Red Team Wins FireMercs
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in this arti...
Michael Binger of Red Team's Kryptonyans goes for the snitch catch. Photo by Kat Ignatova/IQA Staff.
Purple – The Spirit Animals: 0-4 in pool, 0-1 in bracket, eliminated in play-in
Unfortunately for the purple team, they never seemed to find a rhythm. Without an experienced player handling the offense, the Spirit Animals found it difficult to put points on the board. Defensively, there were no chasers on Purple with both size and experience, making it hard for them to stop charging offenses. Also, even though they had some solid beaters, the overall beater pool at Firemercs was deeper than expected, and switching Michael Mohlman to chaser weakened Purple's relative beater strength. Mohlman and UCLA's Tiffany Chow brought quaffle play experience to the team, while Rich Hatch and Mitch Dumas of Quid Pro Quo brought much of the team's physicality, but the team was generally unable to unify these separate elements. Ultimately, highly considered seeker and first round draft pick, NAU's Porter Marsh, never had the opportunity to flex his seeking chops.
Michael Mohlman, initially a beater for Purple Team, playing chaser against the Black team. Photo by Kat Ignatova/IQA Staff.
Orange – Safety First: 1-3 in pool, 1-1 in bracket, eliminated in quarterfinals
Within the first five minutes of their opening match against White, Orange's first round draft pick, Arizona State University's Alex Makk, got an elbow to the forehead and was taken to the emergency room to get stitches. Although they were still able to win the game, losing Makk weakened the team's quaffle play. Despite an impressive passing offense from their remaining chasers, Greg Leininger, Katelynn Kazane, Daniel Daniels, and Alberto Amaya (one of the outstanding high schoolers that makes me excited for the future of quidditch), Orange had difficulty on defense. Strong beating from Miranda de la Vega and outstanding beating from Justin Regan were not enough to counter the formidable beaters from other teams, although they were significant in Orange's two wins against Purple (who moved one of their strongest beaters, Mohlman, to chaser) and White (who had some significantly injured beaters, and took a few games to find a rhythm). It's also worth noting that although Alberto and Roberto Amaya were unexpectedly unable to attend day 2 of competition, the addition of USC's Ryan Parsons to the team was enough to get them out of the play-in game.
Katelynn Kazane of Orange team spins out of a tackle by White team's chaser Becca DuPont. Photo by Kat Ignatova/IQA Staff.
Pink – The Fighting Flamingos: 1-3 in pool, 0-1 in bracket, eliminated in quarterfinals
Despite my initial reservations over captain Chris Lock's draft strategy, and even with a last minute loss of their fourth round pick, chaser/seeker Henry Rashcke, the Pink team exceeded my expectations, defeating the Orange team and taking the eventual runners up, the Blue team, into overtime. Although Adam Richardson played a predictably large role in their success, he was backed up by solid support from Dakota Sky Bloom, Brennan Ross, Alyssa Burton, and especially Chris Lock, who showed he could both run an offense and effectively guard the hoops. Also, although their beater core of Brian Vampola, Julia Thomas, and Kaylee Buchholtz didn't have the star power of some other squads, they were able to hold most games close defensively through bludger control and conservative beating. Overall, despite losing an early round draft pick, Pink was able to play effectively on both sides of the ball, keeping scores close but, unfortunately, often losing on a snitch catch as their players got more exhausted late game.
Adam Richardson playing chaser for Pink team. Photo by Kat Ignatova/IQA Staff.
White – Direwolves 2.0: 2-2 in pool, 0-1 in bracket, eliminated in quarterfinals
After first seeing the White team roster, I really had no idea how well they would play. With two big name players injured (Mollie Lensing and Matt Ziff, both in their throwing shoulder) and a large number of out of region players, there were a lot of unknowns about how this team would play. While they started off a bit shaky in their first game, they pulled together and won their next two matches, one decisively against Purple and one in overtime with a double snitch snatch against Green. Despite his injury, Matt Ziff was able to make a huge impact as seeker for the White team, delivering two of their crucial snatches. Similarly, Lensing's beater play with Paxton Casey was cohesive and athletic, and allowed their team to match up evenly against most opponents. Strong quaffle play from Becca DuPont, David Saltzman, and Jeff Lusk also made the team a dual threat to both charge straight through and pass around defenses. While they were able to keep most games close, the team's quaffle play acted more as a group of individuals than a team at times, being defeated by team's with a more unified strategy.
