Written by Noam Gumerman
WUL Lead Writer
Week 8 was not a week for surprises in the WUL. The final two undefeated teams in the league took care of business and will face off next week to determine who will remain undefeated and take the top overall seed into Championship Weekend. San Diego Super Bloom blew out Oregon Soar 22-10, while the Arizona Sidewinders played Colorado much closer in their second meeting of the year but still lost 22-16. Here’s how it all went down:
Game 1: San Diego Super Bloom 22 - 10 Oregon Soar
For a team with the most regular season in WUL history, you would think raising the bar each year would be challenging. But this may be the best San Diego has ever looked in the WUL. They cruised to a victory against Oregon in which they hardly seemed to break a sweat. With 6:24 left in the second quarter, Super Bloom scored on a Dena Elimelech to Kaela Helton connection. That score was a break to put them up 11-5 over Oregon, and effectively erased a break Soar had earned just two points prior. At this point, even if San Diego had not scored the rest of the game, they wtill woul have won. That’s how stifling Super Bloom played against Oregon.
While San Diego has been succeeding with contributions from up and down the roster this year, this game was a bit of a throwback where they simply had the best players on the field wreaking havoc on their opponent. Not only did Kaela Helton and Dena Elimelech put up huge numbers (2G 4A 2B 426Y and 1G 2A 5B 240Y, respectively) but they repeatedly bailed out San Diego whenever they looked remotely stressed by Oregon’s defense. Speaking of San Diego’s stars, there were plenty of opportunities for other Super Bloom players to shine (especially when Oregon threw some zone defense). Rebecca Ellis had a big day (4A 3B 268Y) and Kelli Iwamoto (3G 2B 277Y 0T) showed off her quiety efficiency, driving the team team forward out of the handler space.
Ultimately, this week was a step backwards for Soar. They’d put together three competitive performances in a row prior to this game, and while there were growing pains that were evident as they’ve navigated their inaugural season, there were a lot of bright spots too. This week’s trip south showed more of their growing pains. They had moments where they could’ve pushed the game closer, but never capitalized, unlike in previous weeks. One moment that stuck out was at 11-6 they used both first half timeouts on the same point trying to punch a break in, and couldn’t convert and still gave up the hold. It was always going to be an uphill battle against one of the best teams in the league, but the increased pressure from Super Bloom only made it more apparent that the Soar are still trying to settle in to WUL offense and find their primary options. Jackie Riley (2G 1A 2B 190Y 0.5T) was one of the lone bright spots. Oregon has another tough matchup against Seattle Tempest next week, but they face Tempest at home and last time Oregon had a big loss, they brought the fire the following week. Don’t count them out just yet.
Game 2: Colorado Alpenglow 22 - 16 Arizona Sidewinders
Colorado Alpenglow matched their opponents for next week (San Diego) at 5-0 with a convincing win against the Arizona Sidewinders in the late game Saturday evening. Meanwhile, the Sidewinders finished 2025 winless at 0-6. Colorado turned an early 5-4 advantage into a 9-5 lead, and then, before Arizona could react, quickly stretched that into a 16-5 lead. They have an ability to just chain together breaks in a way that no other team in the league has been able to match. The 2024 MVP Abby Thorpe (1G 4A 3B 569Y) had her best game of the season, working into the handler set a little more than we’ve seen previously. But all that did was free up more space downfield for Alpenglow’s other athletes to run wild over the Sidewinders: Jade McLaughlin (6G 261Y 0T), Rory Veldman (3G 1A 1B 346Y 0.5T,) and Rena Kawabata (3G 1A 2B 342Y) were all unstoppable. This Colorado team is so potent, and can deliver from any number of their players in any given game. As Championship Weekend approaches, their opponents will need to find a way to slow down the Colorado offense.
For Arizona, they kept some bright spots including a break to open the game and also winning the fourth quarter. Both mark significant improvements over their first matchup against the Alpenglow, but not anywhere near enough to earn a win. Sidewinders had some key departures (Carly Garrett, Nora Landri, Maggie O’Connor) and injuries (Kez Gesell, Kody Lippincott, Lindsey Doyle) from last year, making their winless season disappointing, but not surprising. Nearly every game the Sidewinders played last year they were in, even if they only won one. But this year they were not able to hang with teams in the same way. This game was a just a microcosm of that. There were some big individual moments, Paige Applegate (4A 592Y) had her best game of the year, and really made you wonder about this team’s potential had she been uninjured for all six games rather than just four. Melissa Dunn (3G 2A 315Y) also put a bow on an impressive individual season. But the team as a whole just couldn’t gel as much as they needed. Too many times they were unable to move the disc down the field against Colorado’s pressure, and gave Alpenglow short field opportunities. It’ll be a long offseason for the Sidewinders as they try to find the right fit for the pieces they have (or maybe recruit some fresh talent!)