MQC Opener 2021: 5 Takeaways
Written by: Jack Moseley
Contributors: Fiona Wisehart, Naresh Edala, Serena Monteiro, Grant Hillyer, Jake Zaslav, Adrian Koretsky, and Kieran Collier
Clark prepares to play Brown (photo credit: Kielan Donahue)
College Quidditch is back! The MQC Opener was last weekend where nine teams had their first chance to compete in a year and a half. We saw outstanding performances from several players and teams (old and new) in a tournament that proved to be a great taste of what to expect in the upcoming season. Let’s break down the five biggest takeaways following the return of MQC Quidditch.
Felix Bulwa takes a tough shot against BU (photo credit: Kielan Donahue)
1. Early Contenders
Although nine teams came to play at the opener, five separated themselves from the pack. In Division 1, RPI, Tufts and Harvard are in a deadlock for first place (the highest point differential in the three games these teams played against each other was only 35!). RPI came with a ball-movement oriented offense and a deep roster led by Stephen Trempel and Ellie Lisec. Tufts’ drive and dish offense and suffocating defense was spearheaded by MLQ veterans Henry Baer-Benson and Brooke Smiley. Harvard came out swinging with a high octane, physical attack headed by Leo Fried and Anna Blanchfield. In Division 2, Brown pulled ahead with an undefeated record and impressive performances by Andrew Steinberg and Bradley Smith. Close behind Brown was Brandeis who ran wild in their two victories with Adrian Koretsky and Vidisha Jha at beater and Dawson McNamara-Bloom at keeper.
Andrew Steinberg slices through the Emerson defense (photo credit: Kielan Donahue)
2. These Teams are Built DIFFERENT
It’s not surprising coming off a year and a half hiatus, but rosters are gonna look pretty funky this year. Most teams this weekend were pretty top heavy - consisting of three or four year veterans and first time players. Other teams were unable to bring a full 21, or even get enough people to come to the opener at all (we were sorry to miss Middlebury and UMass). It’ll be interesting to see if any team’s consider using USQ’s Joint Team Development Policy to boost their numbers in the short term. In these trying times, star players that can take over a game are a luxury. Here’s a few that stood out this past weekend:
Dawson McNamara-Bloom: Watching Brandeis play at the opener looked a lot like a track meet and McNamara-Bloom was always out front. His drives were unstoppable, his passes were clean, and his blocks/steals as a keeper frustrated opposing offenses all day.
Brooke Smiley: Smiley dominated the D1 beater play. With smart plays and great dueling skill she was able to control the pace of play and set up fastbreak opportunities for her teammates. Tufts also caught all three snitches on the day, a testament to great beating.
Andrew Steinberg: Steinberg played a winning brand of quidditch that fueled Brown’s well oiled machine. Steinberg’s offensive skill set is well-rounded, a great tool for a new team already out-performing expectations.
Nick Malzone (#12) scores through a crowd (photo credit: Kielan Donahue)
3. Baby Steps
Game play this weekend was pretty chaotic, but what did we expect? With these aforementioned unique roster compositions there were always going to be some growing pains, and these are still college kids after all. It’ll be interesting to see which teams can tighten it up by Regionals and which young players will grow into the next generation of stars. Every team had rookies that looked great in their debut:
RPI’s Nick ‘Kobe’ Malzone delivered a highlight reel performance as a keeper and seeker while Claire Olmstead asserted herself as a physical chaser.
Emerson’s Zach Greenwald was dynamic on fastbreaks and Maddie Reyes drove like Jose Cabrera 2.0.
BU’s Erin Moneyhan had a great day as a seeker.
Harvard’s Jessica Lee flew around the pitch as a beater and Ian Palk came in as a starter and played like an experienced ball handler.
Brandeis’ Ben Rogak and Eli Fighter scored a ton of goals beside DMB (the three of them combined for almost every Brandeis goal on the day).
UVM’s Sydney Sarran looked good as a chaser and made the play of the day with a snitch grab against Emerson to secure the win.
Clark’s Claire Cohen-Kowan and Nick Morrow both showed great athleticism and hustle.
Tufts’ Valentina Zamora showed a lot of confidence as a ball carrier.
Brown’s Miauaxochitl Haskie was all over the place in the quaffle game while Will Richardson played well as a chaser and had a clutch snitch catch against Brandeis.
Shayla Ashley, Zach Bowerman and Leanna Cherrette race up the pitch (photo credit: Kielan Donahue)
4. We’re Just Getting Started
It should go without saying based on the previous two points, but all these teams will look a lot better come regionals. Some players that were absent will be back, young players will be more experienced, and teams will have plenty of time to build chemistry (also for the sake of all our necks lets hope everybody learns the rules by then too). Although some teams won more games than others, every team in attendance had bright spots to build on. BU’s Angela Song and Shayla Ashley both looked great coming off a summer playing for MLQ’s Boston Forge Practice Squad. UVM’s Richie Abbott and Emma Polen both flashed the talent that helped promote UVM to Division 1 last season. Emerson wasn’t able to pull off a win, but they kept games close all day. We’ll be seeing Sierra Delk and Danny Dessner’s squad playing spoiler all season. Clark’s Jeremy Francoeur and Rosie Cohen led an inexperienced squad that refused to give up all day.
Emerson and Brown shake hands after a hard fought game (photo credit: Kielan Donahue)
5. Winners All Around
Who were the biggest winners on the day? The first has to be Brown who came to their first tournament as a team and left with an undefeated record. Clark were huge winners too for making their return as an official team. It was great to have them there, and I’m excited to see the places this team with so many new faces will go. Next up is Emerson for winning the biggest recruiting class award. Having too many people on your team to rotate through is a good problem to have so they’re in a great place as a program. Finally… everybody! Quidditch is back and it's here to stay! We’ve got a whole season ahead of us with great teams from all around the country so hold on tight folks, it’s about to get quazy.