Matt Ziff during one of his two crucial snitch catches of the tournament. Photo by Kat Ignatova/IQA Staff.
Black – The Night's Watch: 3-1 in pool, 0-1 in bracket, eliminated in quarterfinals
Even though they placed 3rd after pool play, Black was not able to defeat the Blue team, who beat them twice over the course of the tournament. Unlike many other teams that stacked their top picks in the starting lineup, the Night's Watch subbed their players relatively evenly, giving them the endurance to defeat most teams they played, even without all their top picks playing together. Although players like Alex Browne (myself), Zach Luce, Brandon Scapa, and Sunil Venugopal helped put together a solid passing offense, the team suffered from a lack of larger players, making it difficult to both charge through opponents and body up on defense. The same was true of Black's beater line, which was very cohesive but slightly smaller than other teams'. Ultimately, Blue had the right combination of size and experience (their players knew exactly how to play against Luce and myself) to defeat the Night's Watch, with the intensity of those games inadvertently injuring three of our players.
Sarah Simko beating for Black team. Photo by Kat Ignatova/IQA Staff.
Green – 50 Shades of Green: 2-2 in pool, 1-1 in bracket, eliminated in semifinals
The Green team was another squad that performed better than I expected. Although Vanessa Goh performed fantastically, as expected, the true star of Green's quaffle play was Nebraska Huggins, a powerful football player from the new Sierra College team. Nebraska is truly an athlete, learning quickly as the tournament progressed and putting up huge points for his team. With Ryan Cancino and Ra Hopkins rounding out their chasing line, Green had a group of quaffle players with a lot of strength and a lot of speed. The other difference maker for this team though was its athletic two-male beater setup. While many thought Willis Miles IV would be the most important beater for the Green team, his play suffered from injury, exhaustion, and a lack of focus. However, this gave Eric Wilroth, Steve Gruenewald, and Chandler Smith the opportunity to step up. Through the entire tournament, Green's strong male beaters gave them the edge against everyone except the White team (who won on a double snitch snatch) and the Red team (the other two-male beater team at the tournament).
The beater line of Green team, Willis Miles IV (L) and Steve Gruenewald (R). Photo by Laurel Haspert.
Silver – The Silver Snakes: 3-1 in pool, 1-1 in bracket, eliminated in semifinals
While I originally expected this team by rely on a strong defense to succeed, Silver's quaffle offense gave them the second highest QPD of pool play, and almost took them to the finals. Strong offensive play, particularly from Luke Sanchez, allowed them to simply outscore other teams. Keir Rudolph, who would have been relied on to pull them out of closer games, found more use as a keeper, and did a solid job out of position with running an offense. Silver's defense was unsurprisingly strong, with Kevin Oelze, Keegan Adlis, and Hannah DeBaets keeping opposing goals to a minimum. Coupled with the beating pair of Kyrie Timbrook and Chris Seto, who played surprisingly well together, and Silver was solid in both quaffle and bludger play. Interestingly, Silver's weakness seemed to be at seeker, despite the first round pick of Keir Rudolph. While none of their games were decided by snitch snatch until the semifinals, in their match against Blue Steve DiCarlo managed to pull the snitch twice to win in overtime.
Chris Seto keeping for the Silver team. Photo by Laurel Haspert.
Blue – Blue Wasikowski: 2-2 in pool, 2-1 in bracket, eliminated in finals
Despite boasting several well-known players, the Blue team struggled early in the tournament to find a working strategy, losing heavily to Red in their first match and getting upset by Green in their second. It wasn't until the third of match of day 1, against Black, that they found success after switching Missy Sponagle from beater to chaser/keeper. While players like Jeff Lin, Jake Tieman, and Tye Rush are formidable quaffle players, especially in fast break situations or on the receiving end of a pass, none of them was able to effectively run Blue's offense. As soon as Missy started leading the quaffle play, Blue was able to find victory straight through to the finals. Taking her place at beater was Misty Gray, who along with Mitch Cavender was able to make a positive impact both with and without bludger control. While Plunger was unable to snatch a snitch at the tournament, other players on the team stepped in as seeker, including Sponagle, Lin, and especially Steve DiCarlo who was able to pull their team out of numerous tight situations, most notably their close semifinal match against Silver. The Blue team came into the tournament with a group of great individuals with poor on-pitch chemistry. However, with so many players known for their ability to adapt, they saw more improvement than any other team in the tournament, thanks primarily to some critical position changes and great usage of their entire roster. Unfortunately, some poor offensive decisions in the finals, particularly several solo fast-break attempts and long shots, reduced their scoring potential which could have given them the win in overtime.
