Fast Takes with FastBreak: Central Conference Championships
By: FBN Staff
St. Louis, Missouri, hosts one of the most highly touted weekends in MLQ history, as the first-ever Central Conference Championships bring together five incredible teams competing for seeding at MLQ Championships in mid-August. Sparks will fly as each team battles to give itself the best possible chance in their all-important opening matchup in Lancaster County.
Top billing goes to the series between the first seeds of the Lakes and Frontier Divisions, as the perennial powerhouse Chicago Prowl faces the ascending Kansas City Stampede. The winner will earn the conference’s top overall seed, along with momentum and bragging rights entering MLQ Championship weekend. The loser, meanwhile, will continue to jockey for position alongside a dangerous trio of teams: the reigning MLQ champion San Antonio Soldados, the wild-card Minneapolis Monarchs and the new-and-improved offensive juggernaut Houston Legends.
All five teams have taken vastly different paths to this point and enter the Central Conference Championships with different goals and expectations. Below, FastBreak News contributors break down their stories and where they might be headed.
Kansas City Stampede
The Kansas City Stampede entered the season with lofty expectations. Their first-place ranking in the FastBreak News preseason poll placed them among the select group of MLQ teams viewed as championship contenders. To maintain that status, Kansas City would need not only to defeat its longtime rivals, the vastly improved Houston Legends, but also to beat the San Antonio Soldados in an away series, a circumstance in which the Stampede had never won a single game. Head coach Lauren Smith had plenty to accomplish during the regular season alone. But now, after completing both tasks, Kansas City enters St. Louis no longer as a talented team on paper still needing to prove its worth, but as a legitimate contender that can take this tournament in a variety of directions.
With the abundance of accomplished players the Stampede assembled this season, combined with the ascending core that began to gel in Kansas City last year, Smith implemented a game plan that allowed the roster to flourish within a set of franchise-defining principles. That approach has paid dividends, as evidenced by each of the Stampede’s greatest strengths.
Elite beaters such as Chanun Ong, Justin Dewick and Addi Himmelman have consistently disrupted opposing offenses through their contrasting styles of play. Kansas City has also used its considerable beater depth to create a frenetic pace that puts opposing beaters on the back foot and tests their endurance and focus.
Offensively, volume scorers such as Riley Usami, Ryan Mehio and Vincent Reyes have not only settled into their individual rhythms but also developed chemistry with one another, passing in motion and stringing together multiple connections to create favorable matchups and capitalize on late rotations around the hoops.
However, if one player has been both invaluable to and emblematic of the Stampede’s success, it is Keighlyn Johnson, whose emergence as a versatile utility player has been a revelation. Before this MLQ regular season, Johnson was primarily known as a physical beater who specialized in tackling and neutralizing opposing offensive beaters. She also excelled at running 1.5 plays that disrupted armed anchor beaters and created opportunities for her chasers to drive near the hoops. This season, however, Johnson’s abilities as both a chaser and seeker have taken center stage. At chaser, she has repeatedly finished near the hoops by deking and weaving around defenders for dunks, while also displaying an impressive shooting range from difficult angles. At seeker, Johnson’s flag catch in Game Two of Kansas City’s series against the Soldados secured the Stampede’s first-ever win in San Antonio and provided the momentum the team needed to earn a decisive series victory in Game Three. Johnson’s season has been a tour de force and a sterling example of the success of Smith’s long-term commitment to putting her players, particularly the women on her roster, in positions to excel.
With the crown to the Frontier Division secured, Kansas City’s first and possibly only opponent for the weekend will be the perennial championship contender — the Chicago Prowl. The matchup presents a contrast in how each team reached this point: the Stampede relied on veteran chemistry to navigate a difficult regular-season schedule, while the Prowl used a relatively lighter slate to develop young talent within Chicago’s established system. The Prowl won comfortably when these teams met at the 2025 MLQ Championship weekend, but Kansas City’s deeper roster and improved chemistry make this rematch far harder to call.
Some concern remains that the Stampede have been without key players such as Darian Murcek-Ellis, Lauren Curry and Tiffannie Chang and may struggle to reintegrate them this late in the season. Those fears have merit, but Kansas City’s free-flowing offense does not require players to master a rigid system before contributing. All three possess the versatility and game sense to quickly find their place. With a favorable location and the deeper talent pool, the Stampede should enter the matchup not as an underdog, but as a slight favorite.
