Fast Takes with Fast Break: San Antonio v Austin
Authors: Ashton Butler & Jackson Vaughn
PC: MLQ
The Austin Outlaws will finish up their regular season schedule this weekend with a battle against the undefeated South division leaders, the currently San Antonio Soldados. There are playoff implications and bragging rights on the line in this series, and given how these two sides have played this season, it should be an extremely entertaining exhibition to enjoy.
Austin sits at 7-2 for the season, but is full of momentum after a 6-0 domination of their home SuperSeries a few weeks ago. The Outlaws have left no doubt that they have righted the ship after falling to the Legends in their opening battle, but they now face their toughest opponent of the year for a shot at the South Division 1 seed. The Outlaws must sweep San Antonio this weekend in order to clinch the top spot in the South. The other scenarios leave some wiggle room, but not much.
Thanks to their tiebreaker with New Orleans, Austin has already secured themselves a spot in the quarterfinals at champs. But the 5 time champions are hungry to claim the 1 seed in the South and earn the top spot in the MLQ Championship Bracket. An sweep against the Outlaws would guarantee the top slot, and going 2-1 would keep them alive, but they would need some help from the Curse to make it happen. Winning the series may be tough, though, as they are missing some key pieces from their last outing.
Jenna Bollweg, Jackson Johnson and Bradley Himes will all be unavailable this weekend against San Antonio. Bollweg and Himes have held their own in the Outlaws lineup, certainly players you can trust to get the job done. Not having pieces like that can definitely hurt the team as a whole. The loss of Jackson Johnson will be an even tougher challenge to overcome. Johnson has played far more minutes this year at chaser than he has at beater, and with 9 goals, 12 assists, and 7 stops, he has been a do-it-all player that has been able to buckle down and make big plays for the Outlaws. Missing a key player like that could prove costly, but San Antonio is missing a big player as well in Luke Langlinais. The most recent MLQ player of the week won’t be able to drop 12 goals this time, so the Soldados will have to lean on their other players this week. That’s where the Outlaws may find their advantage.
The Outlaws are missing Johnson, but many other scoring threats like Jay Stewart, Mel Kite, and Louis Sanchez will be ready to step in. San Antonio had a big one two punch in Langlinais and Miguel Esparza against the Legends, and with Langlinais unavailable, the Outlaws may be able to focus their pressure on Esparza in order to force someone else to beat them. Of course, San Antonio has plenty of other capable pieces that can disrupt Austin’s offense. Look for Javi Tijerina and Kyle Bryant to be aggressive and put the pressure on the Outlaws to make a move. Continuing with UTSA players, Matthew Blackwood, Alyssa Villalba and Emme Gouveia must be seen as major scoring threats behind Esparza, and Austin will need to find a way to diminish their presence if they want to win.
Overall, this is a really tough series to call. With neither side at full strength, this could go any number of ways. I think Austin has all their momentum back from their slow start, but the Soldados’ aggressive nature may throw the Outlaws a curveball. I think this series will come down to which team simply wants it more, and with the way that San Antonio has been looking as of late, it’s hard to deny their hunger to best this Outlaws team.
Prediction: San Antonio 2-1
Another star studded weekend for the Soldados approaches as they march into Austin to face off against their Texas rivals. This matchup has a lot at stake but none greater than our first matchup of the duo being split up and playing against each other. Javien Stewart and Matthew Blackwood have been a long time duo spanning from their time together on UTSA to their time on the Soldados and even in fantasy tournaments. However, this weekend everything will change as they will face off in their first ever official matchup. However, beyond this fun storyline, the other forty players in this game will make this series a real treat to watch.
This series means alot for both teams as it allows both teams with the oppo rtunity to claim the top seed in the South division which would mean a lot for both teams. For Austin, they get to silence all of their doubters. Following their collapse against the League City Legends, it felt like the world was against the Outlaws, and for them to have the chance to bounce back this weekend to reclaim their throne as the top dog in the south once again would be everything you could expect out of this team of veterans who are ready to rain on the Soldados parade. On the flip side, the Soldados come into this series with a chance to claim the South division title for the first time in their history. This would be monumental for this Soldados team after massive changes from coaching to roster personnel, it would mean a lot for them, and it could lead to a more favorable first round matchup as Champs rolls around.
The first thing standing in the way of the Soldados and their moment of glory as the king of the hill is the loss of Luke Langlanais. Langlanais put in a major shift in his series against the League City Legends in which he had a statline of 12 goals, 2 assists, and 3 stops in his player of the week performance. This will be a major loss for the team as he and Miguel Esparza turned into an electric duo against the Legends just two weeks ago. What does this mean for the Soldados that are there? They need to find someone to step up and play in those crucial minutes that Langlanais played. Look for the likes of Carlos Prado, TJ Martinez, and David Avila to get a bigger shift this weekend as they will need to chorale the athletic phenoms that are on the other side. The Soldados are again without their veteran beater, Jess Markle. Markle played some big minutes for the Soldados against Kansas City. However, Milena Sousa, at this point, is no stranger to playing huge minutes for San Antonio as she leads this team in drives played with 96. Austin will also be without major contributors, and that list will start with Head Coach Jackson Johnson. Johnson provides the Outlaws with a major utility option that has proven he can play every position at a high level this season. However, while losing Johnson will be major for the Outlaws, debatably, losing Johnson as the leader and head coach of this team will be just as difficult. Losing both Johnson and Jenna Bollweg will create a big shift in that sideline, and it will be interesting to see who steps up into that position to manage lines.
The winner of this series, to me, will be determined in the flag runner game. With both rosters bringing high level seekers as Austin will have John Alvarez Jr, Pierce Wilson, and potentially Jay Stewart and San Antonio’s Trevor Smith, Kristopher De La Fuente, and Isaac Sueltenfuss. Both teams have proven they can catch the flag at a high level, and in close games, this flag catch can not only help shift the points but momentum as well.
Series Prediction: Austin 2-1
