NERC All-Tournament Team

Correspondents Devin Sandon and Michael Parada along with Managerial Editor Ethan Sturm compiled the top performers from last month’s Northeast Regional Championship to create an All-Tournament Team.

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FIRST TEAM

David Stack – Tufts University – Keeper
David Stack is the whole package.  On offense, he can drive, dish and shoot at a high level. He can shed hits, maneuver around bigger players, hit the open receiver and consistently hit an open shot. If there is no beater to stop Stack, be prepared to play some very tough defense or get scored on. On the defensive side of things, he is a very skilled shot blocker and interceptor of passes. He has good defensive positioning, and with the man-to-man defense that Tufts runs, he plays his role of shot blocker/free safety very well.
-Michael Parada

Kedzie Teller – QC Boston: the Massacre – Chaser
It’s been a long road back to competing for a Northeast title for Kedzie Teller, but it is in spite of his talents, not because of them. It should be no surprise to see a two-time Team USA member on this list. But, while Teller has long been known for his point defending and speed, it was his performance offensively off-ball in Rochester that solidified his spot on the first team. Even when drawing heavy coverage, Teller is a consistent and desperately needed passing option for keeper Jayke Archibald. He is capable of incisive cuts and impressive plays in the air. Add that to his already impressive play at point defensively, as well as in the fast break, and it is easy to see that Teller is firing on all cylinders in his seventh year in the sport.
-Ethan Sturm 

Hannah DeBaets – Tufts University – Chaser
Hannah DeBaets has long held a reputation as one of the best female chasers in the country on defense. She is notable for her tight man coverage, as well as both her willingness and ability to hit anyone regardless of size. With the rise of double male beaters though, she has been given an opportunity to shine even brighter in another role. DeBaets is the girl who can do it all; while she can catch and finish at the hoops, she is equally comfortable making plays in the open field. She can dish off precise passes to her teammates or drive through opposing defenders to the hoops. DeBaets has great awareness and a phenomenal sense for pitch positioning and strategy.
-Devin Sandon 

Emily Hickmott – Tufts University – Chaser
While Emily Hickmott has long been in teammate DeBaets’ shadow, she is increasingly stepping into the light. At the Northeast Regional Championship, she demonstrated excellent play on both sides of the ball. With excellent positioning and great hands, Hickmott is adept at finishing by the hoops, as well as making secondary passes when necessary. On defense, she marks well off-ball but its her ability to bring opponents to the ground the really stands out. She is fearless when it comes to contact. While other players might make hits because they are necessary, Hickmott seems to generally gravitate towards making hits because she genuinely enjoys making them.
-Devin Sandon

Max Havlin – QC Boston: the Massacre – Beater
In a region of talented, athletic male beaters, Team USA’s Max Havlin continues to separate himself from the pack. What makes him stand out is his aggression both offensively and defensively, which fuels the Massacre fast break and allows him to take over games in a way many of his compatriots cannot. His role was expanded to even more playing time than usual with teammate Michael Sanders forced into seeker duties at times, but Havlin continued to excel. Massacre is the region’s most dominant team pre-snitch play, and that is in no small part due to Havlin’s play.
-Ethan Sturm 

Kyle Jeon – New York University – Beater
Kyle Jeon is a very athletic beater with a good sense of what other beaters are going to do. He is very offensive-minded and creates lanes for his chasers/keepers so they can make easy drives. He works very well with his beater partners and leads them on both ends of the pitch. He has great hands; he is very good at catching bludgers thrown at him and baiting other beaters into beating him. He is quick and has a lot of energy, so he is able to log a lot of minutes for his NYU squad.
-Michael Parada 

Austin Sweeney – New York University – Seeker
It’s hard to sum up Austin Sweeney’s rise to becoming the top seeker in the Northeast, so I’m going to do it as simply as possible. In Rochester, Sweeney was 2-0 in SWIM situations, both coming with Harry Greenhouse snitching and both coming on basically one pass, improving Sweeney to 9-1 in his last 10 SWIM situations. Those are almost unattainable numbers, no matter how talented you are. There is no doubt that Sweeney is talented. He’s smart, patient and has the large frame and long arms necessary to give snitches nightmares. His combination of clutch and efficiency is at the heart of NYU’s rise to prominence.
-Ethan Sturm