Truthfully, Kansas City’s result against Chicago should not be a measuring stick for what the team will be capable of in the coming MLQ Championships. The Stampede have proven too much at this point to be dismissed, save for an unexpected blowout loss to the Prowl. Barring unexpected upsets in the Eastern Conference Championships, Kansas City will be favored whether it enters Championship weekend as the first, second or even third seed. All the Eastern Conference teams that the Stampede could face have strengths on their rosters and in their play this season. However, those teams also have flaws that the Stampede can exploit in the quarterfinals.
All that said, the Stampede should not simply rest on their laurels this weekend. Momentum is everything in a league like MLQ, even more so for a team that plays with the pace and fluidity of Kansas City. If the Stampede treat the Central Conference Championships like they treated their fantastic regular season, expect to see one of the best teams in the league end the weekend with a series win against its final opponent, be it the Prowl or the second seed victorious in its first matchup.
Chicago Prowl
The Chicago Prowl entered the year as a favorite to win it all with new head coach Tad Walters. Since moving to Chicago four seasons ago, the Prowl have lost only one game. But to continue that streak this season, they face their toughest regular-season matchup against the red-hot Kansas City Stampede.
The Prowl comes into this Central Conference Championships after slaughtering of the Toronto Raiders, effectively ending their season, off the backs of their young players. Now these young players have to jump to playing against a roster loaded with USNT talent.
The name of the game for Chicago this season has been the arrival of young players and newer coaches. Between Walters and his staff, there are a combined two seasons of experience among the four coaches as a coach for Prowl. This staff has done a great job of mixing in youth with the veterans and finding successes in development. Rookies such as Kevin Fantozzi and Braedon Guenther at chaser have both reached the double digits in scoring on the season, while beaters Jason Anderson and Fianna Sullivan have come in and played major minutes with three stops apiece. Prowl’s staff deserves credit for developing their players and their continued success, especially without superstar Nathan Digmann, who will again be absent this weekend.
While the development of young players is clear, the growth of many veteran players has been on full display this season and needs discussion. Liam Zach III has stepped into a star role for this roster and has really bought into helping the young players grow, slowing the offense for themselves and their teammates and still holding their tenacity on defense. Zach III has consistently been a star for this roster, but the leap this year has been very noticeable, with a triple-double in stats through just six games. This includes 13 goals, 13 assists and 10 stops, which is just shy of their career-high season in 2024, but in half the games.
Chicago’s beater game has taken a step up as well. Their veterans, Brown and Ausra, have only played a combined 40 drives. Veronica Hoffman has created a case for an MVP nomination this season as she leads the league in plus/minus with 25 across 61 drives. Chicago has scored 37 times when Hoffman is on the pitch, where she leads the league. She does this accompanied by seven stops and an average dodgeballs of 1.623. Her ability to dissect plays, make smart decisions to hold onto the ball and play her role on the team has contributed heavily to the team’s success. When Hoffman comes off, their opponents’ task doesn’t get any easier either, as Camila Rodriguez creates the same issues. Rodriguez currently leads the team in stops (3rd in the league) and is 3rd on the team in plus/minus with 15.
Each team relies on an X-Factor player who may not play the most minutes or may not get all the glamor of the stars who get all the stats. The X-Factor for this roster this weekend, especially due to their versatility, is Amelia Winke. Winke is the ultimate hustle player for this team as she wears any headband whenever asked.. Winke is primarily a beater for this roster, but has logged minutes at chaser as well. Without Ausra this weekend, her minutes will be crucial for the team, especially depending on who she ends up beating with. Up to this point in the season, she has spent the most time beating with Walters, and without Walters’ typical partner in Ausra, Winke’s role will come into full effect against a potentially 10-deep beating core line against Kansas City.
Looking at hypotheticals for Chicago, outside of the moral victory of winning against a championship contender, the Prowl have a chance to set themselves up for a much easier path to the finals with a win over the Stampede. The favorite to be the top seed of the Eastern Conference is the New York Titans, and if Chicago slips to the second seed, they put themselves on the same side of the bracket as the other title favorite. But it also puts Kansas City on that side as well. The much more favorable side of the bracket with teams such as the Boston Forge or the San Antonio Soldados as likely semi-finals opponents will be the favorable side for the Prowl, rather than having to run into New York.
