Kansas City Stampede Season Preview: Raising the Steaks

Author: Jack Levy

Last Season:

The 2024 MLQ season was an emotional rollercoaster for Kansas City Stampede fans. They opened their season in a tight series against the San Antonio Soldados. They lost all three games, with two of them being in-range. With a set of close games against the eventual division champions, the Stampede proved on opening weekend they were to be taken seriously. After a great showing in San Antonio, the team travelled back to Texas, where they lost handedly to both the Austin Outlaws and New Orleans Curse in the South SuperSeries. The losses were somewhat shocking, considering the Stampede were unable to play one in-range game across the weekend. Nonetheless, the Outlaws and Curse were formidable opponents who had to travel far less. After a disappointing 0-9 start to the season, the Stampede hosted the League City Legends at the Cattledome with the final spot at MLQ Championships on the line. The Legends already had three wins entering the series; two against the Outlaws and one against the Curse. This meant the only hope for Kansas City to qualify for the postseason was to pull off a 3-0 sweep after not winning a game all year. With home field advantage on their side, the Stampede were able to squeeze out three wins in a tight series, eliminating the Legends and claiming the last spot at Championships. After the nail-biter to the end the season, Kansas City had an impressive showing in Maryland. They went on to be one of the two teams to make it out of the play-in bracket. After a long day of play-in games, they lost to the Soldados in a rematch. Last year was a whirlwind for the Stampede, and this season looks to be no different, except with the steaks much higher.

Returners:

Lauren Smith (Mizzou)

Keighlyn Johnson (Chaos)

Aaron Stout (Boom Train)

Derek Dearking (Creighton)

JD Hopton 

Miles Himmelmann (Mizzou)

Vincent Reyes (Boom Train)

Chanun Ong (Boom Train)

Ben Engels

Haley Grothaus (Mizzou)

Danny Rendon  (Creighton)

Jackson Herdade (Mizzou)

Aaron Grant (Chaos)

Lauren Curry (TCQC)

Justin Dewick (Boom Train)

Ryan Dickey (TCQC)

Additions:

Janessa Duce (Mizzou)

Layla English

Purvi Mujumdar (Chaos)

Audrey Shively (Mizzou)

Nivash Jayaram (Chaos)

Drew Smith (Mizzou)

Justin Ward (Mizzou)

Rachel Rader (Mizzou)

Brooke Erwin (Purdue)

Addi Himmelmann (Mizzou)

Alex Tidler (Mizzou)

Tayler Wiederhold (Mizzou)

Wyatt Ross

Notable Losses:

Robbie Wallace

Sydney Boeger

Riley Usami

Katelyn Branstetter

Bitzy Archibold

Billy Quach

Brian McClannahan

Brenna Duncan

Tanner Sato

Ryan Mehio

TJ O'Connor

Madi Namanny

Anya Ortiz

Ryan Cleary

The Season Ahead:

The Stampede start off the year in what may be their most important series of the summer. They will travel to Houston to take on the Legends for the first 2025 series of the week. Last year will certainly be on everyone’s mind, as the series between these two teams determined who grabbed the last postseason bid. The Legends will undoubtedly be looking for revenge, this time outside of Kansas City. Besides the dramatic finish to last season, the series will also have major implications for Buffalo.

After travelling to Houston, the Stampede will host the Austin Outlaws on June 21st. Kansas City has never taken a game off the Outlaws, but this looks to be the year they break the trend. Austin has a record low 13-person roster and the series will be played in the Cattledome. With Kansas City so far North compared to the rest of the South Division teams, it’s no surprise that the Stampede have the most dominant home field advantage in the league. With the Outlaws on a down year and the series taking place in Kansas City, 2025 puts the Stampede in the best position in franchise history to finally beat the Outlaws. 

To end the regular season, the Stampede play on the first weekend of August where they will host the San Antonio Soldados. After playing a handful of close games against the Soldados last season, including a five–point loss, Kansas City will be looking for revenge, this time at the Cattledome. Despite the home field advantage, this will undoubtedly be a tall task for the Stampede. This is without question one of the strongest Soldado teams we’ve ever seen entering the season, so much so that even taking a game off San Antonio would be a major feat. Nonetheless, the Stampede showed us in the past they could hang with the Soldados, and who knows what will happen this summer.

Season Potentials:

With all the South teams qualifying for the Benepe Cup, it might seem like the regular season is not nearly as important as last year. This could not be further than the truth for the Stampede. Kansas City has a great chance to make franchise history. The team hasn’t finished in the top two spots in the South Division since 2016, has never won a game against the Austin Outlaws and has not won a series at MLQ Championships since 2018 when they beat the Salt Lake City Hive. Kansas City is set up with an opportunity to break all three of these statistics this season.

