Mid Atlantic Regional Pool 1

In the first of a four part series, I will be evaluating and predicting gameplay in all three of the pools at the Mid Atlanitc Regional Tournament and finally predicting Bracket play. Mid Atlantic Quidditch is my specialty. I live in the Mid Atlantic and follow scores and tournaments very closely here. I hope to bring you the most accurate predictions possible and if your team believes I have pre-judged them, go out and prove me wrong. So, without further ado, here is Pool 1.
Carnegie Mellon
Penn State
Philadelphia Honey Badgers
Steel City QC
UNC Greensboro
Virginia
Villanova

The Favorite
Villanova came out strong this season with a win at LoveCup 2012. They play fantastic defense led by chaser Zach D'Amico and there isn't a snitch alive that has eluded seeker Billy Greco. Villanova is deep and is coached and prepared very well with useful warm up drills and tacital, strategic game plans. I expect Villanova to go 6-0 in this pool taking care of everyone but PSU and UVA easily. Billy Greco will save them in these games with clutch, come from behind snatches.

The Contenders
Virginia is a upstart team who was gained momentum from the Blacksburg Brawl and the Turtle Cup.  They have the ability to score against solid teams so look for Nova-UVA to be high scoring, but are vulnerable at the seeker position. In clutch situations at Turtle Cup, UVA was unable to snatch the snitch. If UVA can have more consistency at the seeker position, they will be able to knock off Villanova.
Penn State is a scrappy team who also has shown that they can score. PSU put up 50 points against Maryland in the Turtle Cup final and was only down 40 when the snitch was caught. If Penn State's defense can keep them in the game, the offense should be able to challenge any team at Regionals.

The Dark Horse
The Philadelphia Honey Badgers are a strange team. Going by the name of the Delaware Valley Dragons last year, the team is still fearsome. They have size and a monstrous power-keeper. Philadelphia sends their keeper up the pitch on every offensive possession and leaves both beaters behind to guard the net. While this is an effective defensive strategy, Quidditch now needs beaters to be used offensively. Any team that can expose this and use their own beaters offensively will able to beat Philadelphia. Low scoring games cause panic and no one likes low scoring games,so beware of the Honey Badgers. (Also, they have this one player who has a history of violent red cards-she is kind of short and has cornrows)

The Rest
Out of the rest, UNC Greensboro has the best chance to come in 4th because they have played against the Virginia teams this year already. Experience against better teams is valuable and make teams better. Still 2-4 is UNC-Greensboro's likely record.
Steel City QC and Carnegie Mellon have played already this year. The game ended SC 80*-CM 50. All that this tells me is that the teams are evenly matches and the game could go either way.

Standings
1. Villanova 6-0
2. Penn State 5-1
3. Virginia 4-2
4. Philadelphia HB 3-3
5. UNC Greensboro 2-4
6. Carnegie Mellon 1-5
7. Steel City QC 0-6