Blue Team celebrates the snitch catch against Silver Team, which put them into the finals. Photo by Matt Ziff.
Red – Kryptonyans: 4-0 in pool, 3-0 in bracket, champions
Unlike the Blue team, Tony Rodriguez's Kryptonyans came into the tournament firing on all cylinders, and decisively won every match they played until the finals. Knowing that he would play keeper for most of every game, Rodriguez drafted a group of amazing male beaters and off-ball chasers to compliment his own style. Red's beaters, tournament MVP Peter Lee and Duston Mazzella in particular, were able to play tirelessly, outrunning opponents and making critical beats all over the pitch. While many teams avoid playing a two-guy beater lineup due to poor depth of female chasers, Rodriquez succeeded here as well, drafting Amanda Nagy, Ericka Phanthip, and Sofia de la Vega. While Amanda did a tremendous job bodying up on defense and providing passing opportunities on offense, Ericka's physicality might have been one of the biggest surprises of the tournament (I heard she even took down Green's Nebraska Huggins). Unfortunately, this physicality was also her downfall, leading to her receiving a defenseless receiver red card in the finals. Finally, to round out Red's roster, Tony drafted two very quick and strong chasers in Michael Binger and Andrew Waldschmidt (who many passed over in the draft believing he would only play beater). Finally, a last minute drop of their 13th round pick gave Red the steal of the waiting list with Kayl Eubanks, who was able to play keeper when Rodriquez switched to seeker or needed a quick break. With one of the best drafted teams of the tournament and a starting lineup of players capable of playing most games without subs, Red was able to out-endure, outrun, and out-score all of their opponents.
Peter Lee was paramount in Red team's defensive strategy, earning him MVP for the tournament. Photo by Kat Ignatova/IQA Staff.
The Finals Controversy
For those who haven't heard, the FireMercs final match - an incredibly close game between Red and Blue - ended with a controversial decision. In regulation time, Red managed to maintain an early, even lead throughout, despite red cards against both teams. With the snitch back on pitch, Red began taking players off their starting line to seek, including Tony Rodriguez and Michael Binger, providing the opportunity for the Blue team to catch up. Down by 40 points, DiCarlo brought the game into overtime with a well-timed snatch immediately after a goal from his teammates. Adam Richardson, the tournament's top snitch, faced off against DiCarlo and Rodriguez in overtime, remaining uncaught for the entire 5-minute duration. As time began to run out, everyone's attention switched to the quaffle play, which had stayed within 10 points since overtime began.
With only enough time left on the clock for one more offensive drive, the Blue team, down by 10 points, gave the ball to Missy to bring up the pitch. As she approached the hoops, she was tackled in a last-ditch defensive attempt by Kayl Eubanks, who initiated a clearly illegal tackle both from behind and around the neck. Despite the hard hit, Sponagle kept advancing, and advantage was called. After a few seconds, she was able to pass the quaffle to Jake Tieman, who scored just after time had elapsed in overtime. Because it was too late, the goal was discounted and victory went to the Red team, although many believed a second overtime was warranted.
The advantage call was implemented to protect the offensive momentum of players who are fouled. It is meant to avoid punishing players who are the recipients of illegal contact. What the Red team inadvertently capitalized on was a loophole in the current advantage rule. As it is currently written, time does not stop when advantage is called. It is therefore possible for time to run out in overtime while advantage is in effect. This essentially provides a way for a team to illegally slow down an opponent's offense in overtime to prevent scoring opportunities. While possible fixes to this have already been discussed greatly online, I expect to see additions to the advantage rule in the next rulebook iteration.
