Breaking down all the semifinal matchups and why each team will - and won't - win the title
October 25, 2026 by Aidan Thomas in Preview, Recap
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SAN DIEGO – Twelve teams eliminated, four teams left standing. The 2025 National Champions (Revolver), the 2024 National Champions (Rhino Slam!), the 2021 National Champions (Ring of Fire), and the elite program seeking their first title (Machine). It’s bound to be a fantastic Sunday of ultimate — let’s break down what to look for, and how our semifinalists got here.
San Francisco Revolver
How They Got Here
Relentless confidence in the seemingly inevitable outcome. If every Revolver game was filmed in a movie, there would just be some kind of ominous beat that pulsed in the background, signifying that you know something is about to happen, that the worst is yet to come. That’s what it feels like for Revolver who, even when they are ever so briefly trailing, do not feel like they are in danger.
The beat was there as they bounced back from two Truck Stop breaks to turn a 7-7 game into a fairly comfortable 15-12 win. The beat marched on against DiG, where they broke late and held with ease on double game point to earn their bye to quarterfinal. The beat was there as Revolver absorbed Denver Johnny Bravo’s best punch, which was simply just a break on the game’s first point, and pummeled them into submission with a four-break flurry to take a 6-2 lead in quarterfinals.
The beat goes on, and so do Revolver. Now it’s on to semifinals, where Raleigh Ring of Fire await.
3 Keys To Victory In Their Semifinal
1. Ramp Up the Pressure
In their quarterfinal versus Bravo, Revolver knew Denver had a talented offense that had shown signs of really getting out of wack at Nationals. They had a good plan of prep and broke Bravo on four of their first five offensive points.“We just try and stick to our game plan and create as much pressure as possible with all seven of our guys,” Revolver captain Daniel Ritthaler said after the Bravo matchup. “We knew they were super talented and had a lot of great athletes and throwers, so we just find a couple of spots to try our best to generate some pressure, and we got some good individual blocks to seal off points.”
Against Ring, it feels similar for Revolver, as Ring has been known to scuffle for a few points at a time, and if Ritthaler and Co. ramp up the pressure, it might be the end of another Ring of Fire bracket run.
2. Consistency from Leo Gordon
Leo Gordon (6G/6A) has been exceptional at times and highly suspect (six turns, leads the team) at others. He can absolutely take over offensive points for Rhino and produce less of a burdensome load for guys like Mac Hecht. But when the 50/50 shots get lobbed up, and Revolver looksa little weaker. Revolver would love a clean effort from Gordon, as that greatly enhances their chances at being clean on offense throughout the whole game.
3. Use the Full 26
It’s a big advantage point for Revolver. “At Worlds, it was such a long tournament, and we were really able to count on our full 26,” Ritthaler said. “We imagine that [Sunday], having such depth is something we will try to lean on and we hope is a strength for a double semis and final day.”
Revolver is so deep and so talented, and they have the ability to run Ring of Fire into the ground.
Raleigh Ring of Fire
How They Got Here
Ring of Fire made a very early statement when they absolutely dismantled Vancouver Furious George in their pool play opener, winning 15-6. That result was even more shocking when Furious George turned around and nearly beat Machine. Ring handled eventual quarterfinalist Toronto GOAT without too many problems, never trailing in a 14-12 win. Then, Ring pulled off their big stunner, a 14-13 comeback win over Machine, rallying from 12-8 down to win Pool A.
That gave Ring of Fire bye to quarterfinals, and they took advantage of the rest in a big way, facing off with a top-heavy Minneapolis Sub Zero team that was depleted from their huge comeback in prequarters. Ring got the first break to go up 3-2 and were never broken en route to a very comfortable 15-9 win. Matt Barcellos has been a leader for Ring, with eight goals and nine assists so far, while Cooper Williams is among the division leaders with five blocks. Andrew Li, whose layout grab earned Ring their first break against Sub Zero, has been dynamite as the D-line leader, dominating offensive flow on the counter.
3 Keys To Victory In Their Semifinal
1. Multiple Early Breaks
Revolver have been broken early quite a few times this season, surrendering the disc a little more frequently at the start games before their elite offense settles in. Against Bravo, Revolver turned the disc twice on the first point, and then their offense coughed up the disc two more times for the rest of the game. Ring need to get not just one early break, but at least two to build themselves a buffer to withstand Revolver’s inevitable D-line charge. Bravo had this recipe, but they could only get one break and didn’t have the offensive stability to make that hold up. Ring could certainly trade holds for a while and have a chance at making a couple of early breaks hold up.
2. Avoid a Multipoint Collapse
Against Machine, Ring played their only real bad stretch of ultimate thus far in San Diego, surrendering three straight breaks to go down 8-4 at the half. Of course, Ring came from down 12-8 to level the score and then break on universe, but they’re not breaking Revolver four times down the stretch. If they go cold like at the end of the first half, it’ll be curtains for Ring before noon tomorrow.
3. Disrupt the Small Ball
Making Mac Hecht throw hucks doesn’t sound like a great formula to win, and it’s probably not. And actually, maybe the answer is getting Leo Gordon to take some unnecessary shots. Whatever it is, Revolver has looked far more vulnerable in their deep game than in any time they choose to go small ball up the field. Against Truck Stop, Revolver was baited into some tight deep shots that resulted in layout blocks, which Truck frequently failed to convert.
