MQC Madness: Final Team Defenses
2021 MQC Fantasy Draft
Featuring: Andrew Steinberg, Grant Hillyer, Tess Kowalski, Jack Moseley, Mary Scott, Peter Lawrence, Abraham Beningson and Brooke Smiley
Edited by: Fiona Wisehart, Tom Guan and Christian Barnes
The MQC Fantasy draft is being run in three separate sessions, beginning with the first session on March 30, 2020. All players who would have been rostered during the 2020-2021 season are eligible to be drafted. There are six GM’s, each tasked with building the best team possible over fourteen rounds.
Final Draft Board
Team Steinberg:
1st Line: Henry Baer-Benson, James Devaney, Andrew Steinberg, Shayla Ashley. Brooke Smiley, Daniel Gottesman
2nd Line: Will Napper, Zack Bowerman, Madi Long, Annie Kew, Justin Voelker, Jessica Abbazia
Role Players: Kat Whalen, Spencer Royston
Throughout these articles we GMs are going to try to convince you why our teams are the best. But the truth is we’re all biased, including me. So instead of telling you how good my team is myself, I thought I’d begin by letting the quidditch world do it for me.
Out of fourteen players, Team Steinberg has two 2020 MLQ-rostered players (Shayla and myself), two 2020 MLQ practice squad players (Jessica and Zack), five MQC 2019-2020 award nominees (James, Madi, Kew, Will, and Kat), and the MQC 2019-2020 Seeker of the Year (Henry). We have four captains, evenly split along chaser-beater lines (James, myself, Brooke, and Justin). I believe there is not a deeper, more talented roster of college players in this draft.
All eight of my quaffle players have been recognized by the MLQ or MQC outside of this draft. All of them are dominant on both ends. As a team, we can play any style and force our opponents to make impossible choices. Play mark defense? Try stopping lineups with Shayla, HBB, and Kew, all snipers who will pick you apart. Play 2-2 zone? Try preventing James, myself, Madi, and Zack from taking it to the hoop and dunking on you. I believe there is no defensive liability on my chaser lines. Every one of us has shown the ability to stop a driver in the open field. With HBB and Will Napper by hoops, we can play man-to-man without sacrificing our ability to defend long-range shots, because they will block everything and generate easy fastbreak goals.
What makes me so excited about this group beyond its talent is its versatility. I have three amazing male chasers and three amazing female chasers. This means I can be creative with my beater pairings. I believe no other team has this luxury, leaving us as the only squad that can outscore, outhit, and outscheme you. In the words of Teddy Costa, “I wouldn’t want to play us”.
After 14 rounds, I believe I have the deepest beating group in the draft. I was the first team to have a complete first line, pairing Harvard star Daniel Gottesman and Tufts mega-talent/captain Brooke Smiley. There’s a reason I used the 12th and 13th picks of the draft on these two. Apart, each is one of the best in the league. Together, they form the most balanced elite pair in this draft.
Which brings me to my second line: I’d argue the “Double J” line is the best fit of any line on any team. Justin is a seen-it-all-before field general. As Brown’s captain, he knows how to lead an offense and defense with precision and purpose. Jessica is a fearless beater who can make plays with her strong arm and fast feet. She is a 2020 MLQ practice squad member, which, matched with Justin, means that this duo would not be out of place at Harvard stadium this summer, not just the fall.
My third beater line is what really separates this team. Only one other team has five beaters. The rest have four. I have six. Just like my chaser crew’s split, I have three amazing male beaters and three amazing female beaters. The MQC 2019-2020 Beater Pair of the Year Nominee Kat Whalen will feast on tired lines with her athletic beast of a partner, Spencer Royston. This three-tiered beater core means I will have the freshest legs come snitch time. It also means I can play Daniel-Justin or Brooke-Jessica lines without worrying about fatigue.
If you are on the fence about whether this team is the best, remember one thing. The snitch is worth thirty points. This section is the shortest because I clearly have the best seekers of any team. Henry-Baer Benson was the MQC Seeker of the Year last year. Taking the field with a fresh Daniel and Brooke will mean he’ll have ample opportunities to make a quick grab. Even if he doesn’t by some fluke, his backup, Will Napper, is a top 6 seeker in the league. If Will doesn’t grab, Annie Kew can catch anyone with her incredible athleticism. With this crew, I will always have the best seeker on the field. Combined with our beater depth and talent, we will go into every game the favorite to catch the snitch. To beat us, you will have to be up by at least forty points. I don’t think any other team can do so.
