Get prepped for the start of the Western Ultimate League with all the roster changes, storylines, and big games you need to know.

MARCH 20, 2025 BY KEITH RAYNOR AND EMILIA SCHEEMAKER IN PREVIEW

The fourth season of the Western Ultimate League begins this Saturday and there’s plenty to digest from a busy offseason. The league’s format has changed, a new (but familiar) team joined the fray, and of course, there were a lot of changes to the rosters. The 2024 season was highly competitive, creating a real “any given Sunday” atmosphere. After the surprises of last year — Seattle’s fall from grace, Colorado’s ascendance, Utah’s run to the final — what could 2025 have in store for ultimate fans?

The Stories to Know

Meet the Oregon Soar

2025 will be the inaugural season for Oregon Soar. They’re not the first Oregon team we’ve seen in the WUL: in 2023 we had Oregon Onyx, and prior to that, the short-lived Portland Swifts. This Soar roster is boosted with players from local club teams, namely Portland Schwa. Only ten players on this roster have played for Oregon in the WUL, so they’ll need to lean in to that Schwa chemistry to come together early.

The Soar enter the league with the least amount of WUL experience. No one is counting them out, but it’s going to be difficult for this team to pack in the hours to make something cohesive. Their first game at Seattle could go one of two ways: either it’ll be a great introduction game for them to test their mettle or they’ll be overmatched against a two-time league champion looking to punch them in the teeth. They’ll need to bring their A game. There are no updrafts to do the heavy lifting in this league.

Their addition brings the league to seven teams; there are no divisions this year and schedules will be imbalanced.

LISTEN: Double Overtime talks to Greta Eisenbrey about the end of the Oregon Onyx

San Diego Super Bloom In the Spotlight

Every year seems to be Super Bloom’s year, but so far they’ve fallen just shy of gold. This is arguably the most consistent team in the WUL, so what is keeping them from taking home the (flower) crown? Offense wins games. Defense wins championships. It could be that simple with this team. They are focused moving up the field and don’t give up the disc easily, but they haven’t been making their opponents make mistakes either. This team needs to force their opponents into errors and then punish them for it. The defense for San Diego needs to play a little hungrier after finishing with the second worst Break Percentage in 2024 at 26.3%.

There’s a lot of fan momentum rolling behind The Super Bloom. They have the fans, the stars, and the wins, but no trophies. The fanbase will need to hold on for the ride this year. Super Bloom will take on both Colorado Alpenglow and Utah Wild at altitude. Historically, teams in the WUL have struggled traveling to play in those environments, as San Diego did in the playoffs.. However, they dodged a matchup with the Falcons, who defeated them twice last year. But if they can’t find a way to overcome the fear of heights then it might not matter what other changes they make.

Major Matchups

Want a sneak peak at how your favorite teams from last year held up over the break? You might just get one. In week one defending champions Colorado Alpenglow will take on the 2024 runner up Utah Wild. This early season contest could set the pace for these teams and we’re looking forward to a gutsy match to start off the season.

Oregon makes their debut in week two in a Northwest battle against Seattle. Players will be very familiar with one another. Will that breed camaraderie or rivalry? Probably both, and that should make for theatrics.

The season closes with Super Bloom visiting Colorado. As our two preseason favorites, the matchup makes for a juicy way to finish off the regular season that could have major postseason implications.

Championship weekend heads to Oakland this year. The host team has won the title for each of the past two seasons, and the Bay Area would love to extend the trend coming off of their best season yet.

Team Previews

Arizona Sidewinders

2024 Record: 1-5, missed playoffs

Key Additions: Sunny Harris

Key Returners: Chip Chang, LP Aragon, Paige Applegate, Kez Gesell, Kody Lippincott, Melissa Dunn

Key Departures: Maggie O’Connor, Megan Maxfield, Karli Steiner, Nora Landri

First Game: March 23rd at San Diego Super Bloom

Mel Dunn is back again to command this Sidewinders team. She was a standout contributor in 2024 as an anchor of their defense, though she’ll be without Karli Steiner and Maggie O’Connor this time. But the offense is replete with returning talent including LP Aragon, Chip Chang, and Paige Applegate, all of whom were All-WUL selections last season. About half the roster is turning over, but the transition should be smoothed over by Luna Falk and Maia Nguyen, two practice players moving up to full roster spots this year. While they had the fewest wins in the league last season, the Sidewinders showed their fangs in narrow losses to both San Diego and the Bay Area. They’re going to need to bring that fight and keep building if they want to slither to the top of the pile in 2025.  It’s a snake eat snake world out there and they could bounce back and rattle the league.

Bay Area Falcons

2024 Record: 5-1, semifinalist

Key Additions: Robyn Fennig, Olivia Goss, Malina Wiebe, Macy Vollbrecht, Morgan Greenwood

Key Returners: Han Chen, Kara Hammer, Calise Cardenas, Eliza Chang, Julia Mankoff

Key Departures: Kanari Imanishi, Margo Donahue, Sharon Lin, Alli Tsuji, Lily Steponaitis

First Game: March 29th at Arizona Sidewinders

After leading the league in regular season wins, the Bay has some high-powered additions to try to get them to their first title. Olivia Goss has that lockdown defense that made her such a presence for Sprocket and Fury, with speed and the kind of never-give-up mindset that will have her leading the on defense and in the deep space. With the addition of Robyn Fennig, this squad is going to have exactly what it takes to clean up. In 2024, they set the tone early and took the top spot in the conference. They could fly high again with their strong core headed up by Han Kara Hammer, Eliza Chang, and Lexi Zalk. This team has more new blood than returners this year, and will need to bake in some chemistry before they hit the field to help fill the holes left by losses like Margo Donahue and Kanari Imanishi.

