Coaches' Poll: Northeast 10/9

One coach, captain, or designee from each USQ official team was asked to rank the top ten teams in their region. Points were allocated in the following manner: 10 points for a first place vote, nine points for a second place vote, eight points for a third place vote, etc. The votes have been tabulated and listed below in order of total votes. The number in parentheses indicates how many first place votes a team received.

Voters were given fewer than three days to vote; some came in after the deadline and were thus not counted. Further, during the voting period, voters from each team were still being identified. Thus while this poll provides a good basis for how each region views its teams, the lack of information available to voters and flaws with the design these results should be taken with a grain of salt. We will continue to run coaches’ polls throughout the season to reflect how each region views its own teams.

Photo credit: Sofia de la Vega Photography

Rank	Team	Points
1	Quidditch Club Boston (QCB) (12)	120
2	Rochester United (RU)	100
3	New York University Thunder (NYU)	86
4	Tufts University Tufflepuffs	77
5	The Warriors	73
6	Boston University Quidditch (BU)	57
7	RPI Remembralls (RPI)	47
8	Hofstra University Flying Dutchmen	33
9	Emerson College Quidditch	28
10	RIT Dark Marks (RIT)	13

Others Receiving Votes: Brandeis Quidditch (5), Macaulay Honors College Marauders (5),University of Rochester Thestrals (5), the Rogues (4) Harvard Horntails (3), SUNY Geneseo (2)

Notes: Thirteen votes were cast. One was rejected for lacking objectivity.

Voters Explain Their Choices:

Voter 1

Basically 1-6 are on a tier above the rest. If you really want to get technical I guess you could put QCB and RU in their own tier and then the next four slightly below.

The way I view it is 3-6 can be completely interchangeable, all with the ability to beat the others on any given day. The reason they are ranked the way they are now is as follows:

3. NYU over Tufts because of NYU's performance at World Cup last year.

4. Tufts over BU (though only slightly) because they just played a set of three games where all were in snitch range and Tufts won the set 2-1. I wish I could rank them tied because they really did appear to be equally matched. Tufts just managed to pull the snitch twice compared to BU's single time.

5. BU over the Warriors just because honestly I feel like BU has a much higher ceiling than the Warriors. BU is still a generally young team with only two seniors and is only going to keep getting better this season.

6. Then after the Warriors at six, there is a bit of a drop off. These next four teams were a bit of guesswork, but here is why I went with the order I did.

7. Hofstra because last year it always fought hard until the end. I don’t think it lost that much this year so it should still be solid.

8. RPI because of Teddy Costa.

9. Emerson mostly just out of respect for its program. Though the only time it has played a decent opponent this season it looked completely lost. It should improve, but who knows by how much.

10. And finally RIT 10 really just because I couldn’t imagine any of the other teams left qualifying over it.

Voter 2

QCB definitely disappointed at the regional championship and World Cup last year after leading preseason polls. Its additions, however, make it impossible to leave it off the top spot. Just look at the Boston Night Riders. I’m buying the BU hype since it always had athletes, but I’m a bit low on Rochester United until it plays a top Boston squad, hopefully Oktoberfest provides the opportunity. Emerson looks like it lost way too many key pieces to function. The bottom is a wash for me, nine and 10 could be any of four teams that could beat each other on any day. I gave the last spot to Macaulay because it still has most of the core that beat Texas State University - San Marcos. Macaulay was never THAT good, but top 10 in Northeast is well within its potential.

Voter 3

1. QCB: With QCB Coming off of the MLQ season most of its players are in form. The addition of Harry Greenhouse, Tyler Trudeau, and Lulu Xu puts QCB on a tier above the rest.

2. Rochester United: Dominated Turtle Cup without elite beaters using what must be the best chaser line in the Northeast

3. NYU: NYU has one of the deepest beating corps, the team is returning the bulk of its roster from last year. There are still have big questions at seeker though, so it may not be able to compete at RU or QCB’s level.

4. Tufts: Andrew Miller’s absence from Tufts has caused the team to suffer. Its quaffle carriers are athletic, but its beating is heavily lacking.

5. RPI: RPI has many of exceptional players including Teddy Costa. This team suffers due to the over aggressiveness of its beating

6. BU: BU is an all around strong team. It has developed the beating core it lacked last year.

7. The Warriors: They have a very strong chasing lineup. The Warriors are adept at the quick passing offense. The team’s beating is nonexistent and their numbers are thinning, so they will have trouble at long tournaments.

8.Hofstra: Jaime Colon-Velez single handedly keeps this team relevant.

9. Macaulay: The core of this team has been playing with each other for a long time. It has a level of physicality unmatched by most teams. Its offense lacks crispness. It cannot keep up with top teams, but will do well in the middle of the pack.

10. RIT: RIT is the second best Rochester, New York team behind RU. RIT started the season off with a weak performance at Turtle Cup, but it should be able to develop as time goes on.