Roster Reactions: South Division
League City - Fiona Wisehart
PC: Major League Quadball
Last season, the majority of League City’s roster had only a single USQ season under their belts. While the team made significant strides, they consistently struggled against the other South Division teams, all of which had collectively more experienced players. However, Head Coach Ashton Jeanlewis and Assistant Coach Hayden Boyes, both of whom will be returning this season, crucially focused on developing these new talents and rebuilding the core of this team. This work paid clear dividends during the 2022 - 2023 USQ season, when those young players took the season by storm. Sam Houston State University (SHSU), which is by far the program with the most representation on the Legends’ 2022 and 2023 rosters, had a strong USQ season that culminated in a nail-biting Division I semi-finals appearance. Although SHSU had a good run in the Division II bracket last year, this year it was clear that they were playing at a much higher level and were truly worthy of being Division I national contenders.
That brings us to this MLQ season - how far will League City go in a South Division that has had significant shake-ups this year? It seems certain that Austin will continue to dominate, but the fate of all of the other teams seems far less certain. This year, with a more experienced core, many of whom play together during the USQ season, League City may have what it takes to take their team to the next level.
Last year, the Legends ultimately placed 5th in the South Division, losing to every South team apart from Kansas Stampede, whom they swept 3-0. Despite ultimately placing 3rd in the South Division, Stampede was missing some key players during the series and their roster only totaled 13 players. This year, Kansas and San Antonio have lost significant players, giving League City room for an upset. Particularly given the chemistry that their players possess, given that so many of them play together during the USQ season.
This season, expect the Legends’ beaters to be led by Carlos Elarba and Kevin Raber. Elarba is a veteran of the team that has been on the Legends since 2019. Elarba unfortunately suffered an injury prior to the start of the season, but his presence will nonetheless help anchor the young beating core, which includes almost all beaters from last year, plus some new female beating talent, filling a crucial need in the Legends’ roster. Raber has been on the team since 2021. With his strong arm and quick feet, he both opens up driving lanes on offense and is unafraid to take on opposing beaters.
One of the Legends’ key chasers last year was Boyes. Boyes has an incredible shot and his agility on the field makes him a talented defender. Last year, he took on more of a distributor role rather than a finisher. However, with a more experienced team, we may see more of a return to form especially with the departure of John White and Perry Walton, two of the Legends’ leading scorers last year. The Legends have also lost Viviana Estrada, who will now be playing for Rochester Whiteout this summer (and recently made Team Mexico), and who stood out for her absolutely fearless defense. However, they have retained Mallory Hughes, another starting chaser from last season. Hughes made her MLQ debut last year and quickly proved to be a huge contributor on the field with a high ceiling. She particularly excelled at forcing turnovers and had the second-most on the Legends last year.
Prediction: 4 - 8
San Antonio - Christian Barnes
PC: Major League Quadball
Taking the old out of Soldados
The San Antonio Soldados, since the 2019 inauguration, has been the legitimate 2nd in the South Division. They’ve worked and given Austin Outlaws a fight each series matchup they’ve had, and every year has been a team that has shown they deserve to be at the championship. Last summer, San Antonio Soldados clinched the second spot in their division after an incredibly close fight for 2nd place in the South Division. A continuous ability to score more points than their opponents after the release of the flag runner kept them above all their non-Austin competition in standings. At championships, San Antonio showed their mettle cross-division, as they faced the divisional champions of the North and East Division, toppling the Minneapolis Monarchs before ultimately falling to the Boston Forge. Even in their 180-145 and 160-120 losses with Boston, their ability to push the past when needed after the 20 minute mark takes advantage any time their opponents aren’t in top form. Coming into this year, San Antonio remains hungry. They’re consistently shown themselves as a top team of the franchises, and they want to push to a finals appearance. With another year of Bradley Himes and Christian Cortez in leadership, a shifting Soldados core will be looking to show yet again that they can face off, and win, against any team they compete against.
