Over/Under: North Division
By Jack McGovern
Media Coordinator
The MLQ season is less than a week away, and MLQ Media Coordinator Jack McGovern is here with his breakdown of whether each team will over or under perform compared to their 2023 selves. Up first is the newly reconfigured North Division.
Chicago Prowl (8-0 in 2023, OVER in 2024)
The Chicago Prowl are one of the safest bets to surpass their 2023 regular season win total in 2024, as the North Division is expanding to a 12-game schedule and the Prowl are heavy favorites to repeat as division champions. They once again have a stacked roster, including the return of chaser Darien Murcek-Ellis and utility Byron Ng to a core that just won their first USQ club division national championship with Boom Train. The biggest question mark is how Chicago will replace the contributions of star beater Matt Brown, but with beater Tad Walters returning from injury and head coach Kennedy Murphy retaking the field alongside Ally Manzella and Emma Vasquez in the chaser game, the Prowl should have plenty of options to overwhelm their opponents.
Minneapolis Monarchs (5-3 in 2023, OVER in 2024)
The Minneapolis Monarchs run back largely the same core that has claimed two North Division titles over the past three seasons and made a dramatic run through the play-in bracket at the MLQ Championship last year. They lose utility Henry Baer-Benson, who tallied 17 goals and 4 runner catches in 2023, but they gain chaser Emma Persons, who makes their offense significantly more dynamic and multi-dimensional. An x-factor for the Monarchs will be whether Mike Devine can replicate his clutch performance in the seeking game at the 2023 MLQ Championship, as Minneapolis has historically excelled in close games. With Chicago at home but the remainder of their schedule on the road, the Monarchs will need to travel well and lean on the chemistry they have developed to finish in the top two.
Detroit Innovators (4-7 in 2023, OVER in 2024)
The Detroit Innovators are one of the hottest picks to surge past their 2023 baseline and make a leap into true North Division contention with newly crowned USQ college national champion utility Leo Fried returning to the fold and chaser Julien Theuerkauf on the roster. The Innovators have been making steady progress for years, with a cohesive homegrown core drawn from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University rosters. Behind beaters Rei Brodeur and Ryan Hsu, each of whom finished in the top five in total drives played in 2023, Detroit has a real chance to ascend into the upper echelon of franchises in 2024. But the Innovators have been picked to exceed expectations before, and they have never earned more than five wins. Can they banish their demons and start a new era this season?
Toronto Raiders (6-2 in 2023, UNDER in 2024)
The Toronto Raiders face a much more difficult schedule in 2024 than 2023 as a result of the Rochester Whiteout ceasing operations and the North Division abandoning its I-90 and I-94 conference subdivisions. Toronto will have to travel to Detroit and Chicago, away games that they have not played since their inaugural season in 2019. While they host Minneapolis, a team that has sometimes struggled on the road, Toronto has much less margin for error. They will turn to talented beater Piotr Makuch and rapidly improving pieces at chaser like Levi Medeiros, Sarah Dykstra, and Robert Ali to put forward their best effort, but a tougher regular season schedule might ultimately help the Raiders when the 2024 MLQ Championship rolls around in August.
Cleveland Riff (2-8 in 2023, UNDER in 2024)
Also affected by the realignment of the North Division, the Cleveland Riff have a challenging road to best their 2023 regular season win total. They essentially need to spring an upset on a physical Toronto Raiders squad that swept them last year and steal a game from Minneapolis or a much-improved Detroit team. While the Riff have managed to overachieve before, taking a game off the Innovators at the 2023 MLQ North Division Championship and going down to the wire with them in game three, Cleveland seems to lack some of the firepower of their rivals this season in what looks to be the strongest division in MLQ. Evalien Duyvesteyn and Rose Mournighan have come over from the Rochester Whiteout to supplement the Riff chaser line, but the Riff did not pick up former Rochester-area athletes en masse.
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