Keys To Success for Chicago:
SoP Dominance: Kansas City has shown in their series against San Antonio that their SoP chasing is unstoppable. Chicago needs to find ways to create balance for their beaters to help in the chaser game against dynamic scorers such as Ryan Mehio or Riley Usami while preventing a potential catch. Chicago has a great core of seekers going into this series, including Walters, Andrew Parchim and Matt Melton. In a matchup that will be a bloodbath, allowing a Kansas City catch could be the blunder that loses them the series.
Manage Beating Lines: We already know the dominance of the top of a beating core starring USNT’s Matt Brown, Walters, Hoffman, Rodriguez and Winke. However, they’ll have no easy feat in dealing with a DEEP line of beaters headlined by USNT’s Lauren Curry, along with multiple USNDTA players in Derek Dearking and Ryan Cleary. The Prowl is loaded with potentially four or five lines of beaters. The question for Chicago is who can they rely on to play major minutes when both teams reach their third line of beaters? The play of the beaters later in the depth chart may determine a tight series, as each game could easily be decided by one crucial sequence.
Avoid the point defenders: Chicago’s offense cooks whenever they find opportunities to make the extra pass and cut. This team is waltzing into a battle against some of the best point defenders in the league in Mehio and Jackson Herdade, which will make you regret driving on them with a defensive wall on the medium hoop in Lauren Smith, who will make dunking even harder. Chicago needs to be smart in choosing their battles on who to test on KC’s defense. The patience of Chicago’s ball carriers will be tested, and they will really need to move the ball quickly to force KC to rotate hard and find mismatches that favor them.
San Antonio Soldados
Expectations were high for the San Antonio Soldados as they entered the 2026 MLQ season as undisputed champions. However, the Soldados finished the season with an even 3-3 record, a stark downgrade from their undefeated success last season. While the talk of the town around San Antonio has been the big names they’ve lost, such as Jay Stewart, Daniel Williams and more, the Soldados have quietly changed their style to embrace the younger athletes who have filled the gaps in their roster. With a FastBreak News ranking of No. 4, will the Soldados manage to take care of business at Central Conference Champs this weekend, or will the growing pains prove to be too much?
San Antonio began their regular season by heading to meet the Houston Legends and took home a 2-1 series victory. This matchup marked the first time that the Soldados have dropped a game to the Legends since 2021, a staggering stat that may have raised some red flags for viewers. However, the Soldados shouldn’t be judged too harshly after this result, since San Antonio took their last game against Houston to run through their depth and build up their newer players. Against Houston, younger players got time to shine, such as Ella Jordan and Sohum Sharma. Veterans for the Soldados also came up big in big moments. Key performances include USNT members Miguel Esparza and Hayden Boyes, who combined for a brutal 23 goals, eight assists and 13 stops throughout the series. David Avila, the reigning MLQ Southwest MVP, also tallied eight goals, four assists and five stops, greatly contributing to the Soldados’ victory. The beating game was once again held down by veterans Kris De La Fuente and Baldemar Nuñez, the duo proving to be too much for the Houston beaters and securing the series win.
The second series of the season proved to be heartbreak for San Antonio, as the No. 2 Kansas City Stampede traveled down to Texas to defeat the Soldados 2-1 on their home turf for the first time. The Soldados managed to win Game One 165-110 after a clutch flag-runner catch from Avila, but the Stampede were able to crawl their way back and beat the Soldados decisively 205-120 and 165-120. San Antonio most likely walked away from this series frustrated and feeling like the victory was stolen out from under them, knowing that Kansas City was missing big names from their roster. However, as the Soldados enter the Central Conference Championships, that fire could be the final spark to fuel them to success.
With their series win against Houston and defeat at the hands of Kansas City, the Soldados will enter Central Conference Championships matched up against the No. 9 Minneapolis Monarchs. This matchup is familiar to San Antonio — during last year’s Benepe Cup semifinals, the Soldados decisively defeated the Monarchs 185-80 and 180-115 to advance to the finals, where they would secure their first-ever MLQ Championship in program history. The Soldados will surely be looking to win this series similarly to last year to battle for the No. 2 seed at MLQ Champs, where a win against Minneapolis will stack them up against the loser of Kansas City vs the Chicago Prowl. If the Soldados want to remain a contender this year, they’ll have to bounce back this weekend. But if head coach Boyes can make some key adjustments and continue to trust in his team, what’s stopping them from victory?
