Old guard holds firm as women's US Open lineups evolve
Ultiworld’s August 1 women’s recap at the 2026 US Open kept San Francisco Fury, Washington DC Scandal and Boston Brute Squad at the center of the frame, matching a subtitle that called the day “The old guard stays put with new reserves.” The tournament ran July 31-Aug. 2 at Aurora Sports Park on East Colfax Avenue in Aurora, Colorado, and the opening-day read was less about surprise scores than about which elite clubs could alter their lineups without altering their identity.
That hierarchy was already visible in Ultiworld’s July 30 women’s power rankings, which had Fury No. 1, Scandal No. 2 and Brute Squad No. 3. The recap’s point was that those teams still defined the standard, even as rotation choices and reserve roles began to matter more than raw talent at a three-day event where every point can affect later bracket positioning. Marie Perivier’s presence in the coverage tied Scandal directly to that conversation, with the veteran core still the reference point for everyone else in the field.
The pressure on the incumbents was sharpened by Ultiworld’s July 10 women’s preview, which was eyeing the ascendancy of Riot and BENT while labeling Molly Brown, Brute Squad, Fury and Scandal perennial semifinalists facing a “double peak” season. That setup made Day One a stress test: if the newer names were going to move the ceiling, the opening rounds in Aurora were the place to show it. If they could not, the veterans would keep the steering wheel, and the bracket would continue to run through the same familiar programs.
The event’s scale made that measurement matter. Ultiworld’s July 28 streaming guide described the US Open as a gathering of club semifinalists, national teams and international stars, and the tournament’s reach was underscored again by the fact that the 2025 finals were shown live on ESPN. The history at the top also remains hard to ignore: Brute Squad beat Fury for its second U.S. Open title in 2018, a reminder that the teams setting the pace in 2026 were already part of a long-running rivalry. Day One in Aurora suggested that the new pieces are there to reinforce that order, not rewrite it.