The Soldados will most likely win the South Division, but after that the division is wide open. The Outlaws, the historic powerhouse, are not bringing back the same roster they previously had. Kansas City, Houston and Austin are all in a dead heat to grab that second place spot. All the franchises want to avoid the dreaded play-in bracket, where they would have to spend all morning playing intense series, to see who plays a one-seed. The Stampede learned this lesson last year when they lost in two games after they made it out of the play-in. This only adds to the importance of Kansas City’s opening series. A series win over the Legends is a huge step to securing that second place spot and making franchise history. Couple that with a series win over the Outlaws, and the Stampede will likely clinch the quarterfinals.

If they are able to finish second in the South, they will likely face the Chicago Prowl or Minneapolis Monarchs at MLQ Championships. A series win over the Prowl isn’t impossible, but improbable. Chicago has made back-to-back finals appearances, and this is a young Stampede squad. Nonetheless, seeing the two rosters that are the most Boom Train–heavy face off in the postseason will be exciting. A matchup against the Monarchs, on the other hand, will be a nail-biter and will likely go three games. Expect that matchup to have emotions running high as the Stampede face off against a handful of former Kansas City players who moved over to Minneapolis. 

The Stampede are in for another wild ride, but this isn’t their first rodeo. Kansas City has a solid chance to beat the Outlaws for the first time, finish second in the South Division after a long drought, and make their first ever semifinals.

Why They Won’t:

It’s hard not to start with the biggest challenge for the Stampede this season; major losses throughout the roster. Many chasers left Kansas City this summer and that will, without a doubt, come at a cost to their goal production. Rookie of the year, National Team chaser, and last season’s fourth-leading scorer, Ryan Mehio, is making his way up to Minneapolis over the summer. Also flying over to Minnesota is Bitzy “Buckets” Archibold after a standout performance at 2024 Champs. It was clear that Archibold and Mehio found their groove on the field together for Kansas City, finishing with 17 and 16 goals respectively in Maryland. That’s the second and third leading scorer for the entire postseason. The two of them taking the talents to the Monarchs is brutal, but Archibold and Mehio just scratch the surface of the talent the Stampede are losing this summer. Another big hit is USNTDA player Riley Usami, who for the past two seasons has been a scoring machine for Kansas City. They are also losing Sydney Boeger, a long time Mizzou player who has a great shot outside the keeper zone. Also leaving is Anya Ortiz, who averaged 1.6 stops per game last regular season.

And that’s only talking about a few of the chasers leaving the team. The Stampede are also taking major losses to their beater depth. A huge hit is the loss of Madi Nammany, the USNTDA beater who averaged a stop per game last season and was second in plus/minus for the team. TJ O’Connor, the USNTDA beater who often pairs with Nammany, is also leaving the Stampede. Joining Archibald and Mehio to Minneapolis is beater Ryan Cleary. Cleary’s role was growing as the year continued last summer, and his move to the Monarchs is going to hurt Kansas City’s depth even more. The team is also taking a huge hit without Brian McClannahan on the roster, a staple in the Stampede program who led the team in stops last year. The team is also without Brenna Duncan, a true utility player last season who also served as Head Coach. Duncan offered the team versatility at both positions and led the Stampede through their play-in bracket run. 

All together the team needs to fill a gap of 101 goals from chasers and 32 stops from beaters, from both the regular season and postseason. That is a daunting task for any team, let alone one a team that is incredibly young. Kansas City is in the running for having the youngest average age of any team and they will need a lot of their college-aged players and rookie additions to step up. The Stampede are capable of a lot this season, but they will need to gel as a new team, find replacements for big pieces across positions and push their young talent to rise to the occasion. 

Why They Will:

Luckily for the Stampede, they have the talent to fill these gaps. A combination of solid returning pieces and big name additions gives Kansas City a path to accomplish their goals. Leading the squad is chaser Lauren Smith. Smith, a recent addition to the USNT, led the team defensively last season, tied with the most stops on the team. She also finished third in goals among the Stampede. Stepping into a Head Coach position, Smith is ready to lead the charge. Look for her to continue her dominance defensively and take a larger role on offense. Joining Smith as an assistant coach is Jackson Herdade. Herdade is a phenomenal player who is really difficult to stop in transition and knows the right time to slow down the offense. Look for him to step into a bigger role this season, after finishing second in goals scored behind Mehio. Smith and Herdade have years of experience playing together after making it to the final four in back to back seasons at Mizzou. If they can bring that chemistry to the Stampede, there’s not stopping them.

