By Noam Gumerman
Lead Writer
Three weeks into the 2026 WUL Season, there have already been numerous surprises compared to our preseason expectations and predictions. But what’s been behind San Diego’s continued dominance, Oregon’s surprising toughness, or Bay Area and Colorado’s slower-than-expected starts? Here are the most critical underlying numbers for each team across the first several weeks of the regular season.
Arizona Sidewinders (1-1)
Arizona keeping their core together despite two difficult years has paid early-season dividends in 2026. In 2025, their Achilles heel was a historical inability to punch in breaks. This year, they’ve flipped the script. Their D-line offensive efficiency* has jumped from 17% to a very respectable 41%. What’s interesting is that percentage is not just a result of beating Utah in Opening Weekend — against Bay Area, they still achieved 43% for their D-line Offensive Efficiency despite the loss. A huge reason for that is the improvement in their huck completions. Arizona still hucks 11.5x per game (similar to 2025), but they’ve completed 78% (18 of 23) so far, compared to a 50% rate last year.
Bay Area Falcons (2-1)
Bay Area had a rough draw to start the season against the defending champion San Diego Super Bloom, and they certainly looked like a team with a lot of new pieces that didn’t fit together just yet. In Week 1, a well-drilled Super Bloom defense flustered both the O-line and D-line offensive attacks for the Falcons, limiting them to 37% Offensive Efficiency (O-Line), and 11% Offensive Efficiency (D-Line). But over the following two games, Bay Area began to find their footing. Their O-line bumped their Offensive Efficiency to 45% against LA, and 63% against AZ, while their D-line improved to 23% and 41%, respectively. This is also visible in new center handler Alex Barnett’s turnover rate dropping from 9% against San Diego to 5% in the next two games.
Colorado Alpenglow (2-1)
Colorado Alpenglow also entered 2026 with high expectations, a bit of roster turnover, and a tough first pair of games with a PNW doubleheader. While they now have a 2-1 start, this is not a team that is finding success in the same areas they have the past two years. In 2024 and 2025, Alpenglow were the premier hucking team in the league, completing a very impressive 66% of their hucks in 2025, far and away best in the league. Ari Nelson remains one of the best huckers in the league, completing 10/16 hucks already this year, but the rest of the team has fallen off in terms of completion percentage — dropping from 70% in 2025 to 35% during their three games into this season. This isn’t a result of a talent drain — teams know this is what Colorado likes and are forcing them to adapt. Moving forward, they will need to create different opportunities to huck or adapt their style to find sustainable success.
Los Angeles Astra (0-2)
It’s been a rough return to the WUL for Los Angeles Astra so far, losing their first two games of 2026. The stats aren’t very kind to them either, with Astra occupying either the last or second-to-last spot in most categories. But there are a couple of things to indicate some optimism for this squad. Playing Bay Area and San Diego as the opening two games was a difficult draw, and they hung tight with the Falcons in their opener. Despite facing two of the best defenses in the league, their O-line Defensive Efficiency^ is sitting at an impressive 75%. They get the disc back often on offense and a little bump in their ability to convert possessions into scores will do wonders for their results on the field.
Oregon Soar (1-2)
Oregon Soar secured their first win in franchise history and were two points from earning a second one, and there are a lot more positives from their start to the 2026 season. In 2025, their decision-making and efficiency were big issues. This year, they are completing one more huck per game on three fewer attempts, and their Offensive Efficiency has bumped up from 23% to 35%. However, their defensive metrics are stagnant from 2025 to 2026, where they are in the bottom half of the league for most defensive metrics. Growth on one side of the disc is good, but growth on both sides would offer sustainable pathways to wins.
San Diego Super Bloom (2-0)
The defending champions have cruised through their first two games. They boast a league-best point differential and are tied for having the most breaks in the league despite playing one fewer game than the team they are tied with (Bay Area). They are no longer reliant on their superstars doing everything and have diversified their receivers and stat leaders. Kaitlyn Weaver and Kaela Helton still run the show, but are seeing outstanding performances from other places on the roster (like Abbie Shilts). They seem primed for continued success. Why? They are averaging the fewest turnovers per game in the league at 25 per game. Taking care of the disc at any level of the sport breeds success. Time will tell if they keep it up, but if history is any indication, they will.
Seattle Tempest (1-0)
How much is there to take away from just one game? We’ll learn a lot more about this Seattle Tempest squad in the coming weeks, but if their debut is any indicator — they have a winning season ahead. They dismantled a very solid Colorado Alpenglow team with a complete team defensive effort. Seattle recorded blocks from 11 different players, with a total of 18 blocks against a team that didn’t give up more than 10 per game last year. How deep is this D-line? That could be the answer that dictates how far this team goes. In 2024 Bay Area set the benchmark with 14.7 blocks per game. Can Tempest match or surpass that?
Utah Wild (0-2)
With over 20 rookies, we knew this year’s Utah Wild team would need to find new big-time WUL-level contributors. What’s concerning is that they are still looking for those rookie contributors to emerge and handle some of the production load, especially on offense. Across their first two games, three Wild returners, Abbie Davis, Eva Bell, and Lily Terpstra, have accounted for one third of the entire team’s offensive production. This is even more notable given that Davis and Terpstra have each missed one game. There’s not a real sense of pressure on this Wild team to compete for a WUL Championship this year given the turnover on the roster, but they need to see future contributors find their footing at the pro-level as the weeks go by this year. This is a critical year to determine the foundation for Wild. Who else will step up in the coming weeks?
*Offensive efficiency: the percentage of a team’s offensive possessions that result in a goal.
^Defensive efficiency: the percentage of the opponent’s offensive possessions that result in a turnover.