Written by Noam Gumerman
WUL Lead Writer
It’s already Week 4 in the 2025 WUL season, and this Saturday features two teams looking to continue hot starts and push to 3-0 records, and two teams sputtering to start their seasons and hoping to avoid 0-3 starts. To kick off Week 4 action Arizona Sidewinders will travel to the unbeaten defending champs Colorado Alpenglo. Then, last years runners-up Utah Wild head north to face a refreshed and dialed-in Seattle Tempest squad. Here’s what you need to know:
Game 1 Arizona Sidewinders @ Colorado Alpenglow
Saturday, April 13 | 5pm PT
Pinnacle Athletic Stadium | Thornton, CO
Arizona was the only team to get last week off, and are hoping their extra time in the lab will give them the boost they need to pull off an upset and right the ship. At their best, Arizona has been a gritty underdog capable of pushing the best teams in the league, and they will get an opportunity to do just that this weekend. They are playing a Colorado Alpenglow team that looked vulnerable in the second half against Oregon last week. Yes, they were on the road, and yes, they were missing some big contributors on offense, but Colorado’s second half showed that they do not always use that extra gear on offense that powered them to the 2024 WUL Championship. Their offense can be inefficient, and their defense is still hovering around league average. If Arizona can coalesce as a cohesive unit this week, they could catch the defending champions off-guard. I’m not sure I’d count on it though, as getting Sarah Levinn and Abby Thorpe back from absences last week will give Colorado a larger margain for error, and Arizona still needs established stars like LP Aragon and Chip Chang to hit their stride, as well as some role players to step into extra responsibility if they want to pull this off.
Staff Pick: Colorado 20 - Arizona 17
Game 2: Utah Wild @ Seattle Tempest
Saturday, April 13 | 1pm PT
Seattle Memorial Stadium | Seattle, WA
Sure Arizona has a had a tough schedule to start the season, but what about Utah? Drawing the three teams undefeated through the first weeks of play is tough, and they travel to Seattle to complete the gauntlet. Their first two games were both big losses t Colorado and San Diego. Their game last week against San Diego was especially rough as the Utah offense went ice cold after the first quarter, scoring just once in the second, then just once in the entire second half. In large part this appeared to be in part caused by switching Paige Kercher onto the D-line. Kercher is Utah’s offensive engine, and while a team wants fire power on their D-line, Utah couldn’t stop San Diego’s offense at all last week to give her the chance to contribute. On offense, the Utah handlers struggled to gain momentum, resulting in short-field giveaways to San Diego. Seattle on the other hand, earned a statement win last week against Bay Area. They are looking to put the league back on notice with a 3-0 start to the season. And they are winning the same way they did in 2022 and 2023, with depth. Players like Cheryl Hsu and Sadie Jezierski carry more of the load, but Seattle has contributors up and down the entire roster that few teams in the league can match. Twelve different players had a goal contribution on just 12 goals scored last week against the Falcons. They showed they can earn an away win in bad weather, and will be the favorites to keep rolling unless Utah finds the rhythm they’ve been lacking so far in 2025.
Staff Pick: Seattle 20 - Utah 14
Additionally, keep an eye on Paige Kercher’s yardage output this weekend, as she is just 525 away from being the first player in WUL history to eclipse 10,000 total yards!