Crescent City Invitational 2023 Preview

Dec 7

Authors: Emily Hickmott & Ben Mertens

Bosnyan Bearsharks

Record: 12-1

The current #1 team by US Quadball rankings, the Bosnyan Bearsharks have had an excellent start to their season. They went undefeated at both the Oktoberfest Invitational, the Collar City Invitational, and only lost to the eventual champions, Boom Train, on a flag grab at the Boston Qualifier.

Bosny has been rocking with a limited roster at the three tournaments they’ve attended thus far, with 14 being the largest roster they’ve brought. In the absence of some of their more famous names, other players have stepped up. Most notably is Peter Lawrence, who has served as the team’s lead ball handler for long stretches, and looked the part of a high level driver and decision maker. Carsen Olazaba has also been a brick wall at the keeper position, forcing opposing teams to pass around him.

The team has had its two most important players: Kieran Collier and Leeanne Dillman, who have been their usual excellent selves. Collier has probably been called underrated too many times to be underrated anymore, but they are inarguably elite. As a pair, Collier and Dillman hold down the defense with either beater in the engage role, and on offense both are comfortable and aggressive creating looks for their chasers.

A challenge for Bosny this weekend will be finding consistency outside of their top beater pair and chaser lines, and how they handle close games. The team has smashed most of its opposition so far, but its one loss came in a tight game with Boom Train. In a pool with both Heat and a feisty Carolina Reapers team, as well as potential later day matches against the Warriors and Boom Train, Bosny needs to show they can finish a tight game against fellow top five teams if they want to reclaim their title as CCI champions.

Texas Hill Country Heat

Record: 2-0

The 2022 USQ Champions dusted off their boots at Diamond Cup, and swept their two game series against Pegasus. Judging by the scores, last year's semi-finalists have not lost a step and have seen some exciting new additions to the squad.

Sammy Garza has stepped in to play and coach for Heat. Team USA Development Academy players, Kasye Bevers and Kyzer Polzin have joined, along with the relatively recently graduated Cameron Castilaw, Christian Cortez, Chris Dorsey, Purvi Mujumdar, Bradley Himes, and Wyatt Ross, recruiting talent from all Texas based college teams. These additions will only strengthen the incredible beating core that Heat has leaned on throughout its tenure as a program.

Heat has always thrived when their beaters have created chaos for the chasers to drive through, led by one of the best beating pairs to ever play the game, Bailee Fields and Jackson Johnson. This chaos turns most defensive stands into easy fast break goals, which allows Heat to run up the score, for an average goals per game of 15.73.

Heat has had past difficulty with generating offense against organized zones when the other team's beaters are able to match the Heat beaters, as most of the Heat chasers prefer to beat defenders with speed as opposed to driving directly through them.

For their pool, the game to watch will be their game against Bosny, as the match up at the 2023 USQ Cup was a nailbiter where Bosny almost came back from a ten goal deficit.

Carolina Reapers

Record: 4-2

The Carolina Reapers came in hot at the Richmond Qualifier, going 4-2 at their debut. They lost both games to DCQC, but both games were tight matches that came down to the last play of the game.

The Carolina Reaper beater core is anchored by Team USA beater Celine Richard, who is excellent at winning exchanges in dangerous places that create no dodgeball opportunities for the chasers and keeper to exploit. Around her are a group of experienced and disciplined beaters, including Kody LaBauve, Hanna Reese, and Tony Bonadio, who are all tough matchups with their skills in catching, dodging, and their range. The Reaper’s beater core can get drawn too far into the offensive third of the field, causing no dodgeball drives the other way. However, with a brick wall called Lee Hodge, and the unexpected return of Hodge’s old UNC running mate Max Miceli to quadball, the Reapers quadball defense is able to make stops without dodgeballs, and force turnover with their physicality. On offense, the ball primarily runs through Lee Hodge, MY Monawar, and Madison Burns. While not every opportunity is converted, the chasers and keeper do well working the ball to their open cutters, especially Zachary and Nick Thompson, who are deadly at finishing behind the hoops where they can create mismatches. Miceli also gives the team a ball handler who favors more of a shoot-first approach to offense, which gives the Reapers an element that last year's Terminus squad, featuring many of these same players, lacked.