Colorado Alpenglow

2024 Record: 3-3, League Champions

Key Additions: Kennedy McCarthy, Megan Maxfield, Abbie Gillach, Rena Kawabata

Key Returners: Abby Thorpe, Ari Nelson, Jade McLaughlin, Sarah Pesch

Key Departures: Bailey Shigley, Blaise Sevier, Kristen Reed, Aubree Dietrich, Akane Kleinkopf

First Game: March 22nd at Utah Wild

A run to the 2024 championship showed how talented and effective Colorado could be. Back at it are 2024 MVP Abby Thorpe, 2024 Offensive Player of the Year Ari Nelson, as well as Sarah Itoh, Jade McLaughlin, and Sarah Pesch. However, don’t forget that Alpenglow played .500 ball during the regular season and will come into this year without the dynamic cutting of Blaise Sevier and Kristen Reed, as well as the offensive prowess of Bailey Shigley. These were some big hitters for this team, but hope is not lost. Megan Maxfield, who boasted some impressive defensive stats last year for the Arizona Sidewinders, is joining Alpenglow, while Kennedy McCarthy is waiting in the wings ready to bring some of that Vermont style to a new set of mountains.

Oregon Soar

2024 Record: N/A

Key Additions: Julia Sherwood, Sylvie Barnes, Julia Butterfield, JJ Galian, Mariel Hammond

First Game: March 29th at Seattle Tempest

Oregon Soar will take the field for the first time as a semi-pro team in 2025, though they build on the legacy of Oregon Onyx and Portland Swifts. Oregon is a hotbed for club talent and they clearly turned out for tryouts. With names like Sylvie Barnes, Julia Sherwood, and Julia Butterfield, this team is ready to heat it up. Wren Vogel has made the switch from Torch for this season, which will provide some level-headed experience to balance out this team. They’ll need to bring some fire to their first game against Seattle Tempest and really set the bar for where they want to stand in this league. Set the pace early and don’t back down, because with a short season there’s no room to be slow off the blocks.

San Diego Super Bloom

2024 Record: 4-2, semifinalist

Key Additions: Kaitlyn Weaver, Tory Gray, Margot Nissen

Key Returners: Kaela Helton, Dena Elimelech, Kristen Pojunis, Kelli Iwamoto, Abbi Shilts, Avery Jones

Key Departures: Alex Diaz, Ava Hanna, Samantha Wool

First Game: March 23rd vs. Arizona Sidewinders

Super Bloom have the least turnover of any WUL team, and their few lucky rookies are likely to be immediate impacts. Better to be lucky than good, but this group is both. Kaitlyn Weaver was a dominant offensive force for UC Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Astra; Young Margot Nissen is fresh off her U20 WJUC tour; Tori Gray was runner up for D-I Women’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2024; and Julia Peden is no stranger to analyzing strategy. It’ll be interesting to see how that changes the Super Bloom outlook. The returners on this team know how to dominate the field (Kaela Helton, Dena Elimelech, Kelli Iwamoto, Kristen Pojunis) and they’re only getting more ammo. With so much talent on this Super Bloom roster it’s going to be hard to know where to look.

Seattle Tempest

2024 Record: 2-4, missed the playoffs

Key Additions: Linnea Soo (Returning), Lexi Garrity (Returning), Hana Kawai (Returning), Julia Hasbrook, Jamie Eriksson (Returning)

Key Returners: Cheryl Hsu, Sadie Jezierski, Alexa Kirkland, Jess Spaulding, Ikki Elmi

Key Departures: Kaitlynne Roling, Sam Rodenberg, Steph Lim, Kate Lanier, Carly Campana, Bridget Wipfler, Nada Tramonte¹

First Game: March 29th vs. Oregon Soar

Welcome back Emily Decker, Cheryl Hsu, Carly Campana, and Sadie Jezierski, familiar but impactful names. Seattle Tempest took a hard knock at the end of 2024, dropping back to to back games against Utah and in Colorado to miss the playoffs. They struggled to play at altitude in their Colorado loss and it looks like they’re going to luck out for the regular season; neither the Alpenglow nor Utah are on the schedule. They’ll be at sea level where the deeps are a little deeper and the D’s a little sweeter. Their offense was, for the first time, middle of the pack, and their defense gave up the most goals in the league. But Seattle Tempest have won the WUL title twice and an offensive return to form could power them back and make last year look like a rare lull.

Utah Wild

2024 Record: 3-3, championship runner-up

Key Additions: Madi Seedall, Audrey Selfridge, Eva Hayes, Cori Bigham (Returning)

Key Returners: Kat Songer, Paige Kercher, Lily Terpstra, Abbie Davis, Cass Williams

Key Departures: Mackenzie Perkett, Brooke Stanislawski, Shae Wallen, Sarah Staller, Kendra Miller, Stacy Gaskill

First Game: March 22nd vs. Colorado Alpenglow

There’s big time turnover for the Wild. They are going to need to put in the time to come together before they welcome the reigning champs to town. With more rookies than returners, they’re basically a whole new team. Stacy Gaskill and Brooke Stanislawki are not coming back this year and while some of us might not get over it, we do get another season with Abbie Davis, fresh off an All-WUL campaign, and Lily Terpstra. The only thing more exciting is more young stars. Eva Hayes, a Team USA U20 member, joins the ranks. Stewarding their young stars will be the returning duo of Kat Songer and Paige Kercher, while veteran cutter Cori Bigham rejoins the roster.

WUL Preseason Power Rankings