Team Kowalski:
1st line: Leo Fried, Donavon Brady, Katrina Mason, Dawson McNamara-Bloom, Anna Loewald, Thomas Chang-Davidson
2nd line: Jacob Curtis, Sabrina Sladich, Jason Almquist, Frank Mulvey, Adrian Koretsky, Ellie Russel
Role Players: Vidisha Jha, Ari Swift
I went into this draft with two main goals in mind. Firstly, I wanted to draft a team with the perfect balance of experienced older players to play alongside and support younger emerging players. For example, I see Thomas Chang-Davidson, Ari Swift, Donovan Brady, and Frank Mulvey as players on my team who all have the ability to take large leadership positions due to their many years of experience.
Secondly, even though I have drafted two separate lines, I wanted to still have a lot of flexibility on my team to switch around certain lines to create strong duos or trios who already know how to play well together. One example of this is the trio of Katrina Mason, Jason Almquist, and Frank Mulvey from RPI. These three players are all smart and quick chasers who know how to play well with one another. Any line with these three players will show strong chemistry and exceptional quaffle passing and shooting. Another strong duo I drafted was Adrian Koretsky and Vidisha Jha, a beating pair from Brandeis that have lots of experience playing together. Adrian and Vidisha are also extremely adaptable players who will be able to work well with anyone they play with — I think they’re both going to have a great season in the fall, and people should definitely watch out for them!
When it came to chasers, I wanted to focus on fast players who are either great at cutting and passing, or at physicality and defense. I think my chaser line with Leo Fried, Donovan Brady, Dawson McNamara-Bloom, and Katrina Mason will be an extremely dominant line with the ability to make fast drives, quick passes, and smart cuts to hoops. This line is also intimidating on defense when you’re going up against players like Donavon Brady, who will not hesitate to make a big tackle, and Leo Fried, who can block just about any shot on hoops.
The beater duo I first drafted was Anna Loewald and Thomas Chang-Davidson. I was very excited to get both of these players because there are both just so damn good! Anna Loewald is small but mighty; her speed, smart positioning, and quick reactions on defense will make any team playing against her want to give up. Thomas Chang-Davidson is a really technically skilled player who also has a wicked strong arm and a phenomenal understanding of the game's rules (he’s even a head ref!). Anna beating alongside Thomas will make a fearsome duo, who together can make aggressive and smart plays on both defense and offense.
The second line I drafted is also crazy talented, and I could easily see any of those players holding their own against the other teams drafted. Players like Jacob Curtis, Frank Mulvey, and Ari Swift are absolute steals who could have easily gone a lot sooner. Adrian Koretsky paired alongside Ellie Russel will be a young beating duo; however, I am confident that they will be able to create lots of space on offense, which will really work well with players like Jacob Curtis and Sabrina Saldich, who can take the quaffle and drive it down the field. Adrian has a strong arm and won’t be afraid to make lots of quick beats on offense to open up space for their chasers. Ellie has a great sense of positioning and is good at stepping up on defense to pressure players.
I also drafted three of the best seekers in the MQC currently. Leo Fried has caught so many snitches for Harvard in tons of close-in-range games. His ability to perform well under pressure as well as his strong endurance are truly unmatched. Even though Fried can seek for a while, he won’t need to with other exceptional seekers such as Jason Almquist. Jason is not only very fast and sneaky, but he is also very strong and can take on more physically challenging snitches in games. Adrian Koretsky is also a strong seeker, who can defensively seek for a super long time and then quickly turn around to make a clever catch once their team is in range. All of the teams drafted are very talented, but I am confident in my seeker rotation to help secure close games.
All of the players I drafted are extremely confident and skilled players who have highlight reels that really speak for themselves. However, if you’re looking for another reason as to why my team is so awesome, just listen to what expert analyst for Fast Break News, Fiona Wisehart, has to say about my team → https://www.facebook.com/MassQuidConference/videos/441214420516528 (clip at 1:16:34)
Team Hillyer:
1st line: Ellie Lisec, Xander Keiter, Leanna Cherrette, Sierra Delk, Nojus Ausra, Angela Song
2nd line: Kit Powpour, Stephen Trempel, Carson Chadbourne, Kaylie Chilek, Meg Romine, Nicholas Brown
Role Players: Andrew Desino, Annie Bennett
As famous NFL coach John Madden once said, “the team that scores the most points usually wins.” That’s the philosophy I approached this draft with. With Ellie Lisec leading the way, I’m excited to see this chaser line play together. Ellie has a fantastic ability to get open and create scoring opportunities, and pairing her with an elite driver and scorer in Xander Keiter, as well as one of the best shooters in the region in Leanna Cherrette, this team will be putting up points like crazy. Combined with the ability of Sierra Delk to get open and distribute passes, this first chaser line has a number of scoring threats who are all multi-faceted and able to create offense in different ways. Additionally, four of these six players already compete together and have chemistry built from years of experience.
