Washington Admiral Season Preview: Setting Sail

Author: Ashton Butler

Last Season:

Following a 2023 season which saw the Washington Admirals within one goal from taking a game from the undefeated 2023 Austin Outlaws, the Admirals definitely had a disappointing 2024 season to their standards. Washington finished their regular season in 2024 with a .500 record as they were swept by both New York and Boston, and they went 6-0 in their super series against Charlotte and Ottawa. Going into MLQ Championships at 3rd place in the East Division, they had to surface from the bracket play of day one but sank against the Kansas City Stampede then later to the Minneapolis Monarchs. This was the first season following the reign of the superstar trio of Rachel Heald, Julia Baer and Tyler Trudeau however despite these losses, the youth of this team surfaced into new roles on the ship, and it will be exciting to see how head coach John Gaffigan will captain the ship this season for the Admirals.

Returners:

Adrian Koretsky (DCQC)

Athilesh Thanigai (Chaos)

Bryan Mulcahy (BosNyan Bearsharks)

Cat Sylvain (Unaffiliated)

Colin Bourn (DCQC)

Gabe Templeton (DCQC)

Helen Trudell (Unaffiliated)

Jeanette High (DCQC)

John Gaffigan (Unaffiliated)

Juli Nuetzel (DCQC)

Julia Rankin (DCQC)

Levan Tsiskarishvili (James Madison University)

Liz Stone (DCQC)

Riley Starrs (DCQC)

Robert Rice (DCQC)

Shane McConaghie (DCQC)

Rachel Williams (DCQC)

Ryan Marsh (James Madison University)

Zan Siddiqui (Virginia)

Additions:

Aidan Ng (Washington Monuments)

Caitlyn Breslow (James Madison University)

Chantal Siodlarz (Virginia)

Claire Lawson (Washington Monuments)

Claire Shuey (Philadelphia Flamingos)

Diana Howard (DCQC)

Janice Smith (Unaffiliated)

Joey Beh (Virginia)

John Evans (Virginia)

Nathan Jun (Virginia)

Summer Solis (James Madison University)

Breakdown:

Club: 17

DCQC: 12

Washington Monuments: 2

Chaos: 1

BosNYan Bearsharks: 1

Philadelphia Flamingos: 1

College: 9

Virginia: 5

James Madison: 4

Unaffiliated: 4

Departures:

Alex Lipinski

Andrew Bowman

John Sheridan

David Littleton

Diego Rojas Godoy

Elizabeth McFarland-Porter

Jack Butler

Justin Kraemer

Krish Jain

Li Rauss

Tino Bordone

The Season Ahead:

The Admirals set sail on their season in their annual opening weekend duel with the reigning champions, the New York Titans. The Titans will be a formidable opponent and have continuously been a difficult team for the Admirals to handle. Washington has not won a game against New York since game 3 of their series in 2022. The Titans have maintained their ability to hold onto top end talent in the sport with the return of USNT chaser Leo Fried after his season in Detroit and former Team USNTDA teammates Byron Ng and Jahved Cole. This series will be a major test for the Admirals, but with 19 returning members from last season, they will need to use the chemistry they built last season and the one they developed during the USQ season with DCQC. If the Admirals are looking to jump into one of the top two seeds of the East, they need to stay afloat in this series and hopefully take a game off this New York team. Their following series has them heading to Ottawa to take on the Ottawa Black Bears. The Black Bears are coming into a season improved from last year as they bring back Hailey Yhap, their top scorer from 2023 after a year hiatus from the team. Yhap’s 12 goals in the 2023 season would have led the team in 2024. Despite this gain for Ottawa and an additional year of development from most of the returning players, Ottawa has never won a game against the Admirals since the pandemic. Bouncing off of Adrian Koretsky’s record high of 24 plus/minus series against Ottawa last season, the Admirals are looking to get another sweep. The Admirals will need to take care of business on this trip and sweep the Black Bears to keep their Championship hopes alive heading into future series.

The Admirals then get to host the Charlotte Aviators. The Admirals played against the Aviators in a fourth game last season as they were able to knock off Charlotte at MLQ Championships in a very heated matchup. This will be a spicy contest that both teams will be circling on their calendars as this could make a difference as to who has the upperhand in the division, as it did last season. The Admirals then get to conclude their regular season with the Boston Forge. This will be the matchup to watch for the Admirals this summer. The Forge brings in a ton of familiar faces such as Max Havlin, Lulu Xu and Ian Scura but now add Team USA’s Emma Persons from Minneapolis, Swathi Mannem from Houston, and a pair of USQ Champions in Angela Song from The Warriors and USNTDA beater Jess Lee from Harvard returns. Both teams have clearly added high end talent, and just as it has in the past two seasons, this series could decide who gets the two seed in the East Division. 

