Fast Takes with Fast Break: Washington Admirals vs Boston Forge
Authors: Isabel Roseth and Ashton Butler
Forging the Seas
As we approach the end of the MLQ season, we get to see another exciting matchup between the Boston Forge and the Washington Admirals. This has been the final series on Washington’s calendar since 2023, and in that time span the teams have split the results 1-1 across the series. For Boston, this is a chance to hold their ground as the two seed in their pool, and Washington is looking to prove why they are still the third best team in their division. The Admirals will need to win at least two of these games to clinch the third seed with a very slim chance of getting the two seed if Ottawa sweeps Boston, which is unlikely. For Boston, they can clinch the second seed in the East Division for the second year in a row with two wins in this matchup, but with a pending Ottawa series, they only need to win one game against Washington if they expect to sweep Ottawa in August. Boston has a real chance to play the villain for Washington in this series by sweeping and put them in a difficult spot heading into championships as a four seed rather than a three seed.
Series Rosters
Washington
Washington comes into this series after the midpoint in the season and a tough 1-2 series loss against the Charlotte Aviators in which they were without their lead chaser, Riley Starrs. Thankfully, Washington will bring back Starrs for this series as well as other key veterans, such as Athilesh Thanigai. Starrs is a clear and obvious boost for this team as he brings a veteran presence to create opportunities for his teammates as he leads the Admirals in assists per game. Starrs’ impact to Washington is undeniable, but the reintroduction of a veteran such as Thanigai will be needed in order to deal with the athletic threats on Boston. Athletic beaters on the Forge pose a big threat for Washington even beyond their USNT talent in players Cleo Brooks, Ufuk Guner and Thomas Demouth. Thanigai’s reintroduction to the team will be able to help provide relief for the star duo of Colin Bourn and Adrian Koretsky, who lead the league in both beater stops and drives. This beating core is finally at full strength on the season as they will have their top beaters across the board in Koretsky, Bourn, Thanigai, Joey Beh, Diana Howard and Robert Rice. This depth is something they will need to look at utilizing to stay fresh and test the depth of Boston.
From the chaser perspective, they also seem to have put together a strong line full of depth going into this matchup. The most glaring issue for this team will be playing without superstar Bryan Mulcahy, but other chasers are ready to pick up for his absence. Caitlyn Breslow returns for Washington after leading the team in goals against the New York Titans with four, and making their return for their second series of the season. The introduction of young chasers such as Breslow and Chantal Siodlarz have given the team a real boost offensively and allows the team to utilize their depth and continue to build on relationships from their college affiliations. Siodlarz, Nathan Jun and Zan Siddiqui were a power trio at USQ Nationals in Virginia’s run to the Division 1 Final. It would be fun to get to watch them play together along with the aggression of the Admirals’ beaters. Washington will need to look to young stars in Jun as well as Levan Tsiskarishvili, who now leads the team in flag catches. Overall, Washington has the pieces to make noise in this series, but it will come down to their ability to work with each other and setting each other up for success.
Boston
Boston’s roster boasts all their old reliables, but Forge is bringing more to this series than their stars. Washington rostered many recognizable names, including, but not limited to Koretsky and Starrs, but this season, Forge has proven their ability to put out strong, well-rounded lines, which may be a challenge for the Admirals’ star players.
With standout performances in previous series, rookies like Zach Donofrio, Ryan Callaghan and Brooks will face less of a challenge this weekend than they did against New York, but the Admirals’ veterans won’t go down easy. Forge chasers will need to set up a defense unbreakable by even Starrs or Liz Stone if they hope to achieve and maintain a large score differential. If their performance this season is any indication, Boston has a good chance of sweeping. They swept their series against Charlotte 3-0, in which the scores were not close, and notably took a game off of New York, who are widely considered to be the strongest team in MLQ this season. Comparatively, Washington was blown out of the water by the Titans and struggled against Charlotte, although, as previously mentioned, they were missing a couple of their most notable players.
This weekend, the seeker game is surely in everyone’s thoughts, as it lends Washington a chance to gain a leg up. Boston’s seekers are good, but not many in number. Stephen Trempel’s catch in game two against New York — which notably secured Boston the win — is promising, but Flag Runner on Pitch is an incredibly variable point of the game, and Forge is not guaranteed a catch. That said, neither is Washington, but the two teams are more equally matched in the seeker game than in chasing or beating. Boston is known for their beater pairs, including Lulu Xu and Max Havlin, and will likely dominate when it comes to FROP.
Washington’s Keys To Victory
Chasers create openings for beaters. The Admirals have really struggled in matchups where their beating core has been forced into a matchup with a USNT beater, and unfortunately for them, the test continues. Havlin and Xu are a nightmare to deal with from their aggressive play and intelligence to force opponents into mistakes. In the New York series, the Washington beaters struggled with much of the same pressure that the Boston beaters will bring this weekend. To adjust to this, chasers on Washington need to look to create openings for their beaters to make plays by drawing beats and taking players out of the play in their passing and off-ball movement.
Hands up defense. Boston has one of the most skilled teams when it comes to both shooting the ball and finding the open person cutting on hoops. Washington needs to ensure they are attacking balls in the air, creating deflections and turnovers. Most importantly, they need to ensure chasers are filling in hoops as people leave to attack a defender.
Ride the hot hand. The top players of each series have changed for Washington every time. Against New York, the hot hands were rookies Breslow and Siodlarz, against Ottawa, Starrs, and against Charlotte, Jun. Washington needs to figure out who is hot in this series and look to put them in positions to play major minutes in order to win this series and create momentum heading into MLQ Championships.