Carolina was only a goal and flag catch from going undefeated at the Richmond Qualifier. They are currently at 66.67% with flag runner catches, which is driven by the excellent seeking of Bonadio, Monawar, and Thompson, and the stellar play of Richard and LaBauve. They are a tough match-up for any team, and are looking to reap the seeds they’ve sown.

The Reapers have unfortunately drawn a brutal pool, as they will face the Bosnyan Bearsharks and the Texas Hill Country Heat. It’s always a mystery how Bosny will perform at a non-nationals tournament; two years ago they won CCI while last year they struggled to a blah 2-2 finish, but they have a beater corps, headlined by Collier and Dillman, who are very familiar with Richard and her partners, and a very physical group of chasers who present a lot of problems on both sides of the ball for Carolina. An upset isn’t out of the question, but the Reapers enter as the underdog, as they do against the new superteam version of Heat. Reapers are likely to start the day 0-2, which sets them up for a likely win over Red Pandas and a matchup with either the Black Pandas or TCQC. Either of those matchups, against teams that made the bracket at last year’s USQ cup, will be key to making sense of the second tier of the league.

Warriors

Record: 0-0

The reigning USQ champion has yet to play this fall, but that doesn't mean they haven’t been busy. They’ve recruited a few new teammates, including Team USA players Miguel Esparza and Ryan Davis, who will join an already dominant chaser and keeper core. This will allow the Warriors to roll out almost two full Team USA quadball lines. On the beater side, in addition to the always excellent Tate Kay; Jacob Ehrlich, Christian Barnes, and Isaac Serna Diaz spent the summer balling out on the New York Titans and Olympians. Additionally, Hannah Rollins has joined from UVA, adding additional depth to the core. Rachel Ayella-Silver will be returning after her knee injury, and Daniel Williams joins his fellow Team USA teammates.

Defensively, the Warriors typically run a one-two-one zone, with Lindsay Marella playing as a free safety on the most dangerous off ball option. This set up, combined with chasers who across the board are physical and well-disciplined, and beaters who effectively cover and hold the zone, contributes to the Warriors 7.48 average goals against, which is the lowest for all club teams. Offensively, the Warriors have an average 15.08 goals scored, which typically come from patient, long offenses that end with high percentage shots or dunks.

The Warriors are the team to beat at any tournament they attend as the current USQ Champion, and are looking to repeat at CCI Champions. They should be heavily favored to come out of their pool, which likely sets up matches against either Heat–the only team to beat them last year, in pool play at CCI–or BosNy, their (sort of but not really) crosstown nemesis, as well as either DCQC or Boom Train, two teams that both gave the Warriors multiple close matches last year before falling short. The defending champions couldn’t ask for a better slate of opponents to begin their title defense.

Boston Pandas

Record: 8-5

The Boston Pandas is a team that can beat very good teams, but has been susceptible to closer games with teams they should probably beat. They are the only team this season to beat Boom Train, but had a closer than expected game with Skyline QC at the same tournament.

The Pandas are a team that looks its best offensively when it is moving the ball around the edges to cause the defense to shift and then get the ball into their shooters hands. There are many incredible shooters on the team, including Team USA’s Ian Scura and Athena Mayor, and Emily Frollo who is deadly on the center hoop. Defensively, their chasers and keepers are excellent at breaking up passes through the zone. However, on both offense and defense, they struggle with physicality.