Why They Won’t:

The Admirals have a roster primed to be tested. A season ago, The team’s offense seemed to struggle in a half pitch set offense. During the 2024 season, this teams’ young age led to a rushed style of play and it created miscommunications and misplays when they were picking up the pace. The bruisers on the team would find a chance to get out and run and it led to them being stopped in their tracks by multiple defenders or a beater. Meanwhile, when this team was forced to slow down and attack, their beaters would often be caught in miscommunication or not attacking together which led to them being overrun and chasers being swarmed. Chasers also had quite the tendency to hold balls for far too long leading to easy stops for the opponents especially against teams such as Boston and New York. The costly offensive mistakes led to big deficits and different people attempting to play hero ball and moving away from playing like a team. 

While many would speculate where this team’s ceiling is, it is going to be difficult for the Admirals to be ready in such a quick turnaround in week 1 to face the reigning Benepe Cup champions. The question is now how will this coaching staff organize their lines? Will they look to USQ team ties and build lines based on USQ allegiances or will there be a mix based on experiences or skill sets? Washington has a lot of work to do in little time, but there is a long summer ahead for them to work out the kinks in their armor and cannon towards their future matchups as the team builds their identity. 

Why They Will:

This roster is primed and ready to take a leap from their previous season. The roster they have is looking to bounce back from a disappointing season, and they have rebounded with recruiting high end college talent and retaining the leaders that know how to win tight games.

This roster is loaded with talent, and it begins with returner Bryan Mulcahy. Mulcahy was this team’s anchor both offensively and defensively a season ago as he led the team in goals with 25 and stops with 18. Mulcahy’s defense cannot be talked about enough as he is one of the best tacklers in the league, making him one of the most difficult keepers in the league to get around. On offense, he has solidified the “dunker” spot where he seems to find an opening behind hoops to score at will. Riley Starrs and Shane McConaghie also make returns for this team. Starrs is a long time chaser for the Admirals and is the ultimate playmaker as he has led the team in assists both of the last two seasons. Starrs has become elite at drawing a defense and handing off to one of his cutting chasers to get easy goals for the team. McConaghie is a much younger player, heading into his fourth season for Washington but just as effective. McConaghie just finished his first season of club Quadball after spending time on the USNTDA while in college. McConaghie is a much taller chaser with a lethal shot that can fall from anywhere on the pitch, and his length makes him a major problem defensively in the passing lanes. Newly appointed head coach John Gaffigan will also return to fill the role of sniper shooter whenever McConaghie takes a break. Jeanette High will also continue to contribute after their dominant season in 2024, scoring 15 goals, a 13 goal increase from the previous season. 

While many great chasers return and their value is well known for this team, younger players both returning and joining will be ready to contribute to this season. USNTDA chaser Zan Siddiqui returns for the Admirals this season. Despite only playing in 6 regular season games last year, Siddiqui is one of the best overall athletes who proved his effectiveness both defensively and in the seeking game. Siddiqui is joined by three of his University of Virginia teammates from last USQ season in Nathan Jun, Chantal Siodlarz and Joey Beh for their first MLQ seasons. Jun leaped into stardom at USQ Cup because he was lethal during UVA's finals matchup against Creighton. He scored a staggering eight goals, weaving through the defense like a kick returner. Siodlarz is an athletic chaser who plays extremely smart and is an accurate shooter and passer. Her defense on the perimeter is tough to handle as she is constantly moving and is always in the path of the offensive chasers. Lastly of this Virginia quartet is Beh. Beh is a utility player who primarily beat for UVA this past nationals but has the athletic ability to be a difference maker at both positions. With the Admirals’ loss of an athletic beater in David Littleton, Beh will be a great player to step into those shoes. Beyond Virginia, Athilesh Thanigai is making the switch back to chaser after beating for the Admirals last summer. Thanigai will add some athleticism and speed as an up top defender with keeper flexibility as they began their career as a chaser and resumed chasing for Chaos in this USQ season. 

The beating on this squad is led by assistant coaches Colin Bourn and Adrian Koretsky. Koretsky is one of the best young beaters in the league as they led the team last season in every beater statistic. Bourn had a great 2024 season as well, especially at MLQ Championships where they led the team in stops and drives played. Koretsky played really well next to athletic beaters such as Littleton and Thanigai, so Bourn and Koretsky could make for a great duo. Diana Howard returning to MLQ adds another athletic and smart beater to the mix to help develop the youth of this team. Howard, despite not playing MLQ last season, led the Admirals in stops in 2023 with 11. Their athletic and aggressive playstyle at beater will be great to pair next to an experienced beater such as Robert Rice. Rice returns to the Admirals as last year’s leader in average dodgeballs with 100 drives played and 14 stops in the regular season. Ultimately this beater core has brought in a plethora of new beaters from all different walks of Quadball as Aidan Ng, Claire Shuey and Summer Solis all join the team as younger beaters that will look to find their way through the coaching of the veterans. 

Personnel on paper is one thing, but finding ways to put the strength of your team out there and find the correct 6 is a job that Gaffigan is going to need to sort out for this team. Washington is still looking for their identity in this new era. With a revamped squad, the Admirals are ready to set sail and embark on a big season ahead.