San Antonio returns to semifinals, sweeping Kansas City
Keeper Luke Langlinais dumps the quadball to chaser Alyssa Villaba against the Kansas City Stampede in the quarterfinals.
The South Division champion San Antonio Soldados swept the upstart Kansas City Stampede on Saturday night in a tight Benepe Cup quarterfinals series. The Soldados defeated Kansas City, who had advanced out of the play-in bracket for the first time since 2018, by a score of 160-105 in game one and 145-80 in game two.
San Antonio started the series with some of their best team quadball of the season. Chaser Alyssa Villaba recorded two early goals as the Soldados passed around imposing Kansas City keeper Ryan Mehio and jumped out to a 40-20 lead. For the Stampede, chaser Bitzy Archibold helped to answer, scoring four goals throughout the middle portion of the contest and continuing her breakout weekend. Ultimately though, game one belonged to young San Antonio keeper David Avila. Avila tallied a total of eight goals, including four in a row for the Soldados during a critical stretch. Despite a flag runner catch from Kansas City seeker Danny Rendon, the result never seemed in serious doubt.
After a long lightning delay, the Soldados largely repeated the performance under the lights in game two. Keeper Ryan Mehio started strong offensively, contributing to four of the first five goals for Kansas City, but chaser Luke Langlinais answered for San Antonio with three quick scores. After the South Division rivals traded blows, the Soldados began to pull away behind the dominant effort of beaters Daniel Williams and Jess Markle. Langlinais added two more goals for the Soldados and San Antonio put together a 95-0 run, including a flag runner catch by Trevor Smith. Keeper Matt Blackwood sent the Soldados to the semifinals with the clinching goal.
San Antonio returns to the semifinals after missing out for the first time in franchise history last season. The Soldados will meet the New York Titans at 9 am, 11 am, and 1 pm (if necessary). The Stampede were eliminated with the sweep following their dramatic run through the play-in bracket earlier Saturday.