The Pandas beater core is one of the strongest in the country. Tessa Mullins and Vinny Cicco both had stand-out summer seasons with the New York Titans, and have kept that momentum through the fall. Team USA beaters Lulu Xu and Max Havlin are both healthy and are once again showing why they are the one of the best pairs to ever play. Serena Monteiro, Will Andrews, Erin McCrady... the list goes on. Each pair offers different looks, which allows the Pandas to throw out the best match ups.

Where the Pandas shine is their seeking, with a 69% catch rate. While stalwarts like Tyler Beckman and Greg Bento have always been rocks for the program, Stephen Trempel has taken great strides the past year and has come up with many crucial grabs for the program.

The Pandas have drawn the perfect pool to make a statement. They face TCQC, a team they narrowly escaped in the bracket of last year’s USQ Cup, and the Warriors, the defending champion who handled them with relative ease last season. Beat TCQC comfortably and play the Warriors competitively, and the Pandas can firmly establish themselves as a top 5 team, and possibly draw rematches with Bosny, DCQC, or Boom Train. Given their success against DCQC and Boom Train earlier this season, the Pandas should have a strong chance to win their reseeded pool. However, if TCQC can use the same game plan that allowed the Minneapolis Monarchs to spring an upset on the Boston Forge at MLQ Championships four months ago, the Pandas could find themselves headed to the lowest reseeded pool and leave New Orleans with a lot more questions heading into the second half of the season.

Twin Cities QC

Record: 2-1

One of the oldest club teams in the country, TCQC is poised for an excellent season. While they have only played one tournament so far this season, they gave Boom Train a close game, where they were leading before the flag runner was released, with a relatively small roster.

TCQC has also acquired some fun new friends, including Team USA DA players Lauren Curry and Joe Goulet. These players will augment a core that has been playing together for almost ten years, including defensive stalwarts Alexander “OB” Obanor and Terry Carlson

The TCQC beater core is made of beaters who make good decisions and are fundamentally great at catching and throwing. Nathan Podolsky especially has glue in his hands and a great split jump that allows him to regain dodgeballs. TCQC has a physical chaser and keeper core, which makes driving on their two-two zone difficult.

Offensively, the TCQC is the most dangerous when they are hitting their cutters after their beaters have created space. They sometimes stagnate on offense, but that should hopefully be helped by the return of Team USA’s Emma Persons, who is coming off a knee injury that kept her off the field all summer.

TCQC gave the Pandas an incredibly close game at USQ Cup 2023 during a play-in game, and the Minneapolis Monarchs took a historic win off the Boston Forge at the 2023 MLQ Championship; that win was driven by the incredible seeking of Mike Devine. Both Devine and Goulet will need to step up, as a majority of TCQC’s recent flag range losses have been by a flag catch. If their seekers get hot, and TCQC’s quadball game optimizes its opportunities, they should be able to beat the Pandas and get good games against the other two-seeds.

Boom Train

Record: 8-1

This train has really hit its cruising speed the last two seasons. Boom Train was one goal away from a USQ National final last season, and the Chicago Prowl made its first MLQ Championship, since 2017, in August. The success of the program is because every single player on the team is on the same page of how the team is going to play, which is a credit to the coaching of Kennedy Murphy.

Defensively, Boom Train runs a 2-2 zone, but their point players, especially Liam Zach and Ryley Andrews constantly look to press ball handlers in instances that they are not expecting, creating turnovers. Boom Train’s quadball defenders are able to apply this high pressure because all of their beaters are incredibly quick, and recover from exchanges rapidly which allows them to get back into play. When a team is attacking the zone, they typically have less time than they are used to with the speed at which the Boom Train beaters recover.

Offensively, Boom Train wants to work the ball to cutters behind or on the weak side after drawing defenses to one side. Ally Manzella especially is a target all the distributors are looking for, as her catch and release is one of the quickest in the league. Boom Train are meticulous with recycling the ball and focusing on high percentage shots and dunks. Their beaters are excellent at applying offensive pressure, especially Marissa Wier, and new transplant from the West, Chanun Ong, who constantly look to beat out hoop defenders to create shooting lanes.