What they’re bringing back and what they’ve gained
With the return of Christian Cortez and Bradley Himes to leadership, a deep understanding of the team comes with it. Half of this team hails players from the UTSA program, fresh off of a national title. With a relatively uncontested journey to a regional title (clinching their nationals bid), UTSA leadership in Milena Sousa, Christian Cortez, Javi Tijerina, and Jay Stewart were able to slowly grind as they prepared to attend USQ Cup 2023. We saw the results of all that work in the team that beat Harvard in the finals, and they’ll seek to bring that chemistry to the MLQ field this season as well. Outside of the UTSA contingent, a predominantly Texas State core rounds out most of the rest of the 30 person Soldados roster this year, including leadership of this and last year in David Avila, Nicodemus Robles, Maya Hinebaugh, and Catherine Hay. Not only have all these leaders led school programs to increased success (UTSA to a national title, and Texas State from pandemic numbers to a robust D2 finalist), all these players have played together on last year’s Soldados team. Rounding out the final of the 30 are veterans Kris De La Fuente, Alejandro Vega and Dilan Freeman, who bring a dynamic beater with years of experience, a strong point chaser from the Final Four Texas Hill Country Heat team, a former MLQ coach who has been an unanswered driving threat for the Soldados. The biggest pick up for Soldados this year is adding in John Alvarez to their core, who can provide another valuable seeker replacement to keep Jay in the seeker game, a deep beater core substitute to maintain speed in the depth chart, or a chaser who has no issue tackling any opponent on the pitch. Altogether, I can see why people want to question who will be second place in the South Division this year, since weight always gets placed on accolades of individual athletes in analyzing a program. From my point of view, however, Soldados will be able to maximize the season with walk-on chemistry of the entire core, which should make highlighting and conquering any weaknesses a season-long goal.
Takeaways
This Soldados team will make or break itself on two factors: availability and chemistry. The team is young: both in MLQ experience and total quadball experience. This is especially important for the South Division due to the temperature levels they tend to see at their series on the season, and the physical toll the length of the games take. To continue outsourcing opponents in the late game, they’ll need to push themselves harder as the game goes on. Conditioning has already been proven amongst Texas State and UTSA’s ability to run entire games, so they’ll need discipline and chemistry to turn that into points on the board. The final question factor for Soldados will be who from their roster can show up to their competitions. A smaller roster at away series last year made it harder to pull off wins, and the series against New Orleans Curse will need a full force to pull off a win. With Curse gaining the mind of Ben Mertens this year and the plethora of film of the Soldados players, they’ll need to bring as best a 21 they can or risk an upset. I expect the series against Austin to bring July in with a loss, but exactly what this team needs to invigorate the back half of the season on the way to Iowa. Ultimately, this season’s divisional placement will come down to their younger team facing off against a younger class in League City Legends and Kansas City Stampede, though having both of those as home series should give them a push to succeed. I don’t think they’ll blow out the other teams in their division, but with the right pieces they can go 2-1 on all series but 1, for another second place finish.
Prediction: 6-6
New Orleans - Isabel Roseth
PC: Major League Quadball
The New Orleans Curse has been on an upswing for the past few seasons, despite their ongoing underdog status. While they ended the 2022 season with three wins and nine losses and fourth in the South division, they clinched a spot at MLQ Championships for the first time since 2017. Their 2022 season was characterized by their growth and development, which is expected to continue throughout this summer. The Curse’s communication and strategy, as well as their experience in the championships last season, will be assets as they enter the 2023 season poised to top their performance last year.
The Curse lost nine players from last year’s roster, most of whom were chasers in the 2022 season. Chasers David Hidalgo, Justin Nunez, Mason Schaap, Justin Schimazu, Caitlin Shields, and Emily Thompson have all left. The team is losing many familiar faces, as it will be the Curse’s first season since 2021 without Thompson, Nunez, and Shields rostered, and Schimazu has played on the team since 2019, with a hiatus during the 2021 season. Without Thompson and Nunez, as well as the departure of keeper Nick Mueller, the Curse will have to readjust. The Curse’s beater game will remain mostly unchanged, with only two beaters, Maverick Schmit and Drew Stroud, departing from the team since last summer.
That being said, there are six new names on this year’s roster, including a new head coach, Ben Mertens. Mertens, who will play chaser, is a veteran of the Washington Admirals, most recently rostered as a keeper in 2021. However, his work as the DCQC head coach this past USQ season is what makes his arrival as the head coach intriguing. Building off of Bryan Cascio’s Curse last year finished with the Chasers Gabriel Garza, Felix Rabito, and Nicholas Savino; beater Aja Palermo; and seeker TJ Goaley will also be joining this summer. Palermo played for Louisiana State University, Goaley played for the Texas Country Hill Heat, and Garza played for Loyola University in New Orleans.