Top Draft Picks by Round
As the top teams at FireMercs showed, a well-executed draft can make or break a team's chances. While a captain's first few picks are important, securing a solid pick in every round is essential. In order to highlight how great draft picks can change a team, here are the players I think stood out the most from each round of the draft.
Round 1: Peter Lee – Red
It's hard not to give round 1 to the tournament MVP. With enough stamina to last the entire tournament, more speed than most players, tremendous pitch awareness, and amazing catching ability, Peter Lee proved how beneficial it is to play alongside a top tier male beater. Although players like Adam Richardson, Becca DuPont, and Vanessa Goh certainly helped run their teams, Lee's dominance at beater was able to shut down opposing quaffle play, allowing very few goals. Although he is not a physical player, beater play in the West is less physical than in other regions, allowing Lee to run all over the pitch without fear of being tackled. Ultimately, Lee was the perfect draft choice for Tony Rodriguez, helping on both offense and defense and running the most impressive group of beaters at the tournament.
Round 2: Missy Sponagle – Blue
More than any other player, Missy Sponagle was able to turn her team around strategically. Although she was able to provide numerous opportunities through her offensive beating in their first two games, her teammates were unable to capitalize on them because of disjointed quaffle strategy. Despite her relatively small size, Sponagle was switched to keeper, giving her the opportunity to run the offense. After this change, the Blue team was finally able to reach their goal-scoring potential, going from 140*-30 loss to Red at the beginning of Day 1 to a controversial 170-160* loss in overtime to the same team. Beyond that, Missy has more utility than most players, playing all four positions over the course of the tournament and excelling at each.
Round 3: Chris Seto – Silver
Peter Lee and Chris Seto are remarkably similar, and the fact that Seto slipped to the third round of the draft is amazing. The Silver team had one of the strongest beating pairs in the tournament, with Seto using speed, endurance, and awareness to maintain bludger control, front a solid defense, and help their offense advance up pitch. Honorable Mention in this round goes to the Red team's Michael Binger, whose speed and strength were useful on both sides of the quaffle as well as at seeker.
Round 4: Justin Regan – Orange
Although Red's Duston Mazzella was also a tremendous male beater pick in this round, Justin Regan was arguably the MVP of the orange team. Despite losing their first round draft pick early in their first game, Justin's high-energy beating kept the Orange team in contention against most teams. Overall, this was a tournament where strong beater play decided most matches, and although he was a late choice for a starting male beater, Justin proved he could match up against those who drafted before him.
Round 5: Ericka Phanthip – Red
With most teams sticking with a standard distribution of female players, one at beater and one at chaser, many of the best picks in this round were male chasers, like Luke Sanchez and Sunil Venugopal. However, for the Red team's two male beater strategy to work, they needed at least two solid female chasers. Because of this, securing that second female chaser was crucial for Tony, and nobody expected the relatively new Ericka Phanthip to play as well as she did. Phanthip brought huge energy and physicality, showing she could take down players much larger than herself.
Round 6: Nebraska Huggins – Green
As another new player, Nebraska Huggins proved himself to be a true athlete. On a team that lacked an experienced keeper, Nebraska stepped up to the challenge, impressing not only with his speed and strength, but also with how quickly he learned. Improving between each game, Nebraska was an impressive physical asset both on offense and defense, and was one of the leading scorers for the Green team. What he lacked in experience, he was able to make up for with raw athleticism and natural talent.
Round 7: Andrew Waldschmidt – Red
Many captains passed on drafting Andrew earlier, believing he was only planning on playing beater. However, when he decided to play chaser, Andrew became the steal of the round, bringing a lot of experience and tremendous speed to the Red team. Additionally, as a member of the Lost Boys, Andrew was an excellent chemistry choice to play with Tony Rodriguez and Amanda Turtles.
Round 8: Dakota Sky Bloom – Pink
After a last minute drop from their fourth round draft pick, many didn't think the Pink team would do particularly well. Dakota outperformed my expectations for him, aiding their team's quaffle play tremendously with impressive physicality both on offense and defense. Although Pink ended with a losing record, their quaffle point differential was close to 0, showing that they were able to hang close with most teams, something that likely wouldn't have happened without Dakota.
