw the biggest upset of the day, as eighth seeded Raleigh Ring of Fire took down top seed Chicago Machine to win Pool A. Justin-Cooper Williams’ three blocks helped Ring come back from a 8-4 halftime deficit to win 14-13. With San Francisco Revolver taking down Boston DiG in a similar 15-14 game over in Pool D on the showcase field, last season’s finalists are set up on the opposite sides of the bracket and could potentially meet again.
That being said, Machine’s path back to the final will be tough. They’re sharing bracket space with Washington DC Truck Stop, New York PoNY, DiG, and Portland Rhino Slam!, and there will not be any easy games. Pool D opponents DiG and Truck Stop both fell to Revolver, though DiG comfortably beat Truck Stop 15-10.
PoNY and Rhino Slam! both survived scares in pool play. PoNY needed double game point to defeat a resurgent Atlanta Chain Lightning team that finished second in Pool B. On universe, Declan Miller’s bailout huck found Nick Whitlock in the back of the end zone to secure the win and continue PoNY’s trend of winning all of their pool play games. Rhino Slam! were pushed by both Philadelphia Pacmen (15-14) and Montreal Mephisto (15-13) but managed to come out on top as pool winners.
Despite pushing Chicago Machine to universe in pool play and nearly knocking off Toronto GOAT, Vancouver Furious George will miss the bracket alongside other winless teams Seattle Sockeye, Austin Doublewide, and Mephisto. The remaining teams will compete in the championship bracket starting Saturday morning at 11:15am Pacific.
Women’s Division
The top four teams in the women’s division all won their pools. Washington DC Scandal, San Francisco Fury, and Boston Brute Squad managed the feat comfortably. Denver Molly Brown needed double game points over New York BENT and Raleigh Phoenix in order to secure their bye to the quarterfinal round, but they held seed throughout a rocky pool.
With lower seeded teams like Minneapolis Pop, Northampton Starling, and Pittsburgh Parcha pushing higher-seeded teams, the division feels more competitive than in recent years. Even eliminated teams like Philadelphia Flight (who earned their first ever Nationals win), San Diego Flipside (who likewise defeated a team who ended up finishing above them), and Phoenix (who pushed Molly Brown to universe), provided entertaining, competitive ultimate. Dallas Dimes (who finished 0-3) acquitted themselves well in their first Nationals and came within two goals of a bracket spot in their 15-13 loss to Parcha.
The remaining teams will compete in this weekend’s bracket, and all have reasons to believe in themselves. Pop made the bracket for the first time since 2021 after pushing Flipside to universe and defeating Schwa. San Francisco Nightlock finished their most competitive season in recent memory and took an early 4-0 lead on Fury during their pool play matchup. Parcha had the disc twice on universe against Toronto 6ixers. While the favored Canadians held on for a tough 14-13 win, Parcha proved they are ready to step up to a new competitive level.
No longer just a toss in the park for the top teams, the final 12 in contention will compete in this weekend’s bracket:
Mixed Division
As they have all season, Ann Arbor Hybrid and New York XIST look like the two best teams at the field complex.
In Pool A, Philadelphia AMP pushed XIST to universe point, but could not pull off the upset. AMP did win the Mid-Atlantic Regionals rematch with in-state rivals Pittsburgh Port Authority, who in turn took down home team San Diego California Burrito 15-12 in a matchup of Nationals debutants. With the win, Port Authority earned a spot in the bracket while California Burrito got relegated to consolation play.
- XIST vs. AMP Livestream
- AMP vs. Port Authority Recap
- Port Authority vs. California Burrito Livestream
Hybrid dominated Pool B. Everything else went according to seed with Fort Collins shame. taking the second spot and Los Angeles Lotus defeating Seattle Mixtape 15-14 to earn their spot in the bracket.
Division stalwart Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust topped Pool C despite their arrival as the no.10 seed. Their set of upsets were not the only shakeups. Sacramento Tower were the highest ranked team, but they went 0-3 and fell out of contention. Oregon Scorch earned their first win in their first ever Nationals, and San Francisco Polar Bears got two wins in their return to Nationals for the first time since 2022.
Pool D went to Boston Slow, who held off good challenges from Austin Disco Club (14-10) and Durham Toro (15-14) to top the pool. Disco Club eked out a 13-11 win over Toro to finish second while Toro comfortably finished their day with a 15-9 win over Toronto Union and earn their spot in the bracket.
The twelve teams remaining will compete in this weekend’s championship bracket:
Ultiworld will be streaming every bracket game, starting tomorrow live at 9:00 AM PT!
