Fast Takes with Fast Break: South Super Series- Austin & New Orleans
Authors: Noah Schwartz & Jackson Vaughn
PC: MLQ
New Orleans:
What a confusing start to the season for the New Orleans Curse, made only more confusing by the League City Legends results that followed. I’m ready to tell you that Curse has one of the most impressive half court defenses in the league. That their chasers, from the top of the roster down are big, strong, and long. PJ Mitchell, Ben Mertens and a returned Shelby Cascio create an enviable defensive backbone. Curse’s Marcellus Lewis and Ebli De La Rosa maintain point integrity and collapse well. As a unit, the team plays with the energy, effort and enthusiasm that all great defenses have to have.
Their beating core is no secret—Josh Mansfield, Sarah Kneiling, Michael Sanders Valdez and Alex Puccarelli all play well, utilizing two different styles: a positional, space eating game that compliments an already brutal defensive set, and an explosive, opportunistic gear that looks to propel the team out of its shell and into transition opportunities.
Just look how this team controlled the beginning of Game 3 in their first series (against League City). How they clawed back from giant deficits in Games 1 and 2, and tell me you don't see it. This team so obviously has the pieces and the mindset to make life difficult for every team it plays, and give itself a chance to win against anybody. And that’s right about the time naysayers would remind me that New Orleans lost Game 2 and looked far the worse team in Games 1 and 3. And so, our collective confusion would set in.
In transition, New Orleans struggles. They’ve so far failed to find reliable offensive threats to finish those opportunities. Charlton Tramel and Nick Mueller scored important goals for the team, often looking to galvanize players forward, but were too often wasteful of those same chances. Defensively, Curse isn’t nearly as imposing when tracking back and the communication that allows the dodgeball and quadball players to work so seamlessly in the halfcourt, simply breaks down. It doesn’t help that, on average, Curse is slower in space than every team it will play in its division.
League City thrived in finding ways to create transition chances for themselves and run up the score, though it wasn’t all from proactive presses. New Orleans wants to be deliberate offensively. A slowly paced game is one New Orleans will back itself to win no matter the opposition. That requires exacting quadball control and an elimination of turnovers, particularly unforced turnovers. That’s not the standard we saw from Curse’s bevy of ball carriers last series. Veronica Spicer, Mertens and Mitchell, all three intelligent and aware game managers, struggled mightily to keep possession throughout the series. Going forward their decision making will be paramount to success.
I think this Curse team is good and they have an identity. They have more than enough talent to win games. It’s time to bridge the gap between having the tools to win and winning, which is something else entirely. You can see that on full display in the last series; New Orleans went down huge early in both Game 1 and 2 only to claw back and make both games competitive, snatching a victory in Game 1. In Game 3 they controlled early proceedings, only to let League City back into it, needing to scramble to the well documented last goal wins scenario, where a foul by League City ultimately gave Curse the chance to clinch the victory. There’s two very different sides to this team. The upcoming Super Series will tell us who they really are.
Simplicity is key to New Orleans’ success this weekend. They will be the biggest winner coming out of Round Rock if they can rely on their ball carriers to eliminate unforced turnovers, find their own transition threats, and relish in their defensive prowess. Somehow I’ve gotten this far without mentioning that Carson Running caught the flag in all three games against League City and looked impressive doing it. Add that to their recipe for success, and if they execute, they might look like the best team in the division after this weekend.
I expect Spicer, Mertens and Mitchell to shed uncharacteristically bad performances, Tramel and Mueller to finish the opportunities they create, and Lewis and De La Rosa to lead an unwavering defensive effort. Mansfield, Kneeling, Sanders Valdez and Pucciarelli can put their dodgeball game up against anybody in the South. And as I just mentioned, Running can really catch some flag runners. What’s not to like?