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SECOND TEAM 

Jayke Archibald – Q.C. Boston: the Massacre – Keeper
You can easily make a case that Jayke Archibald was the Most Valuable Player at the Northeast Regional Championship, if for no other reason than Massacre has no one else that can do what he does on either side of the ball. He is the team’s only true ball carrier, with a solid and varied arsenal of passes and mid-range shots to keep opposing defenses honest. He is also more than capable of cutting his way through a bludgerless opposition. He is also a force at his own hoops, utilizing his long arms and sizable range to pick passes out of the air and knock down just about every shot that comes at him from a distance. Archibald subs out less than any other elite player on a top team in the region, and it is hard to imagine Massacre would have gotten anywhere near as far without him.
-Ethan Sturm 

Kyle Carey – New York University – Chaser
Kyle Carey simply knows how to hero ball at a high level. He is a solid chaser who, when bringing the ball up, has a quick first step and is very hard to bring down solo. Once he reaches the hoops, it is hard to stop him because he has the patience to pump fake or just go to another hoop if need be. He is not afraid of bludgers, but who would be with the squad of NYU beaters readily available to open lanes?
-Michael Parada 

Devon Ramsey – Tufts University – Chaser
Freshman Devon Ramsey has been referred to as “Alley-oop Kid” and it is very understandable. Ramsey’s vertical and ability to consistently finish by the hoops really jumps out at you (pun intended). However, to reduce Ramsey’s performance to this single dimension is to severely understate him. Ramsey is a very strong player on defense, utilizing his speed and quickness to lock down opponents off-man, while still being very capable of making hits as necessary. Offensively, he primarily looks to receive and finish balls by the hoops, but he is certainly capable of making secondary passes and drives. He just rarely needs to.
-Devin Sandon

Molly Potter – New York University – Chaser
One of just two freshmen to make the all-tournament team, Molly Potter serves a vital role for NYU: another scoring threat while the team is in a two-male beater set. While her game has clearly not fully fleshed out yet, she undoubtedly has a nose for the hoops and the ability to slip into the exact, right space in the defense, skills that many take years for some to develop. Most comfortable working from behind the hoops, she’s always ready to cut into space, as NYU’s ball carriers drive, with a quick, effective finish that will serve her for years to come. Her performances have been huge throughout the season, but perhaps none have been bigger than the advantage she gave her team against Massacre, who the Nundu defeated in pool play.
-Ethan Sturm

Andrew Miller – Tufts University – Beater
Despite being new to the game, Andrew Miller has excelled in beating at the highest level. Miller is a quick, dynamic player, with a strong arm and fantastic hands. Beyond mechanics, Miller displayed incredible poise and decision making in the Northeast Regional final, where he and partner Nick Ryder were able to take advantage of NYU’s focus on the snitch to create a number of opportunities for the Tufflepuffs to drive against bludgerless defenses to get out of range. Miller was rarely caught out of position and applied pressure adeptly both with and without a bludger in hand. In a beater duel by the snitch, Miller had a highlight worthy exchange with beater Jeon, in which he caught three throws in succession while returning fire and forcing Jeon back to his hoops.
-Devin Sandon 

Leeanne Dillman – Emerson College – Beater
Emerson’s beater game went through a complete transition this offseason, and if it were not for Leeanne Dillman, the unit might be in shambles. Forced into major minutes, even with opponents commonly going into two-male beater sets, she consistently put in strong shifts to keep Emerson in games and prove that she’s one of the very best at the position in the region. In a quarterfinal match against NYU, Emerson was able to use the versatility Dillman provides to maintain bludger control early with a one-male beater set against NYU’s two-male beater set. With slightly better execution in the quaffle game, Emerson could have converted that into a sizable early edge. Dillman mixes sneaky athleticism with a deep knowledge of the game, and it showed again and again throughout the weekend.
-Ethan Sturm 

Marcus Flowers – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – Seeker
Looking purely at the record, it may be difficult to determine the strength of RPI’s seeking game. The team has played only two snitch-range games so far this year, and only one of the two was at the Northeast Regional. However, both games are incredibly telling. In their first snitch-range game, RPI was down 30 with the quaffle and instructed their seeker not to pull until they scored. The snitch was fully aware that Flowers would turn on him the second there was a goal, but the knowledge did him no good. Within three seconds of the following RPI goal, Flowers had the snitch and the game for RPI. At the Northeast Regional Championship, RPI played only one game in snitch range: their World Cup-qualifying match against Harvard University. With vaunted snitch Greenhouse assigned to the game, it seemed likely to be a long one. However, within seconds of the snitch’s release, Flowers made an absolutely beautiful diving catch to punch a ticket to World Cup for RPI. Flowers is incredibly quick and strong.
-Devin Sandon

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