Two more Carolina teams are bringing some serious hardware back to Chapel Hill.

The UNC men’s and women’s ultimate frisbee teams, UNC Darkside and UNC Pleiades, each won titles at the USA Ultimate College Championships Monday night in Norco, CA.

The men’s team, Darkside, took home the title as the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed by defeating their opponents from the University of Georgia, 15-11. The win is Darkside’s third national championship, standing alongside titles in 2015 and 2018. Their road to the championship included wins over teams from Texas, Colorado (the tournament’s No. 2 overall seed) and Michigan.

Later that night, the women’s team, Pleiades, took the field in search of its first-ever national championship. Pleiades, the No. 2 seed in the women’s draw, took on a side from the University of Washington, seeded No. 4. Pleiades took control from the start and never looked back, winning the match 15-6 to secure a UNC sweep in the championships. Pleiades had defeated teams from UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara on the road to the title match.

It’s the first time in 31 years the men’s and women’s champions have come from the same school.

UNC Pleiades poses with their national championship trophy. (Image via Sydney Rehder/Twitter)

Ultimate frisbee is not an NCAA-sponsored sport, and the players do not receive athletic scholarships to compete. Instead, teams like Darkside and Pleiades are run as club teams, with open tryouts every fall. USA Ultimate, the official governing body of the sport for both youth and international competitions since 1979, sponsors the college national championships.

 

Featured image via UNC Darkside on Facebook

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