Spectator Guide: 2024 MLQ Championship
The MLQ Championship returns to Howard County, Md. for the third time in four years this weekend with the deepest field and the most open race for the Benepe Cup in league history. For the first time, no team finished the regular season with an undefeated record, and the competition for the final qualification spot went down to the last game.
Play-In Bracket
The action starts early Saturday morning with two crucial contests in the play-in bracket. The Toronto Raiders return to the play-in bracket after automatically qualifying for the quarterfinals and falling in a quick two-game sweep to the Washington Admirals last season. In a rebuilding year with a young team and a new coaching staff, the Raiders have approached the experience as an opportunity to play more opponents and gather momentum. They have been building towards the tournament all summer, but in order to prolong their stay beyond two games, they will need to come prepared against the Charlotte Aviators. Watch for beaters Emma Sherwood and Piotr Makuch to match the intensity of the Aviators beating corps. They will need to take their chances to press and create transition opportunities for their offense to spring the upset.
The Charlotte Aviators will be led by their veterans as they look to get back to the quarterfinals and reestablish their reputation as play-in bracket aces, earned with their runs in 2021 and 2022 at Troy Park. While keeper Zachary Thompson built upon his breakout 2023 season and chaser Melissa Ross doubled her scoring output this year, the Aviators will be most buoyed by the return of US National Team beater Celine Richard, who rejoins her beating partner Kody LaBauve, the league leader in stops during the regular season. Richard and LaBauve have been dynamite on the field together, besting some of the deepest beating corps in the league throughout their MLQ careers. Along with the reintegration of seeker Ryan Davis, who missed time this season but has been the league leader in flag catches since 2021, Charlotte has an excellent opportunity to play their best quadball of the summer and make a run.
On the tougher side of the play-in bracket, the hometown Washington Admirals open against the Kansas City Stampede, maybe the hottest team in the league. The Admirals have bounced back well from a difficult season-opening matchup against the New York Titans, finding ways to fill the shoes of a number of retiring legends. Chaser Liz Stone has 15 goals, continuing a long tradition of strong play from Washington’s women chasers, and ballcarriers Bryan Mulcahy and Riley Starrs have formed an outstanding one-two punch on the fast break. In the beating game, Adrian Koretsky set a single-season record for plus/minus against the Ottawa Black Bears, and they will look to use their speed and stamina to neutralize the Kansas City attack. Playing together and staying coordinated will give Washington the best odds to extend their streak of four straight quarterfinals appearances.
The Kansas City Stampede will be looking to ride the momentum from their sweep of the League City Legends two weekends ago, when they clinched a qualification spot at the 2024 MLQ Championship in the final game of the season. The Stampede salvaged their summer after starting the season 1-8, lifted by the return of 2023 leading scorer Riley Usami. But they have been led by sensational rookie keeper Ryan Mehio and University of Missouri chaser Lauren Smith. Mehio finished the season with a whopping 40 goals, placing fourth league-wide in scoring and smashing the rookie record. Smith has dramatically advanced her offensive game, bringing her confidence from the elite ranks of the USQ college division and becoming a scoring threat around the hoops. Beaters Lauren Curry and Chanun Ong, a USQ club division defending champion, head a deep beating corps.
With one of the two first-round play-in bracket byes, the New Orleans Curse have their best chance to advance into the quarterfinals since they returned to MLQ Championship two years ago. They have made steady progress over the past few seasons, getting back into the win column at the Benepe Cup last year and putting together convincing series victories over the League City Legends and the Kansas City this season. They finished third for the first time since the South Division expanded to five teams in 2019, but they missed a chance to make even bigger waves against the San Antonio Soldados, when they underachieved in their final series of the regular season. As always, beaters Josh Mansfield and Alex Pucciarelli are at the center of everything that the Curse do and their on-off splits show their value. Elsewhere, chaser Marcellus Lewis enjoyed a breakout season, doubling their 2023 scoring total with 28 goals, and chaser Ben Mertens led the league in assists with 23. Chaser Shelby Cascio topped all women chasers with 19 goals — tying Chicago’s Ally Manzella in 2023 for the highest all-time regular season goals record for MLQ women. And last, but not least, seeker Carson Running leads the league in flag runner catches with seven.
The Minneapolis Monarchs had their fair share of challenges during the regular season, but with their sweep of the Toronto Raiders, they look to be rounding into form at the right time. The Monarchs will have a first-round bye in the play-in bracket, and they will hope to recapture the magic they found last year, when seeker Mike Devine caught three flag runners and they upset the Boston Forge en route to the quarterfinals. The seeking game will need to be clutch once again, but Minneapolis has been powered by its beaters in 2024. Ben Schlueter leads the team in stops with 25 and makes some of the longest range beats in the league. Veterans like Nicole Nelson and Cody Narveson have taken on the toughest assignments and provided consistent leadership. Beyond the deep beating corps, US National Team chaser Emma Persons returns to the field after missing last season due to injury. Along with the scoring of keeper Max Meier, her passing has the potential to bring the Monarchs’ offense to life.
Championship Bracket
While the winners of the play-in bracket catch their breath, the quarterfinals will begin with a heavyweight bout between the Austin Outlaws and the Boston Forge, the two most successful teams in the history of the league, and a David-versus-Goliath matchup between the New York Titans and the Detroit Innovators.