The second line has similar qualities.All the chasers on that line are solid scorers with a variety of skills between them. From Stephen’s and Kaylie’s great shooting skills to the driving ability of Carson and Kit, this team is constructed to be able to score over and over by trying different approaches and seeing what fits in a given game. With Andrew and Annie coming off the bench, the team also has a few more solid scoring options given Andrew’s shiftiness and ability to drive through almost anyone he plays against and Annie’s ability to get open.
Paired with these chasers are beaters who create chaos and play aggressive, smart styles. Angela and Nojus are both beaters who can win and initiate beater battles consistently, creating bludgers turnovers and harassing opposing beaters. Given this, they compliment the chaser line well in that they will be a part of the fast-paced style this team will run. Angela and Nojus are also a real life beater pair and were nominated as a beater pair of the year in the MQC, so we know they can play together effectively.
Meg and Nicholas will operate similarly, given they have similar play styles to Nojus and Angela. Either player can play free or engage, and Meg’s ability to position themselves correctly and win beater battles compliments Nicholas’ game knowledge and quick decision making. This is another beater pair that take lots of battles and will be very active, with or without control. They will operate as a unit that creates chaos and thrives in given their smart decision-making and propensity to create turnovers.
Both beater pairs will also work well with Kit Powpour, a 2019-2020 MQC Seeker of the Year Nominee. Kit is a seeker who can win with speed or with a variety of other moves, on top of being an elite defensive seeker. Paired with two beater pairs that will do well in snitch-on-pitch situations, Kit should get plenty of looks at ending games. Additionally, this team should be putting up a lot of points, hopefully leading to Kit being in a position to end games quickly with a catch.
Team Moseley:
1st Line: Aidan Schutt, Abraham Beningson, Francisco Matos Jr., Vanessa Keating, Danny Green, Tessa Mullins
2nd Line: Ian Goodspeed, Jacob Lintner, Emma Polen, Vincent Falardeau, Marissa Rizzi, Leo De Paolis
Role Players: Ben Silver, Emmi McIntosh
The 96 Bulls. The 2007 Patriots. The 2019 USWNT. One day we’ll look back at this fantasy quidditch team as the greatest of them all. My quaffle line is built around versatility. With so many great drivers, shooters, passers, and off-ball options, my team can play “positionless” — we don’t need to worry about who ball-carries or who plays on the wing since everybody can do both. I can picture it now: passing circles around the other teams with Abraham, Emma, and Ian; splashing deep shots with Vanessa and Jacob; and slicing through the defense with Aidan, Frankie, and Vincent (the scary thing is you could move almost all these names around and it still works). Defensively, especially after taking Frankie, I leaned into taking players that would play well in a 2-2 zone. Both lines have a good keeper (Aidan & Ian), a chaser/keeper hybrid (Frankie & Vincent) to play alongside them at hoops, and two quicker chasers to defend out in space (Abraham, Vanessa, Jacob, Emma). All eight of these players will excel in their roles: there’s not a single weak spot in either defensive unit. Emmi — with her speed, flexibility, and toughness — and Leo — with his quickness, hustle, and ball skills — are additional pieces I can throw into my chaser rotation in certain lineups.
Tessa is a top-two beater in the region, and I’d put Danny, somehow still available in the sixth round, in the top five as well. This duo will create so many turnovers and fastbreak opportunities it’ll make your head spin, a big reason why my starting line easily one of the best in the draft. I love the potential dynamic between the two, and I’ve replicated the same dynamic with two exciting young players in Marissa and Leo. Abraham is another excellent beating option to backup Danny, and since Leo can shift to chaser I wouldn’t be losing any bodies in my quaffle line. Ben is primarily on my team to seek, but he does give me extra depth at beater as well.