In the chasing game, also look for an improved performance from Vincent Reyes. Reyes, a long time member of the Stampede, is coming off his first full year with Boom Train. He’s often found switching positions, but with his success as an off-ball chaser in USQ, look for him to be wearing a white headband more this season. In a similar role is Aaron Stout. The Stampede veteran is returning after putting up 110 points and 10 stops in just nine games last season. Also look for chasers Miles Himmelmann and Danny Rendon to make a major impact. Both of them are coming off great college seasons and will almost certainly see a role increase this season. Aaron Grant, another player who spent some time on the Stampede, should also see more minutes.

The headline returning beater for this Stampede squad is Lauren Curry. Curry recently got called up to the USNT after spending a USQ season with Twin Cities Quadball Club. She was a dominant beater for the Stampede last season, being the only beater to finish the season with a double digit, positive plus/minus. Look for Curry to continue her vital role for Kansas City after proving to be a pivotal part of the team last season. Also returning is Keighlyn Johnson, a USNTDA beater who has played a crucial role for this Stampede team. Johnson led the team in drives played last season, being the only beater on the squad to play over 100. Look for Johnson to continue playing major minutes. Kansas City is also returning two of their Boom Train beaters in Justin Dewick and Chanun Ong. Dewick, another long time member of the Stampede, will use his veteran experience to lead a group of younger beaters. Ong, who finished third on the team in stops and led the team in average dodgeballs in 2024, will continue to play a vital role for Kansas City in his sophomore MLQ season. Also look for college beaters Derek Dearking and Haley Grothaus to take big steps this season and play far more drives, now having a year of MLQ under their belts.

The Stampede are also returning all three catching seekers from last season. The team ran a three player rotation last year, all of whom played chaser before twenty minutes. JD Hopton, former Detroit Innovator and Rochester Whiteout player, is back. On top of being one of the team's most effective scorers, he also caught five times throughout the year (three times at MLQ Champs). Kansas City is also returning two seekers who caught twice last season; Ryan Dickey and Ben Engles. Look for both of them to frequently get into the chaser and seeker rotations throughout the summer.

Kansas City is also getting an influx of rookies from the Mizzou program, a team that has made back to back final fours at USQ nationals. No position is represented more than beater, with the additions of Addi Himmelmann, Rachel Rader, Audrey Shively, Alex Tidler, Justin Ward and Tayler Wiederhold. All six of these beaters saw valuable minutes during this most recent USQ season. Mizzou is also bringing over chasers Janessa Duce and Drew Smith. While this is Duce’s first MLQ season, she has become a recognized name across the sport for her goal-scoring ability in the college game. Also look for Duce to put on the yellow headband after twenty minutes. The Stampede are also getting a couple of non-Mizzou pickups in Layla English and Brooke Erwin. From University of Kansas and Purdue University, respectively, the two chasers look to bring their college experience to MLQ.

Kansas City is also getting an influx of transfer talent. The first big pickup is Purvi Mujumdar. While Mujumdar didn’t play last season, she previously beat for the Outlaws. Mujumdar is the only person on this roster that can call herself an MLQ Champion. In 2023 she raised the Benepe Cup with the Austin squad that went on to win it all. In that season Mujumdar recorded eight stops and 1.68 average dodgeballs, higher than any Stampede player last season. Mujumdar will step into a new franchise ready to play major minutes on a team that is losing a lot of beaters with MLQ experience. Also coming over from Austin is Wyatt Ross. Ross chased for the Outlaws last season and has championship pedigree playing for UTSA when they were national champions in 2023. Last, but certainly not least, in the transfer portal is Nivash Jayaram. Jayaram has years of experience playing for the Chicago Prowl and is joining the Kansas City coaching staff as an assistant this summer. Notably, he scored the goal that put the New York Titans away in 2023, propelling the Prowl to their first ever finals. Last year, he recorded 170 points in just nine games. While Jayaram plays both beater and chaser, look for him to see more time on the field chasing this summer. These big names might be the reason the Stampede can accomplish so much given how much talent they lost this offseason.

The last thing going in favor of the Stampede this season is the Cattledome. Historically, Kansas City has one of the strongest home field advantages. Since the pandemic, they’ve only played one home game a season. Yet this summer, the Cattledome will host both the Soldados and the Outlaws. Beating the Soldados will be a tall task, but the Cattledome advantage will make it more likely. In what will be a crucial matchup against the Outlaws, the series taking place in Kansas is exactly what the Stampede needs.

While Kansas City has undoubtedly taken a major hit this season with so many players leaving the team, they also have a lot of young incoming talent and valuable transfer pieces. The franchise is in the perfect position to make history and accomplish all they need to, but they will need to hit the ground running in Houston with a lot at steak.