The Austin Outlaws are the three-time defending champions, and though they no longer have the GOAT Augustine Monroe and they lost a series to League City (who did not qualify) to start the season, they have been on an upward trajectory. They beat the South Division champion San Antonio Soldados last month and chaser Jay Stewart finished fifth in the league in scoring, settling nicely into his new team. Stalwart chasers Andrew Axtell and Louis Sanchez have been relentless defensively, newly promoted US National Team utility piece Kayse Bevers leads her team in plus/minus while playing huge minutes, and seeker John Alvarez is tied for second in the league in flag runner catches with five. Can the Outlaws keep the good times coming or will it all fall apart again, like it did against League City.
The Boston Forge have their best chance to beat their storied rivals, the Outlaws, since they won the Benepe Cup in 2019. They have lost their past three series against the Outlaws at the MLQ Championship, not even managing to win a single game. Under first-year head coach and franchise legend Harry Greenhouse, Boston has implemented an exciting offensive system and developed a strong identity. They are paced by one of the deepest beating corps the sport has ever seen, including stars and US National Team veterans Max Havlin and Lulu Xu, a killer changeup from Kieran Collier and Leeanne Dillmann, and Team Canada beater Erin McCrady. As a unit, they dominate the upper echelons of every statistical category. They hold five of the top seven spots in plus/minus and average dodgeballs, among beaters who have played more than 25 drives. To finally knock off Austin, they will want to control the tempo of the game, remember to free up their ballcarriers by tapping out the Outlaws point defenders, and exploit mismatches in the beating game.
The New York Titans hit some bumps in the road during the regular season, dropping a game to Boston and underwhelming offensively against the Charlotte Aviators. But make no mistake, the Titans are one of two favorites to claim the Benepe Cup along with the Chicago Prowl, and following a string of gutting disappointments, 2024 might be their year. Lindsay Marella, a US National Team veteran and one of the best chasers of all time, had one of her best statistical seasons, with 16 goals, 19 assists, and 14 stops. Keeper Jon Jackson had a 20-20-20 season, one of four players in the league to accomplish the feat. Beater Tessa Mullins finished sixth in the league in plus/minus, an enormous achievement for a player who competed as a practice squad player in the 2021 Next Gen Showcase. But New York might have its best shot since the inaugural season of MLQ simply because it has chaser Josh Johnson. Johnson is a cheat code who has dominated the MLQ Championship for two consecutive years. Can Johnson do what even the GOAT Monroe could not and deliver a title to the Titans?
To make a deep run, New York will first have to get past a plucky Detroit Innovators squad, who finished second in the North Division for the first time in program history and will be appearing in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2015. Over the past three seasons, beaters Ryan Hsu and Rei Brodeur have driven much of the turnaround for Detroit. Hsu placed second in the league in stops and Brodeur once again finished in the top five in drives played. Together, they were key in engineering an historic upset by stealing a game from Chicago to start the summer. But against New York, all eyes will turn towards keeper Leo Fried, the former Titan who stuffed the statsheet during the regular season with 42 goals, 21 assists, and a league-leading 39 stops. Fried contributed to many memorable moments for New York over the past two MLQ Championships, but it will be all the more meaningful if he can help Detroit take even a single game from the Titans this year. Seeker Neil Peterson further bolsters this young and talented group and enters the weekend tied for second in flag runner catches with five.
The San Antonio Soldados have been a consistent presence in the later rounds of the MLQ Championship ever since they joined the league as an expansion franchise in 2019. Last season was the first time they failed to make the semifinals. But 2024 reached new heights for the Soldados, as they found the perfect mix of youth and experienced veterans. In the beating game, Milena Sousa has taken over head coaching responsibilities alongside keeper David Avila and posted some of the best beater statistics in the league. She has played the second most drives of any beater competing for the Benepe Cup, and she is 11th in the league in plus/minus at +31. Returning from winning the 2023 title with the Outlaws, beater Daniel Williams is as dynamic as ever, always capable of turning a game on its head. Also returning from their South Division rivals to the north, keeper Miguel Esparza recorded a casual 53 goals, 22 assists, and 25 stops in 2024, coming up just short of finishing as the regular season scoring champion for the third consecutive season. Time will tell if the Soldados can make the most of their potential, but after securing an historic South Division title, they should not be counted out for the Benepe Cup.
The favorites heading into the 2024 MLQ Championship, the Chicago Prowl, have all the reason to believe that they will become the third franchise in league history to hoist the Benepe Cup. They made a dramatic run to the finals last season in Des Moines, Iowa; they have a core that just won the USQ club division title four months ago; and they have looked dominant, especially defensively, throughout the regular season. Beater Tad Walters led the league in plus/minus with +48, finishing ahead of legends of the sport like Havlin and Xu. Keeper Nathan Digmann continues to be one of the best all-around players in the league with 34 goals, 20 assists, and 25 stops. And recent US National Team callup Ally Manzella was the second leading scorer among women with 17 goals, despite only playing nine games. They have the experience and all the pieces — it will just be a question of putting it together at the right time. The Prowl have been close before, but never has their path to the Benepe Cup been so clear.
Don’t miss out on all these storylines and more at the 2024 MLQ Championship. Tickets are available now on MLQChampionship.com and you can watch live all weekend long on the MLQ Network.