Can New Orleans put it all together? Can they assert themselves against an Austin team looking for answers and a Kansas City side still looking for its first win? I’d tell you to just go back and look at the tape, that it’s all there. That this weekend will be a coming out party for the strongest, deepest New Orleans side ever. And then you’d go back and actually watch the tape, and you’d tell me it really is all there. The good, the bad and the ugly. And we’d be just as confused as before.
So we can continue to go back and forth, but our answers will reveal themselves. It will play out right there in front of us. And if there’s one thing I can guarantee - you will be entertained. Expect this Super Series to live up to its name, and don’t be surprised if Curse changes your mind about who they are.
Prediction: “I’ll steal one from my favorite Arsenal podcast “New Orleans 10, Austin 0” same for KC”- Noah Schwartz
Austin:
This week marks the halfway point of the MLQ regular season, and what better way to celebrate than with 9 matches over 2 days? The Austin Outlaws will play host to the Kansas City Stampede and New Orleans Curse this weekend, and every win matters in the tightly contested South Division. Following the series loss to League City Legends this past week, Austin can’t simply cruise into the weekend expecting to go 6-0. They will need to work to right the ship and get their season back on track.
Looking at Outlaws vs Stampede first, on paper the Outlaws have more than enough talent to win this series, but given how the season has gone thus far, it’s definitely not an easy series. Against Legends, the Outlaws struggled to set up a half-court offense, primarily relying on fast breaks or one player simply driving and dunking. However, this strategy likely will not work against the Stampede due to Kansas their beater core. The Outlaws overall had the advantage at beater against the Legends, and they might still have the advantage at beater over Stampede, however there simply is not a weak link for the Stampede beaters. While none of them particularly dazzled against San Antonio Soldados, all of them held their own. Another thing to note is that Jackson Johnson chased for the Outlaws last week, but his skills are more needed at the beater position this series. Although Stampede went 0-3 against Soldados, the Soldados are viewed by many now as the top team in the South and the Stampede still put up a great fight, losing Game 1 on golden goal and Game 2 by only a flag pull. This is not a team that the Outlaws can mess around with, but one key to victory may come in the chaser game. The Stampede’s Ryan Mehio scored 12 goals for Kansas City in their first series, by far the highest team scorer, ahead of the next highest, Jackson Herdade with six. If Outlaws can shut down Mehio, a large chunk of their goals could be reduced. That being said, I still favor Stampede in this series. The Outlaws did not show a ton of promise against Legends and the Stampede proved they are very close in skill to Soldados.
Prediction: 2-1 Stampede
For the Outlaws other series, they will be matched up with the New Orleans Curse, who are currently 2-1 on the season after defeating the Legends in their first series. Now the Curse want to march into Austin to prove that they are ready to contend in the South Division. Curse is bringing 18 players to the super series, but many of their top contributing chasers will be in attendance. In their first series of the season, Ben Mertens and Marcellus Lewis were both top two in goals and assists for the Curse, and Lewis produced eight stops as well. If the Curse continue that form, expect to see Lewis as the focal point of the offense, as well as the defense. However, Curse will be without Emily Thompson for this road trip, who provided three goals and four stops against Legends. The Outlaws will need to look to force turnovers from Curse. Against the Legends, they did not have a player with more than eight turnovers in, and that proved to be the difference maker to get the series win against the Legends. If Outlaws can force more mistakes, they could be on their way to picking up some much needed wins. A Lot of these factors will be decided in the beating game. Curse almost never gave up control against Legends, having four beaters with a 1.5 average Dodgeballs or better. If players like Taylor Tracy and Kayse Bevers can steal control away from the likes of Josh Mansfield and Alex Pucciarelli, Outlaws’ chasers will have more than enough room to power through and score like they did against the Legends. One final point to note is that the Curse pulled the flag in all three of their games, whereas Outlaws pulled in two. Curse may be able to shift the balance just enough to pull out some tightly contested victories with a flag pull or two. With all that in mind, I slightly favor the Outlaws in this series. I think we will see the Outlaws bounce back after a stumble against the Legends and pull out a couple of scrappy, grit and grind style victories.
Prediction: Austin 2-1
