Women’s ultimate frisbee punches ticket to nationals

By Andersen Pickard     4/22/25 11:23pm

For the first time since 2022, Rice women’s club ultimate frisbee is heading to nationals. The team, named “Torque,” secured a berth in the 2025 USA Ultimate D-III College Championships after winning its conference tournament earlier this month.

Torque comprises about 20 players, including captains Ria Stevens and Sophia Figueroa.

Figueroa said the roster size has grown significantly since the Covid-19 pandemic, in part due to a large number of freshman participants this year.

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With plenty of new faces on the team, Torque’s upcoming trip to nationals in Burlington, Washington will represent a new experience for undergraduates who were not on the roster for the 2022 berth. 

Figueroa encouraged her teammates to cherish the opportunity.

“We play teams from New York, Virginia — teams that we would never cross paths with otherwise,” said Figueroa, a Lovett College senior. “It’s a cool opportunity to play against them and also learn from them.”

Torque won the South Central D-III Women’s Conference Tournament from April 12-13 in Fort Collins, Colorado. The competition included schools such as Colorado College, Trinity University and Truman State University. 

Figueroa said there was lots of buzz and excitement when the Rice faced Colorado College in the conference championship.

“Everyone else in the region was against Colorado College, so we had like three other teams cheering with us against Colorado,” Figueroa said. “That was crazy. It was probably 60 people on the sideline just chanting Rice stuff and talking to us.”

Although club ultimate frisbee brings out the competitive side of Torque’s players, Figueroa said it also provides a sense of community. 

“It really brings people together because you’re like, ‘Oh, this is really fun,’ and you want to keep showing people it, and so it kind of just accumulates from there,” Figueroa said. 

Jones College sophomore Richie Su played ultimate frisbee as a senior in high school. Upon being accepted to Rice, she immediately checked to see if the university had an ultimate frisbee team.

“I am an international student from China, so at first I was a little scared about American culture in general and also the style of frisbee,” Su said. “It turned out [to be] a very smooth transition, and everyone was very welcoming.”

Su said she benefits from going beyond the hedges and traveling to various competitions with Torque. 

“We go to different cities and have games, and in the afternoons we’ll leave the field and go to some coffee shop and do work together,” Su said. “You’ve got to have some change of environment, so I think that’s very helpful for my life at Rice.”

As finals season approaches and many students delve into textbooks and study guides, the team will continue to practice three times a week — an increase from their biweekly practices last season. 

Since Figueroa, as a senior, is getting closer to submitting her final undergraduate assignments, she plans to use ultimate frisbee as a break from studying and encourages her teammates to do the same.

“College can get really overwhelming,” Figueroa said. “Having a team sport or a club that you really enjoy — it’s a built-in support system. Digging into that and taking advantage of it to the fullest is definitely helpful.”

When Torque’s players go their separate ways after final exams end, preparation for nationals will continue. 

Players will be sent home with frisbees so that they can practice with family, and Figueroa said she also encourages them to study teams, games and strategy on YouTube. 

The national tournament is from May 17-19, when Torque will have a chance to display their skills against some of the best programs in the country. D-III pool play is scheduled to begin May 17, followed by quarterfinals and semifinals May 18, should Rice qualify. The championship will take place May 19. 

“[We’re] just going back to our basics,” Figueroa said. “It can get really easy to be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to do this crazy trick right now,’ but if you just go step-by-step basics, that can bring you far.”

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