Players to Watch: Week Eight
This weekend will reveal our divisional champions. Find out which players you should watch along the way.
San Antonio Soldados
It’s clinching weekend in MLQ! Beginning with the series with the most drama and the highest stakes, the San Antonio Soldados have the chance to earn their first-ever South Division title this weekend, but they will need a sweep over the always dangerous New Orleans Curse. For San Antonio to make history, the Soldados will need to get chaser Alyssa Villalba going. The San Antonio offense got stagnant and overly dependent on the isolation of a few players in their 2-1 series loss to the Austin Outlaws. They have played at their best this season when they have gotten all of their chasers involved, spread the pitch, and passed the ball. As one of their top off-ball scoring options, Villalba will have to find more ways to get open and her teammates will have to reward her movement for the Soldados to enter their names into the record books.
New Orleans Curse
Chaser Marcellus Lewis has been the New Orleans Curse’s leader in goals and stops this season, with 19 goals and 13 stops. The production is nothing new from Lewis, who logged 15 goals and 17 stops during the regular season last year, but their importance to the Curse has grown. A veteran leader within the program, Lewis can cut through traffic and collapse a defense with their stop-and-start style of driving. They have been popping up everywhere on the pitch as longtime focal points in the quadball game like keeper P.J. Mitchell and chaser Charlton Tramel play more of a facilitator role. Whether Lewis can continue their standout season against the hard-hitting Soldados defense will likely determine whether New Orleans can steal a game–and keep the South Division crown in Austin.
New York Titans
The New York Titans have more margin of error than the San Antonio Soldados. With the Boston Forge having completed a sweep over the Washington Admirals and keeper Josh Johnson not traveling with the team, the Titans will need to be focused on the road against the Charlotte Aviators. Watch for chaser Molly Potter to bring the intensity and help New York secure a second consecutive East Division title. Potter, who has only played against the Forge this season, has the experience and skills to make the Titans the best version of themselves. She relocates without the ball and reads the movement of her teammates as well as anyone, and she has developed a killer mid-range shot that she is unafraid to unleash.
Charlotte Aviators
Beater Kody LaBauve has long been one of the top beaters in MLQ, but he has taken a real star turn this season. He is having his best statistical season yet, with 28 stops through nine games. He trails only beaters Ryan Hsu (DET) and Peter Brechting (CLE), who have each played 12 games and sit only one stop ahead on the leaderboard. LaBauve’s big numbers and outsized significance to the Aviators are perhaps attributable in part to the absence of longtime beating partner Celine Richard, who would have been racking up stops herself if healthy. But the challenge of playing without her has forced LaBauve to develop his game and cover more ground defensively. It might not be enough to upset the New York Titans with their deep beating corps, but LaBauve has become a more complete player this summer.
Chicago Prowl
In her return to MLQ from injury, head coach and chaser Kennedy Murphy has quietly been one of the best passers in the league this season. Murphy has 10 assists through nine games, bested only by chaser Lindsay Marella among women and one of only 24 athletes in double digits. In every series, she has set her teammates up for success by finding the open player, showing how to execute the offense that she has drawn up and always leading by example. Murphy has developed as a playmaker while continuing, of course, to be a fearsome presence on defense. She will hope to guide the Chicago Prowl to a second straight North Division title this weekend.
Toronto Raiders
The Toronto Raiders are playing with house money this weekend in their first-ever road trip to Chicago. Building towards their crucial matchup with the Minneapolis Monarchs next weekend, the Raiders will have the opportunity to be tested against the Prowl, and nowhere is getting up to speed more important than the beating game. Hyped over the past few years as one of the rising stars in Canadian beating, Piotr Makuch is a key player to watch for Toronto. Makuch leads the Raiders in average dodgeballs with 1.55 and is second in plus/minus with +8, including a ridiculous +10 in only 11 drives played against the Cleveland Riff. Especially without veteran beater Alexander Scherger, Makuch will need to shine for the Raiders to score an upset.
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