Butts and Brooms Presents: The All-Americans

buttsandbrooms:

Male Chasers: Simon Arends and Kody Marshall (Texas). 

Defense wins championships.  Arends and Marshall are two of the best defenders in the business.  However, unlike many great defensive players, these two are just as unstoppable on the offensive end, having the ability to literally grind their way through the tackles of all the opposing team’s chasers in succession en route to a goal.  They’re also great distributors to boot.  These are, unquestionably, the best all around chasers in the game, and undisputed first team all-americans.

Female Chaser: Vanessa Goh (UCLA).

The first team girl chaser position for most people is a coin-flip: is it Vanessa Goh, or is it Sarah Holub?  Both are able to tackle male chasers consistently.  Both are able to score, catch, and pass effectively and consistently.  There are, however, slight differences in these chasers’ skill sets.  Whereas Holub is godlike at making leaping two-handed catch-dunks, Goh excels at one handed catches away from her body, and making defenders miss in space.  Although Goh is not as proficient at the catch dunk, her superiority in space gives her the slight edge over her Longhorn counterpart in the versatility category, and a first team all-american accolade.

Beaters: Colin Capello and Hope Machala (Texas).

Though UT is known primarily for its aggressive, physical chaser play, the style of play that has made the likes of Marshall and Arends household names is not exclusive to the Longhorns’ quaffle players.  Capello and Machala are just as tenacious as their chaser counterparts, with the former’s being possibly the most notorious in the nation.  Whereas some beaters intimidate with their cannon arms, Capello intimidates with both his bludger and his body, which he will use to drive opposing beaters into the ground whenever given the opportunity.   Machala’s quick reactions and accurate throws make her a formidable force as the rear beater in Texas’s stack beater defense, and her aggressiveness allows her to seamlessly pick up the slack if their point beater is taken out by an iso.

Keeper: Zach Luce (UCLA).

Zach Luce is by no means the most physically gifted keeper in the league — he isn’t carved out of marble with blazing speed, nor is he a behemoth middle linebacker.  However, his individual performance at the World Cup was undoubtedly the best.  With fellow keeper Alex Browne out due to injury during the finals and semi-finals, Luce completely took over the championship field, racking up goals against Baylor and UT like no player had ever before done.  Despite his skinniness, Luce is incredibly slippery, giving him the ability to slip and spin out of tackles by even the likes of Texas’s point defenders.  He is also a marksman from range. And, whereas most lanky keepers are only known for their shot blocking, Luce is a proficient tackler who can take down ballcarriers who make it through the perimeter defense. 

Seeker: Steve DiCarlo (Lost Boys).

Steve has caught, like, 45 snitches this year.  Just ask him about it.

Utility: Missy Sponagle (UCLA).

Missy Sponagle is the ultimate support player.  While other girl chasers are getting attention for flashy dunks and shots, Sponagle is quietly flying under the radar, doing all the little things that make UCLA’s offense run, such as setting screens to open up her teammates, and opening herself up for outlet passes to stretch the defense and create passing/driving lanes for the ballcarrier.  She can also take the ball up herself, and can score consistently when given the opportunity.   Sponagle is also a very exceptional beater, who would undoubtedly earn an all-american spot were she to focus all of her time to the black headband.   As an added bonus, she has a 100% snitch snatch rate as a seeker.  She also tackled August that one time.

Check out the second and third teams after the Read More.

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