My seeker rotation is like a swiss army knife. I’ve got quick and nimble (Abraham), long and lanky (Aidan), hard-nosed and technical (Ben), and sneaky (Emmi). I wasn’t able to pick up an elite seeker in the draft, but I think the depth and versatility of all the seekers on my team will give me a matchup advantage over any snitch they throw at us. My seekers also have an advantage in that they’ll have Tessa and Danny supporting them during snitch-on-pitch. Additionally, having a seeker rotation featuring two players not in my first two lines means the rest of my team won’t miss a step during snitch-on-pitch.
This team is built around star power, and it all starts with Tessa Mullins. Tessa is arguably the highest impact player at the highest impact position of all the players drafted (hot take: three teams messed up big passing on her). Abraham Beningson is a true utility star I can get great minutes from at any position. Vanessa Keating is a deep range deadeye who works wonders for my offense’s spacing. Aidan Schutt at keeper has as much talent and potential as any collegiate player in the US (If you haven’t watched his highlights from the first article they’re well worth your time). Francisco Matos Jr. is a juggernaut and arguably the best chaser in the draft. Danny Green is the most physically imposing beater in the draft. Jacob Lintner is a terrific do-everything chaser. Marissa Rizzi is a fantastic beater whose high IQ and ball skills will make her teammates’ lives much easier. Ian Goodspeed is a great young Keeper already making an impact for a contender. Emma Polen is a terrific leader and glue player, whose presence makes my whole team stronger. Leo De Paolis is another utility player I can throw in anywhere on the field. Vincent Falardeau is a great prospect as a chaser/keeper. Ben Silver and Emmi McIntosh are two promising young players already making names for themselves in the seeking game. This all sounds like hyperbole, but that doesn’t mean it's not true. I really like my starters and I really like my depth. This team has a lot going for it, and that’s why Team Moseley is the best in the draft!
Team Scawringson:
1st Line: Carsen Olazaba, Kat Stochel, CJ Carter, Mary Scott, Jack Moseley, Kavi Patel
2nd Line: Grant Hillier, Matthew Silverman, Felix Bulwa, Peter Lawrence, Ana Luiza Nicolae, Sophia Nieves
Role Players: Sam Lyons, Paul Ruffalo
Throughout this draft, we have formed the strongest, smartest, most versatile, and most physically imposing team in the draft. In terms of versatility, we could have gone with almost any combination of players for our first and second lines. Switch CJ and Felix for more speed/shooting in the first line offensively and more physicality on the second line defensively? Sure. Put Grant and Carsen in together for double engage snitch on pitch beating? Sure. Put in Sophia, our last pick of the draft, as starting point defender? Sure. We want to stick with running a 3-3 in both of our lines, but could we successfully throw Sam or Paul into either of our lines at any time? Absolutely. In other words, this team is incredibly well-rounded and will be able to shift lines to adapt to the play style of any opposing team and dominate the pitch.
To quote teammate CJ Carter, “This team is going to be physically punishing.” Our team has a wealth of physical players (Peter, Jack, Mary, CJ, Sophia) spread over both lines to stop opposing offenses in their tracks. In addition to being a wall on defense, these players will be hard to stop while driving. If opposing defenses sell out to stop the drive, our primary ball carriers are equally adept at finding the open chaser at the hoops, which is a place where players like Mary, Ana Luiza, Sophia, and Paul excel. And if defenses hunker down and give our team too much space, Felix, Kavi, Paul, and Sam can start ripping shots past opposing keepers.
For our first line, we’ll be playing a person/match defense. Jack and Mary will be able to alternate at point defense if either is beat out; both have fantastic positioning and a strong ability to make hits. CJ is great at both shot-blocking and being physical. Kavi’s speed and agility will be able to shut down any other offensive options.
For our second line, we’ll run a 2-2 zone with Harvard’s Felix and Ana. Harvard’s zone proved incredibly hard to beat last year, due in large part to these two at hoops. Additionally, with Peter bringing their understanding of the game and Sophia bringing her raw athleticism and rugby background, the sheer amount of tackles up top will shut down and scare offenses.
Our first pick Carsen is, in our opinion, the strongest beater in the MQC, which means a lot of duels won and a lot of time with bludger control. Carsen can be paired with any of our other beaters (Kat, Grant, Matthew, or Sam). Starting with Kat, the two are teammates on RPI, so there is some established chemistry there. Kat will play primarily as a free beater with a ton of speed and quickness, making heads-up plays all over the field. In our second line, Grant and Matthew are both super versatile and can make quick, informed decisions. They both can play either engage or free beater, implying a deep understanding of the position and flexibility, which will be imperative to keeping up momentum in our competitive second line. We also have flexibility across lines: Matthew’s endurance and awareness would pair well with Carsen for SOP beating, and Sam’s cannon of an arm would complement Kat’s quickness — the possibilities are endless.