Seventeen players from last season will be returning to the Curse for 2023, which likely means that this season, there should be continued cohesion which should give them an edge early in the season. Beaters Sarah Kneiling, Josh Mansfield, Griffin Parr, Alex Pucciarelli, Michael Sanders, and Sarah Yanofsky are returning this season, so we can expect to see the same beater pairs as last summer, such as Sarah Kneiling & Joshua Mansfield and Alex Pucciarelli & Michael Sanders. While Kneiling and Mansfield, the latter of which is both assistant coach and assistant manager this summer, played the highest number of beater shifts last season, both pairs proved to be useful in getting control. Because the beater line-up is staying fairly consistent, it is likely that these pairs, and any others we may see, will continue to coordinate well with quadball play. It will be interesting, however, to see how the new beaters this season fit in with this well-established line-up.
The top scorers and defenders have remained rostered for this summer. The returning chasers are Shelby Cascio, Dylan DeLee, Caitlin Ducat, Marcellus Lewis, Jason Plain, Carter Shields, Veronica Spicer, and Charlton Tramel, as well as keepers P.J. Mitchell and Carson Running. Mitchell is a veteran of the Curse, entering his fifth consecutive season with the team. He boasted 19 goals in 2022, the highest on the team, and will remain an asset on both offense and defense. Cascio and Tramel were powerhouses on both sides of the pitch, with high numbers of goals and turnovers forced. Spicer’s prowess in defense is also something to keep an eye on, as the Curse prepares to face high-scoring teams such as the San Antonio Soldados and Austin Outlaws. With a number of new chasers in the mix, it is hard to say exactly what chaser combos to expect this season, but there will be many familiar faces ready to take on the competition. The Curse is known for its communication and coordination between chasers and beaters, and they will need to continue investing in that to continue their upward swing.
Consistently the underdogs, the Curse looks set up to top their record last year if the trends of the past few seasons continue. The other teams in their division should not bank on being able to overpower them, if their upset against League City last season is any indication. With all the new blood on their roster, the Curse may be able to jinx the rest of the South and prove their worth.
Prediction: 6-6
Kansas City
PC: Major League Quadball
The Kansas City Stampede is fresh off of a gutsy appearance at MLQ Championship, where a group of 10 people almost did the unthinkable and made it all the way into the quarterfinals. That is the type of play we have come to expect from this franchise. The never-give-up attitude and the mid-western toughness that will forces teams to acknowledge the level of speed and power they can unleash. This edition of the roster is very similar if not a deeper team than they had last year. Losing Darian Murcek-Ellis and Joe Goulet as players and leaders will be a monumental task of replacing their production on the field. However, the biggest loss for this team is Adam Heald not returning to the helm as the head coach. His performance as a coach and player last summer was often the heart and soul on the field and the brains behind how productive Kansas City was able to be.
This franchise last summer had a roller coaster of summer with highlights coming from having a franchise-defining series win over San Antonio, but also losing to League City and bowing out of champers due to roster availability. This year they can rely on Sena Morimoto, Kawena Abrigo, Lauren Curry, Madi Namanny, and Keighlyn Johnson who are all on the USNTDA to take the next steps in catapulting this Stampede franchise into the next tier of MLQ teams. However, combined with the young talent is the returning presence of veterans Brian McClannahan, Justin Dewick, Brenna Duncan, and Vincent Reyes. Nearly all of them boast the ability to play multiple positions at a high level and will be instrumental in leading this team on the field.
While the roster is extremely exciting for the sheer athletic ability they have. There will be growing pains for Kansas City, incorporating 17 new additions will be the immediate test for head coaches McClannahan and Reyes. However, it’ll help that a lot of the new additions come from the Creighton program where they have had time to develop chemistry. Taking that chemistry and turning that into productive minutes against the best competition in the country will be a question mark for much of the season. However, outside of Austin in a weak South Division, the Stampede should feel like their full roster can compete with anyone else in this division. Roster availability will always be the conditional when it comes to how good Kansas City can be. They have shown they can compete against anyone but often, the lack of depth makes it a tough ask for them to play the latter half of series’. After missing out on the inside track to the two seed last summer, they are in a prime position to be the team that comes out of the South with a bye come championships.
Prediction: 7-5
