USQ Cup: Club Rankins 20-17
Voters: Soleil Heaney, Jordi Christan Sancho, Trenton Paskero, Mohamed Yahia Monawar, Chris Dorsey, Peter Lawrence, & Tim Kwan
20. Pegasus 14
19. Ohio Apollos 21
18. Atlantic Dragons 22
17. Mile High 23
20. Pegasus
Pegasus is the biggest mystery in the club game this season. Coming off an impressive final 4 run in 2022 and then falling off the map in 2023, the team returns with a 1-9 record for the 2024 season.
This team shouldn’t be seen as a pushover though, adding 2023 college D1 champion Bradley Himes to the beater corps with other names like Kris De La Fuente leading them, along with former USNTDA athlete Carlos Prado at chaser. Pegasus at it’s peak should be able to hang with anybody. In order to see the Southwest’s mystery make it to day 2; Pegasus will need to make full use of its female and gender non conforming players, and find a strategy to consistently score outside of the fast break. A key piece to finding that sucess will be consistent minutes of team Mexico star, Becca Rocha.
19. Ohio Apollos
Ohio Apollos fights with many of the talents of the Cleveland Riff, vastly increasing their potential after the additions of Joe Lombardi, Jack Moseley, and Fiona Gaffney joined the veteran leadership of Lacey Hutchman and Matt Dwyer. After a season that saw a lot more lift-off at the Champaign Qualifier than their results in the past, Apollos performs as a team that beats who they're expected to as a middle-of-the-pack team.
Unfortunately for nationals, they drew potentially underseeded teams in every pot other than the first. From the potential championship contender of Heat, to the Placer Valley finalist Sirens, and finally Mile High- who's nationals roster may shock everyone with their transformation under Trenton Paskero.
Apollos is known for always bringing fight and drive, so expect them to Alley-oop and tackle with the best of them. To have any hope of day two, they'll need to figure out a key strategy at beater to go along with the high chemistry plays they work off in the chaser game
18. Atlantic Dragons
With the sudden movement of Atlantic Dragons to open division, it seems like this team is going to where they belonged, adding an upset factor into the open division. With tournament rosters all year that hardly (if ever) passed 13 people, this team was unlikely to make it through all 4 pool play games, let alone be in contention for bracket.
In open division, they'll bring a playstyle that uses high physicality in the beater game, anchored by long time leadership Dante Close and Mike Brereton who recently finished a summer on New York Titans practice squad. In the chaser game, Tyler Villegas continues to facilitate ball movement as their main ball handler. Ben Stonish, provided he's healthy and on roster, keeps a needed tackler in their line up and seeker substitution for Dante. Off ball, the usage of Kaitlyn Hoevelman and Melanie Hackett in the past two years have provided scoring threats when the defense swells to the ball handler, and against other open division teams prepare to see them hustling for any loose balls.
Overall Dragons biggest strength AND weakness lies in their small roster. They'll have the chemistry since their whole teams knows how to play together, but they might actually want a few bodies to get through all their games
17. Mile High
Standing atop the smallest mountain, Mile High comes into championship weekend as a team craving to prove they can hang with the middle of the pack. After not having made it into bracket play since the pandemic, this team is desperate for the two group play wins necessary to overcome that next hurdle.
Mile High made significant changes to their leadership this year, most notably bringing on rookie UT graduate Trenton Paskero as head coach, alongside fellow longhorn Gabe Olivo as an assistant. They join a diverse team, including experienced veteran beaters Katy Vargas and Jordan Strack from the Baylor program. In the quadball game, Mile High sports the underappreciated duo of Markus Lewis and Carter Severance. The former exhibiting their wide receiver background, is the leading scorer for Mile High this season. The latter displaying an unmatched defensive prowess, able to bring any attacker to the ground in the lane.
If Mile High can come out top 3 in their pool, their season can be considered a successful one with a bright future on the horizon; otherwise, they will need some serious introspection on how to navigate the coming seasons.