While we only picked up two seekers in this draft, we think they offer versatility, experience, and can take on any snitch. Jack favors a Beckmann-approved dive move, whereas Peter likes muscling their way through snitches. Both are tenacious and will wear down snitches quickly.
Overall, I am blown away by how well our team has turned out. In addition to this team’s talent and versatility, we have so much chemistry. This team has a strong Vermont/RPI base which will help our team click easily. We also have a ton of captains on our team (Carsen, CJ, Mary, Peter, Jack, Felix), meaning not only some obviously great quidditch talent but also strong communication skills.
This draft has been so much fun, and huge shout out to the other GMs and my co-GMs Peter Lawrence and Abraham Beningson. I’m impressed with every single team and just the insane amount of talent in the MQC.
Team Smiley:
1st Line: Tyler Lok, Caroline Merkle, Richie Abott, Tess Kowalski, Sophie Coburn, Jordan Smiley
2nd Line: Rob McPherson, Mohammed Emun, Rebecca Hyman, Anna Dannecker, Benjamin Boncaldo, Nadia Sbuttoni
Role Players: Ivara Goulden, Will Capriola
Looking at my full team, I know I have a huge breadth of talent and unique skill sets across all my players, and individually they each can bring a lot of merits to the game. More importantly, I believe that the best teams in quidditch are not solely based on talent, but they combine individual talent with effective teamwork and adaptability to a wide variety of situations that can happen on the pitch. My team is designed for this, with skillsets that can create multiple line options for different scenarios. The lines above are just two of the many lines my team could form, depending on the situation and the team we are facing.
For example, the first line listed would thrive in transition offense. All of the quaffle players on this team can run and are great at hustling to get across the field. I can just imagine a quaffle turnover happening and everyone taking off down the pitch for an easy goal. Players such as Tess, Sophie, and Jordan are great at looking for and receiving passes––even if a defensive player were to get ahead of them they would still easily be able to get the quaffle to someone else for the score. Tyler is great at creating shots, which could further help in this purpose. Furthermore, Caroline and Richie are adept at making quick, decisive decisions and have exceptional experience working together on UVM’s team. I can see Caroline or Richie blowing up a quaffle play, just to have the other easily engage and clean up the beater chaos, while the chasers pick up the loose ball and take off for the goal. This team would also be great at playing against teams that move, as all the chasers know how to play tight defense on any player, stopping passes. The opposing team would only be able to take long shots, and Tyler will easily be able to shut those down. Will and Ivara would also make great alternative fits in this line. Will is speedy and good at finding open passes, while Ivara is very confident as a free beater, which will pair wonderfully with Richie’s movement and risk-taking engage beats.
The second line listed would thrive against teams that use a 2-2 zone (a.k.a. the notorious Cav Wall). In this case, the quaffle players on offense need to be patient, and the beaters need to be able to find opportunities to create openings for their chasers to come in and drive for a goal. Rob, Anna, Ben, and Nadia all are confident when carrying the quaffle, and this confidence will allow them to threaten the defense into moving. This movement will create opportunities on defense, allowing the beaters to capitalize on this movement to make openings. For example, Emun is a smart beater who knows how to evaluate the field. He can slow down a bit and find weak spots in the defense, and he knows exactly how to exploit them. Rebecca will work great with him, as she can dominate and win beater battles and overall threaten and distract the defensive team into losing bludger control. This will further help break up the defense so that the chasers can drive. Rob and Ben are tremendously difficult to slow down, and Anna and Nadia are not afraid to make contact and can easily move through players to get to the goal. Between the four of them, the quafflers should be able to take the open lanes created by Emun and Rebecca for decisive points.
These are just two of the many situations that my team would be prepared to beat. Change the opposing team to have any composition or strategy, and my team can field a group of players that can adapt and exploit every scenario. Furthermore, no matter what opposition my team faces, we have Rob as a huge asset come time for snitch on pitch with his crucial snitch catches. Even if my team is down by 10-20 points (which is highly unlikely given the talent and versatility of my team), Rob will be ready to catch and take the win.
Vote now for the best team and tune in next week to found out which team wins!