By Noam Gumerman
Lead WUL Writer
We are nearly halfway through the 2026 WUL Regular Season and the tension and pressure will only build as the season rolls on. Week 5 was the most exciting week yet with two 1-point thrillers, promising even more exciting ultimate to come. Here’s how things stand in the league as of now:
The two biggest stories of the season so far are the two teams at the top of their conferences, Seattle Tempest and San Diego Super Bloom. Tempest roared out to a 3-0 start before having their momentum slowed by Colorado last week, losing 16-15 on a final possession score for Alpenglow.
Despite the loss, Seattle Tempest boast a league-best +36 point differential across their first four games, in large part due to an all-time team performance in a 37-10 win over Utah. Seattle’s win shattered league records for largest margin of victory and most individual assists in a single game (Kaitlynne Roling with 9). In true Seattle fashion, their resurgence has been led by committee.
Three of the four players with 10+ goals in the league so far are on Tempest (Jamie Kauffman, Gemma Munck, and Meg Manning), and three of the seven players with 10+ assists (Kauffman, Roling, and Cheryl Hsu) are also Tempest players. Kauffman specifically is having an all-time hot start; her +/- of +36 across just four games puts her on track to have the best season +/- in WUL history. Even with a close loss on the road, this is a team that harkens back to the first two years of dominance this franchise had in the WUL. The rest of the league should be on high alert.
San Diego Super Bloom has rolled right into 2026 with the same momentum they created to win the championship in 2025.
The league’s remaining undefeated team has only played three games so far, but they’ve been dominant in all. Our preseason player to watch was Abbi Shilts, and she has been a big contributor, leading the team in goals (9), blocks (6), and +/- (13) across just three games. Kaitlyn Weaver is also leading the charge with eight assists and a staggering 54 points played across three games – 12 more than the next highest on Super Bloom.
As a group, their defensive identity remains intact with leadership from Kaela Helton, Kristen Pojunis, Laura Blume and more driving up pressure on their opponents. Super Bloom is earning breaks on nearly half of their defensive points across the first three games, putting opponents in large deficits quickly.
Colorado Alpenglow trails Seattle Tempest only on point differential after clawing back from a second-half deficit against Seattle to split their series 1-1. These two teams are competing for the top spot in the conference.
Colorado has a slightly harder road by playing both San Diego and Bay Area, but there’s a lot to like about Alpenglow’s 3-1 start to the season. For starters, sweeping Oregon means they have an inside track to Championship Weekend, as their nearest competitors will need to be two games better than them across the second half of the season.
Secondly, Ari Nelson (4G, 12A, 1B), Abby Thorpe (12G, 8A, 5B) and Sarah Itoh (8G, 10B) once again look like the championship-level core they’ve been the past two seasons with dominant performances on both sides of the disc. And finally, a healthy Kennedy McCarthy has added a lethal triple threat presence as a thrower, receiver, and defender. Alongside Thorpe, McCarthy is the only Alpenglow player to have contributed at least 350 yards throwing and receiving, and has tacked on a 6G/7A/7B statline to start the season - not to mention earning the Player of the Week selection for Week 2.
After a flatter start than expected for this highly anticipated roster, Bay Area Falcons have begun to find their stride. Their biggest test is this weekend, when they host San Diego with a chance for revenge from 2026 Week 1 and last year’s 2025 Championship Game.
They’ve taken big strides across the board since that Week 1 matchup, and a big reason has been the integration of preseason player to watch Alex Barnett into the Falcons’ offense. After a slow first game, Barnett has now integrated into the system and currently leads the team in assists (9) and is tied with Alexi Zalk for the team lead in goals (7). She trails only Zalk in receiving yards and only Robyn Fennig in throwing yards on the team.
Speaking of, Zalk is having a breakout season, having already surpassed her career high in receiving yards from last season as the team’s top target so far. But despite the growth, this team is still looking to find its identity and solidify that chemistry they’re working to build. This weekend’s game against San Diego will be the best chance they have to springboard themselves into the second half of their season and prove they are true championship contenders.
Oregon Soar and Arizona Sidewinders are the two teams with a chance to pull off a surprise visit to Championship Weekend. Both squads sit at 2-2 this season after winless 2025 campaigns. Both teams’ greater success in 2026 can be attributed to improving their biggest weaknesses from a year ago.
Oregon converted holds at a rate of 38.1% in 2025; they’ve nearly doubled that number to 67.2% across four games in 2026. Oregon’s preseason X-factor Rachel Egan has been a huge reason why, leading the team in goals (8), blocks (6), and receiving yards (744) while adding 6 assists. Rookie Cami Lamont is putting in an early bid for Breakout Player of the Year as well, leading the team with 8 assists and adding 712 throwing yards.
Soar has their work cut out for them to make the post season though, as they’ve already lost both games against Colorado, meaning they’ll likely need to win twice against Seattle to qualify.
Arizona Sidewinders have been able to improve their break percent from 12.6% last year to over 28% in 2026. Some of this can be credited to longtime Arizona handlers Chip Chang (3G/11A/3B 789ThY) and LP Aragon (5A 736ThY) more equitably splitting their points played between offense and defense this year.
Sidewinders have long been a handler-dominant team missing one or two elite downfield outlets, but they’ve finally got their big-time receiver in former Alpenglow captain, Kristen Reed. Preseason player to watch Reed exceeded expectations through the first half of the Sidewinders’ season.
Reed is top-five in the entire WUL in goals and blocks, and has tracked down the fourth most huck receptions across the league as well. And if AZ can pull off an upset or two down the stretch, we may be talking about the first Sidewinders appearance at Championship Weekend since 2022.
Utah Wild and Los Angeles Astra are both teams in transition periods, still looking for their first win of 2026. One of them will earn that win in just two weeks when these two teams face off during Week 7. Utah will, in all likelihood, be the early underdogs in this matchup.
The performance of preseason X-factor Eva Bell has been a bright spot for Utah. Bell leads the entire league in throwing yards, and is still top-5 on a per-game rate. She has stepped into an exponentially bigger role for Wild this year than she had last year, and is thriving despire Utah’s win-loss record. Preseason player to watch Abbie Davis has only been available for two games this year, but add Lily Terpstra (8G/4A), Beejee Kratzer (7G/4A/1B), and Casstique Williams (6G/8A/3B) and you have a solid core for Utah to build around.
If they want to win their first game of the season though, they’ll need to improve on just about every efficiency stat we track.
Los Angeles came heartbreakingly close to their first win back in the WUL against Arizona last weekend. They fell 16-15 in 2026’s first overtime game after dropping a two-goal lead with under three minutes left in the game.
Next weekend, they have a two-game road trip to Utah and then Arizona, with their best two opportunities remaining for that elusive win. A 2-0 weekend would signal their growth. To get those wins, Los Angeles will need to be led by players like Karli Steiner, who is just one assist away from her career high of 11 set back in 2022. They’ll also need to rely on players like preseason X-factor Chip Yen, who is on pace to lead Astra in goals scored for the second year in a row, with 8G/2A/5B in just three games.
Astra as a whole is a squad still looking to gel together and to get used to the competition they’re seeing in the WUL. A heartbreaking loss like the one last week could be just what they need to internalize what it’s going to take for them to get their first win of 2026.