Round 9: Justin Madriaga – Black
Finding a capable beater this late in the draft was extremely difficult, especially with most of the experienced players already selected. Despite being relatively new to quidditch, Justin was able to learn quickly, and benefitted from his own natural speed and athleticism. Two other solid drafts from this round were Miranda and Sofia de la Vega, a beater and chaser respectively. Much like Justin, they were both able to play a significant role on their teams despite being relatively inexperienced compared to other players.
Round 10: Daniel Daniels – Orange
When one of the players expected to lead a team is unable to compete, an opportunity arises for another to fill their place. For the Pink team, losing Henry Raschke gave Dakota Sky Bloom the chance to step up, while for the Orange team, Alex Makk's injury did the same for Daniel Daniels. Like many of the top mid-round picks, Daniel's sheer athleticism made him a useful teammate despite being new to quidditch.
Round 11: Kevin Hayes – Silver
Although the high schooler Alberto Amaya was incredibly impressive in his play for the Orange team, he unfortunately was unable to return the second day. The two other standouts from this round of the draft were Kevin Hayes and Caleb White, both new players from the Long Beach Funky Quaffles. With so many athletic players coming to Firemercs from the Funky Quaffles, I expect this team to turn some heads in the coming year.
Round 12: Octabio Garcia – Black
It's hard to know where to draft a player who is both difficult to find on Facebook and currently unaffiliated with a team. Despite this, Octabio had more combined experience and athleticism than any other player left in the draft. With two years of experience playing for Harvard, including a run at World Cup V, and an athletic soccer background, Octabio was a great supporting chaser and seeker, putting up several goals and a snitch snatch. Hopefully he'll find a team to play with next season.
Round 13: Rachel Iverson – Blue
For someone who signed up with zero experience playing quidditch, Rachel Iverson was able to make a positive impact for her team. She was able to attend several of the open practices leading up the tournament, giving her a chance to not only get acquainted to the game, but also get some valuable playing time with her teammates. Rachel was able to pick up smart positioning strategy very quickly, and was used much more than many players drafted in the same round. While a last minute drop from another player in this round opened up a spot for Kayl Eubanks, who proved to be quite useful to the Red team, he certainly would have been drafted earlier (in other words, I feel weird saying he won this round).
Round 14: Tom Lehman – Blue
Together with Rachel Iverson, Tom Lehman received significantly more playtime than others drafted at a similar time, providing his teammates a valuable chance to sub without fear of losing ground. Lehman was eager to learn, taking great direction from his teammates, leading to the type of solid teamwork that gave him an assist in the finals against a very well organized Red team.
Results
Pool Play Pool 1 (Purple, Silver, Red) Silver def. Purple 160*-10 Red def. Purple 200*-40 Red def. Silver 100*-30 Pool 2 (Black, Pink, Blue) Black def. Pink 150*-70 Blue def. Black 130*-60 Blue def. Pink 110^-70* Pool 3 (White, Orange, Green) Orange def. White 100*-40 Green def. Orange 120*-60 White def. Green 90*^-70 Pool 4 (Purple, Black, White) White def. Purple 140*-10 Black def. Purple 100*-30 Black def. White 80*-50 Pool 5 (Silver, Pink, Orange) Pink def. Orange 80*-30 Silver def. Orange 160*-90 Silver def. Pink 110*-50 Pool 6 (Red, Blue, Green) Red def. Blue 140*-30 Green def. Blue 70*-30 Red def. Green 90-80* Pool Play Standings| Rank | Team | Record | Quaffle Point Diff. |
| 1 | Red (Rodriguez) | 4-0 | +290 |
| 2 | Silver (Oelze) | 3-1 | +180 |
| 3 | Black (Browne) | 3-1 | +50 |
| 4 | White (Tran) | 2-2 | +30 |
| 5 | Green (Walters) | 2-2 | +40 |
| 6 | Blue (Hanson/DiCarlo) | 2-2 | -10 |
| 7 | Pink (Lock) | 1-3 | -30 |
| 8 | Orange (Fernandez) | 1-3 | -120 |
| 9 | Purple (Davis/Taber) | 0-4 | -390 |