Minneapolis Monarchs
The Central Conference Championship is just around the corner; for the Minneapolis Monarchs, it is a time to reignite the flame inside. The Monarchs have an official record of 3-3 after a forfeit from the Toronto Raiders and a tough series loss to the Chicago Prowl. However, when looking at games actually played, including the exhibition against Chicago’s Meow Stars practice squad, the Monarchs fall to 2-4. As the Monarchs head into Central Conference Champs with a guaranteed meeting with the San Antonio Soldados, fans everywhere will be optimistic that Minneapolis can put up a good fight and potentially meet the Prowl to battle for the Central Conference second seed. If Chicago and the Monarchs face again, it will only lead to an explosive series, but first they have to bring everything they’ve got to the series against the Soldados. Both the Monarchs and San Antonio have something to prove so it should be a battle for the ages.
For the tournament this weekend, the roster is full of young talent. The college kids on the Monarchs will get a lot of opportunities to showcase their abilities and follow more senior players, since they are outnumbering the senior players. Younger beaters will rely on the strengths of Meredith McDowell, Ben Schlueter and Cody Narveson. Bruce Lowmanstone scored 2 goals in the Chicago series which translates to a little over 10% of the goals in the whole series. Can Bruce keep up the pressure without the support? On the chaser end of the team, the veteran players will be outnumbered by the collegiate players. One player that the Monarchs will be missing this weekend is Max Meier. They have scored 7 goals in the series making them one of the most dominant on the team. With five long-time MLQ vets and six collegiate players, chasing lines will be a good mix of abilities and a range of game sense. The weekend will lend itself to learning opportunities and extended playtime at a higher level.
Saturday starts the official postseason for the Central Conference and the Monarchs are set to face the San Antonio Soldados. The Soldados had a great performance last season, resulting in their first-ever Benepe Cup. However, this season, San Antonio has had some issues keeping up with their undefeated season. Their season ended with a 3-3 record, highlighted by a 2-1 series win against the Houston Legends. In their second series, they faced the Kansas City Stampede, where they fell 2-1. Based on the performances in these two series, there is a chance that the Monarchs at their best could pull out the win against San Antonio.
The Sunday series will depend on the San Antonio Soldados series on Saturday. If the Monarchs manage to pull it off, they will face either the Kansas City Stampede or the Prowl (again). If they fall to San Antonio, they will face off against the Houston Legends, another Texan powerhouse, to determine their final seeding heading into MLQ Champs. Given the Soldados undefeated record last season and their .500 record this season I believe they will pull one out against the Monarchs but that it will go to the third game. As far as who the Monarchs face on Sunday waits to be seen but if it is Kansas City or Chicago I predict the series final to be in their favor of 3 - 0. If they face the Legends I believe the series will end in 2 - 1 in the Monarchs favor.
Houston Legends
This past MLQ season has been rougher than expected for the Houston Legends, but not without victory. The Legends began their season with a 0-3 record in their series against the Kansas City Stampede. They then fell 1-2 to the San Antonio Soldados, bringing their record to 1-5. With Central Conference Championships looming and a bid to MLQ Champs already secured, can the Legends salvage the rest of their season and enter the final weekend before Champs on a high?
The start of Houston’s season looked very promising thanks to their new recruits from Texas, UTSA and Texas Hill Country Heat. They also acquired some young talent from SHSU and UTSA. This, combined with the Legends' already impressive roster, meant there was hope they could turn their winless record from last season around. Key players from the regular season include Riley Moelhmann, a transfer from the Soldados who leads the team in stats with 14 goals, 14 assists and 14 stops. Another crucial season performance comes from longtime Legend Brandon Kubena, who tallied 11 goals, 10 assists and four stops.
Despite that, a strong roster is only part of the recipe for victory, and did not prove to make a big enough difference. The Legends had a total loss in their series against Kansas City, a repeat of last year. However, the Legends did claim one victory over the Soldados at their home series, improving on their 0-3 record against San Antonio from 2025.
With all this being said, the Legends did improve slightly this season. But many doubt it will be enough to pull them to the top of their conference championships. With Toronto having forfeited their Conference Championship matchup against the Legends, Houston will move on to MLQ Champs. But this may prove to work against the Legends, as they will lose a game opportunity to hone their skills on the pitch. The Legends are slated to play the losers of the San Antonio Soldados vs the Minneapolis Monarchs on Sunday to battle for the No. 4 Central seed for MLQ Champs. This matchup is definitely circled on the Legends’ schedule and with the right game plan, a victory against the 3-3 Monarchs is certainly within reach. There should be no doubt that the Legends could very well surprise us all.