However, disconnecting Revolver’s backfield from their cutters has been a goal of virtually every defense that matches up with them, because you’ll take your chances winning an iso matchup in the deep space instead of helplessly waving a variety of break throws and low-stall, high-percentage tosses.
Chicago Machine
How They Got Here
To pay homage to where things started to look dicey for Machine, their ride to semifinals has been as smooth as a ride on the Wooden Roller Coaster, Vancouver’s oldest roller coaster. I have not yet been on the Wooden Roller Coaster, but I can only imagine that it doesn’t quite lurch and jerk quite as much as Machine has done en route to making it back to semifinals.
Machine cruised over regional rivals Toronto GOAT in the first round of opening play, earning two early breaks and holding the rest of the way for a 15-12 win. Then they had to come back from three breaks down against Vancouver Furious George, who remains winless at Nationals.
Finally, Machine fell victim to Ring of Fire in pool play, as they were on the receiving end of that massive Raleigh comeback. That set up a prequarter with Washington DC Truck Stop, and Machine finally managed to pull away in one, turning a 7-6 lead into a 15-8 victory. Against PoNY, the roller coaster hit yet another wild drop, as Machine went down 4-1, crawled back and took the lead 13-11, before PoNY held and broke twice to earn the 14-13 advantage. They held to force double game point, and they got the necessary block and counter to win a 15-14 thriller.
After three universe point battles in five games, Machine sit at 4-1 for the tournament, with a semifinal against a very strong Rhino squad on deck. What will they have left in the tank?
3 Keys To Victory In Their Semifinal
1. Stop the Deep game
It’s the #1 concern for Machine. They were roasted deep again and again by Toronto GOAT in their opener, and Furious George also got their fair share of huck completions on the Machine D-line. Rhino love nothing more than a good huck, and if Machine can’t stop Mica Glass from going deep or throwing it deep, it’s a problem for Chicago.
2. Get the shutdown hold
This is a made-up stat, but it’s one of my favorite made-up stats. Can the Chicago O-line reward it’s D-line for a break with a quick hold and not let Rhino break right back? Rhino seemingly turned it on when they needed to, especially defensively, and that included frequently breaking opponents right back, ensuring no momentum was built. Machine needs to ramp up the pressure on Rhino to find a break by getting a couple of clean holds after their D-line breaks. If they don’t, Rhino will feel comfortable, as no one has really slowed down their D-line offense yet.
3. Healthy Doses of Rutledge Smith, Elliot Hawkins, Aaron Bartlett
No doubt Rhino are going to key in on everything they can do to disconnect Daan De Marrée from the Chicago offense, They’ve had effective game plans to limit opposing stars so far in the tournament, frustrating the likes of Sam Grossberg and Marty Gallant. Rhino will have a plan to make Chicago beat them with other guys, and Chicago would do well to find key contributions from others so the offense doesn’t stagnate when waiting for De Marrée to make things happen.
Portland Rhino Slam!
How They Got Here
15-14, then 15-13, then 15-12, and then 15-11. It’s gotten just a bit easier each round for Portland Rhino Slam!, who needed universe point to take down Philadelphia Pacmen and struggled to put away Montreal Mephisto. Rhino led Sub Zero wire to wire, and against GOAT, they ripped off three straight early breaks and hardly broke a sweat to advance to semifinals.
Every team at Nationals is very good, and what we managed to do, even if we didn’t play our best through four games, is we won. That’s what good teams do, they find a way to win. That’s what I’m really proud of,” Rhino head coach Leo Micklem said. “Even though things were maybe not ideal, and maybe some people expected us to blow by a lot of those games. We knew they were good teams…we saw in all the pools that there were games that went to universe. That’s just Nationals.”
3 Keys To Victory In Their Semifinal
- Weather The Storm
Machine will almost certainly break Rhino, and it’s probable they do it multiple times. Rhino need to stay level-headed and not compound issues with unforced errors. Their D-Line is very talented and should earn quite a few takeaways from Machine, so they just need to weather the storm and avoid any major runs. “They’ve had a bit of up and down tourney, but at the end of the day, they’re here in semis for a reason,” Micklem said. “They just beat a very good team in PoNY and we’re going to have to be at our very best to beat them.”
2. Flush Daan De Marrée out of the backfield
He’s good everywhere, but sometimes, if De Marréeis not open immediately, Machine waste valuable stall counts assuming their star will bail them out with a miracle cut. That can lead to high-stall looks and turnovers, and if Rhino can force Chicago to look for anyone that’s not De Marrée, they’ll feel they have an advantage.
3. Utilize Henry Ing and Callahan Bosworth
New York PoNY had some success in breaking up Chicago’s junky defensive looks with the mere presence of Ben Jagt and Nick Whitlock, whose tremendous height advantage allowed them to space the field and provide viable options for PoNY handlers. Rhino’s got the guys to do the same in Henry Ing and Callahan Bosworth, two massive targets who can win an aerial battle as well as anyone can. Can Rhino topple Chicago’s more creative defensive efforts by utilizing their major height advantages?
X-Factors and Some (Light) Predictive Stumping
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