CCI is Boom Train’s opportunity to cement its place as one of the top three programs in the country. They’ve yet to score a victory over one of the Texas powerhouses post-covid and the Warriors have had their number for the last few matchups. The addition of Team USA’s Josh Johnson will help, and if Nathan Digmann, who has yet to play this season, is healthy, the shooting ability of this duo can make this Boom Train offense even harder to stop. Add seeker Nojus Ausra, who has been clutch for the team since USQ Nationals, and the sky is the limit for this team.

District of Columbia QC

Record: 8-2

DCQC’s long march from a perennial mid-tier team into a top five program last season centered around a core of veterans–Ben Mertens, Julia Rankin, and Riley Starrs at chaser, Bernie Berges and Katryna Hicks at beater, and Ali Iannucci at both positions–that got better every season while adding elite young talent with players like Colin Bourn and Diana Howard at beater, and TJ Generette and Jerrick Knippel at chaser. This year however the team has taken hits to its core–Hicks and Mertens have not played yet this season, although Mertens will make his season debut at CCI, league sources tell us. DCQC struggled out of the gate this season with a roster of only 13 at the other CCI, the Collar City Invitational. The defending Mid-Atlantic champions bounced back impressively with a 6-0 run at Mid-Atlantic Regionals Richmond Qualifier, despite the absence of Starrs, the team’s new head coach. The team has once again loaded up with young talent, with Andrew Bowman from UVA and John Sheridan in the chaser game and fledging superstar Adrian Koretsky in the beater game being major contributors to the team’s Richmond rebound, and program stalwarts Juli Nuetzel and Patrick Rardin turning in big performances in two closely fought games with the Carolina Reapers.

The key at CCI for this team will be how well it can execute its strategies as it continues to incorporate new players. There is a wealth of talent here, but the team has had to experiment with new beater pairs all season due to the absences of Bourn and Hicks. Koretsky and Rob Rice have admirably stepped up to the challenge, but both have struggled at moments against the best beaters in the game, notably Celine Richard in the Reapers games. The team’s chaser core is working to find the sweet spot between the crisp ball movement that was the team’s hallmark last season and a tendency to sometimes overpass that has hurt them against elite defenses.

The pool set-up for DCQC is perfect for drama. With the Red Pandas almost certain to finish a distant third, the pool will come down to a rematch with Boom Train, who beat DCQC in a highly anticipated pool play matchup at last year’s USQ Cup. The key for DCQC will be how Berges, Korestky, and co. can handle Matt Brown, who dominated the matchup last season, and the chasers ability to find points in the halfcourt while avoiding giving up the transition opportunities that were the difference in last year’s faceoff. Last year, DCQC avenged a loss at USQ Cup 2021 by beating TCQC early in the morning at CCI–can they do the same to their newest Midwest rival this year?

Red Pandas

Record: 1-9

The Boston Red Pandas have had a busy fall so far, playing 10 games across three tournaments. While they have won one game only thus far, they have shown improvement each tournament.

They have a deep beater line, with four different beater lines that each have different strengths. Marissa Rizzi especially stands out for her ability to win exchanges with catches and blocks. In the chaser and keeper lines, Team USA DA player Claire Olmstead and newcomer Tabby Danyow provide dangerous options, as they are both excellent at beating their defenders in space and taking shots. Defensively, chasers like Jose Cabrera, Peter Benson, and Jake Polatty are always willing to lay down a hit and jump on loose balls.

Where the Red Pandas struggle is timing between chasers and beaters. There is often a disconnect between when the beaters attack, leaving the chasers on islands which causes turnovers. Similarly, chasers often turn the ball over without a dodgeball back, causing easy goals.

For the Red Pandas, they should really look at this tournament as practice. They should take each play individually and focus on finding good moments and plays in each game. They will get looks at some of the best teams in the country, which will help them continue to develop and grow.

naresh edala